Apple’s Aperture is a well-designed tool for color- and exposure-correcting digital photographs. Fronted with a slick Apple interface, it also makes cataloging easy. But because Aperture, a new contender in a field dominated by one application, is coming from a heavyweight like Apple, it’s getting plenty of press. It’s important that we, as digital video creatives, stop and ask if Aperture is right for us.

The short answer is, Aperture is a powerful application. An efficient and elegant interface gives you full access to a rich set of tools for adjusting coloring, shading and exposure. The database aspects of Aperture for adding keywords and cataloging by metadata make it worth the cost if you regularly work on projects with large amounts of still photos. However, there are no tools here for graphic creation, compositing, layering or image manipulation. It’s a common misconception to think of Aperture as a competitor to Adobe Photoshop. To be fair, Apple itself isn’t billing it as such, but you should be clear on this before heading in.

In reality, Aperture fits better into a toolbox if used alongside Photoshop. For documentary editors likely to use hundreds or even thousands of digital photos in one production, Aperture becomes a database engine for cataloging these images, a feature Photoshop can’t touch. If an image needs a bit of color correction or levels tweaking before being used in a film, Aperture can do that as well. These features alone make Aperture a worthwhile investment.

On the other hand, Aperture doesn’t include tools for manipulation of photos, combining images together into collages, removing elements in photos, or other types of image editing and manipulation. This is where you would click on your Photoshop icon.

Apple has already released two upgrades – Aperture 1.1 and 1.1.1. Originally released for $499, the price is now lowered and available new for $299 or as a free upgrade for existing Aperture users.

The key new feature in version 1.1 is that it’s a Universal binary. Got one of those speedy new Intel-based Macs? Get this upgrade and Aperture kicks into turbo speed. Apple has also improved RAW image rendering with a new decoder and fine tuning tools that let you adjust contrast, sharpening and chroma blur. If you don’t like the new RAW decoder look, switch back to the original 1.0 RAW decoder.

An Auto-Noise compensator can now greatly reduce image noise in high ISO or long exposure images based on noise characteristic profiles for specific cameras. Improved export controls make it easier to export photos to match certain dimensions, as well as set the default DPI based on the application for which you are exporting.

Aperture version 1.1.1, according to Apple, "addresses several issues related to performance, stability, color correction and display compatibility." In reality, the user interface has been tweaked under the hood and feels much more responsive.

Aperture is an exciting product. Future versions might have more to offer digital video creators, but for now it’s clearly aimed at the professional photographer of documentary filmmaker. Think of it as a complement to Photoshop, not a replacement.