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Author Topic: Problems Transitioning from Aperture to Lightroom  (Read 1293 times)

drralph

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Problems Transitioning from Aperture to Lightroom
« on: March 08, 2019, 01:51:45 pm »

After much stalling and gnashing of teeth, I have begun the process of transitioning my back catalog from Aperture to Lr.  After research on the process, I determined that the first step is to convert the Aperture library from managed to referenced.  I have been doing it in small pieces, generally one year of images or less at a time.

The problem I have run into is that Aperture says there are 15,179 images in the 2014 folder.  Thus far, using every trick I can think of, the number of files that have been relocated to managed files is 9711.  I started by selecting the project (2014), and relocating the contained files.  A disappointing 3360 were relocated.  Then I selected each of the albums within the project, and used "select all" to select each image in each album.  After all these efforts, I ended up with 9711 relocated files.

Looking though individual images in the Aperture library, they all seem to have the badge indicating that they are referenced files.  I haven't found thousands images that have not been referenced.

I am terrified that I will lose images in this process.  I have more years of images yet to go through this process.  Any guidance would be appreciated.

john beardsworth

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Re: Problems Transitioning from Aperture to Lightroom
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2019, 02:08:31 pm »

Where do you see the 9711 reported? Where is this number being shown?

So the key issue is 15179 versus 9711. What about versions? Could they be the difference? I think Aperture has a setting which would have started a new version whenever you edit an image, so you could have lots of masters and versions.

Or could the 6k difference be that some were already referenced? Again, I can't tell where you are seeing 9711.

But in general, I think you're going about this sensibly. One trick is to load Adobe Bridge and use it to validate the new year folders. It has a command View > Show Items from Subfolders that can help review the numbers.
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drralph

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Re: Problems Transitioning from Aperture to Lightroom
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2019, 02:44:01 pm »

I have saved the relocated images to a folder on my Mac.  Using get info, the Mac reports that the folder contains 9711 files.

I'm sure the source Aperture Library contains versions of original files.  How many I don't know, but there is no way it is in the thousands.  Prior to today, there were no referenced files in my Aperture libraries.

I haven't done any importing into Lr yet, so I am unclear if there is a role for Bridge at this point.

I am really pleased that there are folks patrolling this area of the forum (especially John) despite Aperture's moribund status!  Another testament to the value of the LuLa community.  I am so grateful.

john beardsworth

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Re: Problems Transitioning from Aperture to Lightroom
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2019, 05:53:09 pm »

Yes, but I don't know enough about Aperture! I can't recall where the setting is, but its "make versions for edits" option could easily result in large numbers of versions (virtual copies in LR). Maybe filter the 2014 pictures to find that out?

The reason I mention Bridge has nothing to do with LR (other than it comes with the subscription) and is just because it's more helpful than Finder when you're figuring stuff out. You could look at 2014 Finder folder and use that "see inside all subfolders" command to see if there are indeed 9711 photos in there, confirming what you're seeing in Aperture - or giving you clues about the difference. You can also filter by TIFs, raws etc, comparing the numbers in Bridge to the number of 2014 TIFs, raws etc in Aperture - again trying to understand what's going on.

But I think your focus should be on Aperture and this 15179 versus 9711 question. There will be something that will seem obvious once you see it!
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drralph

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Re: Problems Transitioning from Aperture to Lightroom
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2019, 10:03:59 pm »

I examined the Aperture Library (post conversion from managed to referenced) using smart albums, and also reviewed the referenced files using Bridge.  In the Aperture library I have 11036 Raw files.  In the referenced file per Bridge I have 9710 Raw files.  The other categories of file type are the same or close.  So it seems that somehow during the process of changing from managed to referenced, 1639 raw files are still seen by Aperture, but are not found in the file folder I sent them to when I converted as seen by Bridge.

Before I started the process of converting managed to referenced libraries, Aperture stated that this project contained 15,179 items.  After converting to a referenced library, Aperture states there are 11,355 items.  I can no longer reproduce the 15,179 figure.  Unfortunately, this transition is turning out to be as difficult and opaque as I had feared.

drralph

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Re: Problems Transitioning from Aperture to Lightroom
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2019, 07:45:12 am »

I did some more playing with smart album filters, and am making progress.  I found a filter which selects all files which are managed, and 1629 files appeared.  I have no idea where they have been hiding, because I had previously selected every image in the project, and run relocate original.  This is close to the 1644 image difference between the totals Aperture says are in the library, and which Bridge says are in the referenced folder.

I still haven't found a way to identify or filter for duplicate versions (virtual copies in Lr terms.)

Now I need to go back to all the libraries I have converted to referenced thus far, and filter for managed files to see if more are hiding.
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