Apple Ending Development on Aperture as Upcoming Photos App for OS X Will Replace iPhoto

[maflynn]

Some saner thoughts on all of this:

https://www.apertureexpert.com/tips/2014/6/27/aperture-dead-long-live-photos#.U6-j3o2wJgV

and

https://www.apertureexpert.com/tips/2014/6/28/comment-follow-demise-aperture#.U6-kHI2wJgU

But my own investigation took me back to the WWDC Keynote, where they demonstrated the simple interface of Photos and offered a peak behind the curtain at the deeper software underneath.

But by the same token, Apple's approach will be mostly geared towards the consumer and not the prosumer or professional - if their prior track record is any indication. I've said this before, for my pictures, I'd rather not deal with a cloud based storage solution - especially one that is as expensive as Apple's (compared to other cloud providers).

I'd consider myself as a hobbyist rather then a prosumer, though I have shot events for $$ in the past, its something that I enjoy and choose not to take it further. That being the case Aperture was a great tool, where as iPhoto was not. LR has a lot to offer but Aperture was better suited to my usage needs.

to summarize, Apple is coming out with a new photos app, but imo, its more of an iPhoto replacement then an Aperture replacement and given my image libraries are about 200gb of storage, there's no way I'm willing to use a cloud based solution.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Well we know the photos app will feature extensibility so in theory existing plugin makers will be able to update their plugins to be compatible with the new Photos application.

But will Apple offer a "pro" type plugin that gives us the features of Aperture? Seems unlikely.

Yet on the same coin, is there any information that it won't have the features of Aperture and that it will require a plugin? There is no information to that extend either. One could argue that is unlikely as well

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But by the same token, Apple's approach will be mostly geared towards the consumer and not the prosumer or professional - if their prior track record is any indication. I've said this before, for my pictures, I'd rather not deal with a cloud based storage solution - especially one that is as expensive as Apple's (compared to other cloud providers).

I'd consider myself as a hobbyist rather then a prosumer, though I have shot events for $$ in the past, its something that I enjoy and choose not to take it further. That being the case Aperture was a great tool, where as iPhoto was not - for my needs. LR has a lot to offer but Aperture was better suited to my usage needs.

to summarize, Apple is coming out with a new photos app, but imo, its more of an iPhoto replacement then an Aperture replacement and given my image libraries are about 200gb of storage, there's no way I'm willing to use a cloud based solution.

Is there any information that states you can only store your images in the cloud? I haven't seen it, but if there is I'm buggered with a mere 2Mbps connection in the wonderful British countryside locations...

 

[jakesaunders27]

And that's why Apple does whatever they want, it's users accept it and remain loyal no matter what. Until it affects the bottom line, it will continue this way.

Yep that's very true mate.

 

[maflynn]

Is there any information that states you can only store your images in the cloud? I haven't seen it, but if there is I'm buggered with a mere 2Mbps connection in the wonderful British countryside locations...

Not yet, but for me, I want to do my due diligence. There's also a concern of the capabilities of the new app from apple. With FCPx and iWork they released very basic apps that then proceeded to get updated with features. I'd rather not go though that process with this photo app. There's no guarantee that this will be the case but if prior history is any indication...

 

[cjmillsnun]

Made the switch to Lightroom, and very glad I did by all accounts. This just cements my decision.

 

[stevielatphoto]

Same Boat Here

I have been using Aperture every day for the last 8 years. I have about 500,000 images across about 20 libraries!? This is an absolute pisstake. I have had Apple everything for years, every single thing. My whole workflow revolves around aperture. Their stupid libraries system means you can't even access the files outside aperture. Moving to another system will be an absolute nightmare. There are terabytes and terabytes of data! All of the 'lossless' adjustments will be completely lost.... Not to mention the many years of experience and workflow shortcuts that will be cut down to the stump. ****** you Apple. This is the absolute worst thing you could possibly have done, you absolute inconsiderate scumbags. That is people's livelihoods you are messing with

I completely agree with you Master D. I recently exported over 600GB as aperture libraries onto an external hard drive to free up space. This export is my livelihood, These exports have paid my mortgage and everything else around my life. Apple need to provide assurances to me and other professionals that adjustments contained within their library systems are not going down the drain.

 

[lcseds]

The other guy did 500k images over 8 years, I wonder how someone reaches that number of photos, let alone 2M...

2M images in the modern digital era means more than 8 thousand photos a month for the past 20 years. You can imagine the amount of trash in that collection.

Some folks can walk up a fight of stairs and at the top exclaim they have 20 new photos. Whatever. Art is in the eyes of the beholder. I am extremely critical of my work. I'm not afraid to say I toss half because it turns out after eyeballing and using a loupe they don't cut it for me. Usually minor composition shortcomings. Many would find some of my trash to be great photography. But if it isn't what I was wanting, it gets binned.

Honestly I'd rather hear some insightful and honest commentary from a soccer mom that uses iPhoto once a week than some of the "pros" that troll these forums for attention.

 

[netwalker]

Apple need to provide assurances to me and other professionals that adjustments contained within their library systems are not going down the drain.

That's a problem of any proprietary non-destructive editing. For how long do you need to use those edits in a modifiable way? Keep the raw files (and good luck processing those proprietary formats in 30 years form now) and save the result of your edits in a future safe format. That still allows you to monetize your work in the future and maybe make new (better) adjustments without being depended on any company and their future software development.
I think chances are quiet good, that the new Photos app will be able to handle your Aperture adjustments just as we've seen it between different Aperture versions. But that's all speculation at the moment and we will have to wait and see.

 

[dilbert99]

Apple need to provide assurances to me and other professionals that adjustments contained within their library systems are not going down the drain.

We have to be responsible for our own backups. The images won't exist only in the cloud, but also on our hard drives where the usual backup regimes will still be in place.

 

[^^BIGMac]

Well done boys. Not a single new thought since page one.

Relax.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Not yet, but for me, I want to do my due diligence. There's also a concern of the capabilities of the new app from apple. With FCPx and iWork they released very basic apps that then proceeded to get updated with features. I'd rather not go though that process with this photo app. There's no guarantee that this will be the case but if prior history is any indication...

Surely you can only do your due diligence when the application is actually out, and some facts are known...Until that time it is purely speculation what it can and can't do...

Each to their own naturally, to me if Aperture works today there is no reason to accelerate going to Lightroom just yet until it is known what may or may not be included in the new application...

 

[jthompson666]

This is horrible. Just what I needed after a 14 hour shift at work -.-

 

[fa8362]

The "They" I was talking about weren't selling anything...

You need onsite and offsite backup to guard against fire

EDIT: (which I guess isn't multiple forms of backup if that offsite backup is still hard drives which I guess is ok...)

Of course they are. Nothing has ever been written which didn't promote something.

 

[dilbert99]

Of course they are. Nothing has ever been written which didn't promote something.

Was a tech podcast chatting about backup strategies

 

[maflynn]

Surely you can only do your due diligence when the application is actually out, and some facts are known...Until that time it is purely speculation what it can and can't do...

Sure I can, but personally, I'd rather not deal with a version 1 new app when there's an app that has been very stable works well. So my due diligence is now seeing how I can set up and configure LR to work the way I want it too.

If it cannot be done easily, maybe I'll hold off and see what apple will provide.

 

[fa8362]

Was a tech podcast chatting about backup strategies

It's still promoting products. Nothing is free. Someone paid for it and didn't do it for free.

 

[D.T.]

You need onsite and offsite backup to guard against fire

EDIT: (which I guess isn't multiple forms of backup if that offsite backup is still hard drives which I guess is ok...)

You’re correct, it’s multiple forms, or call it, strategies, the underlying mechanism isn’t as important.

We have 4 (or more copies) of our biz and personal data. Everything is local (1), and on an external drive via TimeMachine (2), and on a offsite/online backup service (3)

Then we have some content specific replication: source code is on GitHub/Bitbucket/SVN (4a), photos are on Flickr/Photobucket (4b), things like docs are replicated on various services like GDocs, iCloud (4c..z).

The more failure points, the better.

Anyway, apologies on the off-topic-ness of this, but backup is important, and since iPhoto is a “backup” for your phone (of sorts...), figured I’d post. I’m still shocked at the people who don’t backup their photos from their device, let alone have any kind of plan for their computer (even if they _do_ occasionally sync their phone to iPhotos ...)

 

[Frobozz]

I have a DSLR with 18 megapixels or resolution. The files are large, and I take enough photos that my entire library isn't going to fit on a single hard drive on my computer. I loved iPhoto for it's simplicity. Whenever I needed to do anything super fancy, I always had Photoshop LE. But most of the time the editing tools of iPhoto would do the job. The problem was library management. I had to use third party software to manage multiple libraries, and even then you couldn't view ALL your photos across all libraries. For home users that just have a zillion photos, like me, I had to look elsewhere.

I purchased Lightroom as a solution to the library problem and can barely understand how this app gets the attention it does. I really don't like it. It's made for people who want to adapt their film processing metaphors to a digital process, and it doesn't work. So many features are arbitrarily scattered in different rooms. Exporting to the cloud or even another library is bizarrely confusing and cumbersome- especially in the cloud. In short, everything Apple was nailing in iPhoto to just strip away the complexity and get at the use cases of a consumer / prosumer is utterly missing from Lightroom.

I had considered Aperture as a possible third option- thinking it might be iPhoto on steroids. That's all I want. I hope Photos is that app, because I really just want local editing of a massive library of images that I don't have to worry about archiving and managing. If they can nail that, I'm back with it and going all cloud based. I hope this Aperture announcement turns out to be a welcome consolidation, because I'm warning anyone thinking Lightroom is easy to use- it's not. The editing tools are excellent and nuanced, but my gawd they can't figure out the simplest management tasks.

 

[fa8362]

I'm warning anyone thinking Lightroom is easy to use- it's not. The editing tools are excellent and nuanced, but my gawd they can't figure out the simplest management tasks.

For me, Lightroom is ridiculously easy to use. I don't see why you think it's confusing. Shoot, import, process, add to a collection or not, export. I don't see anything difficult in that. I don't use the cloud though.

 

[Bezbozny]

Made the switch to Lightroom, and very glad I did by all accounts. This just cements my decision.

After this announcement i went and bought lightroom. Should i migrate all my photos to lightroom? How did you do the transition? If moving all the photos (RAWs) is not easy then i ll just start fresh and add only the new photos to lightroom and leave the old ones to aperture. But i prefer having all my photos in one library and viewing them from one application. Also at some point in the future aperture will no longer run (e.g. in 5-6 or 10 -20 years from now) in OS-X so i won't be able to have access to my photos. I am thinking quite far ahead but it s better to solve the problems now than in the future.

 

[imageWIS]

With the amount of money data over mobile costs in the USA (READ: ripoff!) WHY would I want my photos up in the cloud using up valuable data that I need for tasks which require the web like GPS, email, etc... ??

 

[driftless]

With the amount of money data over mobile costs in the USA (READ: ripoff!) WHY would I want my photos up in the cloud using up valuable data that I need for tasks which require the web like GPS, email, etc... ??

Use Wi-Fi. Every McDonalds or Starbucks has it for free. We often visit a place that is most off grid, it has a wonderful food co-op and we often enjoy a cup of coffee and roll while uploading.

 

[Imhotep397]

With Adobe turning Dracula with their subscription-only products it's annoying to see Apple basically trying to go the same route. I honestly hope one or two of the companies that make color grading software for cine footage decide it's time to jump into the stills editing fray selling products instead of renting them.

 

[fa8362]

With the amount of money data over mobile costs in the USA (READ: ripoff!) WHY would I want my photos up in the cloud using up valuable data that I need for tasks which require the web like GPS, email, etc... ??

For my use, I can't think of a single good reason.

 

[Digital Skunk]

Unless Photo is some great app (doubt it) Adobe will no longer have to compete against Apple and wonder what they are going to next with Aperture.

Lightroom and Photoshop will suck over time because their is less competition from Apple.

I would agree but I don't thing Adobe ever competed against Apple.

In the beginning sure, since Aperture was an amazing piece of code in the very beginning. It was sad that back then, the best Mac tower you could get (a quad core liquid cooled G5) couldn't run Aperture affectively though.

Once Lightroom was introduced (I was lucky enough to be one of those Adobe Labs beta testers) it was all down hill for Apple primarily because Adobe had Photoshop's 13 year old legacy backing it up.

Now, I still think Adobe will produce good code in LR, it's not like people NEED Lightroom, so they will still need to put up a good product if they want people to pay $10 a month.