For the record, here’s what I have tried:
Running the diagnostic routine to check for possible hardware issues (Clean bill of health reported)
Sent numerous crash reports to Apple. (Obviously you don’t expect instant results from that, but fixes are a lot less likely if the reporting isn’t done).
Changed to graphics drvers obtained directly from Nvidia. Nvidia’s description was they they were still at the Beta stage for my specific graphics hardware. (Very big improvement but not a 100% fix. Occasional small issues).
Tried converting an existing iPhotos library and also starting new empty Photos libraries. (No improvement).
Changed workflow patterns. (Some apparent improvements. By altering the order in which I worked, slowing the work down, and closing and re-opening Photos every third or fourth edit I could noticeably lower the rate of crashes but not eliminate them altogether. Unfortunately, what did not emerge was a clear pattern of use that could reliably produce the same type of crash every time it was followed. Crashes and graphics issues were varied and apparently random.}
What I didn’t try:
Testing Photos as a different user. I need to get a specific user account to work so I concentrated on that.
Rolling back to Sierra. The problems only began with High Sierra, so rolling back was an option. But as I was particularly interested in using features only included in the High Sierra release there didn’t seem much value in that path. I did do a complete re-instal of High Sierra though. (No improvement.)
Conclusion so far:
I’ve been working with home computers for over thirty years so I’m well aware of the risk of downloading new releases in the first few days. There will always be those who have problems, big and small. Sometimes they will be fixed in later patches and upgrades and some will be too specific to the setup on a particular machine to ever work properly. But if nobody reports or discusses the problems then some issues that may have been fixable will never make it to the top of the list.
Of course, there will be a certain percentage of computers that won’t work well with certain software because of hardware or software problems that are specific to that machine. I believe that my machine is well maintained in that regard but nobody, however careful their procedures, can ever be 100% certain that their machine is completely clean and clear of conflicts or issues. All I say is that I have no other problems with either the machine or any of the software it runs (which of course doesn’t necessarily prove anything!)
Fortunately, I have nothing important riding on this particular issue. I could roll back to Sierra , although the longer you leave that the longer and less appealing the process becomes. I could go back to iPhotos or use a number of third party programs. I’ve chosen to use Lightroom and have been very happy with the decision. So, for me, the flaky performance of Photos was moderately inconvenient but not a disaster. It didn’t trash anything. It “seemed” like an issue with the specific graphics card used in my machine, but I have no useful hard evidence to support that guess.
I hope that all the people experiencing problems can find a solution.
