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

[Keebler]

I use Aperture every single day. In fact, other than Mail or Safari, Aperture is the most frequently used app on my iMac. I never quit Aperture, it's always loaded and minimized in my dock for instant access. Ever since I got this new iMac with 1TB of flash drive, Aperture flies! It's a real joy to use. It doesn't do everything, but it handles 95% of my needs. I do own Photoshop CS6 (as in, I paid for it ONCE and don't have keep giving Adobe money on a monthly basis) and Aperture's ability to hand off images to Photoshop (for adding titles or other editing that's not available in Aperture) works like a charm. It's a terrific one-two punch for image editing and Aperture's image cataloging is SUPERLATIVE!

I'm simply at a loss as to why Apple has decided to stop development of the app. For me, it's like Apple is cutting off my right arm. I'm not about to spend time and energy to learn a new program when I have, literally, THOUSANDS of hours invested in learning and using Aperture. It's freakin' second nature to me.

I will use Aperture for as long as I can. When Apple stops providing compatibility updates (for further versions of Mac OS) I will cease to upgrade my Mac OS (which also means I won't be buying any new Macs from that point either).

I'm really ticked off with Apple right now. But, more than that, I'm saddened by Apple's continued metamorphosis away from being the BEST choice for creative arts professionals.



Mark

True. I submitted feedback. Aperture location was at the bottom:

apple.com/feedback.

I let them have it

hopefully more of us will. Probably won't change anything for the future but maybe they'll have some of the features into this new photos app

 

[avidos]

For decidedly different take see this article by Thom Hogan:

http://www.dslrbodies.com/accessori...software-news/another-one-bites-the-dust.html

By the way, there is nothing in the MacRumor linked articles that Apple is working with Adobe to transition Aperture users to Lightroom. And why would they if, according to Hogan, Apple has the jump on Adobe here.

interesting article...

maybe Apple will one day make a statement, but I suspect hell will be a lot colder by then....

which is the real problem here, Apple have secrecy in their bones, and now it's starting to cost them, in terms of PR and as a direct result trust and customers.

A lot of people moved away from Final Cut due to the way Apple handled the move to FCPX and a lot more moved to M$ Office when the messed up pages, FCPX is now a fantastic programme, but people will stay away due to trust.
iWork may become great again, but who will know except the home user.

Business is walking away from Apple because Apple won't give them a road map they can use to plan their business.

 

[am2am]

If the Photos app were going to be an Aperture replacement Apple wouldn't be working with Adobe to ease the transition of Aperture users to LightRoom.

Apple is NOT working with Adobe on Aperture->Lightroom transition.
Its Adobe who is working on it.
- techcrunch has already corrected it in their article, macrumors did not.

 

[Furqueron]

Two reasons we've stuck with Macs. Time Machine and Aperture, the key one being Aperture.

By the time Apple gets their new software even halfway (if it makes it THAT far) to where Aperture is, it'll by 7-10 years from now.

Irony is I was at the Apple store this week about to replace our 2011 MBPro with either a new MBPro or a MPro and adding a Promise Peg2 RAID. Well, those plans are now out the Window(s) <pun intended>.

I have a VMail on my iPhone 3GS (was going to an iPhone 6...now?) from Apple Business to go over our requirements for the RAID. I'll be returning that call Monday and telling them not to worry, I'm moving on to some other brand.

I could justify the cost of Apple hardware in my mind just to run Aperture and knowing my wife's data was backed up reliably. Now...I'm going to be looking at less $$$ alternatives.


Our paths/needs have parted. Goodbye Apple.

I use Aperture every single day. In fact, other than Mail or Safari, Aperture is the most frequently used app on my iMac. I never quit Aperture, it's always loaded and minimized in my dock for instant access. Ever since I got this new iMac with 1TB of flash drive, Aperture flies! It's a real joy to use. It doesn't do everything, but it handles 95% of my needs. I do own Photoshop CS6 (as in, I paid for it ONCE and don't have keep giving Adobe money on a monthly basis) and Aperture's ability to hand off images to Photoshop (for adding titles or other editing that's not available in Aperture) works like a charm. It's a terrific one-two punch for image editing and Aperture's image cataloging is SUPERLATIVE!

I'm simply at a loss as to why Apple has decided to stop development of the app. For me, it's like Apple is cutting off my right arm. I'm not about to spend time and energy to learn a new program when I have, literally, THOUSANDS of hours invested in learning and using Aperture. It's freakin' second nature to me.

I will use Aperture for as long as I can. When Apple stops providing compatibility updates (for further versions of Mac OS) I will cease to upgrade my Mac OS (which also means I won't be buying any new Macs from that point either).

I'm really ticked off with Apple right now. But, more than that, I'm saddened by Apple's continued metamorphosis away from being the BEST choice for creative arts professionals.



Mark

 

[mkldev]

Photo Mechanic.

http://www.camerabits.com/products/

Also, photojournalists don't shoot Raw, so that entire aspect of Lightroom is unnecessary.

Why would anyone in his or her right mind not shoot RAW?

...personally, i find RAW is mostly a waste of time and computer power. i pretty much only know prosumers that use it regularly... if i'm going to be heavy manipulation to distort the reality of the photo i'm going to load it into photoshop anyway. otherwise, i think a photo should be good when you take it.

RAW isn't about distorting reality. It's about recovering detail. A JPEG file is already clipped to the gamut of your screen. There's no more detail left to recover, so opening it in Photoshop won't help you much at all. A RAW file isn't, which means you can take an underexposed or overexposed shot and correct it by several f-stops without significant loss of quality.

More importantly, it means that you can actually use shots taken in real-world situations where you aren't in control of the lighting. Say you're photographing a stage play. If you take a wide shot, you'll have parts of the shot that are blown out from too much light, and parts that are buried in the mud from too little light. As a photographer, there's really nothing you can do to fix that while taking the photo, because the dynamic range of the scene is wider than the dynamic range of a JPEG image. With RAW, you can pull the shadows and push the highlights, compressing the dynamic range to the point where the picture is actually usable.

Most pros shoot RAW exclusively. Maybe photojournalists cut corners and use JPEG to save time, and maybe for their purposes, the inability to handle lighting extremes doesn't matter, but for everybody else, it's a godsend.

----------

I still don't understand this criticism after all these years... the library structure is perfectly fine for pros and amateur use... the files are all there for anyone to see if they want, and for those who don't care, they're all hidden in a library.

Works like a charm for me.

This obsession of seeing every single folder and image is just crazy IMHO. Hide the files most of the time and when I need access, let me have them. Aperture does that.

Two words: Time Machine. The bundle structure is fine until your photo library fails to back up because the app has that bundle open. I've seen it happen with iPhoto, and I'd be willing to bet Aperture has similar behavior.

Photo libraries are not at all like an iTunes library. You don't open music files in Photoshop to edit them. You don't open a Safari file browser window to upload music files to Facebook/Twitter/Flickr. And so on. But you do all those things (and more) with photos.

A bundle implies that you should almost never need to access anything inside it. Many folks need to work with individual photo files with regularity. Therefore, a bundle is the wrong metaphor. A pile of 50,000 photos is not (in practice) used like a single file, and so should not be treated like a single file.

 

[zipa]

The filesystem structure is a horrible way to organize data.

DATABASES are meant to organize data, and Aperture/Lightroom took that approach.

Sure. But filesystems are a brilliant way to store content, whereas a database is probably the crappiest place imaginable for it.

Hence: Image files (content) goes in the filesystem, the metadata goes in a database. Which, incidentally, is how Lightroom does it.

 

[Keebler]

Two reasons we've stuck with Macs. Time Machine and Aperture, the key one being Aperture.

By the time Apple gets their new software even halfway (if it makes it THAT far) to where Aperture is, it'll by 7-10 years from now.

Irony is I was at the Apple store this week about to replace our 2011 MBPro with either a new MBPro or a MPro and adding a Promise Peg2 RAID. Well, those plans are now out the Window(s) <pun intended>.

I have a VMail on my iPhone 3GS (was going to an iPhone 6...now?) from Apple Business to go over our requirements for the RAID. I'll be returning that call Monday and telling them not to worry, I'm moving on to some other brand.

I could justify the cost of Apple hardware in my mind just to run Aperture and knowing my wife's data was backed up reliably. Now...I'm going to be looking at less $$$ alternatives.


Our paths/needs have parted. Goodbye Apple.

Your post is exactly what I told Apple in my feedback form.

Told them they're giving folks 1 less reason to buy a Mac.

Although, I still believe in a large array of reasons to stick with a Mac, but for folks on the fringe, it's the proverbial push over the edge.

I realize you may not care as you've made your decision, but when you do call them, on our behalf - the sake of total internet Apple strangers

Please tell them the Aperture fail is exactly why you're moving on.

Maybe it'll make a difference, but maybe it won't. With enough people griping, it might at least have them look at ways to integrate AP features into this new Photos app.

Cheers,
Keebler

 

[righteye]

Why does everyone keep worrying about RAW updates? RAW support is at the system level, not within Aperture. That's why Preview and iPhoto and every other app built on the core Apple frameworks all benefit whenever Apple supports a new camera.

But will that update to RAW work in Aperture? if you are right its good news it means people will have a bit more time to get them selves sorted out.

 

[zioxide]

Not to be an ass, but I wonder by these post how many people upset about Aperture being EOL'd have even used Lightroom?

Aperture is like a toy compared to Lightroom. Lightroom's tone controls blow Aperture out of the water.. I can recover details in Lightroom that I could never dream of recovering in Aperture. Masking, sharpening and noise reduction, and lens correction in Lightroom all blow Aperture out of the water.

Aperture was a niche product for a small base of prosumers. But really, it's been lacking in many image processing features Lightroom has had for quite a while. I don't know any serious photographers who still use Aperture.. the one's that did moved to Lightroom over the last couple years.

The way it organizes your library is different, but once you learn the differences, it's just as flexible, and the editing features are light years ahead.

Moral of the story? Open your minds and don't judge a product before trying it. I was on the fence about LR too about a year ago, but making the jump is totally worth it. Your photos will thank you in the long run.

 

[righteye]

Two reasons we've stuck with Macs. Time Machine and Aperture, the key one being Aperture.

By the time Apple gets their new software even halfway (if it makes it THAT far) to where Aperture is, it'll by 7-10 years from now.

Irony is I was at the Apple store this week about to replace our 2011 MBPro with either a new MBPro or a MPro and adding a Promise Peg2 RAID. Well, those plans are now out the Window(s) <pun intended>.

I have a VMail on my iPhone 3GS (was going to an iPhone 6...now?) from Apple Business to go over our requirements for the RAID. I'll be returning that call Monday and telling them not to worry, I'm moving on to some other brand.

I could justify the cost of Apple hardware in my mind just to run Aperture and knowing my wife's data was backed up reliably. Now...I'm going to be looking at less $$$ alternatives.


Our paths/needs have parted. Goodbye Apple.

I ran this past Diglloyd " Why does any one need a Mac" was my main line he replied "why does any one want PC" and he went on to remind me about security, virus issues etc. its been a long time since i used a PC and i was glad to be reminded of the good things about having a Mac so don't be to hasty, you are angry and rightly so but its safer here. Of course there are advantages of a PC over a mac for some things and Im not trying to start a Mac vs Pc debate.

 

[Michael Goff]

I ran this past Diglloyd " Why does any one need a Mac" was my main line he replied "why does any one want PC" and he went on to remind me about security, virus issues etc. its been a long time since i used a PC and i was glad to be reminded of the good things about having a Mac so don't be to hasty, you are angry and rightly so but its safer here. Of course there are advantages of a PC over a mac for some things and Im not trying to start a Mac vs Pc debate.

I have to wonder if your friend has used a PC lately.

 

[melendezest]

I wonder how many people angry about this situation asked us who like the 17" MBP to quit whining when Apple killed it because it didn't sell well…

I said it before, and I'll say it again: Apple is not interested in making the "best products" any more. It is ALL about money. This is yet another exhibit supporting that theory.

The decision to kill an app such as Aperture is strictly FINANCIAL. They are going for the bigger market; the "pro" one is too small (according to their apparent philosophy, at least).

They keep getting smaller at the point where they have the most money EVER, when they should be diversifying more (i.e. getting bigger--MORE PRODUCTS). Their so-called "focus" and simplification is the problem. If taken to it's logical conclusion, it means Apple would end up with one product (the simplest form). The one that makes the most profit.

So if you have a heavy business investment in Apple, you better have a "Plan B" ready, tested, and viable. Apple is a consumer company, not a computer company anymore.

This trend of killing products with no real 1st party replacement will cause it to implode.

Yea, I said it. Apple is doomed. But not yet, not yet.

 

[righteye]

Not to be an ass, but I wonder by these post how many people upset about Aperture being EOL'd have even used Lightroom?

Aperture is like a toy compared to Lightroom. Lightroom's tone controls blow Aperture out of the water.. I can recover details in Lightroom that I could never dream of recovering in Aperture. Masking, sharpening and noise reduction, and lens correction in Lightroom all blow Aperture out of the water.

Aperture was a niche product for a small base of prosumers. But really, it's been lacking in many image processing features Lightroom has had for quite a while. I don't know any serious photographers who still use Aperture.. the one's that did moved to Lightroom over the last couple years.

The way it organizes your library is different, but once you learn the differences, it's just as flexible, and the editing features are light years ahead.

Moral of the story? Open your minds and don't judge a product before trying it. I was on the fence about LR too about a year ago, but making the jump is totally worth it. Your photos will thank you in the long run.

Because Apple abandoned it, it should/could have been improved but was left to stagnate, thats why i stopped using it a long time ago(apart from iPhone images/videos) as i wasn't happy with the way Apple were updating Aperture.

 

[Steve121178]

I said it before, and I'll say it again: Apple is not interested in making the "best products" any more. It is ALL about money.

I wonder if Apple realise that many people purchased Apple hardware so they can use apps like Aperture, Final Cut etc.

If Apple start killing these apps off (or making them too consumer orientated), then people & professionals will just simply switch to Windows. Adobe CC is the only serious alternative and you don't specifically need a Mac for that!

We must give Apple a chance to redeem themselves with the new Photos app, but it's clear that it's going to be nothing more than a glorified iPhoto with a bunch of extra features.

 

[mikecorp]

hmm

i love Aperture ;( I do not like Lightroom.

so if the new app will be better then Aperture I do not care how it is called.

 

[GrumpyTrucker]

Could part of the issue be the App Store?

Just thought of this one - and it may have been mentioned - but could part of the decline of Aperture be down to the App Store model?

My guess is that a lot of Mac people who want to use Aperture already had it. New people coming to the Mac can at least try Lightroom before committing to buying it, not so with Aperture. I think moving a not cheap piece of software into a supply channel where you can't try it first will put a lot of new Mac users off trying it. I know that's why I never tried it.

As a result they'll try other stuff first, and more than likely never come back to Aperture. Result? Fewer sales, and a growing feeling within Apple that it's not popular enough to continue with.

 

[lcseds]

Geez, I can't find the download for the new Photos app anywhere. Can all of you that are saying how limited it is direct me to the download? Apple knows how to make a good piece of photography software. What they need to do, and what I think they are doing are merging to make further development simpler. Suppose you had the iPhotos front end for all the snap shooters, but then had an advanced mode that is similar to the features in Aperture. You may be able to select the simple or advanced interface on start up. "Aperture" is no longer. That does not mean pro features will be gone. Lot's of LR knee jerk reactions from what I see. I am willing to see what they put out next year. Wouldn't you hate to move everything to LR only to find out Apple has some very robust features in the new app?
They will keep Aperture running until everyone can get a taste of the new app. Then if it doesn't pan out, Adobe get richer. I also think Apple will have a localized storage system as well as a cloud based storage system. It's important to have both options, and Apple would demonstrate total stupidity by forcing the cloud on users. Unless you have an urgent need to jump to LR, I would think it would be wise to hold off and see what they offer. Might save a whole hell of a lot of time vs migrating with no edits, and doing it all over again.

 

[iSlave]

I ran this past Diglloyd " Why does any one need a Mac" was my main line he replied "why does any one want PC" and he went on to remind me about security, virus issues etc. its been a long time since i used a PC and i was glad to be reminded of the good things about having a Mac so don't be to hasty, you are angry and rightly so but its safer here. Of course there are advantages of a PC over a mac for some things and Im not trying to start a Mac vs Pc debate.

It's 'safer' to stay indoors and never leave your house too. Same goes for any kind of travel inside or outside your own country. Apple...benevolent dictators, keeping us all safe...that's proper cult mentality.

 

[Mactendo]

Idiotic decision.
I told you, Cook is ...

 

[netwalker]

I wonder if Apple realise that many people purchased Apple hardware so they can use apps like Aperture, Final Cut etc.

If Apple start killing these apps off (or making them too consumer orientated), then people & professionals will just simply switch to Windows. Adobe CC is the only serious alternative and you don't specifically need a Mac for that!

While Windows has been improving, it is still Windows from Microsoft. If it wasn't for the handful of OS X apps I care about I would switch to Linux and stop buying Apple hardware tomorrow.

 

[zioxide]

I wonder how many people angry about this situation asked us who like the 17" MBP to quit whining when Apple killed it because it didn't sell well…

I said it before, and I'll say it again: Apple is not interested in making the "best products" any more. It is ALL about money. This is yet another exhibit supporting that theory.

The decision to kill an app such as Aperture is strictly FINANCIAL. They are going for the bigger market; the "pro" one is too small (according to their apparent philosophy, at least).

Well, you're right about Apple wanting to make money.

On that note, killing Aperture makes perfect sense. But it's not because the "pro" market for Aperture wasn't big enough. It's because the majority of real pros abandoned it years ago because it was an inferior product.

Aperture had a niche market.. mainly.. it was a product for "prosumer" Apple fans. I was one of them, but got sick of the product stagnating and falling way behind. I moved to Lightroom last year and now I can see why all the pros use it.. it's not even a competition.

They keep getting smaller at the point where they have the most money EVER, when they should be diversifying more (i.e. getting bigger--MORE PRODUCTS). Their so-called "focus" and simplification is the problem. If taken to it's logical conclusion, it means Apple would end up with one product (the simplest form). The one that makes the most profit.

So if you have a heavy business investment in Apple, you better have a "Plan B" ready, tested, and viable. Apple is a consumer company, not a computer company anymore.

This trend of killing products with no real 1st party replacement will cause it to implode.

Yea, I said it. Apple is doomed. But not yet, not yet.

The rest of this is paranoia. Apple isn't suddenly going to kill all their products but one. That's crazy talk. But it's also crazy talk to expect them to have their finger in every market. Apple needs to focus on making their main products (Macs & OS X and iPhones/iPads & iOS) as good as they can, and focusing on products that have a legitimate large user base (like Logic, for example. Logic isn't going anywhere). If killing off their half-assed attempt at a "pro" digital darkroom software that hardly any real pros used is part of it, than they should go for it.

90% of Aperture and iPhoto were redundant anyways, and it makes more sense to put all those resources into developing a single app. It won't be hard to have all the same editing features in that new app, because let's face it, compared to Lightroom, Aperture's editing features are quite limited.

 

[Mactendo]

I said it before, and I'll say it again: Apple is not interested in making the "best products" any more. It is ALL about money. This is yet another exhibit supporting that theory.

The decision to kill an app such as Aperture is strictly FINANCIAL. They are going for the bigger market; the "pro" one is too small (according to their apparent philosophy, at least).

They keep getting smaller at the point where they have the most money EVER, when they should be diversifying more (i.e. getting bigger--MORE PRODUCTS). Their so-called "focus" and simplification is the problem. If taken to it's logical conclusion, it means Apple would end up with one product (the simplest form). The one that makes the most profit.

So if you have a heavy business investment in Apple, you better have a "Plan B" ready, tested, and viable. Apple is a consumer company, not a computer company anymore.

This trend of killing products with no real 1st party replacement will cause it to implode.

To add to your signature: OS X Yosemite = Strike 3.

----------

Geez, I can't find the download for the new Photos app anywhere. Can all of you that are saying how limited it is direct me to the download? Apple knows how to make a good piece of photography software. What they need to do, and what I think they are doing are merging to make further development simpler. Suppose you had the iPhotos front end for all the snap shooters, but then had an advanced mode that is similar to the features in Aperture. You may be able to select the simple or advanced interface on start up. "Aperture" is no longer. That does not mean pro features will be gone. Lot's of LR knee jerk reactions from what I see. I am willing to see what they put out next year. Wouldn't you hate to move everything to LR only to find out Apple has some very robust features in the new app?
They will keep Aperture running until everyone can get a taste of the new app. Then if it doesn't pan out, Adobe get richer. I also think Apple will have a localized storage system as well as a cloud based storage system. It's important to have both options, and Apple would demonstrate total stupidity by forcing the cloud on users. Unless you have an urgent need to jump to LR, I would think it would be wise to hold off and see what they offer. Might save a whole hell of a lot of time vs migrating with no edits, and doing it all over again.

If you look at current QuickTime Player and compare it to QuickTime 7 then you'll see it still lacks a lot of editing features of 7's Pro mode. It's clear the new Photos app won't have advanced features of Aperture. Just like was said earlier in this topic Pages/Keynote/Numbers are inferior to its own previous versions.

 

[Johnchapin]

Use Hard Drive Backups

Neither are online backups.

Amen! Plus Apple's on-line storage is extraordinarily expensive.

I just did a quick scan of photo files from this spring. I have thousands of photos from critter cams to iPhone to Canon 60D totaling 12GB/month or 148 Gb/year, and that's in jpeg, not raw. At iCloud's rate I would be paying $300 for just one year of photos? No wonder that every vendor wants you to store your stuff in their cloud.

Or, do you select which ones to edit to send to iCloud? Someone help me here. Something tells me Apple isn't going to make that easy to do.

A 2 TB hard drive is less than $100. And reliable, yes! I have 4 hard drives at 3 different locations with many years of photos and data. The latest compact drives powered off a USB port are really great. A small fire safe is also cheap.

For editing I use Pixelmator. It's not pro level of course, but it does what I want. The updates over the years have been quite good.

 

[Undecided]

I"m not a pro but have used Aperture because of how it saves adjustments as procedures instead of actual edits, and for stacks. (But I did find the adjustment options above my skill level.)

I liked stacks in particular because I picked up postcards from some of my travels, for things like aerial shots of sites I visited. Postcards are two-sided, and I would scan in the photo side and the back side with the description, and pair them in a stack.

I hope the upcoming Photos app will support stacks.

 

[haravikk]

I've never really need either Aperture or Lightroom personally, though I've tried both and generally preferred Aperture.

So long as Photos doesn't lose anything major from iPhoto I should be fine; iCloud integration is fine, but I have my own cloud solution so the experience for locally editing files had better be just as good (or better).

I would however like raw support; I've downloaded tons of Camera Raw updates only to find they aren't supported by anything besides Aperture, so hopefully Photos will use this support instead, as others I'm stuck using Adobe's DNG converter, at least until DNG support in cameras becomes the norm and I get a new one.