[Nik Bhatt]

(Edit: I have been looking more into the way Photos handles Aperture data)

Thanks for letting us know. I think it’s good that people will have multiple choices for moving off of Aperture. It looks like C1 has done a decent job of migrating data, though they have the same problems moving adjustments over that everyone else does (they move some global adjustments but they say the conversion is only an “approximation”).

In the past, Photos did a really good job of converting Aperture adjustments (and rendering them faithfully and non-destructively). That has changed. I have run some tests with Mojave and Catalina beta and have found that, for the most part, Aperture adjustments are no longer converted. Instead, Aperture edits are generally treated as foreign data made by an external editor. In a few cases, Photos will convert the data (e.g., if there is only crop or a few other adjustments). In most cases, Photos simply creates (or reuses) a JPEG preview to represent the Aperture adjustments. Any further edits are made to the JPEG, not to the original (unless you revert to original). In some cases, the adjustment data is completely discarded, and you just get an unadjusted image. Whoa.

This is definitely a lot worse. On top of that, if you used a Photos on an older OS to convert (a version of Photos that did a better job), once you move to Mojave or Catalina, you get the new behavior. I’m still wrapping my head around what it all means, but I do know that it is really bad news for people, like me, hoping to move to finally move from Aperture to Photos.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by Nik Bhatt.

[Nik Bhatt]

Hi Erik,

Using ExifTool to add a GPS location: no effect
Renaming the directory in which the image files are located: no effect
Moving the image files to a different directory: no effect
Using ExifTool to change the file creation date to the image capture date: yes, can affect it

RAW Power uses the following information to create its “signature” that it uses to connect a photo with the sidecar. These are the components of the signature (this all changes in 3.0):

Filename (but not directory)
EXIF data: “PixelWidth”, “PixelHeight”, “Depth”, “DateTimeDigitized”, @”DateTimeOriginal”, “Make”, “Model”, “Orientation”

So if you change any of these properties in EXIF, it will alter the signature and the app will not be able to match the files.

In 3.0, the signature is based on the file name, the ‘inode’ which is the unique ID on the disk, and file system creation time (not EXIF). 3.0 will track a file as it moves on the disk, but not across disks (2.0 tracks across disks, but I have decided this is not as desirable as I first thought).

[Nik Bhatt]

Aperture has remarkably powerful file management features which have yet to be duplicated.
There really isn’t a good way to convert Aperture adjustments to another editing system. LR doesn’t do it, nor does anyone else really.
There is a company that is working on a translator for a wide range of applications and attempt to convert a subset of adjustments (cyme.io), but I have not tried their beta so I cannot speak to it at all.

[Nik Bhatt]

Another customer was asking me a question over email with respect to referenced files. I thought I would include some information here because Photos handles referenced files differently from Aperture (basically, it’s identical to iPhoto):

– Photos supports images located on external drives (mixed with ones on the drive holding the photo library itself).
– These externally located files are called “referenced files”
– Thus, you can store the library on the internal drive, but store as many of the original files on the external drive.
– The edit information and full-size JPEGs are stored on the internal drive with the library.
– Albums and folders can include referenced files.
– The only time you would need the external drive is when you are editing an image.
– Referenced files are not uploaded to iCloud Photo library
– Photos cannot move a file from the internal location to an external location, nor can it move it from one external location to another.
– this is a problem if you run out of space on your external drive and want to relocate all the files to a new, larger drive.

That last point is the most important one – you cannot move files around as you could with Aperture.

[Nik Bhatt]

I ran a small test with a Catalina beta and found that referenced libraries are still supported, and RAW Power was able to see the images in that library. So, you should be able to convert each library with Photos and use them with RAW Power 3.0.

However, Photos only allows a single library to be viewed at a time – you switch it with Photos itself, and referenced libraries are not supported with iCloud Photo Library.

–Nik

[Nik Bhatt]

I try to maintain compatibility with two versions of macOS for a given version of RAW Power.

So, RAW Power 3.0 will run on Mojave and Catalina, but not High Sierra. At some point, RAW Power only run on Catalina and Catalina + 1.

However, note that features like Photos library support are only available on Catalina, so you would not be able to use that when running RAW Power 3 on Mojave.

[Nik Bhatt]

You are welcome. There is nothing ready for beta testing – I’m sorry to say I’m behind schedule — summer was much less productive than I had hoped.

[Nik Bhatt]

HSL is definitely on the list. I don’t know if it will make 3.0 or not. Hopefully.

[Nik Bhatt]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the question. Yes, Catalina represents the final “end of the line” for Aperture, which is tragic (and stupid, frankly).

– Apple has finally added the ability for 3rd party apps to read the Photos library – this support was added in Catalina.
– RAW Power 3.0 will add this support, which means you can use it as a front end for a Photos library. The feature set will be *at least* what you have in RAW Power for iOS, plus ratings. I’ll provide more info when I know more.
– I don’t have a release date for RAW Power 3.0, but my goal is toward the end of the year. Catalina itself doesn’t ship until sometime in October.
– With this functionality, you can convert your Aperture library to Photos (using Photos). This preserves adjustments, metadata, etc. There are some exclusions and some conversions (e.g., ratings become keywords), but most data goes right over.
– When RAW Power 3 is out, you can use it as a front end instead of (or in addition to) Photos. So you get the benefits of both.
– I recommend NOT upgrading to Catalina until at least RAW Power 3.0 is out. There is no forced upgrade to Catalina, unless you buy a new Mac after Catalina ships, which will have Catalina pre-installed. Aperture will continue to work on pre-Catalina systems, so you can just leave a machine running an older OS if you like.

I hope this helps.

[Nik Bhatt]

RAW Power 3.0 will be a free update for existing customers, so no need to re-purchase it. My plan / hope is to release it toward the end of the year. When the UI feels a little better, yes, I will post some screenshots.

[Nik Bhatt]

If you are referring to the standalone version of the app, then no. There isn’t a way to do that. I don’t have any immediate plans to do that, since it requires a lot of basic infrastructure to be created first that’s not present in the app (because the app browses “real” files and as such it doesn’t have the ability to browse “fake” files.

Photos itself has that ability, so if you are using the extension, you can duplicate the image and work with that.

—Nik

[Nik Bhatt]

Hi Erik,

One RAW Power user I have interacted a lot with does a lot of astrophotography, but he uses dedicated software that does focus stacking. I will ask him if he has any suggestions for you, though.

[Nik Bhatt]

Hi Vlado,

Yes, there will be videos. I can make a note to look into making them downloadable – is that so you can view them offline?

[Nik Bhatt]

Hi Sue,

Thank you for your interest in the app. Sorry for the late response – I did not see your post.

For now, I suggest leaving your library in Aperture. You can use RAW Power 2.0 as a file browser or as a Photos extension (editing one image at a time) and get used to the app and its features.

RAW Power 3.0 will have support for Photos libraries (using macOS Catalina), so you will be able to use it as an alternative interface to your library. It will not have the exact same features as Photos (each will have unique features). At that point, it might make sense to move from Aperture to Photos.

I hope that helps. You can email support@gentlemencoders.com if you have more questions (or reply on this thread).

[Nik Bhatt]

I did not receive your email with your email address – if you already sent it, please send it again (a regular email) to support@gentlemencoders.com.

Thanks.

–Nik

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