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

[lazypoet]

By the way, my master-files are a bit of a mess, can I move them so they are all in the same folder or does that ruin the reference connection in Aperture?

 

[Ray2]

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.

I had a referenced library. In my case, "pristine" meant:

1) Photos, Reprocess Photos. Select All photos, Reprocess existing. This will force Aperture to look at every preview and its link to a master. It's a feature that assisted in ugrading from 2 to 3 that's still in the Photos menu. You don't really care about the reprocessing, you simply want it to go through the steps.

2) Search, File Status, Missing and Offline. Wait as it takes Aperture time to locate any.

3) Locate referenced files. Can be temperamental, just keep at it until you reconnect any missing images.

4) Do 1) and 2) again until it stops locating missing and offline files. The first time is seldom a complete clean-up.

5) Decide if you want to allow Lightroom's import plug-in to create full size, Aperture previews with edits. Pro: You have any edited images captured in a JPEG file. Cons: That means all edited images whether there's images you don't care about in there or not. Lightroom will place all of your Aperture Previews in one folder. If you want them back where they came from, it's a manual job. For a large library with a deep hierarchy, it's a lot of work. Or, you export to tiff or JPEG any Aperture edited images that you care about into their respective folders. Not quick if you have a deep hierarchy but is more focused and organized. And don't let Lightroom create Aperture previews.

6) Make sure your ratings, labels and keywords are what you want them to be. It's easier to make those changes in an app you're familiar with than a new app.

7) Do you want all your images in Lightroom? I took my 50,000 image library down to 33,000.

8) Is your Finder level hierarchy what you want? That's Lightroom's organization until you build albums. Which is so poorly executed (duplicate hierarchy, which may or may not mirror your folder level organization). I only use Lightroom albums for filters.

9) When you're sure your referenced Aperture library is pristine, hook up a spare drive and create a managed library. This wraps up the entire library and a duplicate set of all masters into once nice package. A precautionary measure.

10) You're done using Aperture, run the Lightroom plug-in.

When I got done, Lightroom had 1,135 more previews in its catalog than Aperture had. In reviewing the images, I recognized them, they should have been in Aperture, there was no preview in Aperture, there was a master in a folder, Reprocess Photos should have, but did not, surface these images. This is the biggest reason I'm happier using Lightroom. I never felt the Aperture data base was all that great. iPhoto's sure wasn't and Aperture uses the same data base.

Some of my steps were unique to a referenced library. Others would apply to a managed library as well.

 

[lazypoet]

Thank you for the information I have heard someone saying all their images became very over-exposed after they did the reprocess photos command in the newest aperture on el capitan. I'm therefore wondering if it's a good idea to do it.

 

[Ray2]

Depends on how many v2 images you have and are not already saved to full sized jpegs. My good shots tend to go to highest quality, full size JPEG prior to distribution. So it was not an issue for me. But yes, v3 does render a brighter image than v2. Whether El Capitan treats them any different than any of the prior os's I don't know.

 

[lazypoet]

I work in RAW, thanks for the confirmation that this is in effect something that would happen, so I won't reprosess them again.

 

[rocknblogger]

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.

This is the best reply to OP. I also want to add that Aperture is NOT working for me on El Capitan. I've read on a couple threads that some users are claiming that it is working so I don't know what's up.

When I try to launch it I get a message saying it needs to be updated but when I follow the link I get the "This app is not available" error. YMMV

 

[lazypoet]

@Ray2

I didn't get point number 8, what do you mean exactly? Sorry about that.