Though the litany of new features in the revamped Apple Aperture 2 has gotten a lot of buzz including the program's anticipated faster overall performance; more intuitive new interface; and additional image editing tools; what many professional photographers have been wondering about is the new program's RAW file compatibility.

If you're an Aperture user or just like to read the forums on Aperture support sites such as the Aperture Users Professional Netork (AUPN) -- run by our pal David Schloss, who also happens to be the former Technology Editor at PDN -- then you know there's been a near mutiny among Apeturites in recent months. The main gripe about the program -- and Apple's developers -- is that they've taken too long to make Aperture compatible with RAW files from the the latest professional digital cameras.

While that all changes with Aperture 2 which can read RAW files from the Nikon D3, D300, Canon 1Ds Mark III, Hasselblad H3D-II and other cameras, some photographers may already be wondering about the future. Will Aperture 2 be ready for the coming wave of digital cameras or will photographers have to wait until the next version of OS X comes out first?

We got a chance to talk to Kirk Paulsen, Apple's senior director of Application Product Marketing, and Joe Schor, Apple's senior product manager of Photo Applications; about this very issue. Read what they said after the jump.

PDNPulse: Some photographers have been wondering why it's taken so long for this Aperture update which includes RAW compatibility for a crop of the latest professional digital cameras. What was the hold up?

Joe Schor: I know everyone was wondering what's been going on for the last few months. It's not that it's taken a long time to support this crop of cameras, it's that we've been putting the finishing touches on an entirely new RAW decoding engine in Aperture 2. The new RAW pipeline happened to coincide with some new cameras that folks were anxious to see supported.

PDNPulse: Will future updates to Aperture 2 -- including RAW support for future cameras -- be tied to updates to the Mac OS?

Joe Schor: As a rule, we don't talk about future products. I will say that we've done frequent updates to Aperture -- at least six or seven -- since it launched in 2005 and not all of those have been tied to the latest versions of the Mac OS. The good news is that with the new RAW decoding engine, what we're delivering is of a much higher quality now. And in the process of redoing the plumbing in the RAW pipeline, we've given (users) a lot more flexibility.

PDNPulse: By flexibility, do you mean the new baseline DNG support in Aperture 2 which can read Adobe DNG files from non-Aperture-supported cameras?

Kirk Paulsen: When we did this replumbing we definitely addressed flexibility in terms of how we handle RAW files. We fully understand and appreciate the feedback we've gotten from photographers. But as far as Aperture is concerned, image quality is paramount. And we are not willing to sacrifice image quality for a quick update.

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