6 ms·

I bought Aperture only shortly before they killed it off. Still seething about that. Since Photos can't seem to cope with my ~30K picture photo library (that I'

by scoot 7y ago

I bought Aperture only shortly before they killed it off. Still seething about that. Since Photos can't seem to cope with my ~30K picture photo library (that I'm still trying to recover it after numerous attempts), can anyone suggest a viable alternative?

zerkten 7y ago
From your tone, I'm assuming you've tried and discounted Lightroom already?
- bradknowles 7y ago
  No Adobe products, please.
- wiredfool 7y ago
  I'm in the same boat with Lightroom -- I've bought it 3 times and I've got a historic library in it with tens of thousands of images, but if I upgrade to Catalina my non-subscription Lightroom won't work anymore. I don't open it often, like maybe a couple of times a year, but I don't want to lose the work that's in there.
  - zerkten 7y ago
    Could you run the old Lightroom in a VM? Ultimately, you might have to unless you migrate or pay up. Lightroom is inexpensive relative to other tools and everyday expenses I have. The same goes for other closed-source photography software mentioned on threads like this, to the point that I've bought some of it to experiment moving off Lightroom. Given the propensity of photographers to splurge huge amounts on gear, and their positions on intellectual property, I don't think I'm that unusual. Perhaps within the HN crowd the philosophy is different.
    - wiredfool 7y ago
      I didn’t object to paying for upgrades when I was actively using the software, but at this point, I’d be paying tens per invocation of the program. I’ve moved on, I don’t do photography much anymore and if I’m going to be plowing money into something, I’d rather it be in a current hobby.
foxandmouse 7y ago
DarkTable is an open source alternative to lightroom that I used to use.
petepete 7y ago
I thoroughly recommend Capture One Pro. It deals with my huge catalogue without breaking a sweat and its editing capabilities are class-leading.
- atombender 7y ago
  How are the photo organizing capabilities? I like to organize everything into nested folders. One thing I like about Lightroom is that I can right-click on a folder and get a shareable, private link that people can go to to view the album. Great for sharing photos from a trip or an event without having to go to some other services. The link opens a minimalist, unintrusive, functional album app where people can optionally download originals and even rate and comment on the photos, which is nice when you want to work together to whittle a larger set of candidates down to a smaller set.
  - dvcrn 7y ago
    Another Capture One user here. Capture One has 2 ways of organizing your stuff: Inside a Catalog (embedded into the library) or as a Session. In a Session, Capture One gives you a rough folder recommendation that you can use but just uses the folders from your file system. Catalogs embed the pictures and handle all the managing for you, but can also be set to not do that. None of that sharing and cloud stuff of lightroom though. It's just a RAW/photo processor. https://www.azuloxworkshops.com/educational/capture-one/capture-one-catalogs-vs-sessions/ https://www.azuloxworkshops.com/educational/capture-one/capt...
mceachen 7y ago
I got sick of fighting apps that don't scale, force me to use a specific OS or expensive hardware, feed the adtech panopticon, or don't clean up the messes left behind from all the other photo apps I've used, so I started my own company to do just that. https://photostructure.com/about/introducing-photostructure/ https://photostructure.com/about/introducing-photostructure/ It's currently in closed beta. I'm letting people in first-come-first-served roughly monthly, as I release new versions. It's free while in beta, in exchange for your feedback. Here's what's coming soon: https://photostructure.com/about/release-notes/ https://photostructure.com/about/release-notes/ Note that PhotoStructure doesn't have any editing tools other than fixing rotation. It does let you easily open the current image in other apps, though.
- Nextgrid 7y ago
  Just wondering, is the desktop client based on Electron?
  - mceachen 7y ago
    yes, that's how I've currently packaged up PhotoStructure for Desktops. There's also PhotoStructure for Servers which can run under Docker, or as a standard node app (ala `git clone $url; photostructure/photostructure`).
  - aikinai 7y ago
    Thanks for the heads up; saved me from being intrigued by this project.
    - jwr 7y ago
      This kind of comment is typical for someone who does not have to contend with business reality and has no idea how much it costs to develop and maintain native desktop applications. My guess is that the same people, when given a native app, complain about the subscription pricing or the price tag.
      - 7y ago
firecall 7y ago
I've never had issues with Lightroom. With regards to Apple Photos, I have ~130k photos synched without issues (that I can tell). No problems with iCloud sync either these days. I also double sync the photos as JPG to Google Photos. Having everything in Apple Photos is great for mobile browsing... the other night I pulled up images from 2006 on my iPhone!
- ngokevin 7y ago
  You can sync your photos to Lightroom cloud and pull up the photos and edit them from anywhere like the app.
- aikinai 7y ago
  I’m around the same with 140,000 photos and it works fine day-to-day. I think they fixed the performance issues a few years ago. However, there are two gotchas: I can’t open the photo library from other apps on iOS; it hangs forever. So I have to pick the photo from Photos and share into the app. Sometimes this isn’t possible like picking a profile photo, so it’s just not possible. It takes about a month to resync my library after a fresh install of MacOS. I just installed Catalina and am waiting on this process right now. It looks like it’ll be done around April. Edit: Clarified below, but I mean just to confirm the sync state, not redownload. I have the entire local library intact, but if you change anything locally (library location, OS, etc), Photos says "Uploading 140,000 items" and takes a month to confirm the library is in sync with the server.
  - bobbylarrybobby 7y ago
    1. Surely this is the apps' faults for not paginating queries on your Photos library correctly? (Unless it's a real Photos app bug, which I suppose is possible although unlikely) 2. Yikes, I guess with 140k photos putting your library on an external drive before wiping and then copying the library back to your Mac would also take a long time, but it shouldn't take a full month.
    - aikinai 7y ago
      1. I'm not an iOS dev so I can't say for sure, but my impression is that the apps don't have that much control when they open the photo library. 2. Sorry I wasn't clear; this is what I do. The problem is that if you move the photo library at all (or even if you don't but it's a new OS installation), it doesn't trust the old sync state so it manually checks each photo. It does seem to be hashing or something since it's using very little network, but it's only processing one photo every 10 to 20 seconds. I have no idea what makes it so slow, but I've found similar reports on forums so it seems to just be the way it is.
wilg 7y ago
I have 40K photos in Photos and it works okay. Definitely a few issues here and there but there really doesn't seem to be a better alternative.
craftinator 7y ago
Have you tried Linux?
timdesrochers 7y ago
I use and love DigiKam[0] for organizing my ≈230k RAW & JPG media library, and both RawTherapee[1] and Darktable[2] are great for more specific editing (though I haven't settled on an ideal workflow yet). One cool thing about DigiKam is that you can have it use a remote MySQL server for its db, theoretically allowing you to work with your library from the road (I think... it's been several months since I've spent a weekend working on my photo libraries). Adobe's Lightroom truly is a great and powerful tool like so many of their other apps, but I just can't stomach having years' worth of work locked up in a proprietary subscription-model app. And I just consider Apple Photos untrustworthy, though I do like to use it + iCloud shared photo albums to publish my edited "selects" instead of my full library. Now if only there was a real F/LOSS contender to replace FCPX... [0] https://www.digikam.org/ https://www.digikam.org/ [1] https://rawtherapee.com/ https://rawtherapee.com/ [2] https://www.darktable.org/ https://www.darktable.org/
nkristoffersen 7y ago
What kind of issues are you having with Photos? I have over 50,000 photos and over 4,000 videos and it’s been nothing but a dream.
- scoot 7y ago
  It crashes repeatedly on launch, and the built-in repair function fails to repair it. I’m currently trying to import the photos and videos into a new Photos library, but you lose metadata (such as video dates, faces etc.) and projects, so I might as well move to something more reliable.
lowdose 7y ago
Google photos, unlimited storage plus automatic ml tagging. I even upload 4k video up from my Netflix Plus channels.

by scoot 7y ago

zerkten 7y ago

From your tone, I'm assuming you've tried and discounted Lightroom already?

bradknowles 7y ago
No Adobe products, please.
wiredfool 7y ago
I'm in the same boat with Lightroom -- I've bought it 3 times and I've got a historic library in it with tens of thousands of images, but if I upgrade to Catalina my non-subscription Lightroom won't work anymore. I don't open it often, like maybe a couple of times a year, but I don't want to lose the work that's in there.
- zerkten 7y ago
  Could you run the old Lightroom in a VM? Ultimately, you might have to unless you migrate or pay up. Lightroom is inexpensive relative to other tools and everyday expenses I have. The same goes for other closed-source photography software mentioned on threads like this, to the point that I've bought some of it to experiment moving off Lightroom. Given the propensity of photographers to splurge huge amounts on gear, and their positions on intellectual property, I don't think I'm that unusual. Perhaps within the HN crowd the philosophy is different.
  - wiredfool 7y ago
    I didn’t object to paying for upgrades when I was actively using the software, but at this point, I’d be paying tens per invocation of the program. I’ve moved on, I don’t do photography much anymore and if I’m going to be plowing money into something, I’d rather it be in a current hobby.

foxandmouse 7y ago

DarkTable is an open source alternative to lightroom that I used to use.

petepete 7y ago

I thoroughly recommend Capture One Pro. It deals with my huge catalogue without breaking a sweat and its editing capabilities are class-leading.

atombender 7y ago
How are the photo organizing capabilities? I like to organize everything into nested folders. One thing I like about Lightroom is that I can right-click on a folder and get a shareable, private link that people can go to to view the album. Great for sharing photos from a trip or an event without having to go to some other services. The link opens a minimalist, unintrusive, functional album app where people can optionally download originals and even rate and comment on the photos, which is nice when you want to work together to whittle a larger set of candidates down to a smaller set.
- dvcrn 7y ago
  Another Capture One user here. Capture One has 2 ways of organizing your stuff: Inside a Catalog (embedded into the library) or as a Session. In a Session, Capture One gives you a rough folder recommendation that you can use but just uses the folders from your file system. Catalogs embed the pictures and handle all the managing for you, but can also be set to not do that. None of that sharing and cloud stuff of lightroom though. It's just a RAW/photo processor. https://www.azuloxworkshops.com/educational/capture-one/capture-one-catalogs-vs-sessions/ https://www.azuloxworkshops.com/educational/capture-one/capt...

mceachen 7y ago

I got sick of fighting apps that don't scale, force me to use a specific OS or expensive hardware, feed the adtech panopticon, or don't clean up the messes left behind from all the other photo apps I've used, so I started my own company to do just that. https://photostructure.com/about/introducing-photostructure/ https://photostructure.com/about/introducing-photostructure/ It's currently in closed beta. I'm letting people in first-come-first-served roughly monthly, as I release new versions. It's free while in beta, in exchange for your feedback. Here's what's coming soon: https://photostructure.com/about/release-notes/ https://photostructure.com/about/release-notes/ Note that PhotoStructure doesn't have any editing tools other than fixing rotation. It does let you easily open the current image in other apps, though.

Nextgrid 7y ago
Just wondering, is the desktop client based on Electron?
- mceachen 7y ago
  yes, that's how I've currently packaged up PhotoStructure for Desktops. There's also PhotoStructure for Servers which can run under Docker, or as a standard node app (ala `git clone $url; photostructure/photostructure`).
- aikinai 7y ago
  Thanks for the heads up; saved me from being intrigued by this project.
  - jwr 7y ago
    This kind of comment is typical for someone who does not have to contend with business reality and has no idea how much it costs to develop and maintain native desktop applications. My guess is that the same people, when given a native app, complain about the subscription pricing or the price tag.
    - 7y ago

firecall 7y ago

I've never had issues with Lightroom. With regards to Apple Photos, I have ~130k photos synched without issues (that I can tell). No problems with iCloud sync either these days. I also double sync the photos as JPG to Google Photos. Having everything in Apple Photos is great for mobile browsing... the other night I pulled up images from 2006 on my iPhone!

ngokevin 7y ago
You can sync your photos to Lightroom cloud and pull up the photos and edit them from anywhere like the app.
aikinai 7y ago
I’m around the same with 140,000 photos and it works fine day-to-day. I think they fixed the performance issues a few years ago. However, there are two gotchas: I can’t open the photo library from other apps on iOS; it hangs forever. So I have to pick the photo from Photos and share into the app. Sometimes this isn’t possible like picking a profile photo, so it’s just not possible. It takes about a month to resync my library after a fresh install of MacOS. I just installed Catalina and am waiting on this process right now. It looks like it’ll be done around April. Edit: Clarified below, but I mean just to confirm the sync state, not redownload. I have the entire local library intact, but if you change anything locally (library location, OS, etc), Photos says "Uploading 140,000 items" and takes a month to confirm the library is in sync with the server.
- bobbylarrybobby 7y ago
  1. Surely this is the apps' faults for not paginating queries on your Photos library correctly? (Unless it's a real Photos app bug, which I suppose is possible although unlikely) 2. Yikes, I guess with 140k photos putting your library on an external drive before wiping and then copying the library back to your Mac would also take a long time, but it shouldn't take a full month.
  - aikinai 7y ago
    1. I'm not an iOS dev so I can't say for sure, but my impression is that the apps don't have that much control when they open the photo library. 2. Sorry I wasn't clear; this is what I do. The problem is that if you move the photo library at all (or even if you don't but it's a new OS installation), it doesn't trust the old sync state so it manually checks each photo. It does seem to be hashing or something since it's using very little network, but it's only processing one photo every 10 to 20 seconds. I have no idea what makes it so slow, but I've found similar reports on forums so it seems to just be the way it is.

wilg 7y ago

I have 40K photos in Photos and it works okay. Definitely a few issues here and there but there really doesn't seem to be a better alternative.

craftinator 7y ago

Have you tried Linux?

timdesrochers 7y ago

I use and love DigiKam[0] for organizing my ≈230k RAW & JPG media library, and both RawTherapee[1] and Darktable[2] are great for more specific editing (though I haven't settled on an ideal workflow yet). One cool thing about DigiKam is that you can have it use a remote MySQL server for its db, theoretically allowing you to work with your library from the road (I think... it's been several months since I've spent a weekend working on my photo libraries). Adobe's Lightroom truly is a great and powerful tool like so many of their other apps, but I just can't stomach having years' worth of work locked up in a proprietary subscription-model app. And I just consider Apple Photos untrustworthy, though I do like to use it + iCloud shared photo albums to publish my edited "selects" instead of my full library. Now if only there was a real F/LOSS contender to replace FCPX... [0] https://www.digikam.org/ https://www.digikam.org/ [1] https://rawtherapee.com/ https://rawtherapee.com/ [2] https://www.darktable.org/ https://www.darktable.org/

nkristoffersen 7y ago

What kind of issues are you having with Photos? I have over 50,000 photos and over 4,000 videos and it’s been nothing but a dream.

scoot 7y ago
It crashes repeatedly on launch, and the built-in repair function fails to repair it. I’m currently trying to import the photos and videos into a new Photos library, but you lose metadata (such as video dates, faces etc.) and projects, so I might as well move to something more reliable.

lowdose 7y ago

Google photos, unlimited storage plus automatic ml tagging. I even upload 4k video up from my Netflix Plus channels.