Q: Move from Aperture?

Once again I must agree with you about Lightroom seeming cluttered. The best description I have LR is kluge, it certainly doesn't seem like there was any design philosophy behind it for sure. In the past, I was forced to work with LightRoom/PhotoShop. It was not a happy experience. So after Apple announces the demise of Aperture and iPhoto, Adobe was not even on my list as a possible candidate.

Allan,

Capture One has me heavily intrigued. I found this good comparison article https://photoapps.expert/tips/2015/3/13/aperture-capture-one-and-lightroom-walk- bar-part-1-2#.VfcqvUSCOrU

I am still trying to like Capture One. I can handle it being a little quirky but I get beachballs all the time, especially when changing to another folder, and it takes forever to show thumbnails when I am scrolling through images in the grid, even in folders where I have previously slowly scrolled through until all the images showed.  There are constant pauses while it fills in the blank images in the grid. This morning I deleted the preview and thumbnail caches and I am having Capture One rebuild them in hopes that fixes it. It will take most of the day to complete. Annoyingly, when I started the process it went into an hour-long beachball where I was prevented from doing anything else with the app, I couldn't even hide it.  All this is on a 2008 Mac Pro with plenty of RAM, a more up-to-date video card, and using an internal drive.

I found my problem with Capture One and TIF files has something to do with grayscale image. I think it is only those that do not have an embedded profile but I am not 100% sure. It also does not like some PNG files. The problematic PNGs I had to open in Photoshop and flatten before Capture One would notice they were there.  Again, it isn't so much a problem that Capture One won't import some image files, it is that it doesn't even display them in the import window. You don't even know you are skipping them.

I am starting to love Capture One Pro 8; I have a 2012 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 and an iMac Intel Core i7... CO is very fast on these machines...

I better understand how Keywords and Smart Albums work and am waiting to see if they come out with an improved version 9 in terms of image management + geotag map before dumping my whole Aperture Library into it (I have over 250 000 RAW images from around the world...). In the meantime, I process all my new sessions with CO and export them into Aperture as JPGS. I'll only convert to El Capitan when I am sure Aperture works on it or COP 9 comes out to my desires...

Marc,

Great post, thanks. I havent tested yet but I plan to. Maybe as an Aperture user you have some experience with these things?

1) I take a lot of random photos interspersed with events. In Aperture I dump all photos from iphone, SLR, video camera etc... into a folder and load specific images into specific Aperture projects saving the originals to specific folders on an external HDD. sometimes the imports are whole events and sometimes I'm adding photos of the kids to an existing folder. Aperture handles this very well. Apple Photos is a disaster for this. Can CO8 handle import in this specific way?

2) Does Co8 see .PNG files? I've heard it doesn't

3) Does CO8 see a plugged in iPhone as a source? I hear it doesn't

4) Does it handle video files. I store hundreds of clips I then make into movies in FCP. Does it handle and play within CO8? does it have any issues?

5) What does it import from Aperture? Lightroom imports the original and the final edit version from the original and no other. It wont allow backwards editing like it was still in Aperture. Apart from all the metadata, what detail does CO8 import when bringing in an Aperture library?

6) In Aperture I store my photos in folders by year then in event-based projects (eg: 2015 > 22 Fish Creek Park Flower shoot 13-03-15) Can I follow this simple convention in C08?

7) Will my Aperture key words import across?

8) Do you know if Media Pro 1 also by Phase 1 is compatible with Capture One? Do you even need it?

I suspect the badunit suffers with his older processor. I have a mid 2009 MBPwith 8GB of ram and a 1TB soldid state and it was dog slow with Apple Photos and an external HDD. It was slowing with Aperture but not too bad. Photos killed it. I have just ordered a fully loaded MBP 13". Any issues expected?

Thanks in advance.

You can download a free trial and test things out. There is no substitute for an actual test drive. From everything I read before trying it, I would have bought it straight out.

It can see png files but not all. Alpha may be the problem.

Keywords come over from Aperture but the whole keywording thing is not its strong suit.

My quad core Mac Pro may be getting long in the tooth but it is not a total dog. I do not have the same problems with Aperture or Lightroom. Sometimes a slight delay, almost never a beachball with Aperture.  I am still testing Lightroom so I cannot say too much about it other than browsing in grid view is quick like Aperture and adjustments such as white balance using the sliders are immediate (there is a 1 sec delay with Capture One for me).

My raw images look much better in Capture One. It is more like Aperture. It is more customizable. it is not Adobe. It has a lot going for it. But if I need to buy a new $4-10K computer run it, it is not a good deal for me. I have not given up hope.

Rob;

A tall order...

1) Yes; when importing CO8 will ask you where the originals are stored, if you want them imbedded or referenced and in which file they go. Once there, you can move them around

2) PNG files; I don't know if you can import them as I don't use them

3) iPhone connection; never tried as I use iCloud

4) I tried video (MP4) and the answer is no, they won't import

5) I get all the metadata from Aperture when importing. As I use referenced files only what I see in CO is the Aperture "worked" version. My original RAW file is referenced appropriately.

6) Storing convention; the answer to your question should be yes (I store my files by Continent, Country and Year)

7) Keywords: my keywords are imported appropriately

8) Media Pro is no longer necessary with C08 (at least I don't use it !)

Cheers

Marc

I think my problem with Capture One is how much data is is asking from my HD. Whenever it beachballs or pauses, I can hear my disk being accessed like crazy.  Neither Lightroom or Aperture have such a problem. Both of them will make it click and clack for a second but Capture One goes on for tens of seconds at least. I assume it is something about how Capture One fills in the thumbnails.  Also, hardware acceleration was turned off by default in the preferences. Turning it on made a big difference. If anyone knows how to speed up the rendering/display of the thumbnails (other than buying a 1TB SSD drive or a new Mac), I'd love to hear it.

Concerning Point 4, I finally was able to import MP4 files !

I plan to test i on my current mid-2009 MBP with 8GB RAM and 1TB solid state. I found Apple Photos a dog and unusable. I have  anew MBP coming maxing out all options so we'll see if there's a hardware fix in this. You're right, buying a new machine just for photo wrk isnt a great workaround. That is however exactly what I've done. My Mid-2009 graphics card doesn't handle 60FPS video (eg iPhone) in Aperture so I am making the change purely for photos and video. I'll post the results but it wont be until October when I get the new machine.

Marc,

Excellent. Your earlier post was great and thank you for that. But I was disappointing it didn't handle all video formats but as it seemingly does that compels me to test even sooner.

I was always going to test, just wanted any comments on those particular points. Thank you for taking the time.

I finally went with Light room 6. Primary reason was the import and total package. CO was actually harder to use than Lightroom and the design made it quite hard to see sometimes. I found myself not enjoying the user experience. I also found CO lacked certain data management and import handling features that I feel I couldn't do without or had gotten too used to. Since investing in Lightroom I have moved my entire Aperture library across without issue. The whole thing was very simple and easy.

I now have a load of workflow improvements to adding key words and removing photos and editing that I didn’t have with Aperture that make the whole experience very easy. Lightroom appears to have been much updated over Aperture since Apple stopped developing it. Lightroom have clearly exploited this and gone to town.

The thing I miss though, that you get in Aperture, is the Event view which you don’t get in Lightroom. And Lightroom doesn’t show up in Settings > Screen Saver (on Mac) so you can’t use Lightroom photos for screen background or screen savers through the standard Mac screen saver dialogue. Everything else is equal to Aperture or better in Lightroom. Key word sets, ability to delete the original and library file simultaneously, quick and detailed edits as well as really detailed editing menus, clarity slider and several other niceties. I don’t even use Aperture anymore after reading some complaints about it not working properly in El Capitan. I didn't want to be left hanging when it does finally stop working. I also found you can hide the clutter quite easily and now appreciate the interface. 

That being said I likely wouldn't be moving if Apple didnt can it. Does anyone know why Apple didn't sell Aperture as a business to someone else to keep developing? It's a different level of detail than Photos so not really a competing product.

I said I'd let the forum know what I was going to do so here it is.

Sounds like a valid plan.

I didn't find CO hard to use, I actually thought it was the easier of the two, but the asset management part of it is so slow due to how it saves and retrieves the thumbnails. Each one is a little file and the disk access time adds up (on a standard HDD).  Also, keywording is a joke, it has some bugs with TIFF and JPG files, and does not import anything with an alpha channel. What Lightroom has going for it is a large user base, lots of knowledge and help on the Internet, and it is pretty much the standard. But it feels so clunky and quirky to me and I am concerned that they will do away with the "buy" model and require everyone to go to the subscription model. I am concerned that my purchased copy will not being supported one day and my only recourse will be to sign up for an expensive subscription (expensive for a home user, not for a pro who uses it for business). So my choices are to stick with the unsupported app called Aperture, move to Capture One which is missing features I use and is slow for me (though for more money I could buy a 1TB SSD), or move to the clunky Lightroom app that seems to be headed toward a subscription-only model that I do not want. I see no other viable options (Photos is currently not and probably never will be) and I'm not happy with any of the viable ones.

Go with the tool that offers you the best workflows and capability. You will get used to its inadequacies be it LR or CO. Aperture is dad now. I bought LR outright from Amazon and I suspect they'll always have that option to keep the masses. LR isnt as clunky as you'd think but each to their own. Being a long time Aperture user I have built the interface to be how I like it and I move through photo management/editing faster than I did in Aperture.

I sell software for a living and its amazing how much loosing familiarity is the hesitation to swapping tools and not the functionality of the competition.

Thanks to all for this delightful ? Discussion on Aperture which I like a lot.

I am a retired photographer from the old 'wet process days'  and am delighting in the digital age.

Sorry for the demise eminent I guess of Aperture, but not much we users can do.

I use Aperture for restoring old photos with much success.

Now regarding changing to LR or O1 I shudder at the thought.

2 points emerge from this discussion. Firstly why do so called professional people whose livelyhood is their photo business, try to 'economise' on the tools they need. Best software, yes ALSO you need the best hardware.

secondly I have tried to find a package for my modest needs and was delighted to find AFFINITY PHOTO which no one has mentioned.

Though it does not have the needed file system, it seems to be the ultimate tool for adjusting professional photos.

i Bought it at $50 from SERIF.com (Europe) Ltd.-  and it is way over my head so should suit the pros.

It works beautifully on the Mac with El Capitan etc.