Yesterday, Apple released a new version of it’s photo management and raw conversion software Aperture. The issues addressed include:
- Nikon images imported using a direct camera-to-computer connection now display thumbnails correctly in the Import window.
- Fixed an issue that could cause duplicate image versions to be created after rebuilding a library.
- Fixed a library issue that prevented operation of the Relocate or Consolidate commands in some circumstances.
The fixed import-thumbnails issue is great news for Nikon D700 users. Finally, we’re able to see what photos we’re about to import from our camera. I also checked if they fixed an annoying EXIF metadata export issue when exporting a photo – and to my big surprise, they did!

As you can see in the screenshot above, EXIF Viewer displays the latitude/longitude metadata information in an exported Aperture photo when using Aperture 2.1.3. The master image was a raw camera file which I exported as a JPEG. Unfortunately, lens information is still missing in the exported photos :(
Oh … I’m sorry. I just re-read your post and you already mentioned that the update fixed the missing EXIF problem only partially. Apologies.
Unfortunately the 2.1.3 update did not fix the problem. :-( Indeed, they’ve added a number of EXIF fields, but lots are still missing.
Check out Frog’s blog post:
http://blog.thefrog.net/2009/09/aperture-bug-exif-data-missing-in.html
He did an in-depth analysis of the problem. And I can only agree and confirm his observations. My JPGs lack lens data too. It’s a shame since I’d love to check on some of my older pictures which lens I used for them.
Kent, this is the workflow I’m using:
http://trick77.com/2008/07/13/nikon-d80-raw-nef-gps-geotagging-workflow-on-the-mac/
which is similar to what you described in 1)
Cheers,
Jan
Can I ask how you got the GPS information into your master file? Was it geotagged prior to loading your images into the Aperture library? I am finding that my exported versions still do not retain the GPS coordinates from Aperture if I am using a plug-in within Aperture (i.e. Maperture) to add the GPS information. It only seems to work if I do one of the following:
1) Apply GPS information to the images prior to importing them to the Aperture library, using a standalone program such as GPSPhotoLinker.
2) Import the masters into Aperture, use a geotagging plug-in (in my case Maperture), export the Masters out of Aperture, delete the project from Aperture, and finally re-import the masters in Aperture. Obviously this is a tedious process, so I am currently using method #1.
Do you have the same issues? If not, how are you getting around the problem I have described above?
Thanks,
Kent