A bit of lightroom advice please.

allanm

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Allan
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I currently use Aperture, and have done since V1.
Apple is withdrawing support for Aperture shortly, as we all know, so I have just bought Lightroom 5 and want to use that instead.
But, I need a bit of info.
I can use online tutorials to learn how to use it, I already have LR3 and have experimented, but never thought of ditching Aperture in favour of it.
So, here goes.
Currently, I import all my photos into Aperture and have them in an Aperture library. If I work on them, I just do that and they stay where they are.
So, can I use LR like Aperture in this way? Can I import photos and view them in a similar way.
I remember there was an export command in LR3, I assume the same in LR5, why would I use this?
A lot of my photos in Aperture are posted to Flickr. Can I also do this with LR5?
And finally, has anyone successfully moved all their photos from Aperture library to a LR5 library or will they merge into one?
Allan
 
Not to discourage you from switching to Lightroom if you want to, but I don't think the situation is as clear as "Apple is withdrawing support". Apple have said they are replacing iPhoto and Aperture with "Photos" (stupid name!) but they are going to issue a new version of Aperture that will work on OSX Yosemite (the current version does not) and obviously the current Aperture will continue to work and be supported on OSX Mavericks as long as that OSX version is supported, since the OSX native apps draw their photo editing features from the operating system.
Also, if you search around the web for information about the "Photos" app it seems to have the editing features of Aperture and more though I have not seen any reference to the DAM features.
 
In LR (v3 or 5, doesn't matter) images are first 'imported' meaning just that references to them, their location, and any work done on them in LR, then reside in the LR catalogue (database).

Image files so referenced may be physically contained in and on any folders / drives you choose (as ever). The fact that LR is 'catalogue'-based doesn't conflict with any existing storage architecture you have. Thereon as well as backing up your image files as previously you should also back up the LR catalogue file ...

LR 'export' is analagous to 'saving' - and you can choose in what format, and other variables, and where to. There's also choice about whether to add exported images to the LR catalogue, or not.

Yes you can use LR as an image viewer for images that are in its catalogue.
 
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There are also "Publish modules" that allow you to manage uploads to flickr, facebook and a whole host of other places...
 
Thanks everyone, the only problem I can see with Photos is that it appears that Apple are keen for you to store everything in their Cloud. Pages has done it and iTunes seems to be heading that way too

I just found a webcast from Scott Kelby who goes through the differences and similarities between Aperture and LR and how to migrate. It's 2 hours long, so bookmarked for a rainy day
I am also keen have a go at processing Raw files, I have never bothered in the past as I am more than happy with jpegs from my Fujis but I have a lot of older Nikon raws that could do with processing properly
Allan
 
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Though I am not a big fan of the new Pages, it does not force you to store your documents in the cloud. You can do so if you wish (with the advantage that they are available independently of the device you are using) or keep them locally, or some in the cloud and some locally.
 
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