Alternatives to Aperture (What are your plans?)

[robgendreau]

I can't use Lightroom, as the mobile version only syncs via their Cloud solution (I live in Greenland, and we actually pay pr. Gigabyte down/uploaded). So it needs to be an application where I can select individual folders and they are synced to the iPad when I sync in iTunes.

Using the iTunes application isn't the solution either. I can select folders to sync, but the folders do not expand like a tree. I have over 1K photo-folders, so keeping them in the root is not possible.

Suggestions

First, check out Photosmith. I think it's MUCH better than Lightroom Mobile for a whole bunch of reasons. For you, it does LOCAL sync so you only need your LAN. I find it much better for metadata as well.

Second, LR doesn't do iTunes sync via Photosmith. It's completely independent of that, and so I can't say what the "root" folder problem is. LR, as you know since you have it, does collections; you use a Photosmith publish serve to then "publish" them to the iPad.

Third, check out Photosmith's documentation. It has a bunch of stuff about workflows, and they vary depending on which direction you work, i.e. iPad first? or Mac? And also workflows for RAW images, which are a real pain on the iPad. I'm not sure it would work with a thousand photo folders, but I assume you don't synch all of those

Rob

 

[pezdaddy]

RIP Google Reader

I'm still pissed at Google for this.

 

[r.harris1]

Capture One Express might work; on sale too. And there's PhotoMechanic, although it's definitely a pro tool. As far as processing, there are also things like DxO Optic Pro.

I really like PhotoMechanic - it's absolutely fantastic at all metadata, key wording, ratings, etc, and very fast searches. Ingest is extremely fast. It can automatically copy to a second destination for backups. It's fantastic at renaming files. I can use any RAW processor I want. I can do any pixel editing in PS or Pixemator. No worries about LR or Aperture and even if PM went away, I've still got my images and metadata - which are read by most downstream tools.

Good stuff .

 

[jms969]

As an ex-Apple employee, it was less obvious to me that this was so. And that's about all I can say on that point.

I spent a lot of years creating strategy in corporate america and apple really is for the most part an open book. There is nothing unusual about their strategic direction. (although the mac pro shocked me)

 

[Killerbob]

First, check out Photosmith. I think it's MUCH better than Lightroom Mobile for a whole bunch of reasons. For you, it does LOCAL sync so you only need your LAN. I find it much better for metadata as well.

It looks like PHotosmith does what I want it to, but want to make sure;

- Can I sync from LR via Photosmith to several iPads and iPhones?
- When I import new photos in LR, and then publish these via Photosmith, do I always have to have a local copy of the collection? I store all my photos on my NAS before any workflow starts...

 

[HantaYo]

Capture One Express might work; on sale too. And there's PhotoMechanic, although it's definitely a pro tool. As far as processing, there are also things like DxO Optic Pro.

Comparing Capture One Pro to Lightroom RAW processing, I am seeing a significant difference with my Olympus RAW files. Capture One processes the RAW files more like the Olympus in-camera JPEGS- which is a plus. Less noise, sharper and Olympus like colors. Nice! If I can get a handle on editing in Capture One, this might make me switch.

 

[Redneck1089]

Comparing Capture One Pro to Lightroom RAW processing, I am seeing a significant difference with my Olympus RAW files. Capture One processes the RAW files more like the Olympus in-camera JPEGS- which is a plus. Less noise, sharper and Olympus like colors. Nice! If I can get a handle on editing in Capture One, this might make me switch.

I am thinking about trying Capture One. The only thing that bothers me is it doesn't have support for Nik Software plugins. I guess it's not the end of the world, however, since you can use the Nik plugins as standalone apps and then just import the photos back into Capture One.

I have heard that Capture One is quite buggy. How are you finding it in terms of stability?

 

[Ish]

Agreed, but the link is buried in adobe's site - you'll need google it to find the link or grab it from amazon. Here's that url if anyone needs it
http://www.adobe.com/products/catal...er_sl_catalog_sl_software_sl_mostpopular.html

I wonder how long it will be allowed to live as a stand alone product.

Probably as long as Adobe are interested in non-pro photographers.

 

[Enrico]

What about Photo Supreme as a DAM, and your favourite RAW processor when you need to tweak pics?
I'm thinking about Irident Developer as a RAW processor.

 

[MCAsan]

There are probably many 2nd and 3rd tier companies making photo digital asset managers. For the life of me, I can't see why to use any of them. If any DAM maker has the market share and money to survive, it is Adobe. So if you won't migrate to Photos next year, go LR as your DAM.

Generally the same plugins are available for both Aperture and LR. An exception is Pixelmator. It is a very good choice for a low cost powerful pixel editor. I have it but rarely need it. My most ofter used plugins for Aperture or LR are the Nik Collection and Perfect Photo Suite 8. Both are relatively inexpensive. I use Photo Suite's Layers and Masks module rather than do that sort of task in Pixelmator.....much easier to cut around objects.

 

[LV426]

Lightroom is really the only alternative to Aperture. There's also Capture One though I haven't tried that.

I had used LR in the past but preferred Aperture's UI, design and integration so I went back. I now need to switch gears and start transitioning my images from AP to LR.

I've progressed beyond the shock, though I'm still pretty pissed at apple for the abandonment of the professional segment (clarification I'm a hobbyist and not a pro).

It's a bit early to think about transitioning from AP to LR. For one thing, Aperture will happily carry on working as is for the foreseeable future. Also, recent comments made about Photos for OS X suggest that many of the edit controls found in Aperture will be there to be used if you want to.

IF - and we don't really know the answer to this question yet - Photos can be used in a similar manner to Aperture, completely preserving RAW and other non-destructive edits, it might be an acceptable replacement for Aperture for me.

Third party support also seems to be a big thing in Yosemite. There is actually the potential - this remains to be seen how it pans out - for Photos to implement plugins in a much better way than Aperture does, which frankly is not brilliant.

I'm going to wait and see.

 

[maflynn]

It's a bit early to think about transitioning from AP to LR. For one thing, A

Meh, why put off the inevitable, I don't see Apple hitting one out of the park on this, in fact given how things are progressing, I'm a bit jaded with apple right now and I'd rather just switch over to Lr.

I understand your perspective and its sound judgement but I'm thinking version 1.0 of the new photos app will have less features then the current version of aperture. That's seems to be how Apple rolls these days. Release a brand new rewrite that is bare bones, then add to it over the coming months/years. I'm not willing to wait and/or take a chance on a version 1.0 app.

 

[Killerbob]

I would actually be able to use iPhoto for Workflow alone. I can live with that, and hence perhaps Photos will be enough.

I like Aperture because I am able to handle the small adjustments just fine, and only use Photoshop for the more extensive work. iPhoto will never be able to handle these tasks, and I fear that Photos will not either. Hence I will be looking to replace Aperture ASAP (I should have read the writing on the wall years ago). Lightroom is the obvious choice! However, Lightroom is not good for syncing my photos on my iPads and iPhones.

Looking at Photosmith, it may be a viable alternative, but that would be as an add-in to Lightroom...

 

[maflynn]

However, Lightroom is not good for syncing my photos on my iPads and iPhones.

Its not and I guess that's the downside for moving off an apple product.

 

[marstan]

Meh, why put off the inevitable, I don't see Apple hitting one out of the park on this, in fact given how things are progressing, I'm a bit jaded with apple right now and I'd rather just switch over to Lr.

I understand your perspective and its sound judgement but I'm thinking version 1.0 of the new photos app will have less features then the current version of aperture. That's seems to be how Apple rolls these days. Release a brand new rewrite that is bare bones, then add to it over the coming months/years. I'm not willing to wait and/or take a chance on a version 1.0 app.

And when they finally have a workable version, they will dump it, move on to the next new thing and start the cycle all over again. I am not gonna continue to play that game.

 

[maflynn]

And when they finally have a workable version, they will dump it, move on to the next new thing and start the cycle all over again. I am not gonna continue to play that game.

Exactly, at least with Adobe we know what we get and to that point I'm not willing to rely on a company that is more focused on pleasing the consumer. We all know consumers are fickle and their want's change all the time.

 

[Killerbob]

aaaahhhhrrrr F...

Photosmith only works with iPads, and not iPhones. That means I am back to sticing with Aperture, or live with iPhoto/Photos...

 

[manni]

ApertureExpert.com has some interesting thoughts on this:

Aperture is Dead. Long Live Photos!

Comment Follow-up on the Demise of Aperture

Thanks for posting this. The quote, apparently from apple:

“With the introduction of the new Photos app and iCloud Photo Library, enabling you to safely store all of your photos in iCloud and access them from anywhere, there will be no new development of Aperture. When Photos for OS X ships next year, users will be able to migrate their existing Aperture libraries to Photos for OS X.” — Apple, Inc.

So does that mean we will be able to open and access our aperture libraries, adjustments intact, through 'photos' - if so then there seems little reason to worry. But it might just mean we can access the masters and then have to re-edit which would be a big pain for some of us, indeed if that was the case I would just give up and go to Lightroom but still yes there seems a slight glimmer of hope in that statement.

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I've been using Nik plug-ins, and got the updated ones, for Aperture for a while and have really grown fond of that workflow. Does anyone here have experience of moving from Aperture to LightRoom and being able to use the Nik software? I can't remember now when I bought it, at the sky high price it used to be, if I just bought a licence for the Aperture version etc. Any experience?

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Also another promising thought on the second link given was how when aperture was updated before there was a little box that appeared on certain photos saying something like "this was edited with an earlier version of aperture" etc - and giving the choice as to whether to keep it. Maybe that will apply here - I hope so, letting us continue to retain old photos and editing new ones with the new app.

Of course it would be nice if apple would come out and reassure us rather than just saying they are ending a popular product but i suppose that's too much to ask and we'll have to wait and see... so it just becomes a question of whether to wait and see or just abandon such an approach and go to LR.

 

[BJMRamage]

So does that mean we will be able to open and access our aperture libraries, adjustments intact, through 'photos' - if so then there seems little reason to worry. But it might just mean we can access the masters and then have to re-edit which would be a big pain for some of us, indeed if that was the case I would just give up and go to Lightroom but still yes there seems a slight glimmer of hope in that statement.

----------

Also another promising thought on the second link given was how when aperture was updated before there was a little box that appeared on certain photos saying something like "this was edited with an earlier version of aperture" etc - and giving the choice as to whether to keep it. Maybe that will apply here - I hope so, letting us continue to retain old photos and editing new ones with the new app.

Of course it would be nice if apple would come out and reassure us rather than just saying they are ending a popular product but i suppose that's too much to ask and we'll have to wait and see... so it just becomes a question of whether to wait and see or just abandon such an approach and go to LR.

I am sure hoping this is the case.

and it would be AWESOME if Apple could let us know. then we aren't thinking of jumping ship. I use and will use Aperture for the time being. no sense jumping ship and then seeing Photos is just like Aperture.

I would GUESS Photos has all the Easy Buttons like iPhoto and then options/drop downs for more accurate edits similar to Aperture.


but who knows.

 

[maflynn]

So does that mean we will be able to open and access our aperture libraries, adjustments intact, through 'photos' .

To me it means they'll have a conversion utility to move aperture libraries to the new photo.app, regardless of what features may or may not be present.

 

[HantaYo]

I am thinking about trying Capture One. The only thing that bothers me is it doesn't have support for Nik Software plugins. I guess it's not the end of the world, however, since you can use the Nik plugins as standalone apps and then just import the photos back into Capture One.

I have heard that Capture One is quite buggy. How are you finding it in terms of stability?

I am not seeing any ability to open files in Photoshop or Perfect Photos directly as well. Double bummer.

I only have 1,700 photos in my library at this time. Just playing around at the moment with Capture One. So far no stability problems.

I decided to go with Lightroom back in March from Aperture but Capture One appears to process the RAW files so much better than Lightroom. A Lightroom preset might mimic what I am seeing in Capture One for the RAW file processing. It would be nice just to have the RAW files processed Olympus style without figuring out a Lightroom preset.

Right now Capture One is on sale for $150 so it is comparable price wise to Lightroom.

 

[oakrrl]

DxO Optics Pro

I really, really don't like LR's interface - have downloaded the free trial several times and tried to get into it but find it awkward.

I recently bought a Sony A6000 and Aperture does a very bad job with its RAW. So I've started using DxO Optics Pro 9.5. It does a MUCH better conversion than either Aperture or LR.

So right now my plan is to import files into DxO, export them as TIFFs to Aperture for its organization and for its brushes. This is awkward but will probably stay OK for some time - and maybe Photos will have decent organization when the time comes....

 

[Small White Car]

Meh, why put off the inevitable

Because (as you yourself have already pointed out) Adobe has said they're working transfer methods, so why waste tons of time now on something that may be super simple by winter?

Even if it turns out that Adobe's smoking crack (as happens sometimes) and it never comes to pass and we then have to transfer stuff manually in the future, what have you lost? Why not wait and see what they come up with?

I'm not saying you have to wait, btw. Have fun doing whatever you want. But if one is going to give people advice online I think "wait and see what Adobe meant by that statement" is the better generic advice right now.

 

[pezdaddy]

So right now my plan is to import files into DxO, export them as TIFFs to Aperture for its organization and for its brushes. This is awkward but will probably stay OK for some time - and maybe Photos will have decent organization when the time comes....

I'm doing something similar. Right now I am on the trial of LR and have been doing the edits in LR and than exporting to aperture for organization. I will be downloading Dxo to compare its raw editing.

I back up the original raw files, so if I ever need them I've got them. But, I don't need the originals in aperture. For me the edited tiff or jpgs are fine.

 

[MCAsan]

I've been using Nik plug-ins, and got the updated ones, for Aperture for a while and have really grown fond of that workflow. Does anyone here have experience of moving from Aperture to LightRoom and being able to use the Nik software? I can't remember now when I bought it, at the sky high price it used to be, if I just bought a licence for the Aperture version etc. Any experience?

Check your license. My licenses for Nik Collection and Perfect Photos allow me to use the apps as plugins in Aperture and/or LR. Until I deleted Aperture, I ran them as plugins in both environments. The same goes for Pixelmater.