Moving from Lightroom3 to Aperture

This is a series of questions.
Do I need to import my photos (I have a lot) into Aperture or just point to their current location?
If I must go through an import process, is Aperture making copies (i.e., taking up more disk space)?
Will the import process bring over any changes I have made in Lightroom and keep the photos related (I always have kept the original in Lightroom)?
Will the import bring in changes I made to metadata, I have added locations to some photos?
Thanks

Everything has to be imported to Aperture but you're confusing importing with file storage.
Do I need to import my photos (I have a lot) into Aperture or just point to their current location?
Yes you must import them, but you don't have to copy them anywhere. They can be stored in their current location.
Regards
TD

Similar Messages

Moving from iPhoto to Aperture with limited drive space

My biggest concern is the lack of space on my MacBook Air.
I have already purchased and download Aperture.
In the Import window I see the "move files" radiobutton and the "copy files" radiobutton under the "Store Files:" dropdown, but they are disabled.
As I understand if I just import my IPhoto Library, it will duplicate the files into the Aperture Library, and that wont work since my current library (iPhoto) is way bigger than my freespace in disk.
Buying external drive is not an option now since I im saving to buy a NAS that will solve my space problems in the near future.
What i would like to achieve is just to move all my iPhoto Library to Aperture Library. I wont use iPhoto anymore.
Can someone help me with this? Im really looking forward to use Aperture....

Hello Richieto,
I have already purchased and download Aperture.
In the Import window I see the "move files" radiobutton and the "copy files" radiobutton under the "Store Files:" dropdown, but they are disabled.What i would like to achieve is just to move all my iPhoto Library to Aperture Library. I wont use iPhoto anymore.
Set the "storeFiles" selector to "in their current location".
Have you seen this support article. Moving from iPhoto to Aperture - How to move http://www.apple.com/aperture/iphoto-to-aperture/how.html
If you follow these instructions, you will import your iPhoto Library by referencing - that means, all images remain in your iPhoto library; your iPhoto Library will remain unchanged, but Aperture references the files in in the iPhoto Library. This will save disk space; your images will be stored only once: Set the "Store Files" selector to "in their current location".
If you decide to do it this way, make sure you have a working backup of your iPhoto library. Also remember at all times that your master image files now are managed independently by two applications, that do know nothing of what the other app does and are not synchronized. So you must not move the iPhoto library, and you must not delete any images that are shared by both applications. Other than that this way to import from iPhoto will be the best deal, if you need to be frugal with disk space.
What i would like to achieve is just to move all my iPhoto Library to Aperture Library. I wont use iPhoto anymore.
Once you are happy with the way Aperture handles the images you can copy your iPhoto library to a backup location and consolidate the master image files (File -> consolidate) by moving them from your iPhoto Library into the Aperture Library. This will delete them from iPhoto and store them inside the Aperture Library package. Then delete the iPhoto Library after testing that the consolidation was successful.
I im saving to buy a NAS that will solve my space problems in the near future.
Just a caution - you should not use the NAS to store the Aperture library - an Aperture library needs to bestored on a local volume formatted MacOS X extended.
Regards
Léonie

Restoring keywords that were deleted when moving from iPhoto to Aperture

I recently migrated from iPhoto to Aperture, and this apparently involves losing a TON of metadata. One new discovery I've made is that for my older photos (i.e., ones added and edited a few years ago when I was using an earlier version of iPhoto), the keywords have been deleted.
More specifically, if I have a photo and it has keyword X, then TWO copies appear in the Aperture library:
- the original image, with the keyword "iPhoto original" AND the keyword X
- the modified image, with only the keyword "iPhoto external edited"
(Note that I have not used any external editors; this is just how iPhoto seems to interpret images that were edited with older versions of iPhoto)
This is definitely buggy behavior.
This means that if I have a "best-of" keyword and I make a "Smart" album, it gets filled with original, unedited versions of my "best of" photos.
Is there any way to fix this without going one-by-one through THOUSANDS of older photos and manually copying the keywords from the original to the modified?
Thanks,
Mike

Hope we get an answer - I'm in the same situation as you, though I just went from iPhoto to A2.x on an older G5 tower. I've been debating whether to take the time to go through them, reorganize "better" than they were under iPhoto or wait for a more elegant solution...
KWO

Moved from iPhoto to Aperture, masters still in iPhoto file

I have been using iphoto 9 up until a year ago, when I got aperture and now use that exclusively. I finally decided to export my iPhoto library into Aperture. Following some other suggestions, I imported the library and chose the option of storing the files in their current location. It seemed like everything came into the library nicely, so I then chose to consolidate the originals by moving the files.
This took about an hour, and I assumed that everything was nicely moved and the iPhoto library should be empty. However, it seems the iphoto library is NOT empty. When I expand to show the content of the iPhoto library in Finder, there are still hundreds of files stored in the modified folder!
In trying to discover if somehow copies were made, I expanded the Aperture library in Finder and discovered that none of my iPhoto pics (which I supposedly imported and consolidated) are stored under the Masters folder (only the images previously in Aperture are there). However, in the Aperture program, when I tell it to locate referenced files, it says there are none! How can there be no referenced files, if I am seeing entire projects/events(imported from iPhoto) that don't show up when I search for them in Aperture's library in Finder.
Please help! I really just want all these pics in one place in Aperture!

They were all under the June 2012 folder because that is when they were imported.
Yes, that is how it is supposed to be: The date of the masters folder is the date imported, not the capture date.
If you want to find a managed image in the "masters" folder quickly, add the "import session" metadata tag to the info panel (it is in the "Aperture brick of the presets in the "Edit" panel). Then you'll know, for which date to look in the "Masters" folder.

Moving from Lightroom to Aperture

I've had Lightroom running on my iMac, but am looking at moving to Aperture on the quick recommendation of a pro photogapher friend. I haven't upgraded LR along the way, and so I'd be looking at buying the full program, which is more expensive than Aperture. And per my friend, workflow is pretty simple with Aperture, which sounds appealing. He's promised to give me a short tutorial on how to make Aperture work well for my needs
I have actually done very little in terms of reworking pictures in LR, so there's very little LR "work" to save. I have the originals on an external hard drive, organized into folders: Family Events, Travel, Kids Sports, etc. There are subfolders for various events (Dad's 75th birtday, etc.). My guess (not knowing much about Aperture) is that I should be well set up to bring these images into Aperture, and off I'd go. I could probably leave my LR catalog alone, since I don't have much work to retain.
Does this make sense, more or less? I should note that I do expect to have more time going forward to devote to working on my pictures, and I do have quite a few on that external drive (which is backed up, of course). thx

Michael Winner wrote:
...workflow is pretty simple with Aperture, which sounds appealing. He's promised to give me a short tutorial on how to make Aperture work well for my needs
Your friend is more optomistic than I am. IMO although one can evolve a simple workflow, there is a significant but worthwhile learning curve. I recommemnd fully completing one of the tutorials available.
Put 8 GB RAM in your iMac before starting so you can be sure any anomalies are not RAM-based. Also note that Aperture is a hardware hog.
I have the originals on an external hard drive, organized into folders: Family Events, Travel, Kids Sports, etc. There are subfolders for various events (Dad's 75th birtday, etc.). My guess (not knowing much about Aperture) is that I should be well set up to bring these images into Aperture, and off I'd go.
Yes on bringing them into Aperture. During import set to "Store Files: in their current location" so that you stay with what is called a referenced-Masters workflow. However moving forward you should lose the folder-think organization. Instead import Dads 76th as a (date based) Project, and use Keywords to identify things like Family Events.
My comments from an earlier thread:
First, Projects should be just that: individual-shoot based projects rather than some kind of organizing tool for all the architectural photos or whatever. For performance reasons personally I keep each Project under 500 20-MB images, making a second Project if the shoot is large (e.g. 110829_KJones_Wed_B). One or more albums will always organize the KJones wedding pix together anyway.
Folders are indeed flexible organizational tools but IMO often overused. Folders can effectively hide contents from view and therefore require users to remember how folders are nested and what is inside them. Folders were the only way to deal with single-original film, but are IMO limiting to image database thinking.
The way I look at it conceptually:
Aperture is a database, and each image file lives in one Project.
Albums are just collections of Pointers that point to individual image files living in one or more Projects. Since they just contain pointers, albums can be created or deleted at will without affecting image files. Very powerful.
Keywords can be applied to every image separately or in batches. Keywords are hugely powerful and largely obviate the need for folders. Not that we should never use folders, just that we should use folders only when useful organizationally - - after first determining that using keywords and albums is not a better approach.
As one example imagine the keyword "flowers." Every image of 100k images that has some flowers in it has the keyword flowers. Then say we want to put flowers in an ad, or as background for a show of some kind, or to print pix for a party, or even just to look for an image for some other reason. We can find every flower image in a 100k-image database in 2 seconds, and instantly create an Album called "Flowers" that points to all of those individual images.
Similarly all family pix can have a keyword "family" and all work pix can have a key word "work." Each individual pic may have any number of keywords.
So by using keywords and albums we can have instant access to every image everywhere, very cool. And keywords and albums essentially take up no space in the database.
Another approach is to use a folder "Family" for family pix, a folder "Flowers" for flowers pix and another folder "Work" for work pix. IMO such folders usage is a very poor approach to using an images database (probably stemming from old paper or film work practices). Note that one cannot put an image with family in a field of flowers at a work picnic in all three folders.
HTH
-Allen

Moving from iPhoto to Aperture with 15,000+ photos

Hi all.
I have iPhoto11 set up as manage mode for 15,000+ photos (around 350 "events"). I was having issues with iPhoto hanging up and being reallly slow when scrolling up and down through the Event layout even with the "thumbnails" or event previews minimized as much as possible. At first I though I might need more ram, so I went from 2 gigs to 8gigs, but not much of a change. Another discussion board advised I switch to Aperture3 due to its ability to manage larger libraries such as mine.
So I've installed A3, and proceded to "import" my iPhoto library. My questions are..
1) I "TimeMachine" my iPhoto lib., therefore I have a ~24gig iphoto "file" on the laptop and backed up to external drive. When I "imported" to A3, A3 created a ~24gig "file" as well. However, when I opened a photo in A3 and do a "locate photos on..or locate file, etc ...it points to the iPhoto lib. What the? Why not point within the A3 "managed file"??
2) In iphoto if I remove red-eye or crop a photo, there is the master untouched photo and the edited version. What gets imported over to A3?
3) Should I have exported iPhoto to reference then imported those reference photos as managed in A3?
Thanks

iPhoto is good for 250,000 images. Usual causes for slowness in iPhoto include damaged cache files, HD issues, and even corrupted pref files.
1) I "TimeMachine" my iPhoto lib., therefore I have a ~24gig iphoto "file" on the laptop and backed up to external drive. When I "imported" to A3, A3 created a ~24gig "file" as well. However, when I opened a photo in A3 and do a "locate photos on..or locate file, etc ...it points to the iPhoto lib. What the? Why not point within the A3 "managed file"??
How does Time Machine relate to this question? When you imported the iPhoto Library where did you tell Aperture to store the files?
2) In iphoto if I remove red-eye or crop a photo, there is the master untouched photo and the edited version. What gets imported over to A3?
Both
3) Should I have exported iPhoto to reference then imported those reference photos as managed in A3?
No, you need to make that choice in the import dialogue
Regards
TD

Moving from iPhoto to Aperture small issue...

Please go easy as I just made it to Aperture
So my iphoto library is gotten too big.
I am ready to make the move (editing skills are out growing iPhoto).
I installed Aperture last week and did a ton of research on how to make the move.
I even watched some apple video that seemed to make it DEAD simple.
So today I was ready....
I went to
file->import->library
I pointed the pop up window to my iphoto library.
Then hit import.
My iphoto library is 30.5 GB so I knew it would take some time....
I watched the progress bar do its thing.
Once it was done there were only two "images" in my Aperture library.
but all my albums/projects were listed.
No other photos were presant and the Apeture library is only 8 mb in size?
Might anyone be able to assist me in trouble shooting this?
I thought I did ALL my research and had all my bases covered.
Thanks in advance!

Nathan,
there is really no need to apologize. It was just that from your opening sentence "as I just made it to Aperture" I assumed, that you do not yet have set up an Aperture library that needs keeping. And then Frank's solution, simply using the iPhoto library as your Aperture library without need to import anything would have been the best option. Your iPhoto library is already an Aperture library and does not need any conversion.
So to be cleare you suggest that I import my iPhoto library into the Aperture library?
Only, if you want/need to unite your current Aperture Library with the iPhoto library. Do you already have invested work into your Aperture library and does it contain images you want to continue using? Then merging would save you from having to switch between libraries.
file->import->library
I pointed the pop up window to my iphoto library.
Then hit import.
My iphoto library is 30.5 GB so I knew it would take some time....
I watched the progress bar do its thing.
That is exactly as it is done. The screenshot shows only two videos. What is the size of your library after importing? Has the Aperture library grown by 30.5 GB? If yes, then I would open the library in iPhoto to check, if your photos are in the "hidden" album. Aperture cannot show photos, that have been hidden in iPhoto.
Regards

Moving from iPhoto to Aperture

I just purchased Aperture. I have been using iPhoto for a few years. Several months ago I downloaded the trial Aperture version. Thus, on the menu on the left, I see hundreds of photos labeled in the Aperture trial library folder and thousands under the iPhoto folder. All of my "master" photos are in my iPhoto library currently. Before I move all iPhoto photos/files to Aperture, should I delete everything from the Aperture folders first (i.e., the Apple trial library and all of the folders previously copied in from iPhoto when I was using the Aperture trial)? I don't want to have duplicate and triplicates in my Aperture library, just one master copy of all my photos? Also, should I move the files to Aperture or keep them in their current folders, which I presume are under iPhoto?
Thanks!

If your trial period was months ago I'd guess that nothing in the Aperture trial library is very current.
If that's the case I'd recommend you just start fresh when you download Aperture and start using it for real.
regards

Question on Moving from iPhoto to Aperture 3

I have a rather large photo library in iPhoto 3 and I'd like to move to Aperture 3. If I import my iPhoto library into Aperture, will I still have the same "lag" issues?
Or does the new navigation in Aperture 3 allow me to browse smaller sections instead of all of the events?
Any help with this is greatly appreciated! I would love to not have to scroll through all of my "events" in Aperture when working with my photographs.
Thanks for your help and time!

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3509 - Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture
That is perfect.
Is this step required for all drives to be used with my Mac? I don't think I've ever done this in the past.
It is required for photolibraries - iPhoto, Aperture. And may be necessary for other applications with databases. It is not generally necessary for simple documents, and you will not be able to open files on a drive formatted for Mac from a PC.
My drive still has 14GB of space left so I'm not sure if that is what is causing the issue. I should move to an external drive regardless (as this will make life easier with future machines as well).
That is really not much space and may be one reason for the lagging behaviour when browsing a large library. Try to keep at least 20GB free.
What is your MacOS X version, btw?
Regarding the library needing to rebuild, can I do anything to determine if there is a corrupt file causing these issues?
You usually can recognize a corrupted file when you try to edit it. Or try to print them by printing to pdf.

Moving from iPhoto to Aperture 3 - will my raws be raw or jpeg?

For Christmas, my dear husband will be getting me Aperture 3 (o happy day) and I've been exploring the 30 day free trial. I shoot in RAW often, and I know when iphoto imports, it processes and keeps them a jpeg's for export (unless I specifically say export as original).
So, when I finally transfer my iphoto library to aperture, will it transfer the original RAW data or the processed jpeg image?
Also, if you could have the ideal Aperture library setup (referenced/managed), how would you prep to transfer your iphoto libraries? I currently have 3 since my hard drive on my old computer was so small, that I had archived some older photos to an external drive. I'm thinking that I want to thin out my libraries anyway, so this is a perfect time to start exactly how I want to do it.
Thanks!

It will do both actually. If you tell Aperture to Import iPhoto photo's you'll end up with a series of photo's that have a keyword applied (iPhoto original) those are your RAW files. You'll also find a set which has the 'Iphoto Edit' keyword applied, those are you're developed photo's.
The referenced vs mastered question is always a difficult one and depends a lot on your personal preferences and the volume you shoot. Personally, I like the managed option the best, so I don't have to worry where I put my pictures. Then again, I don't have many pictures so HD space is not a problem for me in this setup. I also always use Aperture to develop RAWs. So there is almost never a case when I need access via the Finder to the original file. In the rare case I do, I just export the master.
If you prefer flexibility or have HD space concerns, go for referenced.
One final note, you'll end up with lot's of iPhoto edits in your Aperture Library. Every image ever rotated will show up as such. So once you've finished your import, you might want to reserve a weekend to tidy up your Aperture database and keep only those that are extensively edited in iPhoto.

Any good workflow tutorials out there for those moving from iPhoto Aperture

Any good workflow tutorials out there for those moving from iPhoto to Aperture 3?
Especially those that deal with using a laptop and off-line storage of photos.
Cheers, Andrew.

There is no reason to not port a number from another provider (unless leaving a contract early and being charged the ETF) for if one does decide to switch back to their previous provider within the first 30 days after making the switch, the previous provider will take one back with welcome arms and the same phone number can be used this way.
Your way required getting a new phone number which can't be changed or potted after the fact for single line account.

Migration from iPhoto to Aperture

Hello,
I just moved from iPhoto to Aperture. I did the migration described here : http://www.apple.com/aperture/iphoto-to-aperture/how.html but it failed at the last step.
I choosed “Consolidate Masters for Library” and I get this error message (sorry it's in French).
Are you able to help me ?
Thanks,
Wistiti

It appears that the error you are getting is telling you that the selection does not have any referenced masters. This can only mean that when you imported your iPhoto library into Aperture you choose to move or copy the masters into aperture.
As a test go to the Library tab of the Inspector, select the Photos icon near the top of the list. Go to the right hand side of the window. Click the dark magnifying glass:
Select the Add Rule pulldown and add File Status to the filter. Select Managed this will show you all the images in the library that are managed. You can also select Referenced to see all the images that are referenced.
If the files are already managed you don't need to do anything else.

Planning to move from iPhoto to Aperture

I want to move everything over to Aperture.
Will it be possible to copy my iPhoto library and then delete iPhoto without complications such as when I sync/photostream from my iPhone?
Will Aperture launch automatically instead of looking for iPhoto?
Any reviews from those who've done this are appreciated. iPhoto is fine for most but I need a pro solution.
In the opinion of those who've used Aperture for a while, is Apple consistenly patching and adding features?
Thanks,
Charlie

Aperture and iPhoto now share the same unified library format, see:
Aperture 3.3: Using a unified photo library with iPhoto and Aperture
or
Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries
So you can simply launch Aperture on your existing iPhoto Library - select the library in the Finder, ctrl-click it; from the pop-up menu select "Open with" and set it to "Aperture".
I would not delete the iPhoto Application however. It might come in handy one day. Only iPhoto can show you the managed original image files inside the library package, or you may want to view one of your older books and other print products. You may accidentally have hidden an image in iPhoto and need iPhoto to reveal it again.
The PhotoStream is tied to the library, and you will be able to use it with Aperture as well.
I moved from iPhoto to Aperture and did not regret it. I found the Aperture developement much more conservative than for iPhoto, but that is my personal view.
Regards
Léonie

Will iWeb work with Aperture 3 if I move from iPhoto to Aperture?

I currently use iPhoto, and have an iWeb site. Is there any reason that iWeb and my published site would not continue to work if I import all of my iPhoto library into Aperture 3 and then stop using iPhoto? I am considering moving from iPhoto to Aperture. Thanks!

You're welcome bobio.
I assume you are talking about the sidebar, and if so I don't know the answer to that one. Your Events get converted to Projects which are actually more flexible than Events in iPhoto. A Project contains all of the pictures from your event, but they can also contain Multiple Albums and Folders and Sub-Folders. My website has shots of things I've grilled or smoked arranged by categories: Beef, Pork, Lamb etc. So my iPhoto side bar was manually sorted to reflect the same folder structure I had in iWeb's side bar. Once my import was complete, I created folders again and dragged my new Projects(formerly Events) into the new folders. I just looked and there a sort by pop-up but it has only choices of "by kind" (Projects, Albums etc.) or "Manual". So if they don't come in that way you are going to have to manually sort them in chronological order. But the main window that displays the thumbnails of the Projects can be sorted chronologically. So if you need to sort the sidebar, display the thumbnails by date and then this will help you with the order you will need to create in the sidebar by dragging the Projects around.
Once you have made absolutely 110 percent sure your photos were imported successfully, I would delete the iPhoto library. You could always play it extra safe and export it to a DVD(s). You should keep the iPhoto app around if you use the calendars or cards features. At this time Aperture only does Books. I do a calendar every year. This year I exported the photos I wished to use out of Aperture and imported them into iPhoto to make the calendar.
The other thing you may want to consider is what to do about edits you've made in iPhoto. One reason I switched to Aperture was to save disk space. For photos that originated in Aperture, there is one copy of the photo in it's library-this is called a Master. When you do an edit it is called a Version. Aperture keeps a text file with a list of instructions for what to do to that photo to accomplish your edit for this Version. So you can make lots of Versions of a photo and make lots of edits and the library size doesn't grow much at all, because there is still just one Master. In iPhoto when you make an edit the original is retained as is, and iPhoto creates a second copy of the photo which is what you edit. Because of this differing approach your iPhotos Events, which are now Projects in Aperture, will contain two copies of every photo you ever edited in iPhoto. The original unedited version and the copy which was the final results of your edits. If you are happy with these edits and won't ever want to go back, you can delete the originals. I spent quite a bit if time deleting these duplicate photos in all of the imported projects. Aperture does add keywords to help you tell which is which: "iPhoto Original" and "iPhoto Edited". Also remember to empty the Aperture trash (found in the Aperture Menu).
Good luck with the transition. You've got a bit of tedious work ahead of you, but the end results are well worth the efforts. I am so happy I made the change.
Jim
http://web.me.com/jmahoney
Message was edited by: Jim Mahoney

Move existing Aperture photos (from iPhoto) to Aperture's library's library

Hi,
I recently moved from iPhoto to Aperture. I did something wrong tho, since now most of my photos in Aperture are still in iPhoto's library (all of these show the "iPhoto Original" keyword).
I want to have them all in my Aperture's library, but I put many time on Aperture's organization and don't want to have to import all from the very beginning. Is there any way I can move those files still in iPhoto's library folder to Aperture's library? I plan to uninstall iPhoto after that, that's why I want all photos in Aperture's library.
Thank you

If the image is shown in Aperture, the image is in Aperture's Library.
The question is, where are the Master files on which the images in your Aperture Library are based. (The keyword "iPhoto Original" tells you nothing about the location of the Master.)
Right-click an image. Does "Show in Finder" appear in the pop-up menu? If so, then your image has a Referenced Master (Referenced Masters are located outside the Aperture Library (the image is in the Library and has a pointer to its Master which is outside the Library)). If not, your image has a Managed Master (the image, the pointer, and the Master are all inside the Aperture Library.
You can filter for images with Referenced or Managed Masters. Also, most of the default Metadata Overlays include a Badge which will show you which images have Referenced Masters (as well as the status of the Master).
Since you (seem to) want to have all of your images' Masters be Managed (= inside the Aperture Library), simply select all images and execute the command "File→Consolidate Masters". You can confirm that this has been done by using a Filter set to show all images with Referenced Masters. It should show no images.
Once all of your Masters have been consolidated into your Aperture Library, you can safely delete your iPhoto Library. You can also uninstall iPhoto is you wish.

Moving from Lightroom3 to Aperture

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