Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I received an e-mail from Apple today about Aperture 3 and the new Photos For OS X app.

Dear Aperture customer,
Last June, we introduced the new Photos apps for iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, along with
iCloud Photo Library, which lets you safely store all your photos in iCloud and access them
from anywhere.
When Photos for OS X launches this spring, Aperture will no longer be available for purchase
from the Mac App Store. You can continue to use Aperture on OS X Yosemite, but you will not
be able to buy additional copies of the app.
You can migrate your Aperture library to Photos for OS X, including your photos, adjustments,
albums, and keywords. After migrating, your Aperture library remains intact. However, Aperture
and Photos do not share a unified library, so any changes made after the migration will not be
shared between the apps.
To learn more about Photos for OS X, click here. If you’re interested in trying the OS X 10.10.3
Public Beta, which includes Photos for OS X, click here.
We thank you for using Aperture and hope you will enjoy the new Photos for OS X app.
Sincerely,
Apple

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Lightroom 5.6 and up for Macs has an importer plug-in now actually built right in for Aperture users that want to switch.

http://lightroomkillertips.com/moving-images-aperture-now-built-right-lightroom/

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

I don't understand why anyone would switch without seeing what Photos has to offer first. Why spend money if you don't have to.

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

Photos only works on Yosemite and not with any versions prior to that. So You would have to upgrade if you haven't already.
I do not intend to upgrade and will continue using Aperture.

cmoroney Loc: Pasadena, California

Who here has already switched from Aperture to Lightroom, and what software did you use (ApertureExporter from the Mac App store or LR's built-in importer?

Can anybody give advice as to what I should (or should not) do? How do I best manage the switch? What pitfalls should I watch out for?

I have about 10 separate Aperture libraries, some big, some not, but all with a lot of separate events, albums and smart-albums contained there-in. Hopefully when I import them into LR I don't get duplicates of all the photos that belong to both an event and an album.

steveo52 Loc: Rhode Island and Ocala Florida

I'm a regular listener to Derrick Story's "The Digital Story" podcast. Derrick was is also one of the trainers who have a set on training videos for Aperture on Lynda.com. He's been testing the beta version of Photos and from what I understand it just doesn't have the level of sophistication that Aperture has. Fact is in his podcast he sounded disappointed. I've heard other discussions too on other photo podcasts and the message is the same. I loved using Aperture but saw this day coming and moved to Lightroom a couple of years ago and never looked back, I will admit though I do miss Aperture.

studavis

Apple has in it's letter offered to give you a early trial. Why not see.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I've read several articles by previewers and all said what you quoted above, Photos is a step down from Aperture though up from iPhoto. People who were hoping for more may be disappointed. The only reason I got started on Lightroom was that at the time, Aperture would have been more expensive. Though I'm not a big fan of Adobe as a company, Lightroom (and eventually CC) has worked well for me.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

The answer may be in your intended use of the program. If you are a professional, running a cottage industry model, stand-alone portrait studio or commercial photography business, then something like Lightroom or Capture One is a virtual necessity.

If you are an enthusiast who wishes to catalog all your photos and perhaps do some efficient post-processing, Photos will probably fit the bill nicely.

Apple's game is all about having the best consumer interfaces to whatever devices and applications they sell. Photos looks like it will deliver a very smooth, intuitive, and fast user experience.

While it might not have ALL the bells and whistles that Aperture does, Photos will be more efficient to use, and it will sync seamlessly with Photos on the iPhone and iPad and iPod Touch. If you are heavily invested in the Apple ecosystem, that may be enough to tip the scales, right there.

Years ago, when Aperture and Lightroom were both at version 2.x, I took a four hour course on each of them at the DIMA Conference (Digital Imaging Marketing Association — an arm of the Photo Marketing Association International). It was apparent even then that Lightroom would win the mindshare of the professional crowd, because Adobe was listening VERY carefully to the most influential pros in the industry, whether at PMAI's conventions, or PPA's conventions, or WPPI's conventions. It was also developing a cross-platform application. Apple would have done well to follow their FileMaker Pro database model, and do cross-platform development as well, but they kept Aperture a Mac-only app.

Lightroom has evolved nicely, and is a de facto standard of the independent professional photographer. It does, in software, what custom lab technicians used to do in a darkroom — and much, much more. Combine it with Photoshop for pixel editing (retouching, masking, layering, compositing, color separating, adding text...), and you have a graphic arts tour de force. Add plug-ins for retouching automation and sharpening and other effects, and you can do virtually anything in the photo world.

The downside of being able to do anything is that there is a huge learning curve to doing anything. Adobe has been selling Photoshop for 25 years, and Aperture for about a decade. Both apps can seem like bloatware to a new user just getting into the field of photography, or to a user who has skipped a few upgrades and just switched to the new versions. There are now so many menus, submenus, palettes, and settings dialogs that it is VERY easy to get lost, dazed, or at least confused.

Apple evolved Aperture to a point where they saw their market shift away from the professional crowd and toward the digital enthusiast. They primarily serve the mass market, not the pro market. Their interfaces are built for speed, efficiency, intuitive understanding, and tight integration with other applications and devices. If that's what you need, go for it! Keep using Aperture until it's orphaned abandonware, and/or upgrade to Photos.

If you're a pro or pro wannabe, you're probably wise to look at Lightroom and Capture One. But install what came with your camera, and look for updaters on the camera manufacturer's web site. There may be times when you need it.

If you're an enthusiast, you have to decide on a level of software that matches your level of enthusiasm. Be honest with yourself — Do you want to "fall into" your computer, or do you want to have a life outside of your hobby?

It's like learning whether you want the discipline of exposing JPEGs correctly, with the correct camera menu settings, or whether you just want to get the exposure "close" at the camera, and spend lots of time fixing everything in a raw editor.

If your needs are highly creative, you'll probably shoot raw and spend many satisfying hours at the computer. If your needs are to have fun making nice images to share with friends and family, then you probably use your iPhone and a mirror-less camera on Intelligent Auto, record JPEGs, and tweak them slightly.

While Photos will be a raw editor, the range of tools will be limited when compared with Lightroom, Capture One, or Aperture. If you're an enthusiast with a life outside photography, you will APPRECIATE that. If you're a working pro, that will probably frustrate you.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

I have heard from Beta Testers that Photos is a dumbed down version of Aperture. Somewhere between Aperture and iPhotos.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

"Dumbed down" is probably not the right phrase. "Stripped to the essentials, streamlined and integrated" is probably more accurate.

Most folks only use a few buttons on the microwave oven, right? So why have 80 if only ten get used?

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

They are still taking away functionality no matter what you call it.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

But you yourself won't know for sure until you yourself see it. What I am saying is why base your decision on what somebody else says about a Beta Version. Aperture still functions, Adobe isn't going to charge extra because you waited for Photos to come out. Why not wait until you see Photos for yourself. It may have what you need. Then you won't have to spend money you don't need to. And if Photos doesn't have what you need, you can buy Adobe then. That's what makes sense to me and that's what I'm doing.

Capture48 Loc: Arizona

I have been sure for the 3 years I've been on Lightroom, longer on Photoshop. Apple make a great OS, but their photo app just don't do it for a pro photographer. Adobe is king there and likely will continue to be into the near future anyway,

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

I'm a Lightroom user and am running the Yosemite beta that includes "Photos" and I just wanted to point out that THIS was a pretty accurate description of the situation.

Good job.