tonyjag Loc: Bolton, Ma.

I have been using Aperture for many years and have version 3.6 (see screen shot). My computer is a MacBook Pro running OS 10.14.3 Mojave. I recently added a D7500 camera and have encountered an issue with RAW (.NEF) files. Aperture will see and import them as usual (most recently from my D5300), but after a while, it decides that they are an unsupported format. The screen shot shows several. Some have the warning triangle, while others still show the picture, but it won't let you edit them.

The thread:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-587344-2.html
"Mac Aperture and RAW files"
gives a link that shows which cameras have Aperture RAW support and the D7500 is on the list.

Any advice will be appreciated, but I don't want to use any windows apps like FastStone Viewer.

If I do move on from Aperture, which program is most like Aperture...Lightroom?

(Download)

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

I used Aperture for a very short period of time and, as I recall, it was similar in some ways to LR, but not as effective or useful as LR in my opinion. You can look at Luminar, Affinity, ON1 and many others, all of them good in their own way. It will depend upon what you require in a program to meet your needs. There are many options available today. I am an LR/PS user but also use many other programs, depending upon my goal with a specific image.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

IMHO it is long past the time to move on. If you have not exported all your versions it is time to start doing that. If you have a managed library it is time to move all the files to a referenced library and if you have versions that are not exported it is time to export all of them while you still can.

I used and loved Aperture from 1.0 all the way to the end, June 2, 2014 when Apple announced the end of support. I started moving masters and exporting versions to a referenced library and I started evaluating replacements that day. I switched over to my new program in August (2014) and I have not looked back. I miss Aperture it was a fabulous program and nothing I have used since comes close to the DAM capability of Aperture. In fact it still works! I use it to find legacy images as I can find them faster using Aperture. However if it ceases to work I will not lose any images they are all filed and backed up.

Apple Digital Camera Raw supports the D7500 so I am not sure what the issue with the raw files is about but perhaps it is because Apple discontinued support in 2014?

I think LR is closer to what Aperture was, but it is different in many ways. There is really no replacement for Aperture, but there are alternatives and they will have advantages and disadvantages over Aperture. However they are supported.

I recommend you make a trial folder and the and download and try some of the alternatives, most all have free trials. Use the same images for each and try different things, retouching, printing filing, using your test files. You will soon figure out which program you like best.

And there is Photos which I hear is getting a lot better. I don’t use it much. The Aperture debacle taught me that Apple does not care about supporting the photography community. But there are companies that do care, and they want your business.

Good luck and let us know what you decide on.

JoAnneK01 Loc: Lahaina, Hawaii

I use Affinity and Luminar and have had no problems. Just downloaded the new Luminar version so haven't been able to use it since downloaded. I use both D7100 and D810 with my MacBook Pro.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Exactly!

BebuLamar

Since Apple stopped supporting Aperture in 2014 I would be very surprised if it can even show the embedded JPEG in the D7500 NEF files. If you have Photoshop and ACR from 2014 and no update since then it wouldn't work with the D7500 NEF at all.
So I think it's time to move one or you can do the RAW conversion using Nikon NX-D then save the files as 16 bit TIFF and edit it in Aperture.

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

Tony, I feel your pain. I switched to Capture 1 about 4 years ago. I was anti Adobe, for a reason I can't even recall! CP1, then and now, has an import process for Aperture libraries. At that time, not all metadata was transferred (I am sure they have updated/improved their process). However, I found that the Catalog structure of CP1 could be formatted in a similar way to Aperture. This has proven well. At my level, I am very happy with CP1, particularly their customer service response time and their timely updates. Many of their processes are similarly intuitive as Aperture's. At the least, you will be able to transition with a minimal learning curve to do as you have done with Aperture. At the best, it is a robust program that many professionals use. I am in no way telling you not to go with LR or Photoshop; but I can only relate to my experience.

DanCulleton

I loved Aperture and found it to be a good preparation for LR when the time came.
I went from Aperture 3 to LR 3 and never looked back.
I have moved on to LR Classic but am still nostalgic for Aperture.

tonyjag Loc: Bolton, Ma.

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

Here is an Apple support link which announces that Aperture won't work after Mojave. It gives info on how to transition to either Photos or LRClassic. Since they abandoned Aperture, I don't trust Apple to continue supporting Photos, which I think is still behind Aperture in capability. So I am thinking about LRClassic (plus others you have suggested), but there are caveats like how to capture all of the work that went into Aperture image adjustments:
"Aperture and Lightroom use different image processing engines, so Lightroom cannot read adjustments made in Aperture.
Options:
- Reedit your file using Lightroom Classic.
- Use Aperture to export full resolution edited photos and store them with the originals."

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209594

Regarding urgency, transitioning to LRClassic using the first method doesn't
seem to require Aperture to be operational, but looks like a huge amount of work to re-do the adjustments in LR.

The second method requires Aperture to be operational (to do the export), thus needs be done before upgrading beyond Mojave.

When importing pictures into Aperture, Under "Store Files" i always selected "In the Aperture Library", so the Aperture library(ies) are managed, not referenced. So I know where everything is. When the first one got too big, I started a second this year.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5738480

QUESTIONS:
1. Does anyone know whether a means exists to extract edited pictures and metadata from Aperture Libraries without using Aperture, provided you can find the aperture Libraries?

2. When they say "Use Aperture to export full resolution edited photos and store them with the originals", would you just export versions, originals, and metadata to a Mac folder?

3. Would the above include jpeg+raw files?

Thanks.

JohnR Loc: The Gates of Hell

Hi Tony. I also have MacBook Pro and have used Aperture for many years but decided against Mojave - staying with High Sierra which suits me better. I don't shoot RAW so don't have problems such as yours. Aperture allows me to download and edit the latest jpgs from my A1000 as with every jpg I've ever shot. NEF's from it though aren't even seen by Aperture.

Given you are happy editing with Aperture then I guess your editing won't need all the bells and whistles you'll get with Lightroom, Luminar and all the other editing apps which will be recommended by many many UHH's. Save your money and try Mojaves free included Photos app. A bit more like the old iPhoto than Aperture but I'm sure it will work with your D7500 NEF files. It does have quite a good editing suite. It also will easily migrate your Aperture library although slowly but beware as after its done you can't open the library with Aperture anymore. Try it first with a few shots to see if it'll work for you. Do you use Time Machine for backup ? If so make sure you have a current backup which you can use to reload your Aperture library if you want to go back to it.

I have also read of many people having many problems transferring their Aperture libraries to Lightroom/ON1/Luminar etc.

Cheers JohnR

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

It sounds to me like it's really time to move on. As a longtime Lightroom user on Windows, I can't really compare Aperture to other programs out there.

Lightroom in my opinion is useful because (1) it uses a robust database for a catalog which makes it easy to find things and (2) although LR is a fairly capable editor, it's not the best one out there. However, the CC photographers' package pairs it with Photoshop which in my opinion is the most capable editor out there. LR and PS are slightly different in editing, where LR is a parametric editor whose tools are mostly global, and PS is a pixel editor with capability of editing right down to the pixel level. PS also has some graphics capability that make it useful for posters and such things.

LR/PS is ideal for someone with a large photopile. LR does the organizational stuff and basic editing (covering 90% of my photos) and PS does the fine detailed work on the best photos.

I have heard that other software packages are starting to offer DAM for organizing things as well as their editing capabilities, but since LR/PS does what I need and I don't have time to fiddle around learning a new program, I have not tried any of them recently. I would not be surprised if some package had editing tools that were better than LR, but I would be surprised if another package beat out PS. A lot of times those comparisons are subjective anyway.

So, coming from aperture (which I never used) your next step will be to decide just what you want. I think DAM is an important feature, since as your photopile gets larger, your aging memory will have more trouble finding things you want. The DAM is essential to me as I age for that reason. LR will fill that bill. Others might. If editing is more important to you than the DAM, PS is probably the best thing out there, but others with fewer bells, whistles, levers, dials, footpedals, and brass knuckles might be better in specific tools. I doubt they would be better than PS overall.

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

Long time aperture user here and I still Love it.. That said I started shooting in Raw so purchased On1Raw as a raw processing software and it also comes with a library. I've bypassed Photos on my Mac computer and go directly into On1. I don't think I'll ever find anything as easy as aperture, but finding the new software and library easy enough to learn. Great tutorials on line as well to learn the software. Good-Luck on finding a replacement.
P.S. my aperture started to need repairing regularly once I started importing files from my D850. I didn't want to wait for a crash before I switched.......

tonyjag Loc: Bolton, Ma.

Thanks! I started looking at On1Raw and found it very promising. However, there does not appear to be support for migration from Aperture managed libraries. In the following from a couple years back, someone eloquently suggested that, but ON1 replied that they don't plan to do that at the time.

https://www.on1.com/products/photo-raw/ideas/idea/apple-aperture-managed-libraries-conversion-feature-for-on1-raw/

Then i found the following:

https://www.on1.com/blog/need-an-apple-aperture-alternative-look-here/

But no comments from anyone who has tried it. How did you do it?

JD750 Loc: SoCal

(1) I do not know of one.

(2) Export the VERSIONS, and MOVE the originals, yes to a Mac folder. Something like /Pictures/Apt_Legacy_Lib or another name you choose. Use Relocate Originals to Ref Library or something like that. I already moved all mine so I can't test it and tell you the command. But there is a way from within Aperture to do this. You are moving them to a reference library, but allowing Aperture to keep track of them.

(3) Yes all managed files should be moved to another Mac Folder. See (2) above. First you want to move the originals to a Referenced library, (mac folder of your choosing) then export the versions. I stored the versions next to the originals but renamed the versions to have an extension like _v1, v2, etc.

It's a lot of work but believe me you want to export the versions, you do NOT want to lose all that retouching work that you put into them.

Make a Test project in Aperture, copy some images into it. Then try the steps of exporting to referenced and exporting versions. When you have the process down, then start on your real projects. I would export projects into their own folders, to preserve the structure, but how you do it is up to you.

Please just get started.

tonyjag Loc: Bolton, Ma.

Thanks for taking the time to explain how to do it; much appreciated! I am starting to do experiments as you suggested.
Your approach seems similar to the method for migrating to ON1 described above in
https://www.on1.com/blog/need-an-apple-aperture-alternative-look-here/

BTW, I ran across this story "Why Apple Killed Aperture" by one of the developers of Aperture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCMCPywr2bg