Rick Garside

Hello Gang - I am new to the group. I am a Mac person, and always loved Aperture and iPhoto - both programs are excellent, easy-to-use and allowed me to organize my photos better than anything else. THEN, Apple unceremoniously dumped them - as you all know, in favor of consolidating their features into PHOTOS. I tried photos, I really did. I imported pics into it, but found it entirely different - in a bad way. I hated it. The facial recognition was clunky and didn't really work, the clean, dark backgrounds were changed to white, I could no longer easily sort and organize my photos. And I didn't even get to the ability to print calendars and books - which was a feature I used a lot.

I didn't want to keep milking my Aperture library until Apple finally made it unusable (which they did with Catalina), so I just stopped using it. I tried Photos again a year or two later, since it was free, but it still felt like they ditched all the good features just so the software could work with both desktops and phones. So I started looking for alternatives. I don't want to be sucked into Adobe's world of perpetual subscriptions (even though I use Photoshop regularly - I am still on PS6), but I still want something that provides me with at least all the features I got used to with either Aperture or iPhoto. I need a good DAM program. (I Luminar and like it all right - but still prefer Photoshop) tried Corel Aftershot Pro, (didn't feel right) I am watching ON-1 and Affinity, which seem to be best for DAM and editing, respectively.

But a recent posting about PHOTOS made me write this long question. Some of you indicate that you like it as much as Aperture or iPhoto, and that it does all of what they did and more. Am I thinking about the same program? Because all my experience with it was the opposite. Things like the Lupe. (I can find no way to even zoom into a pic, let along have the control the Lupe allowed) or changing the way the layout looks, or split images. I had imported an iPhoto library and tried finding photos, using the equivalent of 'Faces', but everything was clunky, not intuitive like the other two softwares, and laid out more poorly. Every task I was used to doing was taking me forever to figure out until I finally gave up. And I really miss making those great Apple calendars for my family! SO - for those of you who love PHOTOS, can you tell me what I am missing? If it's all that - why am I at a loss whenever I've tried to use it? An Apple tech told me I'd like it once I got use to it, but the learning curve felt too steep for me to keep trying.

Terrymac Loc: LONDON U.K.

Welcome to the forum, I hope you enjoy it.

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

Nothing replaces the ease of using aperture but we must move on. I replaced with On 1 Raw which once learned is almost as easy as using aperture. You also get raw processing, layers and mask like you would using photoshop. To help you decide go on YouTube and look up On 1 raw for all the tutorials provided. I watched the entire series provide by Anthony Morganti. He talks nice and slow, explains all the details and easy to follow. From setting up and using your library, importing, exporting, to stacking photos, replacing skies, dodging and burning, raw conversion, etc.... I also jump around and watch other tutorials and I use On 1 raw tutorials as well.

JohnR Loc: The Gates of Hell

Get Catalina off your Mac and return to Mojave or earlier. Aperture and iPhotos will then still work OK. Thats what I use with Mojave on my Mac Mini and I still have High Sierra on my MacBook. I synchronise my iPhotos library between both with no problems.

I think basically we need to tell Apple to shove Catalina where the Sun don't shine

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Feel your pain - I loved Aperture but made the decision to leave it back when Apple announced it was discontinuing it. Moved to LR and spent what seemed like months learning it - then adobe broke their promise to always have a perpetual license. I'm a retired software salesman for big companies and I HATE subscription pricing. So I started the search you are going thru. First, I would ask what version of macOS you are on and if you have tried the latest Photos version that came out with the release of Catalina (don't need Catalina or Mojave to run it as it runs fine in High Sierra which is what I use because Im on a mid-2011 iMac. The latest version has added a lot of features and IF you augment it with plugins of Luminar, Nik, ON1 etc it does a very good job of a DAM and pretty good post-processing software. And it is free! If that meets your demands it is a good choice now. BUT if you need more I will tell you I have tried every app out there on Mac including Affinity, Luminar, PSE, Topaz Studio 2, Capture One and even Gimp. Like Martin Fisher, I selected On1 as my prime PP software for a number of reasons. First, you can either use a browser-based or a catalog DAM. I use the browser-based approach because it is faster and uses the macOS file structure. That means I never lose images as I can add, move, delete, etc images into folders directly from the mac or from within On1 Raw 2020 with absolutely no problems. The DAM in most of these other products are either missing totally or much worse. Second, it is very intuitive and really has most of or more features than other products including built-in HDR, Pano, Resize, print, etc which are often either missing entirely or are separately purchased apps. Third, On1 has proven to me and others that they underpromise and over-deliver on their apps. I own most of the other apps and two have them have been very bad about releasing products on time with the promised features. For instance, one released its newest version which was so bad it took 14 updates to get it to work reasonably and it is still missing features that are required and promised. Another released a product in 2019 that was supposed to have a DAM but was so bad they had to put out another version without a DAM. Then they announced the next version and made NO promises to fix and enhance the DAM promised in the 2019 version. Instead, they are trying to sell new features instead of fixing the promised ones. On1 hasn’t done that. In fact, their first beta releases was public and I had 1 problem with it which they fixed in the 2nd beta release. Then they released the General Availability version on time with even a few new features. At the same time, they released a complete guide and a ton of fantastic videos. On1 Raw 2020 is a perpetual license in that you buy it once ($100 or $80 upgrade). A fantastic deal is to buy into the On1 Plus at $150. This gives you access to a ton of classes and videos from great photographers like Matt Klosowski, Henry Hudson, and others. There are 41 videos already released for 2020 and almost 200 for 2019. You own the classes forever even if you don’t renew your plus membership. Classes like HDR photography, b&w photography, Bird and Wildlife, Masking (the absolute best masking class I ever took), You get free presets, Luts and other things monthly. It is the best $50 I've spent on photography. Now it isn't perfect for everything. I still use Topaz for my artistic painting and Luminar for some of their filters but I'm set. You can get a free trial of most of these software packages including On1 Raw 2020 so try them.

chevman Loc: Matthews, North Carolina

I use ‘Photos” but I don’t love it. It works ok as a DAM and some of the basic adjustments are OK. I never had “Aperture” so I can’t comment on that. I started out using Adobe Lightroom 6 and loved it, untill they went subscription. I don’t think $120 a year is that expensive but I don’t want to pay for something every year that I don’t need. Apple Photos has a feature called extensions that permits you to do an edit in another photo editor and make a return trip with the edits in place. Apple will also let you reset the photo to the original if you decide you don’t like the edit even at a later date. I don’t import my photos into Apples “Photos” app I leave them in their original folder location that way I can access them form any other application I want. All my photos are on several external hard drives no problem with having them on any other digital management app without extra duplication. I also tried “Aftershot Pro” and it’s OK but clunky Apples is much better. Most of the time here lately Iv’e been using My cameras native RAW processor ‘Canon DPP4’ and it is free with camera purchase. I believe most camera companies have their own also.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

Welcome to the Hog, Rick!

I think I have a solution for the problem of wanting to continue using Aperture or iPhotos on a Mac running the new Catalina OS! However, I cannot vouch for it as I have not yet made the leap from Mojave to Catalina.

Here’s the URL for the story: https://www.dpreview.com/news/1439854984/this-app-can-modify-aperture-and-iphoto-so-they-will-continue-to-work-with-macos-catalina

Within the preceding is the URL for the app in question: https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/Retroactive

If you or anybody else downloads this app and attempts to use it with Aperture on a Mac running Catalina OS, PLEASE GIVE FEEDBACK TO THE REST OF US as to whether your trial succeeds OR fails.

lev29

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

Thank you for posting that. My earlier post of the same link was moved by admin to where no one will see it. Many people on this forum are in need of such a workaround.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

You're welcome, a6k! Actually, Links and Resources is a section that is generally overlooked or forgotten about, at least by me most of the time. This is a good point for our newest member, Rick Garside, to be aware of.

Up-Side-Down Loc: Glasgow, Scotland

Stumbled across this yesterday and read the review in DP Review too. Waiting with bated breath to hear users comments as I've hung in there with Aperture as it still does everything I need and more. Apart from the learning curve required for a change, I do have an awful lot of plug ins which I guess I'd have to purchase again if I changed to another processing and DAM program.

SWE1

I HATE Photos, too, and am so disappointed Apple discontinued their printing operations for calendars and photos. They did such a good job with that, and being able to put together memory books that were well done and printed on high quality paper. Snapfish and other such companies do not compare. I really wish Apple would quit “improving” (haha - sarcasm) their systems.

jerseymike

"If you or anybody else downloads this app and attempts to use it with Aperture on a Mac running Catalina OS, PLEASE GIVE FEEDBACK TO THE REST OF US as to whether your trial succeeds OR fails."
I will be looking forward to your evaluation after you down load the new program and move forward. Then you can let us know.

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

smh

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Welcome I also use Aperture and love it I will not upgrade to the Apple program was it wipes it out.

ggab Loc: ?

For many reasons!