The latest backlash against Apple is coming from professional photographers who feel that Apple has abandoned them in favour of the consumer market, similar to the “Final Cut Pro debacle”.
A report criticizes Apple’s emphasis on mass market mobile suggesting that, while it’s good for shareholders, the “professional photography community need to understand that we are no longer targets of Apple,” adding: “They aren’t a pro apps company or a hardware company they are a mobile company.”
Writing for Photofocus, Scott Bourne notes that while he is intending to buy a MacBook Pro with Retina display he has a number of concerns. He expects that the new display means Photoshop and similar programs will need to be recoded to work with it; in addition he expects that calibration hardware/software might need to be re-worked; and he thinks it is wise to make sure that Lightroom and Photoshop (along with the various plug-ins) are all compatible before buying a Retina display MacBook Pro.
Bourne also criticizes Aperture, suggesting that Apple is dubbing down its professional photography application, case in point: the “integration between a free consumer photo app that kids use in grade school and a pro app like Aperture.” Aperture and iPhoto libraries have now been unified.
Bourne complains that the “minor point release to Aperture” bought only a white balance brush, compatibility with the new retina display, “nowhere near the kind of upgrade that Lightroom got.”
“This is like the Final Cut Pro debacle,” he complains. “Apple essentially has decided that the broader consumer market is more profitable so pro apps are history.”
Bourne also slates anyone who thinks the ‘new’ Mac Pro comes close to competing with the current top-of-the-line Windows machines, is “just kidding yourself,” he writes: “It’s not even close.”
The article concludes: “I used to trust that Apple had my back. No more. I am no longer their target customer.”
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Comments received
Aryugaetu said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
"Dunbing down" additions...
- Metadata became "Info" (that is a HUGE indicator)
- Do we (professionals) really need a "Share" icon, much less one that links to Facebook.
It feels like Apple had "family day" at the company, but the children never left. The "Share, "Facebook, and "Flicker" icons in the toolbar gave all of the same impressions of a child leaving their toys scattered in Dad's office. It seems incredibly out of place.
Did Mattel and Hasbro become major stock investors in Apple?
Martin M Turner said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
A strange and counter-intuitive point of view. Of course Photoshop and the others will have to be upgraded to take advantage of the biggest boon to photographers since colour monitors. But they will be. Any photographer who has worked with Retina display on an iPad will recognise that bringing the same tech to a laptop is an astonishingly valuable upgrade.
DESIGNADE said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
Sounds like whining snobbery. Truth is, with the price of good DSLRs plummeting, more and more consumers are buying Aperture – Apple are just making their software consistent which should be applauded. Any true professional will already be using Photoshop and have the option of Lightroom.
petercrush said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
What a load of snobbish tosh this 'report' is. The 'pros' don't like it when 'amateurs' can get great results so easily with simple to use software. The new sharing of iPhoto's and Aperture's libraries is a fantastic feature in this release, and has finally persuaded me to upgrade to Lion from SL. You can read an excellent and more considered review of Aperture 3.3 at www.apertureexpert.com
alanaha said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
Just what is "dubbing down"
Mackly said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
We all like a good whine from time-to-time. Bourne's argument (if it exists at all) seems to be substantially weakened by the statement, "he is intending to buy a MacBook Pro with Retina display".
Perhaps we need to revisit him in six months' time and find out whether he really has switched to one of those "top-of-the-line Windows machines" he likes so much?
PaulJay said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
A load of protectionist whining. Stop blaming the tools for not developing as a photographer.
You're not a true artist if you whine like this about tools. Welcome in 2012..
gfs said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
I've been hearing this same old drivel since the mid 90s. Snore.
grumpygiraffe said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
As per usual anyone who doesn't like the new hardware and/or software simply has to choose not to purchase and use it...nobody has ever forced you to use hardware or software by Apple anymore than any other brand.
If you don't like the new MacBook Pro then why would you still intend to buy it? Don't like what they did with Aperture then go and buy Photoshop or Lightroom.
Vote with your wallet and the many alternative options you have available to you instead of bitching needlessly online!
JeffN. said on Mon, 18 Jun 2012
Wow. This article completely misses what Scott was talking about.
First, @GFS – before you start saying that he has “not developed as a photographer”, perhaps you ought do a little research. Scott Bourse is one of the world’s leading bird photographers. See here: www.scottbourne.com
As for not wanting ‘amateurs’ to use ‘pro’ kit, look into it. He has websites and podcasts dedicated to making photography more accessible and helping others to improve.
He has also been a major proponent of Aperture, using and promoting it since v. 1.0. He is one that Apple used to train the trainers. His complaint is that Apple is not updating their pro apps properly. He has switched to Lightroom 4.0, because it got a major update (3.x -> 4.0) and Aperture got library sharing.
His point about the Mac Pro retina display isn’t that it’s bad, but that much software will need to be updated to make use of it (true) and photographers need to be aware of that (also true).
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