Reason to use Aperture or iPhoto library?

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Level 2

302 points

Reason to use Aperture or iPhoto library?

A few months ago I purchase Aperture, on install I selected the option to let is use my iPhoto library. While "learning" to use Aperture, I didn't want to totally abandon iPhoto in case I wasn't pleased with it. Now I will be using Aperture solely, still doesn't do all I want, but better/close than iPhoto.

So, my question is, is there a reason to transfer all of the iPhoto images to a new Aperture library, or is there no real difference between the two types of libraries? I have already created an Aperture library for some commerical work that I am doing, whereas the iPhoto is primarily a personal/family album.

P.S., is the Aperture library accessible / sharable with my iPad? I take the iPad with me to show customers the photos I

OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Nov 30, 2013 11:48 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

194,813 points

Nov 30, 2013 12:26 PM in response to Mike Lipay

Aperture libraries and iPhoto libraries are having the same structure. I have not found any problems so far, where I could not use my iPhoto libraries with Aperture.

P.S., is the Aperture library accessible / sharable with my iPad? I take the iPad with me to show customers the photos I

In what way sharable? You can sync albums and events from your Aperture library to your iPad using iTunes, just like from iPhoto, and you can send images to your Photo Streams and iCloud, and browse the streams on your iPad. Do you have IOS 7 and iPhoto 2 on your iPad?

-- Léonie

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Answer 2

Mike Lipay Author

Level 2

302 points

Nov 30, 2013 12:30 PM in response to léonie

Okay. So there are no differences / advantages to an Aperture library?

Yes, I haven't tried syncing the two. I have imported into aperture, but haven't tried going the other way, or a two-way sync.

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,813 points

Nov 30, 2013 12:48 PM in response to Mike Lipay

Yes, I haven't tried syncing the two. I have imported into aperture, but haven't tried going the other way, or a two-way sync.

Syncing? Neither Aperture nor iPhoto supports syncing of photo libraries so far. Aperture can merge iPhoto libraries and Aperture libraries, but it cannot keep two libraries in sync with each other.

There would be one minor advantage, if you import your iPhoto library into a new Aperture library. Aperture is a bit more economical with additional files, like faces and previews. iPhoto will always scan imported image files for faces, and iPhoto will always create high quality previews. In Aperture you can disable faces and previews, or set the size of previews to a smaller file size. So, an Aperture library might be smaller than a corresponding iPhoto library, when you create it new.

And I am not yet quite sure, what will happen, if new Aperture versions and iPhoto versions will be released, that require a paid upgrade. To use an iPhoto library with Aperture, right now it has to be upgraded in iPhoto to an iPhoto version compatible with Aperture. You cannot open iPhoto '9 libraries directly in Aperture, you need iPhoto '11. If it stays this way, you might be required to buy a paid upgrade to iPhoto to upgrade your combined iPhoto-Aperture library to be used with a new Aperture 4, even if you are no longer using iPhoto. In this case, it would be safer to convert the iPhoto library to an Aperture library by importing the iPhoto library into a new, empty Aperture library.

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