Help for Aperture>Lightroom switchers

[robgendreau]

Adobe, doubtless in a fit of public spiritedness , has offered up a web page with info for folks (as Obama would say) who want to switch to LR; it's here:

http://landing.adobe.com/dam/downloads/whitepapers/54511.en.switch-from-aperture-to-lightroom.pdf

Note the first sentence: "Adobe is developing a migration tool to bring your photos into Adobe Photoshop Lightroom from Aperture...." Meanwhile, "Exporter for Aperture" has hit the Mac App Store. It does much of what's in the Adobe instructions, and I've seen some good reports about it but haven't tried it myself.

Note that both methods get your actual photo edits "out" of Aperture by exporting the developed/edited images, if you haven't done that already. It's not clear if the Adobe tool would allow export of only the adjustments made in Apeture, but given the language on the page I'd really doubt it.

I'm not intending to start another "I'll wait for Photos" vs "grab lifeboat LR" thread here, just providing the info for folks that have already made up their mind to try an alternative. And note that some of the techniques would be useful in transitioning to other DAMs or even just out of Aperture.

Rob

 

[MCAsan]

Unless I missed something, Adobe has not given any serious details about what the migration tool will or will not do.

Telling folks to export a TIFF of the final Aperture version of an image goes to the heart of the problem. Two different raw file editors will use identical names and algorithms for image parameters. IF there is to be a serious migration tool by Adobe, it needs to take a raw file and corresponding edits from Aperture and produce a raw file+ edits in LR. If not, how are they improving on the current situation?

Apple will have the same kind of problem moving raw+edits from the iPhoto/Aperture database to Photos. Of course the key difference is that Apple will know the math on both sides. I think I would hold onto Aperture until Yosemite has launched and both Apple and Adobe have put all their photography cards on the table next year. Then if you can be better informed on the pros and cons of moving from Aperture to Photos, LR, or other DAM+editor.

 

[tgara]

Apple will have the same kind of problem moving raw+edits from the iPhoto/Aperture database to Photos. Of course the key difference is that Apple will know the math on both sides. I think I would hold onto Aperture until Yosemite has launched and both Apple and Adobe have put all their photography cards on the table next year. Then if you can be better informed on the pros and cons of moving from Aperture to Photos, LR, or other DAM+editor.

I agree with MCAsan's approach. It's what I'm doing. At this point, it would pay to wait to see what the Photos app is capable of, and if Adobe or another developer have better tools to make the switch from Aperture.

That said, Derrick Story was discussing this Mac app on his blog recently. Worth a look for those who want to switch now.

http://apertureexporter.com/

 

[TheDrift-]

I did the switch a couple of years ago, I read a few different approaches, decided on the 'cold turkey' approach..

Just stop using aperture and start using lightroom....but keep both.

Keep aperture as it is, if you need a file from aperture then just open up aperture and get it, but process your new stuff in light room..

..I cheated and took about 50 'selects' with me to lightroom..

..I am surprised how little I needed an old file, every now and then sure..but its a pretty rare occurrence these days for me..

 

[MiniD3]

Hi Rob,

Tks for the heads-up
been doing a trial myself,
I have Adobe CC 2014, (also CC 2013, still has paint option! )

Haven't jumped ship yet but decided I'd better start learning LR so I have a better idea of what its all about and a hard look at the ease of the interface

What I've done is set up a LR catalog on the iMac and bought an external HDD for the images, HDD's are cheap enough in any case

I'm finding the catalog not that intuitive but the more I use it, the easier it gets
just don't move images behind LR's back! it doesn't like that! And will hide them!

Exported a lot of images from Aperture as PSD's and Tiff's and imported into LR and performed further edits, all OK! I use PS a lot so might just use PSD's unless I need Tiff for a plugin

FWIW, the "baked" images, (tiff and psd), look exactly the same,
now, I haven't uploaded too many NEF's but the raw convertor in LR looks good but need to do some more tests,

Current plan is to run 2 software platforms,
If the "Photos" app has outstanding DAM, that would be the only reason to go that direction

Im not sure why one would want to make the change and import thousands of past images to make the change to LR
Surely, we could just bring what files we have in Aperture in to LR as we need them?
Eventually Aperture will not get updates but access to our files should still work?
..........Gary