Nikon D2Xs NEF not working with Aperture

Question

This is so shocking. I should have researched more..... but I cannot believe that Nikon and Apple do not have it together on Aperture??
I just switched from the Canon 1DS, which worked like a charm with Aperture, to the Nikon D2Xs and Apertrue will not support NEF files from the camera. Frankly. I am pretty stunned. What's the deal? I find a lot of chatter in the forums about other Nikon model NEFs that are not working.
Since there are only 2 serious top of the line pro-digital SLR manufacturers out there, I would have thought that they would both be supported fully.
Nikon Tech support said that their plug-in developer kit has been available for a long time, it is up to Apple to take advantage of it.
Am I out of line here - ranting on..
Does anyone know of a solution to this issue, other than dumping Aperture and moving to Nikon's Capture NX (when they get to finally release it) and Photoshop?
Many thanks for you help in advance,
NIck

Answer 1

So you switched from Canon to Nikon. I decided to do
the switch vice versa. What were your reasons to pick
Nikon?
The EOS and the D2x are both very excellent cameras. Some things I find better with the D2x:
Image quality.
First off, as far as I know prints from Canon's best and Nikon's best are similarly excellent. In spite of the EOS's ~50% higher cost and additional pixels it does not provide significantly better prints. Nikon worked some pretty good engineering to achieve that.
Price.
Most photography involves price tradeoffs with faster/better lenses, etc. costing more. In the case of the D2x the arguably equal and in some ways better camera actually costs $thousands less.
Speed.
The D2x shoots RAW at 5 to 8 fps versus the EOS 4 fps. When you are trying to capture the "perfect" instant of a rapidly changing scene higher frame rates increase the likelihood of catching the perfect moment. Or if you are auto-bracketing, faster speed captures your bracketed images before the scene changes. The concept of shooting a burst of 5-20 frames just to catch the very best pic is new to most photogs, because with film it was impractical. With cameras like these DSLRs new photo workflows may evolve. [Edit: My workflow has evolved. I now shoot almost all dynamic shots and many group shots as a burst of 2-5 pix at 2-5 fps.]
8 fps Crop Mode.
The D2x will shoot 6 megapixel images taken from the center of the frame at 8 fps. So if one wants to shoot tele action shots like sports it is ideal.
Buffer capacity.
IMO a much bigger issue than fast frame rate is the buffer capacity at that fast frame rate. The D2x captures about twice as many pix (~22) as the EOS does before the buffer fills.
Card capacity.
Canon built a slower camera with 30% more pixels and that leads to less images per card, slower file transfers, etc.
LCD size.
The D2x LCD is more than 50% larger than the EOS. The larger LCD changes everything as far as the ergonomics of DSLR workflow are concerned. Just try a D2x side-by-side against the much smaller EOS LCD.
Exposure Compensation (used constantly in DSLR workflows).
+/- 5 EV for the Nikon versus +/- 3 EV for the Canon.
Weight.
Being a 200# male with large hands I don't worry about size and weight too much. The Canon does weigh almost a pound more. Dimensions are pretty similar, with the Nikon a few mm larger. If size/weight are issues the Nikon D70s and Canon 20D are much smaller but sacrifice pro features like good viewfinders.
Self-timer.
Nikon has choice of 2/5/10/20 seconds whereas Canon is only 2 or 20 seconds. I find 2 seconds is sometimes not enough to let the camera settle down on the tripod if it is extended, so typically I use 5 seconds. Using 20 seconds as a cable shutter release substitute would drive me crazy. Often this is moot because I almost always have a cable shutter release with me.
Framing.
Some folks prefer a DSLR to be the same lens factor as 35mm film. Other folks do not. Quality superwide lenses are achieved at a $500-$1500 cost while supertelephoto is a $5000-$15000 cost; personally I prefer the 1.5 factor since it extends the expensive telephoto range. However, 1:1 versus 1:1.5 is a matter of personal preference rather than one being "better" unless print quality were to suffer.
The high end EOS does beat the Nikon D2x hands down in lower noise at ISOs of 800 and above. I am not familar with the high ISO performance of the D2xs, however.
-Allen Wicks