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Please help! I'm lost - Aperture/Photos to Lightroom

conamor

conamor

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 27, 2013
364
21
Good day everyone,
I hope someone can make the light on this for me. I'm currently lost in the wild and doesn't know where to start.

My main Library is in Aperture. I feel like that I am pushed to use Lightroom. My trial for Lightroom expired and I never had the chance to play with it. The only way I could retry it is to reinstall my machine.

Anyway, this is not a big problem since I could buy it, but I don't want to regret it.

I also copied some pictures and videos to Photos but I don't remember if I copied them to Aperture. Also, Aperture is not supporting all type of video files I believe. I have some recorded with the iPhone (.mov) some with a Canon video recorder (AVCHD) and videos from my Nikon D3200...

Should I keep using Aperture? Move my stuff from Photos to Aperture then think about moving to another software?

How about my videos? I sometimes take pictures of my daughter then record a video then pictures then another video (of the same moment) and I import them to Aperture in a project so that event is a project containing the photos and video. Am I doing it ok? Should I be doing this another way?

I really need some recommendation since it's driving me crazy and I keep thinking about this all day long and then when I get home at night, I sit in front of my iMac and I just stare at it thiking on how I should proceed! haha!

Anyway, I hope I can get fast replies!

Thanks so much for your time!
 
Condor, one thing missing from your post is an explanation of why you are thinking about leaving Aperture. Assuming you are happy with it but just worried about the fact it was discontinued, you probably could table that concern for now. We know it works with the current OS. While it might not work with next year's, you'll get at least some advance notice and can decide next steps then. Your pics won't go anywhere in the meantime.

Re: the Lightroom trial, if you still want to experiment with it, what about just paying for a month of the subscription? That way, you could take the time you need and could decide then whether to continue the subscription or buy the stand-alone package.
 
bluespark said:
Condor, one thing missing from your post is an explanation of why you are thinking about leaving Aperture. Assuming you are happy with it but just worried about the fact it was discontinued, you probably could table that concern for now. We know it works with the current OS. While it might not work with next year's, you'll get at least some advance notice and can decide next steps then. Your pics won't go anywhere in the meantime.

Re: the Lightroom trial, if you still want to experiment with it, what about just paying for a month of the subscription? That way, you could take the time you need and could decide then whether to continue the subscription or buy the stand-alone package.
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Oh, I thought that if you were purchasing the 1 month, it was still a year of subscribtion! Good to know.
You are right, I'm just worried about not having anymore updates. I works for now. I should simply continue to arrange my Library and then decide when the time comes.

About the videos support in Aperture, am I right by saying that it doesnt support one of the 3 file type I mentionned? I like having the videos of the same event with the photos.

I would find that weird to copy all my video files to iMovie or FCP...

Thanks!
 
For a serious photography replacement of Aperture there are two main candidates:

Capture One Pro:https://www.phaseone.com/en/Imaging-Software/Capture-One.aspx? Their raw convertors seem to be second to none. The product has a wide range of editing capability. It also has a library capability. It there is a weak spot it is that they do not have a good round trip from the product to a plugin and back.

Lightroom either as LR 6 (standalone) or as part of Adobe Photography CC subscription service that includes Photoshop. There is no guarantee that Adobe will continue to release LR as a standalone. Personally I went with the CC package and got it for $99 for a year (special via B&H). Note that Adobe is delivering some features (general and local Dehaze) to LR in CC and not in the standalone version). Adobe has done some special tools for helping move from Aperture to LR.

One think I would do while still in Aperture, move from an managed library (master image files are buried in Aperture's database package) to a referenced library where the master images are in folders and subfolders in the file system. That will make it easier to import the images into the Aperture replacement.

Realize that edits done in Aperture basically do not migrate to another editing program. Each post processing program uses their own names and algorithms to edit images. Even if two apps use the same name, no guarantee they use the same algorithm to do the work.
 
Aperture is dead. It won't receive any more updates. You'll need to move off of it eventually so you might as well do it now. Photos may be enough for you, to be honest. It sound like it's family/friends/vacation stuff that you shoot. Do you shoot in RAW or .jpg? Photos can handle a to of different kinds of video files, as does LR but it's easy enough to Google if they support the different video formats you're using.

This is the guide I used to move from Aperture to LR. I actually had to do it twice because the first time, I rushed it. Take the time to CLEAN UP your Aperture library, keyword it, put things in folders. Get rid of stuff you don't need. And it goes without saying (though I guess I am saying it), back up your Aperture library & masters BEFORE you do anything and then again once it's cleaned up before you start the import to LR. Do it on a separate external HD if possible.
 
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E3BK said:
Aperture is dead. It won't receive any more updates. You'll need to move off of it eventually so you might as well do it now. Photos may be enough for you, to be honest. It sound like it's family/friends/vacation stuff that you shoot. Do you shoot in RAW or .jpg? Photos can handle a to of different kinds of video files, as does LR but it's easy enough to Google if they support the different video formats you're using.

This is the guide I used to move from Aperture to LR. I actually had to do it twice because the first time, I rushed it. Take the time to CLEAN UP your Aperture library, keyword it, put things in folders. Get rid of stuff you don't need. And it goes without saying (though I guess I am saying it), back up your Aperture library & masters BEFORE you do anything and then again once it's cleaned up before you start the import to LR. Do it on a separate external HD if possible.
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Thank you, I do raw and jpg just in case I would like to really edit the original. To be honest - I never did or maybe once.

I have never keyworded my pictures. They are simply stored by Year -> month-day-event_name.

I would like to go to LR but I'd rather buy the standalone. I like one time payment... I do understand that if LR7 comes out, I will have to upgrade... BUT the thing that I've hear is that they might not do standalone anymore after this one, but who really knows...
 
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Although MCAsan is right about the "main" alternatives to Aperture, there are many many more. Sounds like you don't need much. Maybe even a browser-type solution would work for you, like Lyn or even XNview MP (free). And Photos, at least in El Capitan.

And Lr doesn't do video very well, nor do most similar programs. Photos might work better for some of that.
 
I migrated to Lightroom. I'm heavy in DAM and though I prefer, and use, C1, Lightroom is my default catalog. I've never kept videos in my photos app. Organized in a folder by date and or events. Edit in iMovie. I'm not video intensive.

Aperture is dead. Apple, step by step, is telling us it's not going to keep running on new OSX versions. At some point you will face a decision to upgrade OSX or hardware only to find its not possible unless you make the switch. It's better to do it when you have time. I spent a leisurely 2 years using various apps until I was comfortable with my choices. I then spent quite a bit of time making sure my Aperture library was absolutely pristine before import into LR. It worked out fine. I did not bother having LR import Aperture previews. It dumps them all into one folder which then needs to be moved back into their respective folders. Also changes name so you're tied to sorting by capture date to get the shots together. I simply exported all 4 and 5 star images as tiffs back into their respective folders. Same name, LR simply imports them as another file. Tiff's because I had JPEG+raw pairs with the same name and I wanted the previews to use that name.
 
Oh this is true, LR doesn't pile RAW and JPG together! That will make the double amount of pictures in one folder. I don't really count on the auto moving from a software to another. I'm more a manual person to make sure everything single file is copied over. Again, I never used keywords or other funky edits. Simply used it has a storing location, easy management and basic editing.

Any recommendation for videos? Ex: Birthday of the daughter: Pictures and videos are taken but can or maybe can't be imported in the same folder in LR. Do people import the video files to iMovie or FCP? How would they know that it refers to that event in LR?
 
Save space and time. If you have the raw and a jpg of the same image, just migrate the raw to LR. As needed, you can edit and export a jpg. Also you can likely do more in the way of editing with today's LR than with yesterday's Aperture. The good news of plugins is that if you had any with Aperture, those same plugins likely work with LR.
 
I looked around as I didn't want to have to migrate from Aperture in a hurry, I found I preferred C1 over LR (kind of like a Canon vs Nikon ergonomics "thing"), and I found I liked C1's RAW processing much better. I exported originals from my Aperture library and imported (and hence re-processed as they imported) into a referenced library in C1. Took a couple of days to process the 70k images in but I'm happy as. C1 exceeds what I need in organisation/DAM so no worries there.

Aperture may stop working with any OS X update, their "statements" about it continuing to work for any defined period I find insulting for paying customers.
 
conamor said:
Any recommendation for videos? Ex: Birthday of the daughter: Pictures and videos are taken but can or maybe can't be imported in the same folder in LR. Do people import the video files to iMovie or FCP? How would they know that it refers to that event in LR?
Click to expand...
I'm 67 years old and have no problem remembering what videos associate with what LR referenced folders. If it makes it easier for you, keep the video event folder in the same folder your LR event specific pics are in. Then don't import the videos to LR. If you really want to get fancy, create a JPEG that simply reads video. Stick it in the LR event pics folder, right click, Show In Finder.
 
conamor said:
Oh this is true, LR doesn't pile RAW and JPG together! That will make the double amount of pictures in one folder. I don't really count on the auto moving from a software to another. I'm more a manual person to make sure everything single file is copied over. Again, I never used keywords or other funky edits. Simply used it has a storing location, easy management and basic editing.

Any recommendation for videos? Ex: Birthday of the daughter: Pictures and videos are taken but can or maybe can't be imported in the same folder in LR. Do people import the video files to iMovie or FCP? How would they know that it refers to that event in LR?
Click to expand...
Hmm. My version of Lr imports video, although as I noted it's not the best application for dealing with video. Puts it into the same folder upon import; see https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom/help/video-lightroom.html

Video doesn't have the same capabilities to store IPTC and other metadata that still pictures contain. Lr can keyword or caption it, but those stay in Lr. This is where Bridge comes in handy, since it can show the video files, PDFs, images or whatever else you have in that same folder. You can add info like "tape name,""scene" etc. It do stuff with that when Lr can't.
 
conamor said:
I would like to go to LR but I'd rather buy the standalone. I like one time payment... I do understand that if LR7 comes out, I will have to upgrade... BUT the thing that I've hear is that they might not do standalone anymore after this one, but who really knows...
Click to expand...
Just keep in mind that the standalone version of LR is not identical to the subscription version, many updates will only be made available for the subscription version. So keep in mind that you will not get the same functionality.

LR6 will receive bug fixes as well as support for new cameras and lenses. You will not get feature updates and have access to Lightroom mobile/web.
 
OreoCookie said:
Just keep in mind that the standalone version of LR is not identical to the subscription version, many updates will only be made available for the subscription version. So keep in mind that you will not get the same functionality.

LR6 will receive bug fixes as well as support for new cameras and lenses. You will not get feature updates and have access to Lightroom mobile/web.
Click to expand...
Yes, the cloud (easy to do better elsewhere), iOS app (nice concept but limited), Dehaze (available as a free plug-in or preset from 3rd parties). Plus the standalone version gives one the ability to roll back when Adobe releases buggy code.
 
Ray2 said:
Yes, the cloud (easy to do better elsewhere), iOS app (nice concept but limited), Dehaze (available as a free plug-in or preset from 3rd parties). Plus the standalone version gives one the ability to roll back when Adobe releases buggy code.
Click to expand...
And Photoshop. Not exactly chopped liver....
 
I'm interested in a step-by-step description of how to make my Aperture library "pristine" before I migrate! I have no idea what that means. :D
 
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