Q: Move from Aperture?

I am addicted to Aperture. I have over 200,000 photos in my Aperture library. Maybe people like me could adapt if sufficient features were added to photos.app? I suggest people give Photos feedback suggesting what capabilities might make it acceptable. Also - I have heard that Photos can be supplemented with external programs. What are the limitations of this? Could a developer enable the capabilities we need with an external program? Or would that pretty much amount to rewriting Aperture without the benefit of the existing source code? (I assume that is impractical.)

Here is a youtube video that shows how extensions work in Photos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iErA-XdNcos

Photos has the capability of having a lot of editing features but it looks like you'll buy them a piece at a time and the cost may add up fast just to get back to where we were with Aperture in terms of editing. Plus, each extension is on its own, you cannot make a set of your favorite or most used adjustments, you have to jump from one extension to another versus having the things you want and need at your fingertips. But maybe someone will come out with an Aperture equivalent extension that covers all the bases.  Unfortunately, Photos has a lot of other failings besides editing. It is fast at displaying thumbnails, though.

Hi Stephen,

So was I. I don't have as many photos as you but I have my entire kids life in there and many many photos that I lovingly and painstakingly edited that I would die if I lost. But I am so happy with Lightroom that I have all but removed it from my system. I don't use it at all. I highly recommend it. Everything is in there that Aperture had from brushes to expert tools to complete photo management and I had zero issues moving a 1TB library. There are some tricks though before moving which I'd be happy to explain but they can be found on youtube in many of the migration videos.

Photos is unfortunately just not there. It is nicely organized but for people who

1) want a large library and must reference their photos I don't think it is built for that. Its simply designed for your every day point and shoot photographer who doesn't care to do much other than say I like/I don't like and have them organized nicely and some very basic edits. If thats ok for you and you can wait 3 years for some enhancements then  great! But it will NEVER be a replacement for Aperture.

2) its not got any where near the editing tools that Aperture or LR has. Its extremely poor and Apple have just gone with the masses and kept it simple. I'm sure in years it will turn into a mess like iTunes but for now don't expect Apple to add your enhancement requests. They typically add what they want and expect you to use.

Lightroom caters for the amateur or pro photographer who wants excellent management and editing functionality. Do the following

1) Create full size previews for your entire Aperture library. This takes a long time!

2) refine and clean up your key words in Aperture

3) make 3 complete backups of the Aperture data base and original photos (or the consolidated library data base if thats how you did it) and store them in different places, this takes even longer!

4) run a complete migration test and expect it to fail, then you wont be disappointed when it works. A 1TB library took me all day to migrate but at least 24hrs to backup so expect to take some time doing this.

5) sign up to fstoppers.com and buy some of their basic and advanced Lightroom training tutorials.

Then be less worried that you'll lose access to Aperture with a future OSX update. Be happier with the editing and photo management tools in LR and dont be concerned that you have to use that lame app Photos.

I agree with you that Apple is forcing us to move to third party solutions when they dropped iPhoto and Aperture.

My disagreement with you is on your selection of LR as the choice of replacement. Personally I can't stand the interface. I find it to be royal pain to do anything with it.

I am looking at downloading a demo copy of Capture One.

I have used a couple of Adobe programs. The UI drove me so crazy, I was practically pounding the keyboard in frustration. From the comments of many other "gamma testers", I think the probability of the same happening with LR is very high.

This is really just a general comment. I just started trying capture one 8. Here is a problem I ran into when I tried to move my Aperture photos to c1.

Since I have a referenced photo base, I went to file to import the catalog. Unfortunately, my Library was in in iphoto and not Aperture. ( I was using the unified

Library that allowed me to open my pictures either in Aperture or iPhoto. CAPTURE ONE COULD NOT READ THE iPHOTO LIBRARY, and I have no good idea on how to convert back to the old Aperture library.

If anybody has a solution to my problem I sure would appreciate the help.

I have no good idea on how to convert back to the old Aperture library.

I'd create a new, empty Aperture library in Aperture (on an external drive with plenty of free storage) and then use "File > Import > Library" to import your iPhoto Library into the Aperture Library. This will convert it to an Aperture library.

The iPhoto version and the Aperture version you are having installed need to match. If your current Aperture is the latest release - Aperture 3,6, open the iPhoto Library in iPhoto 9.6.1 before your try this.

Leonie, your idea worked out just great. Once I converted the iPhoto library back to an Aperture library. Caption One opened it and allowed me to move the my Aperture Library into the catalog of C1.

Thank's again for your help.

Jim

So what's the user community trend for their Aperture replacement ?

1-Photos

2-Lightroom

3-Capture One Pro 8

4-Others

Can we have a poll on this question ?

Where and how ?

Badunit wrote:

 

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.

....Do not give up hope for Capture One (CO) being the 'best' option to replace Aperture. Yes, CO doesn't have as user-friendly interface as Aperture and is slow to load Sessions / Catalogs on my 2011 iMac running Yosemite but most importantly, unless you only shoot JPEGs, it's RAW Converter is second to none and also blows Lightroom's RAW engine away.

We adjust our workflow according to what tools we have at our disposal and have to be prepared to adapt or change accordingly otherwise we will never be satisfied and that is not the happiest way forward. Phase One are very approachable (unlike Apple unfortunately) and future developments look promising. They have also been around for many years and are well established in the professional field.

I started off with the CO free trial software but bought it after only one week and now never use Aperture although it is still installed. I gave up using iPhoto when I started using Aperture and on it goes.

The perfect solution would be Aperture reprieved from Death Row and having a heart transplant with Capture One's RAW engine!

I'm waiting for El Capitan to be updated a few times and to then feel confident that my installed third party Apps work on it without problems but I understand that it speeds up processes even on older Macs like mine.

gsf1 wrote:

 

To Kawalin, Filippo, RedRobin and others,

................... but thanks to ericnepean and RedRobin I've cast my eyes on Capture One Pro 8

....Many thanks for thanking me (and others) - It's always good to know when we have helped someone. Helping others and being helped is what these Apple discussions are all about and thanks are always appreciated.

And now a cheeky request : If you haven't already done so, please click the star option on my post which helped you which will bung me some more points on my status. I know it's rather ego massaging but I think that the points system is good.

Thanks,

Robin

Red Robin wrote:

...

 

And now a cheeky request : If you haven't already done so, please click the star option on my post which helped you which will bung me some more points on my status. I know it's rather ego massaging but I think that the points system is good.

 

Thanks,

Robin

Robin, only the original poster in a discussion can award points, in this case Filippo1.   So it is no use to ask gsf1  for points. That is impossible.

See:  Award points, level up, and earn new privileges

léonie wrote:

 

Robin, only the original poster in a discussion can award points, in this case Filippo1.   So it is no use to ask gsf1  for points. That is impossible.

See:  Award points, level up, and earn new privileges

....Thanks Leonie - You have helped me and many others many times - Info much appreciated!