Aperture to Photo - is it going to cut the mustard?

[Crazy Badger]

Anxiously waiting to hear from some Aperture users on the developer program who have stuck it out this far to see what Photo is, or isn't going to do.

The early reviews don't sound promising (unless your coming from iPhoto) and it looks like I'm going to have to try again with Lightroom.

My Aperture library is currently around 80GB (sat on a SSD) although references about another 350GB of images stored on spinning disks and backed up in several places. It's all nicely organised in projects and folders, with smart folders for different camera, lenses, ratings, times, styles, keywords, etc.

Previously I've found even Lightroom is a little clunky for this, but at least it offers most of this functionality. It sounds like Photo isn't even going to scratch the surface at this stage, if ever.

The demise of Aperture has really hit home today Hopefully some users in a similar boat can try and cheer me up

 

[maflynn]

If you're used to Aperture type UI, editing tools, categorization then Photos is not the tool for you.

If you want some basic but automated editing tools with a polished UI that is closer to iPhone then Aperture. Then Photos is your tool.

Take a look at LR, as that's what most of us use, another viable candidate is Capture One.

Check out the threads in the Photography forum. They cover a lot of details on all three apps (photos, capture 1 and LR)

 

[Zxxv]

Looks to me like apple is well on the way to making one software and that software is to be accessible across ALL and any devices.

If your hoping for software that is optimised for a certain device, mac vs iPad vs iPhone etc forget it.

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I should add we are going to be limited by the weakest device. Instead of the mac being at the cutting edge its going to be dragged down by the least capable device in the chain.

 

[megalaser]

The problem I am having is that photos is eating all my RAM. I opened my 200GB Aperture library with it, the photos all appeared OK but system monitor is showing it eating RAM while it's just sitting there open doing nothing. It's eaten over 30GB so far and I had to quit it, I open it again and it starts eating RAM again . . . .

 

[maflynn]

The problem I am having is that photos is eating all my RAM.

I hate to state the obvious in that this is not meant for general consumption. Its a developer preview, so there will be some rough edges to be sure.

 

[megalaser]

You are indeed stating the obvious but people should know these issues currently exist which is why I am mentioning them.

 

[robgendreau]

Early previews suggest it may work for you. I don't think size, or storing externally will be issues.

There are some things in Aperture that don't exist in Photos; lots actually. Star ratings for example, or labels. Look at Photos on iOS and you can see some congruence. The Aperture virtual container structures (projects, albums, folders) has been simplified; you've now got projects and albums (and I'm not sure that projects behave the same way, i.e. that a photo can only be in one project).

In short, initial comments suggest it does not have all the organizational tools that Aperture had, but has more than iPhoto, and it may have all you need. And some new stuff like moments. But some sorting options, presets, batch metadata tools, etc may not be there.

It's a better iPhoto. But whether it can replace Aperture for you probably depends on the details of what you use in Aperture. Lots of people never used 90% of Aperture's features.

But hey, apparently it'll be free. And since you're referencing images you can probably use it alongside Aperture for at least a while.

 

[Crazy Badger]

Well, spent a good part of the day moving last years photos still stored in the Aperture library back to into folders on my spinning disk. Imported Aperture library into Capture One (about 90 mins) and it's running the import into LR5 (after about 2 hours)

Had little play with Capture One (which I'd never used before) and the interface seemed a lot more familiar than LR5, even though I've played with that before. That said, I'm worried about making the leap to something that dies a similar death to Aperture, and I'm guessing Adobe is the better bet? One thing I noticed that I immediately disliked was clicking a top level project didn't show all the images in the folders and albums below, like it does in Aperture. The filters only apply when you,be selected some images, so can't click the very top level and see all filter options.

Neither appears to have done a great job with the import, although that might be down to so poor management of my early reference files so will probably end up doing some tidying before I pick a horse and reimport again. I'd intentionally left some files in the Aperture library to see what both would do with them, and didn't like what either did so will also need to relocate these before the final import.

Will probably hold off before seeing Photo (shouldn't be too long if they public beta 10.10.3) but from what I've read so far the lack of project/albums/folders and ratings would be enough for me to need a new management app.

 

[Grumpyman]

bit off topic, but having paid £50 for Aperture will there be a further charge to get photos app?

 

[maflynn]

bit off topic, but having paid £50 for Aperture will there be a further charge to get photos app?

I believe the photo's app will be free.

 

[Crazy Badger]

Some of us paid a lot more than £50 for Aperture

 

[Grumpyman]

thanks. pretty sure it was £50. How much did some pay then?

 

[mic j]

Breath in...

Everyone take a deep breath..exhale...and relax.

Although Aperture will not be have new features/improvements it will function as it does now, and probably for several years. That gives everyone enough time to see not only how Photos meets immediate needs but also how it will be improved (both natively and with the addition of extensions) over the next few years.

If you like your Aperture workflow now...continue using it. Everything will be fine!

 

[maflynn]

thanks. pretty sure it was £50. How much did some pay then?

Apple for years charged $199 for Aperture.

 

[Grumpyman]

Apple for years charged $199 for Aperture.

blimey! i bought it about a year ago. Just checked my receipt:

Aperture, v3.5.1 (4+) iTunes S.a.r.l. Mac App £54.99

 

[maflynn]

blimey! i bought it about a year ago. Just checked my receipt:

Aperture, v3.5.1 (4+) iTunes S.a.r.l. Mac App £54.99

Apple cut the price a couple of years ago to 79 bucks, but before that it was 199(USD). It became one of Apple's top selling applications once they cut the price. I paid full price so seeing it whiter on the vine without much improvment was painful. Seeing it killed off for an application that has much less ability means that I'll not be using Photos. To be fair, I saw the hand writing on the wall last year and had already transitioned over to Lightroom.

 

[robgendreau]

One thing I noticed that I immediately disliked was clicking a top level project didn't show all the images in the folders and albums below, like it does in Aperture. The filters only apply when you,be selected some images, so can't click the very top level and see all filter options.

Is this in Capture One? Or LR?

 

[glenthompson]

Everyone take a deep breath..exhale...and relax.

Although Aperture will not be have new features/improvements it will function as it does now, and probably for several years. That gives everyone enough time to see not only how Photos meets immediate needs but also how it will be improved (both natively and with the addition of extensions) over the next few years.

If you like your Aperture workflow now...continue using it. Everything will be fine!

Exactly my plan. Aperture works fine for me and I see little reason to switch. If Phitos lacks the features I need I will continue to use Aperture until it does.

Based on the WWDC video on Photos, I expect to see a lot if powerful add-ins to Photos. They are making it easy for 3rd party developers to extend the functionality.

 

[Zxxv]

Exactly my plan. Aperture works fine for me and I see little reason to switch. If Phitos lacks the features I need I will continue to use Aperture until it does.

Based on the WWDC video on Photos, I expect to see a lot if powerful add-ins to Photos. They are making it easy for 3rd party developers to extend the functionality.

theyre going the iOS model of business.

• every year release a new FREE operating system
• app developers update their apps (not free)
• users rebuy the new app updates
• apple gets 30% cut of app updates

apples 30% cut is more than they would have made by selling a new OS

 

[Crazy Badger]

Is this in Capture One? Or LR?

This was in Capture One. LR was still processing the import which eventually finished after about 5 hours! Have really had chance to review results but still struggling with the overall LR UI. That said, it does show all images below a selected level

 

[maflynn]

Exactly my plan. Aperture works fine for me and I see little reason to switch. If Phitos lacks the features I need I will continue to use Aperture until it does.

That's fine, no need to rush in. I will say though Apple's M.O. of late is to roll out a new version (or major update) and that newer version will be devoid of the features users come to expect. They then over the next few years update and re-add some of those features.

I was expecting this with Photos and the developer preview certainly supports this supposition. I don't think we are going to see a lot of new features being added into Photos between now and the date Apple releases it which is projected for this spring.

No harm in staying with Aperture, but for me, I had decided to move off Aperture given their track record and my expectation the replacement will have less features.

 

[lsquare]

That's fine, no need to rush in. I will say though Apple's M.O. of late is to roll out a new version (or major update) and that newer version will be devoid of the features users come to expect. They then over the next few years update and re-add some of those features.

I was expecting this with Photos and the developer preview certainly supports this supposition. I don't think we are going to see a lot of new features being added into Photos between now and the date Apple releases it which is projected for this spring.

No harm in staying with Aperture, but for me, I had decided to move off Aperture given their track record and my expectation the replacement will have less features.

I think you're right with respect to what Apple is going to do with their new Photos app, but I doubt it's ever going to challenge Lightroom the way Aperture did. Even with recent progress with Apple's iWork suite of apps for both OSX and iOS, it's still not going to make much of a dent in Office's popularity.

I have been using Lightroom ever since version 1. It's a very mature and stable app.

----------

Everyone take a deep breath..exhale...and relax.

Although Aperture will not be have new features/improvements it will function as it does now, and probably for several years. That gives everyone enough time to see not only how Photos meets immediate needs but also how it will be improved (both natively and with the addition of extensions) over the next few years.

If you like your Aperture workflow now...continue using it. Everything will be fine!

If you're an advanced Aperture user, you're not going to see a lot of benefits switching to Photos. It's going to take Apple time to add new features to the app. You're better off switching to Lightroom. In my opinion, it's the best app on the market.

 

[maflynn]

but I doubt it's ever going to challenge Lightroom the way Aperture did.

Apple gave up on that market segment years ago, when they stopped upgrading Aperture. I was an aperture user, but decided when the news came out last year about apple killing it off, to move on to LR.

 

[lsquare]

Apple gave up on that market segment years ago, when they stopped upgrading Aperture. I was an aperture user, but decided when the news came out last year about apple killing it off, to move on to LR.

You're right. Surprisingly there were plenty of rumours about a successor to Aperture being released, but obviously that turned out to be false.

 

[mrderik]

Photos question

Does anyone know if Photos will permit the library to be stored on a non Mac Journaled NAS drive without the issues currently experienced with iPhoto?
Thanks,
Derik