Best replacement for iPhoto (now that it's no longer available)?

Read this user tip: Moments in Photos are the New Events. A very easy way to simulate the Event viewing of iPhoto in Photos.

That, combined with the superior editing capability of Photos makes Photos an excellent replacement for iPhoto.

If Photos on the new Macbook Pro is anything like Photos in iCloud, I'm going to be outrageously unhappy. It's stopping me from getting a new Mac for now. I need something that works like iPhoto, not iCloud. and no way do I want ALL the photos I've ever taken or scanned showing up on my iPad or phone. Please! I wish Apple had left iPhoto alone.

If you want to know about the app the ask - and even ask on the Photos forum. Not sure why you think we might care how you feel about things. Photos works like iPhoto. You don't have to use the Cloud at all, or, you know, you can use any of about 50 other apps. That's what grown ups do.

I realize I revealed an attitude/concern about the software and for that I apologize. I do not think it merited a personal attack. And the header was my question. I see others are being helpful so I shall turn my attention to their answers.

I would also add that there are issues with Photos not being able to identify various devices even when plugged in. Many of the apple products are substandard unless you take a big jump up with price. I often have difficulties just downloading photos from my phone- so if this is the case for other users try a different programme altogether.

And please try to be polite in your threads- your answer was the first and it kind of sets the tone.

I would also add that there are issues with Photos not being able to identify various devices even when plugged in.

Can you give us an example. I have no such issues. Include the version of the OS you have too.

Many of the apple products are substandard unless you take a big jump up with price.

No idea what you're talking about there.

often have difficulties just downloading photos from my phone-

Which Phone? What OS on it? Really, vague posts are just vague posts. Be as concrete as you can and give examples of what you're talking about. That's really helpful in solving problems, or if not in solving them, then in helping other people make sense of your post so they can learn from your insights.

If you mean an app to replace iPhoto, then Photos.

But it's not "a photo editing app", and neither was iPhoto. They're both Photo Managers with non-destructive editing features.

If it's a photo editor you asking about specifically, then there are hundreds. Or if you don't like Photos and want an alternative: Standard questions: What's your budget? How many images are we talking about? Shooting Jpeg or Raw?

1 - iPhoto still works just great if you are up to date with version 9.6.1 - if you do not keep your system up to date see Can't Update iPhoto because it is not available in the App Store

2 - The best for almost all people is Apple's follow on Photos (one reason is that its editing capabilities are much stronger than iPhoto and with extensions new capabilities are constantly being adder by third parties) - since you obviously have not bothered to learn how to use it I expect you will loathe every program you try since all program are impossible to use if you do not learn o=how to use them - but in any case no one but you can choose the program that you like

LN

I'm with Larry, Photos is far more capable at editing photos than iPhoto is, more tools and better ones too.

Before offering advice on alternatives, and there are plenty, what kind of shooter are you? family snapper? Serious hobbyist? Shooting Jpeg on a phone? Raw on a DSLR? How many shots per year? 1,000? 10,000? 100,000?

Click on Adjustments and note the Add button in blue:

For what it's worth, I just used iPhoto as a photos database and, in my opinion, Photos is a horrible replacement.

I understand for others if you enjoy Photos, that's fine.

But I really miss the Events and the ability to edit photo metadata. Albums really aren't a substitute for events, IMO, and not being able to edit the metadata is really a big loss -- lots of my pictures were uploaded from other sources (e.g., scans of old paper photographs, downloads from web pages with other people's photos), and have bad metadata.

So... if anyone has a replacement for iPhoto that handles those features, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

You can edit the metadata.

What's your budget for a replacement?

Me too.

I have a double bind - I run on a 5-year old MacMini, still clinging to the last OS that runs iPhoto. For a year I've been experimenting with Photos and even Adobe Lightroom without success. I need to update the photo archive application and the underlying hardware.

I had a 30 day trial of Lightroom. It took 35 days just to convert my iPhoto library into what it used, and the convert failed at the end. I should have used smaller experiment set, but didn't have time to make it up.

I never edit photos, don't care about editing capabilities. On the other hand 'events' like iPhotos are essential for me to keep rolls of pictures together, for adjusting metadata, etc.

I have a working set of about 6 cameras thus need to keep photos grouped by camera. (Some cameras have the same model, so "smart albums" doesn't do the trick.) I archive cameras of several family members, so there are maybe closer to a few dozen different cameras in my set. I have scanned negatives going back 30-35 years too from old film cameras (and I keep the old notion of film rolls for them). In total I have over 150,000 images and movies, about 1TB of data. (That's probably not a lot to professional photographers.) I have this in 740 events - since 2011, I keep each camera divided by calendar year to prevent hitting any event limits (I don't want to find out if there are any).

I do have albums of events where I combine all cameras at an event into one. Time synching is an issue when this is done.

I change timezones frequently so I keep all the photos on UTC, synched to NTP. The problem cameras are on cell phones that swap time zones with me, the other cameras suffer clock drift. Without events, this becomes unwieldy (as each camera drifts differently).

Because my photos include film from the 1980, I have metadata comments describing the places and events. It took me about 5 years to collect all that - a lot of work. It's that work that I am afraid of losing.

I would just love a good photo archive package. Forget the editing.

The other bind - I mentioned 2 - is that I feel the need to replace hardware. My current MacMini has been running 5 years 24x7. The OS is old. I can't see any positive recommendations regarding Mac hardware - it seems everything is "old in the cycle." I am beginning to wonder if Apple is abandoning the Macintosh.

In that case - my search is for anything out there - open source OS or Windows. I realize the transition is going to be a lot of work no matter what, at this point.

Budget? Not worried - managing my photos has cost me a lot of time already, far more than any software costs I can imagine.