[fgaudet]

Hey fellows, as it should already be known by everyone, Aperture will be "replaced" at the end of the year with Apple's new "Photos" app. So far, as per the info I could find, "Photos" should be able to import Aperture and iphoto libraries. So I am guessing that the new app will support every current adjustments available in Aperture.

Since "Photos" will also replace iphoto, it will probably be a free app and should also be dumbed down to iphoto user friendliness level for beginners. So in a way it looks a bit conflicting.

There are tons of options for picture editing and library management available, from the freebies to the very expensive ones. But none of which seem to offer the robust library format of Aperture and still allow decent level of in software adjustments and allow for third party plugins. I used to be an avid Lightroom user back in my Windows only days (and I still use LR at work) and I don't dislike it; it has features I wish Aperture had and vice-versa. Recently I have been toying around with DXO and Capture One and either app works fine IMO. But all of them are a bit weak on the library side of things. But this is also kind of a personal preference.

So to me it looks like there are only 3 options available:

1- Stick with Aperture and use it until it finally ends up not working on OSX XX.X, two years down the line, knowing full well that no new features will appear and new camera support may not be added. The current version works fine and does what I want it to do after all.

2- Hope that "Photos" will fulfill my needs and won't be too much of a departure from Aperture and if it is, chose option 1 or 3 when the times come.

3- Commit all my currently edited RAW to tiff or jpg and export them and my original RAW into LR or DXO or C1Pro. My library is humungous, spreading almost over a decade and I often re-work existing edits, committing them would be a step backwards. But it would also lighten it up quite a bit, there are quite a few tiff (non-compressed, with layers) well over 300mb a piece in my library, flattening them and converting them to jpg would more than likely cut my disk usage in half.

Not being a fan of Adobe's "rent-a-software" policy (I know, most software can still be found as stand alone... but for how long?) I am wary of moving over to LR.

So, Aperture users, what is your plan?

[sinjin]

I plan on sticking with Aperture until which time something else is clearly better for my purpose. Whether that is because of new developments or the aging of Aperture doesn't matter. It's a bummer, but we've got time.

[link81]

aperture will continue to work with Yosemite. that much we know. after that, no idea.
i plan on using aperture until photo's comes out, then see if photo's does what i need. if it does, good. if not, i'll look at options then.

[fgaudet]

It's a bummer, but we've got time.

Yeah, I'm not too concerned either but as you said it's a bummer, I really like almost everything about it and it's been extremely stable. Sometimes change is good, sometimes it's bad... but it's inevitable

[boriscleto]

We have no idea what Photos will be like. All that has been seen is a few seconds during a keynote and a screenshot.

[bobdobbs]

RAW support on Macs is at the OS level, so regardless of whether Apple releases any new enhancements to Aperture, it will still support new cameras. The bigger question is whether the new iCloud Photos features will function 100% in Aperture going forward. Currently, they do not, but I expect that to be fixed once Apple's releases the compatibility update for Aperture they promised.

I expect Photos is going to be more sophisticated than iPhoto, but less than Aperture, which will give third-party developers -- or maybe Apple themselves -- the ability to sell extensions to make up the difference. I'm cautiously optimistic, and taking a wait-and-see attitude. I'm willing to suffer through some growing pains in order to avoid selling my soul to Adobe.

---------- Post added 08-22-14 at 07:16 PM ----------

We have no idea what Photos will be like. All that has been seen is a few seconds during a keynote and a screenshot.

That screenshot does give us an idea that it will likely be more sophisticated than iPhoto.

[Jamey777]

I have been using Aperture but recently switched to Capture One Pro (it is on sale for half off in August and you can also stack coupons on top of that).

I am trying to purge myself of all adobe products. I am now using Sketch for web work (used to use Fireworks) and haven't used photoshop since I purchased Aperture. Given that bias, I tried Capture one and think it is great.

The only annoyance for me is the full screen mode isn't as good as aperture but I am pretty sure LR doesn't have one (at least photoshop didn't?)

If I do a lot of Post that i really like, it is saved off as a jpg somewhere. I never bother to shoot raw etc and am much more interested in documenting my family than what a lot of folks here do in post.

I hate how apple stores the iphoto and aperture libraries, and the fact you can't share them across networks easily was driving me bonkers. So the idea of a photo tool that is even more engrained in the OS doesn't appeal to me.

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Last edited by Jamey777; 08-22-2014 at 07:37 PM. Reason: grammar

[i83N]

aperture will continue to work with Yosemite. that much we know. after that, no idea.
i plan on using aperture until photo's comes out, then see if photo's does what i need. if it does, good. if not, i'll look at options then.

I’m using beta Yosemite and Aperture works fine.
And it will work in next adorations of OS X. It’s not like you install new OS X and all the programs are replaced, this will happen when they switch to new OS core architecture let say 128 bit.

[Paul the Sunman]

There are many questions associated with the end of Aperture and the advent of Photos. For one, how does it advantage Apple to so alienate its power photography users? People are already leaving in droves, with Apple doing remarkably little to reassure us. This suggests they just don't care, and there will be no attempt to cater to our requirements. If the plan were that Photos would match LR etc in editing power, why wouldn't they say so now?

We have been told that there will be a migration path to Photos. This does not seem to say that Photos will natively accommodate the Aperture library structure; rather, we may have to copy to a new structure (who has the space to do that?). But will it preserve the existing Aperture edits, which after all have not been applied to the RAW files themselves. Indeed, how can it, if those edits are not available in Photos? That is worrying, not just because it makes for an uncertain future, but because it threatens our past (all the photos and their edits from past years).

Now, it may be that Photos will be more plugin-friendly, allowing non-destructive 3rd party editing of RAW files rather than forcing users to work with tiffs as at present. But that does not inspire confidence that our heritage of past edits will be preserved.

I will wait and see, though without much confidence.

[EssJayEff]

I wouldn't convert to ,JPG but I would convert to .DNG . . . unless you are anti-Adobe on that front, too. One option, although it greatly increases the file size, is to convert to DNG using the option that embeds the source file. You may want to do this only for the "best of your best" images to keep down your storage requirements.

[boriscleto]

I’m using beta Yosemite and Aperture works fine.
And it will work in next adorations of OS X. It’s not like you install new OS X and all the programs are replaced, this will happen when they switch to new OS core architecture let say 128 bit.

Even then it might still work. The switch from 32 bit to 64 bit mostly affected drivers.

[normhead]

I am going to keep using Aperture. I still use iWeb for my websites and it was cancelled what? Maybe 5 years ago? Apple has always said, if you use their development tools and construct your software according to their guidelines it will be functional for long periods of time beyond development. Companies that take shortcuts for improved speed or functionality can have their software crippled by OS enhancements. However, Apple doesn't allow their own teams to do that. If iWeb is an example. I'll find something I like more, long before Aperture stops working. And really, I have an old version of photoshop on a machine , and I simply don't upgrade the OS. It's running 10.6 or something and still works fine. A little slow with big files but otherwise still functional.

[fgaudet]

unless you are anti-Adobe on that front, too.

I have nothing against Adobe in general, I just don't like their new business model. I'd rather own stuff than rent it. This is why I bought CS6 even though CC was out.

I know that Aperture will more than likely continue to run on new OS as most other softwares did in the past, heck I still use some software from back in the 10.4 days. The thing is, although Aperture is ideal for me at the moment, who knows what new "thing" will come up in the future that will never make it to Aperture? I ran Photoshop CS2 for ages, which I bought for Windows and managed to get my license transferred to OSX years ago. I was happy with it. Until the content aware stuff came along... and the remarkable speed increase of CS6 over CS2.

I am a tech guy. I rarely keep my computers longer than two years. Same with my phones/tablets. On the software side I do tend to stick with what works good and only upgrade when there is significant gains to be made. But Aperture will now be a dead end. It is impressive that a 4-5 year old piece of software still performs just as good as recent ones. But from now on, it will lose its edge.

For one, how does it advantage Apple to so alienate its power photography users?

Talk to any Final Cut Pro users, ask them how they felt about FCX... Or Logic Pro 9 users (which I am) how they liked Apple dropping 32 plugins support in Logic X... (I know there are work arounds but...)

Apple alienated the video and the audio pros already, it's only fair that they did the photo pros too

[Fries]

I'll just wait until there is enough information about the successor of Aperture and then I'll decide what to do. Lightroom is a obvious alternative for me. Does anybody have an idea when the new photo app is available?

[boriscleto]

Talk to any Final Cut Pro users, ask them how they felt about FCX... Or Logic Pro 9 users (which I am) how they liked Apple dropping 32 plugins support in Logic X... (I know there are work arounds but...)

Apple alienated the video and the audio pros already, it's only fair that they did the photo pros too

Aperture never had the kind of market share FCP or Logic had. From what I've been able to gather almost no one uses FCP anymore. They either shift to Avid, and all the problems that brings, or FCX.

It's way too early, and we know far too little, to dismiss Photos out of hand. It's not even going to be released until 2015.