Anyone else going from Aperture to Photos?

[HarryPot]

I've had Aperture almost since its release. I liked it a lot, especially how easy it was to make a good folder structure to manage your photos.

When Apple announced it was going to stop its development, I decided to wait for Photos to be released.
When it was finally released, at first, I hated it. So much that I deleted my library imported from Aperture...

Then LR6 came by, and even though I had hated LR5 before, I downloaded a trial and imported all my photos.
I swear I just can't get how am I supposed to find my photos and make albums/projects. I have a 15" MBP and I feel like the screen size is too small for LR. Having 3-4 folder stacked makes it impossible to see the name of the last folder!

So... I went back to Photos, and truthfully, now it doesn't seem so bad. I've been using it two days now, and after finding out I could bring up an histogram, a sharpening tool, a noise reduction tool and a brush to clean up dust spots, I started to feel like I could live with it.

I'm really hoping Apple keeps improving it or to let third party apps add more functionality to it.

So, who here is using Photos after using Aperture?

 

[MCAsan]

Lr does not use the logical containment tags of Projects, Albums, and Events. LR provides Collections and Collection Sets to let you logically organize photos. You can find tutorials on the Adobe site.

 

[simonsi]

So, who here is using Photos after using Aperture?

Nope, tried LR but could get to agree with the UI, settled on Capture One. Not even trying Photos now it is out.

 

[USAntigoon]

So, who here is using Photos after using Aperture?

I also went back and forth between Photos and Capture One .. Now that I upgraded my old EOS 10D to a EOS 6D, I decided to go back into Raw mode...After practicing all the Photos tutor files, I decide to keep Photos for all my regular JPEG pics from different devices.. I did bought Capture One to handle all my 6D raw material and finished Jpegs can go in the Photos structure..I still like Pixelmator for some special jobs..My first impression with C1 is impressive...

 

[r.harris1]

Because a lot of my DAM is at the file system level and involves other tools, I've never really used Aperture for that, except for specific projects. I find that while Photos is a typical Apple shred-and-rewrite, it does general stuff pretty well, is very, very fast and I can continue to use it as a general enhancement tool for my images. I've also been drawn more to C1 like several others and if I need other functions, PS and increasingly other tools such Pixelmator and Affinity Photo work really, really well.

LR UI makes me feel like I need a shower. It's got some decent functionality and does a great one-size-fits-all take on things, and is finally starting to perform decently, but there's nothing in the product I particularly need. To me there are so many other options out there that there's no need (for me) to use it.

I will miss Aperture. I'm one of the few who remain somewhat bullish on Photos, not because of what Apple will do (though I hope they spend some energy on it), but when they open up to extensions. Extensions have the potential to be very, very powerful. No more roundtripping. But I'm not a "pro". I also only do things one image at a time and certainly not the gazillions of images event/wedding people do. Different strokes.

 

[HantaYo]

Went with Capture One and Photo Supreme as a DAM. I will not even try Photos. Looks like it is a waste of disk space and way too late. I had to move on over a year ago.

 

[maflynn]

I tried photos and quickly discovered its deficiencies, the lack of organizational features and lack of editing tools doomed the app for me. I can understand people's dislike for LR, some folks really hate the UI, but I don't think photos is the answer - just my $.02

 

[lcseds]

Often folks will give a piece of software only an hour or two before deciding it won't work. And this may be after years of using something else. When you have to make a major change, it's easy to dismiss the different in favor of something more in one's "comfort zone". Even if it's not the best solution. Like learning a new trade, it takes time and effort, but it will heap rewards. So, IMO, look at feature sets, expansion, etc rather than UI. UI is important, but I don't think anyone makes a really bad UI.
I tried photos but it won't work for me right now as I use a healing brush a lot and like my NIK plug ons. I'll see what it's like in a year or two. But by that time I will have invested much time and effort switching from Aperture. There probably won't be any point in photos after I have gotten comfortable with the Aperture replacement software I select.

 

[HarryPot]

Because a lot of my DAM is at the file system level and involves other tools, I've never really used Aperture for that, except for specific projects. I find that while Photos is a typical Apple shred-and-rewrite, it does general stuff pretty well, is very, very fast and I can continue to use it as a general enhancement tool for my images. I've also been drawn more to C1 like several others and if I need other functions, PS and increasingly other tools such Pixelmator and Affinity Photo work really, really well.

Indeed, it really is very fast.

I also signed up for the beta of Affinity Photo. For now I believe I will keep Photos and use Photoshop/Affinity Photo when in need of something more advanced.

I'm also not a pro, just have photography as a hobby, so I'm willing to sacrifice a little to keep something I feel at home when using, something LR certainly wasn't giving me.

Often folks will give a piece of software only an hour or two before deciding it won't work. And this may be after years of using something else. When you have to make a major change, it's easy to dismiss the different in favor of something more in one's "comfort zone".

I guess you are right. I know that if I stick with LR I will eventually get to like it more and understand how it works.

Maybe I'm being naive, but I believe Photos will improve with time. The only really big omission I can find right now is not having a rating system, such a basic feature.

And brushes, I used them a lot to sharpen just certain areas.

 

[glenthompson]

I'm sticking with Aperture for the time being. It meets all my current needs and still works fine on Yosemite. If Photos gets enough improvements and/or add-ins to equal or better Aperture I will look into switching. If it doesn't by the time Aperture won't work on a version of OS X I will have to look at other options.

 

[Weaselboy]

I'm sticking with Aperture for the time being. It meets all my current needs and still works fine on Yosemite. If Photos gets enough improvements and/or add-ins to equal or better Aperture I will look into switching. If it doesn't by the time Aperture won't work on a version of OS X I will have to look at other options.

I'm doing the same thing. What is stopping me from even looking much at other third party options is the Apple TV integration. I like to stream family photos to the Apple TV as a screensaver while playing music and I don't believe any of the third party product will allow their library to be streamed to ATV.

 

[robgendreau]

I'm doing the same thing. What is stopping me from even looking much at other third party options is the Apple TV integration. I like to stream family photos to the Apple TV as a screensaver while playing music and I don't believe any of the third party product will allow their library to be streamed to ATV.

I seem to recall one turned on home sharing via iTunes, and that one could share photo folders, not just a library. Has that changed? Since many applications like Lr don't have a managed library, of course one couldn't share what isn't there.

 

[Weaselboy]

I seem to recall one turned on home sharing via iTunes, and that one could share photo folders, not just a library. Has that changed? Since many applications like Lr don't have a managed library, of course one couldn't share what isn't there.

That is my concern. If I move all my photos into a LR library, I don't think they can be shared to the ATV. If I am mistaken here, I hope someone can point me in right direction.

 

[MCAsan]

I can sit in our TV room and use our ATV to stream movies that reside on my LaCie RAID library drive connected via TB to my MBP. Obviously if my LaCie library is not connected, no streaming.

With laptops we gain portability and give up huge internal storage, until we part our laptops back home again.

 

[mofunk]

Nope LR. Actually I'm still using LR4. I like their print module. Shooting RAW I like having more options with the adjustments. Sure iPhoto has some sliders you can adjust.

 

[Ray2]

iPhoto was always my final storage and distribution for my keeper pics. It gave me integration with the Apple eco system and nice distribution capabilities. Photos has already replaced iPhoto. Fast, does what I want. DAM and local adjustments are not there.

Since 2012 I've been through a move from Aperture since v2 to Lightroom for camera support, back to Aperture for my sanity, a few Apple required OS changes to use Aperture and its related iPhoto libraries on multiple Mac's and now a replacement for Aperture. I'm sort of sick and tired of this approach to spending my time and money. May simply move away from proprietary data base apps.

This weekend I used Photo Mechanic as a front end to editing in C1. From a DAM pov, better than C1 in terms of ease of use and functionality. Not up to Aperture or LR DAM.

For those considering C1, might want to start with importing a small Aperture library. This may make your entire decision much easier. So far I've tried around 10 small (<2,500 images, simple raw and JPEG files, no smart albums) Aperture referenced libraries and not one has managed to import into C1 with all of the images accounted for (off by 100's, not an odd one or two). I've also seen instability (loosing track of not only referenced images but previews missing as well. And, an occasional crash when rushed. Thought perhaps it was my Aperture library so I tried importing 2 of them into Lightroom. Perfect. I'm not ready to trust C1 to my images. As an editor, Fuji XTrans in my case, it's excellent. Though if you need good NR tools it's no better than Aperture. Remember, this is software evolved from medium format users with tripods and perfect lighting. They don't need NR. The catalog appears to be an afterthought, I get the impression most of their users employ Sessions or an outboard data base. I so far have 8 weeks of use on both v7 and v8. Enough to time to understand what it can do and can't do on the DAM side and witness my changing image count as a library is closed and reopened.

 

[maflynn]

Often folks will give a piece of software only an hour or two before deciding it won't work.

You're right, but by the same token, it often doesn't take an exhaustive analysis to determine if an application is a poor fit. There's plenty of information, reviews and first hand usage to indicate that Photos has less ability then Aperture. No amount of in depth usage will change this.

I'm sticking with Aperture for the time being. It meets all my current needs and still works fine on Yosemite. If Photos gets enough improvements and/or add-ins to equal or better Aperture I will look into switching. If it doesn't by the time Aperture won't work on a version of OS X I will have to look at other options.

The downside is apple may force your hand to change when perhaps you're not able to easily migrate to another tool, that is, Aperture may suddenly break with a system update. Also consider the increasing amount of work it will require to transition over to a new product, i.e., more photos to deal with. I understand the logic, and I'm not knocking it, but staying with an app that apple dropped support carries its own risks.

FWIW, many Aperture users have embraced Capture 1, which has a lot of similarities with Aperture and you can further customize the UI to suit your needs. With the free trial, it can't hurt to look at that.

 

[sim667]

I was just going to keep on using aperture...... and then photoshop when I occasionally need it.

 

[simonsi]

iPhoto was always my final storage and distribution for my keeper pics. It gave me integration with the Apple eco system and nice distribution capabilities. Photos has already replaced iPhoto. Fast, does what I want. DAM and local adjustments are not there.

Since 2012 I've been through a move from Aperture since v2 to Lightroom for camera support, back to Aperture for my sanity, a few Apple required OS changes to use Aperture and its related iPhoto libraries on multiple Mac's and now a replacement for Aperture. I'm sort of sick and tired of this approach to spending my time and money. May simply move away from proprietary data base apps.

This weekend I used Photo Mechanic as a front end to editing in C1. From a DAM pov, better than C1 in terms of ease of use and functionality. Not up to Aperture or LR DAM.

For those considering C1, might want to start with importing a small Aperture library. This may make your entire decision much easier. So far I've tried around 10 small (<2,500 images, simple raw and JPEG files, no smart albums) Aperture referenced libraries and not one has managed to import into C1 with all of the images accounted for (off by 100's, not an odd one or two). I've also seen instability (loosing track of not only referenced images but previews missing as well. And, an occasional crash when rushed. Thought perhaps it was my Aperture library so I tried importing 2 of them into Lightroom. Perfect. I'm not ready to trust C1 to my images. As an editor, Fuji XTrans in my case, it's excellent. Though if you need good NR tools it's no better than Aperture. Remember, this is software evolved from medium format users with tripods and perfect lighting. They don't need NR. The catalog appears to be an afterthought, I get the impression most of their users employ Sessions or an outboard data base. I so far have 8 weeks of use on both v7 and v8. Enough to time to understand what it can do and can't do on the DAM side and witness my changing image count as a library is closed and reopened.

That changing image count isnt something Ive seen or see others refer to. Have you raised a support case with Phase One? Is Photo Mechanic still in that mix?

 

[robgendreau]

That is my concern. If I move all my photos into a LR library, I don't think they can be shared to the ATV. If I am mistaken here, I hope someone can point me in right direction.

No concern. You can share folders. Lr references photos so they don't get "moved" into Lr. Of course if you make a version/edit in Lr, like say a crop, you'd have to export that back into the folder for it to be visible when iTunes goes looking for it. iTunes can see such edits within Aperture/iPhoto libraries, even managed ones. Dunno if that's true for Photos.

 

[lcseds]

You're right, but by the same token, it often doesn't take an exhaustive analysis to determine if an application is a poor fit. There's plenty of information, reviews and first hand usage to indicate that Photos has less ability then Aperture. No amount of in depth usage will change this.

I never mentioned Photos other than it's not a fit for me. My comments were for any software package a user may want to change to. That's why my post never mentioned any software packages by name that were options to Photos. I didn't want to show any bias with the post.

 

[Ray2]

That changing image count isnt something Ive seen or see others refer to. Have you raised a support case with Phase One? Is Photo Mechanic still in that mix?

No support case. It's a good idea but I haven't decided if I'm going to import my entire Aperture library, do normal imports of the images as all my metadata is written to all files or use sessions. No sense in bogging them down at this point.

It's good to hear you haven't seen changes in the image count. It only happens on the Aperture libraries I import. Direct imports of files have been immune to this issue.

I'm also seeing C1 has issues with JPEG files. Files that are not an issue in Aperture, Adobe and any number of other photo browsers/editors either can't be opened in C1 or open corrupt. My final distribution copies are jpegs exported through Aperture. So it's having issues with my better shots. Have you seen this?

 

[simonsi]

I'm also seeing C1 has issues with JPEG files. Files that are not an issue in Aperture, Adobe and any number of other photo browsers/editors either can't be opened in C1 or open corrupt. My final distribution copies are jpegs exported through Aperture. So it's having issues with my better shots. Have you seen this?

Ummm no. Is this when you import these files, or go to open them once imported?

 

[Ray2]

Ummm no. Is this when you import these files, or go to open them once imported?

These are jpegs that are anywhere from a few months old to 20 years old, already on disk. There are a lot of them. I get the "read only" icon (crossed over pencil). The image will open but always the same case, 3 vertical representations of the same image on the one image. Any other viewer I have tried (Photo Mechanic, Aperture, Lightroom, Preview, iPhoto, Graphic Converter, probably more over the years) has never had an issue with any of these same files. Per GC, they are not corrupt.

Which is the other issue I have with C1. The filtering is so limited you can't filter on a symbol they believe important enough to flash on a preview. Which makes finding them a torturous process.

Another reason I have my reservations about committing my library to C1's catalog. Perhaps Sessions, haven't tried it yet.

 

[simonsi]

These are jpegs that are anywhere from a few months old to 20 years old, already on disk. There are a lot of them. I get the "read only" icon (crossed over pencil). The image will open but always the same case, 3 vertical representations of the same image on the one image. Any other viewer I have tried (Photo Mechanic, Aperture, Lightroom, Preview, iPhoto, Graphic Converter, probably more over the years) has never had an issue with any of these same files. Per GC, they are not corrupt.

Which is the other issue I have with C1. The filtering is so limited you can't filter on a symbol they believe important enough to flash on a preview. Which makes finding them a torturous process.

Another reason I have my reservations about committing my library to C1's catalog. Perhaps Sessions, haven't tried it yet.

I haven't seen anything like this, are you using a managed or referenced catalogue? Im not sure you should expect C1 to be able to filter based on a file state it may not know about until it touches each file, it would need to be continually checking which would lead to an overhead whenever it was running.

Is the read-only status real according to the file system?