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Best alternative to iPhoto

I'm looking for a photo manager app that will let me import the folders of photos as I had them organised on my PC, let me put photos from my camera and phone into the same album (i.e. for a holiday album) and drag and drop them into the order I want instead of my tag, and also some editing features like red eye, crop, filters, etc.


Can anyone recommend a good app for that?

iMac

Posted on Aug 31, 2014 10:33 AM

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13 replies

Sep 1, 2014 3:39 AM in response to Old Toad

I've read though that iPhoto duplicates photos when they're imported and I wanted something that would leave the files in their original place and then allow me to save "projects" or albums as a separate entity once I'm happy with them. Plus I'm sure I read that iPhoto is being discontinued so am interested to know what people think of the competition like Picasa and others

Sep 1, 2014 8:20 AM in response to Porkpie74

Although iPhoto will be replaced with the new Photos application we don't expect it to lose any of it's capabilities with the transition. Apps like Picasa do not have the integration with the system and other Apple apps that iPhoto or Photos will.


iPhoto is a DAM, digital asset management, system based on a SQLite database. This allows only one file to be in the library but be used in multiple projects, i.e. books, cards, slideshows, etc., without duplicating the master file. Picasa is more of a file management app where if you need to have it in two groups of photos or projects it will have to be duplicated on the hard drive. Not very storage efficient.


So if you want to continue managing your photos as you did on your PC use a file management application.

Sep 1, 2014 9:36 AM in response to Old Toad

So does iPhoto import (and in the process duplicate) all of my photos from the Photos folder in my user folder? Do iPhoto and Picasa have much difference in terms of functionality? I want to manage my original folders and drag and drop photos from phone camera uploads into folders I created for the same events when uploading photos from my actual camera - then if I fix something I want that done to the master file (e.g. red eye correction) but the option to play around with colours and filters and still retain the original as well

Sep 1, 2014 9:41 AM in response to Porkpie74

Each import into iPhoto ends up in its own Event. If you want to move photos into the same event just flag all of the photos you want in the same event and use the Event ➙ New Event from Flagged menu option. Or you can use albums to group photos you want to have as a single group. With Picasa and file management apps you have to physically move the photos via the Finder into the folder you want.


With iPhoto it replaces the Finder when viewing and managing photos. It's just a different mindset. You might look at Media Pro 1 as an app to do what you want. It's a folder based app but lets you move photo between folders from inside the application's window.

Jan 14, 2015 12:06 AM in response to Porkpie74

Some features of iPhoto are also broken. I tried to use iPhoto slideshow, and it repeats the same photo over and over again. It also intends to allow a user to select music accompaniment from your iTunes library, but my library doesn't show up in the dialog dropdown, so it doesn't actually provide that feature. I'm dissatisfied, and looking for an alternative.

Jan 14, 2015 12:15 AM in response to pdtompkins

Wait. Apple will be releasing a new photo management (and whatever else) app sometime soon, presumably in the next few months. Maybe, just maybe, things will improve with the new version, although with the way Apple's been going lately I certainly wouldn't recommend getting it until at least version 1.1.


I'm dissatisfied too, but won't make a move until I see what Apple's got up its sleeve.

Feb 24, 2015 8:31 AM in response to Old Toad

iPhoto is already loosing photos before becoming the Photos app. Countless people that upgraded to iPhoto 9.6 have had their librarys go blank even though all the data is there. Hundreds of hours of organization gone when you have to import all the photos into a new library as Apple has not provided a fix for this. I have 225 gig of photos that I have to start over on.

iPhoto library empty after upgrading to iPhoto 9.6

Feb 24, 2015 9:08 AM in response to tlhintoq

iPhoto is already loosing photos before becoming the Photos app. Countless people that upgraded to iPhoto 9.6 have had their librarys go blank even though all the data is there.

That's why it's so important to have a backup of the library before upgrading or updating which is just good practice. Things can go wrong and having a backup keeps you from losing your organizational efforts.

Feb 24, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Old Toad

You're absolutely right! I should have started with the assumption that the upgrade would fail, that everything would be ruined. Its my own fault for not having a duplicate 24 terabytes of storage dedicated just to backing up multiple incremental backups. And the fix for a dented fender is to go back and drive the spare car you keep in the garage. Restoring to a back-up isn't a *fix*: Its a work-a-round for a bug. A big that in this case is widely reported but not being addressed by Apple. That's the complaint/rant here: That Apple is not resolving the issue.


In fact I do have LOTS of backups of most everything on my computers. All my actual media for example is backed up twice. In a worst case all I can loose is the organization but not the data itself. Worst case is I have to re-organize. But am I going to back up the 225gig iPhoto library to DropBox over the internet every time iPhoto updates? I don't think so. Plus extend out this thinking to all the other data. I have 7 terrabyte in iTunes. So know we're talking about that update every time iTunes updates. At some point you spend all you time backing-up and nothing else.


In this case I am protected to a degree. I do have a complete backup of the Mac pre-update (this isn't my first rodeo). And each time I point the new 9.6 iPhoto at a copy of the pre-update photo library it once again goes blank. iPhoto 9.6 consistently does this. Therefore I have to back-grade the installation of iPhoto. Every tried that? Its easier to format the computer and start over, install the older version and decline on-line updates. But that's probably what I'll have to do this weekend: Format the Mac, reinstall, countless updates but NOT for iPhoto.


But there does come a point where you have to have some level of faith that a simple upgrade won't completely frag everything - otherwise you spend more time watching your drives spin and backup than you spend actually getting something done. Its not reasonable to run a multi-hour back-up each and every time some program or another updates: There just aren't that many hours in the day. And if the program and the OS is that untrustworthy that you have to do that for each and every little thing then is it worth having?

Feb 24, 2015 9:37 AM in response to tlhintoq

Restoring to a back-up isn't a *fix*: Its a work-a-round for a bug. A big that in this case is widely reported but not being addressed by Apple. That's the complaint/rant here: That Apple is not resolving the issue.

It is a fix for your current problem, a damaged library. Not all updates result in a damage library so it's difficult to find the common denominator for those that do. With data like an iPhoto Library that is being updated/modified on a daily basis it would seem prudent to use an incremental backup app like Time Machine, Chronosync, Synk Pro to keep mission critical files/folders backed up on an ongoing basis.

But am I going to back up the 225gig iPhoto library to DropBox over the internet every time iPhoto updates? I don't think so.

I should hope not because backing up a library to Dropbox will corrupt the library as bad as you've experience or possibly worse. There are NO cloud backups offered that can handle an iPhoto Library without damaging it. None.


As for Apple not working on it who says they're not? They don't acknowledge such things until they come out with an update. However, Apple has said that further development of iPhoto (and Aperture) has been discontinued in favor of the new Photos app (which at this time isn't any where near where it should be).

Feb 24, 2015 10:01 AM in response to Old Toad

I think you and are in basically in sync on the matter. Yes backups should happen, but yes they are also problematic and in some cases can cause as much harm as good. I've seen our IT professionals freak out more than once when a RAID that was supposedly backing up all along couldn't be restored: You never know until you try to restore it. Then comes the matter of dealing with big data. I have 750gig in just TV shows. So that means I have to dedicate another 1tb drive just to back it up. Expand that out to movies, music, photos and so on. At some point I need to buy a multi-drive NAS and populate it with 4tb drives. I probably need to set up at least three systems like that: Live data, mirrored backup, incremental backup. But I don't have endless funds.


Old Toad wrote:

As for Apple not working on it who says they're not?

They do, as you just said.


Old Toad wrote:

Apple has said that further development of iPhoto (and Aperture) has been discontinued in favor of the new Photos app (which at this time isn't any where near where it should be).


So that leaves us/me in limbo. For now, I'll roll back my Mac and just decline all future updates.


Its just infuriating when the update program should have made a backup of the database. You back up the database. You update the program. You create a new updated database from the old data. If all goes well you run with it. If it fails you offer to roll the user back. Its a pretty standard update protocol.

Best alternative to iPhoto

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