Don't give up on Aperture

I've used Aperture since it made it's first appearance. unfortunately or maybe fortunately, Apple's deciding to dump it has lead me to use Lightroom. I'm afraid to tell you Aperture diehards but LR is far more powerful than Aperture. It may not have the a great workflow for importing but apart from that it has great tools in it.

I have been migrating (copying) my photos from Aperture to LR so the the one question I would like answered is if you delete and Aperture library are all the photos also deleted? I hope so

so the the one question I would like answered is if you delete and Aperture library are all the photos also deleted? I hope so

If you imported the image files into the library as managed, then yes, but if you imported them as referenced, no.

There current customer base are overwhelmingly mobile users. They're using iPhones and iPads and folks like us a now a quite small niche market.

Agree completely. However, I find that, "power users" like us often influence the buying decisions of new, or less experienced customers. I have probably convinced 50 people to switch from Windows to Mac over the years!

But with Apple moving away from professional desktop programs, (like Aperture) to "household programs" (like Photos), I worry that Apple might lose the pro-user.

I own and enjoy lots of iPhones, iPads and even an Apple Watch. But I don't see why these products cannot live in harmony with the professional customer.

I've been using Macs for more than 20 years and find that the term "power users" is always self-defined and utterly meaningless.

I've been using Macs for more than 20 years

31 year Mac user here. Apple II before that, HP mini-computers before that.

the term "power users" is always self-defined and utterly meaningless.

I guess I was thinking along these lines. 🙂

http://techterms.com/definition/poweruser

Yes, perfect example:

Power users, however, require top-of-the-line machines that are optimized for their work purposes.

Now take the word 'users' out of that and put in 'drivers'. Power drivers are folks who need top-of-the-line cars, right? I got to have a top of the line machine because, you know, I call myself a power user. Sounds real cool. Means nothing. I know folks who use - and need - top-of-the-line machines in their daily work who couldn't find a cache file if their lives depended on it. I know folks working on 6 year old MBPs who use all their knowledge and skill to keep that machine humming along nicely. That's a knowledgeable and skilled computer user. 'Power user' is an ego massage.

"I'm afraid to tell you Aperture diehards but LR is far more powerful than Aperture."

A Ford F-150 is "more powerful" than an Audi A4 but I wouldn't be caught dead driving one.

Aperture's appeal (like that of all Apple products) goes far beyond the "power" of its "tools". Aperture's editing tools are more than adequate, even though some LR editing tools like noise reduction may produce marginally better results. The main reason why Aperture has such a loyal following is the entire user experience. It's a pleasure to use, which is more than I can say for Lightroom or any other crappy Adobe product.

Adobe software is slow, resource hungry, crash-prone, has a ridiculously unintuitive interface and steep learning curve, and none of their software is natively designed for Macs.

Switching from Aperture to Lightroom is like switching from OS X to Windows.

"But with Apple moving away from professional desktop programs, (like Aperture) to "household programs" (like Photos), I worry that Apple might lose the pro-user."

Aperture is just the beginning. Anyone out there who relies on Final Cut Pro X or Logic Pro X should be prepared to be abandoned as Apple will likely dump them to focus solely on iMovie and GarageBand.

There is now more "pro level" software for the Mac than ever before. Your mistake is to assume that only Apple make that grade software. Notwithstanding your comments about LR there are several post processing apps for the Pro photographer now, ditto for the movie editor and also for all the other folks in other fields.

Aperture's claim to fame was not its "post processing" capability, but its intuitive interface and excellent DAM features. The only vaguely comparable alternatives are Lightroom and Capture Pro 1, both of which have equal or better editing capabilities but woefully inferior user interfaces, workflows, and DAM features.

As I said before, comparing Aperture to any of the alternatives is like comparing OS X to Windows. If you're unfamiliar with the reasons why it has such a loyal following then you are not in a position to be lecturing anyone about whether or not there are adequate alternatives available.

I would be very worried right now if I were among those whose livelihoods depend on other Apple pro software like FCPX or Logic Pro X. With Apple abandoning Aperture, there's little reason to expect they won't do the same for these others.

But you wouldn't use an Audi to tow a big trailer on dirt roads either.

I agree that Aperture is a more intuitive piece of software. The problem is that you invest a lot of time (translates into $) into training on the use of software and you have to be assured that that time & cost (if you are on business at least) is not going to be wasted.

Adobe products (LR,PS etc) are specifically aimed at the photo market and they have shown their commitment to this product so a reasonable bet that this will continue.

Apple dropped FCS in place of FCPX. FCPS is also an easy, intuitive piece of software to use but I don't think it has the same depth as FCS had. I changed over from Premier 10 years ago. In hindsight I should have stayed with Premier.

At the end of the day however if you want to use Photoshop then LR interfaces far better with it than Aperture does so it's a no brainer from that point of view.

I too am still using Aperture, but it is getting laggy and crashes more often than ever before. I have started using Affinity Photo and that is an awesome app! I am still sad about the loss of Aperture, since it is a great organizer to keep my photos in a nice order that I can find and it has some pretty good adjustments as well. Photos is a sad, sad photography program in my opinion. In face, it makes me angry when I try to edit with it, so I have stopped doing that. I am planning on using Aperture as long as it keeps working and Affinity for the more advanced editing and eventually I may have to break down and get Lightroom or some other tool to organize my library. I may even use Photos if it gets any improvements.

I really don't expect Apple to keep Aperture, since they have stopped supporting it and they wouldn't go back to it, the only hope is they will allow Photos to grow and expand beyond the iPhone on a Mac app that it is. It makes me angry because if I want to have limited editing and limited control of my photos, I will just use the iPhone to edit and share and do whatever with my photos. Photos is a betrayal to all the Aperture users who purchased that great app.

rodphoto wrote:

I think that giving up on Aperture and accepting its demise is not our only option, Aperture is by far the best digital photo application that Apple (or indeed any other software developer) have created and as such, must not be allowed to disappear.

If we all create a groundswell of opinion we can persuade them to reinstate this Rolls Royce of an application. Lets unite, and rise up to remind Apple that Adobe cannot be the provsole digital photo platform on the planet.

Noble gesture there but why should we do anything with Aperture since Apple has decided to stop supporting it. To me that just say that Apple no longer cares about the serious photographer so why should the serious photographer waste any time on Apple. Let them have there toy of Photos which is nothing more then a recompiled version of Photos from the iPhone so that it runs on a Mac.

I am now search for a third party to solution to replace Aperture. As soon as I find it Aperture will no longer exist on my Mac.

I too am still using Aperture, but it is getting laggy and crashes more often than ever before.

I'm using it with a 300+GB library on both a three year old Macbook Pro and a six year old iMac and it runs just fine on both with no crashes.

If you're unfamiliar with the reasons why it has such a loyal following then you are not in a position to be lecturing anyone about whether or not there are adequate alternatives available.

I used it from the day it was released. I'm familiar with it, just not hysterical about it. I have now been using LR for a few months. The processing tools are significantly better, reflecting the fact that the app is in constant development, not left to stagnate like Aperture was for three years. As for the DAM features, apart from the managed library, I've yet to come across anything that I couldn't achieve in LR, and then there's those Smart Previews which Aperture never got near. There is a learning curve, yes. It's not as intuitive, you're right. But it's really not that hard to learn.

Oh, and who did I lecture, exactly?