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Alternatives to Aperture (What are your plans?)
- Thread starter JDDavis
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Probably not a big deal. The Nik plug ins work on their own. The reimport to C1 would probably be a PITA. I know it's a deal breaker for me, but I think I may check it out to see how all this X-Trans business works out.
Not at all - Using it in a single catalog mode and not flagging, organizing a more complex set, etc, etc is just right for your workflow.
I work with someone who has 30 plus collections in each of 5 catalogs, publish to Smugmug, Facebook, and uses the hell out of the flag/star system to cull thousands of travel images before returning to a desktop system - repeat the cull of 20 to 40 thousand images from a single tour 3-5 times a year. Almost 200 pins on a world map - you get the idea.
I have 1 catalog with perhaps 2500 images for my entire life. She has 150,000 and seems to know precisely where everything needs to be in all the various collections. I'm thinking somewhere between us is the average
I've seen some pretty convoluted LR organization schemes.
I just like to keep it simple:
1) Import photos with file Renaming template
2) Choose best ones using Flags and put in Quick Collection
3) Apply Copyright preset and Basic present for the camera (ie lens corrections, Camera calibration
4) Add Geotagging (I use Geotag photos app on my iPhone for non-iPhone pics)
5) Edit photos. Go to Photoshop if necessary
6) Make second cut
7) Export photos to Hard Drive and/or upload to Flickr
8) Close Lightroom.
Again, I feel no need to "live" in Lightroom.
Definitely a valid approach, especially if there's not a clear choice (to you) for what to move to.
I'd still suggest knowing what you'd move to if you had to do so tomorrow, and then consider your workflow / filing / tagging schema in that light. No sense digging the hole any deeper if you're using capabilities in Aperture that can't / won't export to the most likely alternative.
Good chance it will run just fine on the next few gens of Macs and OS.
Unless there's some shiny new feature you gotta have, why not
My Plans
My plan is to see what happens in the next 6-9 months and keep Aperture going for now. I figure there may be improvements in the LR transition tools or maybe even and re-think at Apple about what Photo will be (evidence at this point seems to be a consumer tool rather than a professional one). Wrote a blog article on this at:
College of William and Mary Academic Technology Blog
My plan is to see what happens in the next 6-9 months and keep Aperture going for now. I figure there may be improvements in the LR transition tools or maybe even and re-think at Apple about what Photo will be (evidence at this point seems to be a consumer tool rather than a professional one). Wrote a blog article on this at:
College of William and Mary Academic Technology Blog
I shoot Canon, and right now, I am seriously considering going with an all-Canon workflow. That would mean replacing Aperture with Canon's Digital Photo Professional, and replacing my Epson R1900 ink jet printer for a Canon model, probably the Pro-10.
After thinking about it for a while, this is a good solution for me. I'm impressed with DPP 4.0, and especially that it uses all the information from my Canon .CR2 files to produce very high quality images. I can also easily apply picture styles to RAW images (could not do that with Aperture!), and it has lens correction data available (also not available in Aperture). It's also free, and you don't have to buy a subscription. The only downside is that I will miss the integration into the Apple ecosystem, which was one of the main reasons I was using Aperture in the first place. It remains to be seen how I can connect the images in DPP into Apple's new Photo app so they can be shared via iCloud, etc. It may be possible through a proper folder setup, but I'm just not sure yet.
After thinking about it for a while, this is a good solution for me. I'm impressed with DPP 4.0, and especially that it uses all the information from my Canon .CR2 files to produce very high quality images. I can also easily apply picture styles to RAW images (could not do that with Aperture!), and it has lens correction data available (also not available in Aperture). It's also free, and you don't have to buy a subscription. The only downside is that I will miss the integration into the Apple ecosystem, which was one of the main reasons I was using Aperture in the first place. It remains to be seen how I can connect the images in DPP into Apple's new Photo app so they can be shared via iCloud, etc. It may be possible through a proper folder setup, but I'm just not sure yet.
Although I use Aperture (referenced), all shots worthy of distribution are sized and imported into a managed iPhoto library. iPhoto, or Photos in the future, supports iOS sync's, web distribution, using the library in multiple Mac's, books, etc. That approach would give you the integration you're looking for with one extra step.
Thanks. I know all this. What I was referring to was a more automated approach to the import step. Right now, what I'm conceiving is to do all the sorting, edits, resizing, etc. in DPP, manually exporting those images in a selected format (JPG, Raw, etc.), then manually importing the images into the new Photos app. I want to exchange the word "manually" in the previous sentence to "automatically" and do it in one step.
How do you move images from your reference Aperture library into your managed iPhoto library? Are you using the Unified Library feature?
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Can you rephrase this? I can't follow.
With digital asset manager (DAM) and editor programs like Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom, the vendors know that they can not and will not, code into their apps all the filters and effects that users will need and want. Hence, both Aperture and LR users can purchase plugin programs such as Photoshop, the Nik Collection, Topaz Labs filters, OnOneSoftware's Perfect Photo Suite....etc.
In Aperture or LR you basically send a TIF or PSD version of the image to the selected plugin app. In that app you do the editing you want and save the image. The plugin app brings the edited image back to Aperture or LR where the edited version is stored alongside the original version.
So the question is...how to have such an integrated workflow from DPP to a plugin app and bring the file back to DPP? I think this has to be a manual process. DPP does not seem to know plugins exist or how to invoke them. I think the same limitation applies to Nikon's CaptureNX program and many others. They don't seem to have a "larger picture" in mind. Instead of a wide-angle pano, they are doing narrow FOV macro.
I do it manually. Export then import. However, you can export the project, import to iPhoto and perhaps that's simpler. Don't know, I don't use the unified library as I'm still supporting a Snow Leopard media server than will remain on SL until Apple gets its power management working again. So I cannot do what I just described.
Good chance it will run just fine on the next few gens of Macs and OS.
Unless there's some shiny new feature you gotta have, why not
Only 4 things to watch out for:
1. Library format changes which can't be reversed (i.e. a library format change to suit Photos that means Aperture can't read the library any longer - as has happened to iPhoto in the past)
2. RAW support - as this is handled by OSX it will reply on Apple not making the RAW support incompatible with legacy Aperture
3. OSX version update that means Aperture won't run - I'd expect at least 2 versions of compatible OSX, after that is anyone's guess.
4. Loss of Plugin support by the Plugin vendors - I expect most plugins will continue to work as-is, as Aperture is unlikely to change regarding Plugins this should be stable.
1-4 in increasing likelihood IMHO
Please read this about asset management with DPP.
http://canon-digital-photo-pro.com/photography-workflow/managing-archiving-photos/
Then look at this for doing DAM:
http://www.acdsee.com/en/products/acdsee-pro-3-mac/manage
Some features found useful in Lightroom, for me, is the ability to have collections and also smart collections and the ability to find images across multiple folders based on keyword tagging.
Not sure if DPP has that. ACDSee should have keyword tagging abilities because it started life as a pure digital asset management system and added other features as it grew.
My camera is a 7D and while DPP may be good, I prefer working with a toolset that provides me more tools and options than DPP does. YMMV and to each their own.
Take care,
http://canon-digital-photo-pro.com/photography-workflow/managing-archiving-photos/
Then look at this for doing DAM:
http://www.acdsee.com/en/products/acdsee-pro-3-mac/manage
Some features found useful in Lightroom, for me, is the ability to have collections and also smart collections and the ability to find images across multiple folders based on keyword tagging.
Not sure if DPP has that. ACDSee should have keyword tagging abilities because it started life as a pure digital asset management system and added other features as it grew.
My camera is a 7D and while DPP may be good, I prefer working with a toolset that provides me more tools and options than DPP does. YMMV and to each their own.
Take care,
With digital asset manager (DAM) and editor programs like Apple Aperture and Adobe Lightroom, the vendors know that they can not and will not, code into their apps all the filters and effects that users will need and want. Hence, both Aperture and LR users can purchase plugin programs such as Photoshop, the Nik Collection, Topaz Labs filters, OnOneSoftware's Perfect Photo Suite....etc.
In Aperture or LR you basically send a TIF or PSD version of the image to the selected plugin app. In that app you do the editing you want and save the image. The plugin app brings the edited image back to Aperture or LR where the edited version is stored alongside the original version.
So the question is...how to have such an integrated workflow from DPP to a plugin app and bring the file back to DPP? I think this has to be a manual process. DPP does not seem to know plugins exist or how to invoke them. I think the same limitation applies to Nikon's CaptureNX program and many others. They don't seem to have a "larger picture" in mind. Instead of a wide-angle pano, they are doing narrow FOV macro.
I understand now, thanks for the clarification. You may be right about plugin use being a manual process. I guess we will have to see how it all works out with the new Photos app. Truth be told, I don't use any plugins with Aperture right now and instead use a library of presets. The plugin problem isn't significant for me, but might be for others.
I asked OnOneSoftware a couple of months ago about their plans to do plugins for Photos. They must be planning a Perfect Photos Suite 9 as they said Suite 9 would not be built to interwork with the new Photos app.
I am sure they, and the other makers of Aperture and LR plugins, are all checking out the technical challenges and business opportunities of the move from Aperture to Photos. Between Yosemite, IOS 8, Photos app, and what the plugin vendors will do....the next 6 months should be exciting times for the IOS and Mac photography areas.
I am sure they, and the other makers of Aperture and LR plugins, are all checking out the technical challenges and business opportunities of the move from Aperture to Photos. Between Yosemite, IOS 8, Photos app, and what the plugin vendors will do....the next 6 months should be exciting times for the IOS and Mac photography areas.
My top priority in using Aperture was metadata management & organizing a 6 generation family photo library (DRM). I wasn't able to find a substitute right up until Catalina forced my hand. I've been using Aperture up until 2 weeks ago. When I did a new search, I found ACDSee for Mac. I've been using it for about 10 days, and it seems to meet all my needs. I got it at a sale price ($34.95), which I think is widely available.
This is already an issue. Not sure if a legacy raw engine (non updated) is present in macOS. But it’s evident Aperture doesn’t have access to the current raw engine or updates for modern camera raw files.
It wasn't as much of an issue five years ago... which is when the post you replied to was made.
I feel like WabashSphinx should have either made a new thread or could have joined one of the numerous, more recent posts about Aperture instead of reviving this thread...
Consider On1's Photo Raw 2020 or Phase One's Capture One Pro 12. Note that Capture One 20 (they are changing from sequential numbering to yearly numbering) is being offered as a preorder. It should be released by the end of November. Have not see the list of of new or revised changes in C1P20.
Maybe he was just trying to push ACDSee for Mac.....that's the impression I got, anyway. I didn't check to see what his other few posts were about, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're related...... I for one had always thought that ACDSee was just a Windows program and was surprised to hear that there is now a version for the Mac. That's nice, but I for one am not interested since I have been using other options over the past year or so in preparation for saying that final goodbye to Aperture......