Posted by Mike Smith on December 8, 2011 at 8:01 AM
Thinking about moving from Windows platform to Apple for my photo processing and am feeling like a bit of a fish out of water, apart from Aperture3, what are the recommended software requirements viz the Photoshop equivelent and noiseware plugins?
also as a rule do most add-ons have equivelent drivers for Mac software, ie my old graphics tablet, flatbed scanner, printer, calibration tool....... or like Win7 is it now all obsolete regards plug and play driver compatability without a huge amount of time spent researching and resetting systems...
I have just made the same move and went the Lightroom/Elements route... very glad I did too.. Nick is the Aperture person, I did consider it but decided to stick with lightroom as I knew it well.
You may find that Elements is all you need as it has an organiser and some very good editing tools plus a version of Adobe Camera Raw... But limited 16bit support...
As for drivers etc. you can get equivalents etc for the Mac, what you will have to watch is that buying now you will have Lion as the operating system (I am still on Snow Leopard) and Apple dropped Rosetta support which means that any older software will not work, I am afraid you will have to check the websites of your peripherals to see if they support Lion (Mac OS 10.7), we had a problem when we came to calibrate the projector for the WPoY awards night when we found out that the Macs running it were on Lion and did not support our EyeOne software....
HTH
Phil
Posted by Mike Smith on December 8, 2011 at 8:30 AM
Thanks Phil
Old hardware compatabily sems to be an issue whichever route I go
Posted by David Sewell on December 8, 2011 at 10:10 AM
I have made the move within the last year, and also went down the elements route. You do have to have at least Elements 9 though for Mac compatibility, 10 is the current version. Very little trouble getting my existing hardware to work on the Mac, just a matter of going onto the Epson website to get a new driver for my scanner, and the printer worked from the moment I plugged it in. . The only problem I did have was getting the iMac to open Mpeg2 files. The nice people at Apple talked me through it, it is certainly worth paying for the help for one year option when you buy (I forget what they call it, but it is obvious at checkout).
David
Posted by Mike Smith on December 8, 2011 at 11:29 AM
Thanks David
I am swaying towards the Apple iMac system
Posted by Bob Johnson on December 8, 2011 at 12:35 PM
Hi Mike. I have a 27" Imac and the Macbook Pro13. They are the absolute business! I made the switch because I wanted to use imovie (comes with them both) to edit video from my 5dII & 1dIV. Imovie is an absolute doddle. I also use the fabulous Keynote to build my lectures and presentations. I have Aperture but not started on it yet. I use Canons DPP on the Mac for most things but for serious cloning and printing I revert to PS4 on my old PC.
Bob
Posted by Paul Whippey on December 8, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Hi Mike, the iMac 27" is the one to get if you can afford it. The display is gorgeous.
I suspect you will have to get new drivers for your calibration device, which may be a problem, but most products are Mac compatible. Most printers/scanners are not an issue and there are lots of drivers shipped with Mac OS X. The only issue of sorts I've had was with some PS noise plugins not working in 64 bit mode.
You can always dual boot into Windows if you wish using Bootcamp, or use something like VMWare Fusion or Parallels if you want to run any Windows apps that you cant find on the Mac. Its a lot easier now that Apple moved to Intel CPU's, it used to be a real pain back in the PPC days!
The biggest problem switching is getting used to the one button mouse ... oh, and the lack of crashing
Seriously, several years after switching, I totally miss the PC... crashing, anti-spyware, anti-spam, antivirus, windows update, crashing.. ahh those were the days . It's so nice to do a bit of consultancy and do battle with Bill & MS installing servers and software once again .... not.
Any new system will most likely get you OS X Lion, if you're really lucky you might still find one with OS X Snow Leopard.
Hardware:
In terms of drivers, unless the printer is ancient or the company out of business, then it's more than likely the driver will be around or even built-in. You may lose some manufacturer functionality such as toner/ink level monitoring though if it the driver is supplied by Apple and the manufacturer is lazy & wants you to buy a new model.
Scanners - similar story.
Calibrator - if bought in the last 3 yrs, then it'll probably have a driver. Having said that, My Monaco Optix DTP94 isn't supported on Lion, and is the one thing holding me back from switching. ICC/ColorEyes may be releasing some software that allows it to keep running, so check them to see if they support your calibrator too (if the manufacturer doesn't).
Tablet - if it's Wacom and USB, then 99% chance there'll be a driver for it.
Software
Lightroom - dual platform license can be used on both mac & windows.
Aperture - only on a Mac
Photomechanic - replaces Breezebrowser on the Mac.
Photoshop - windows s/n doesn't work on Mac & needs to be 'cross-graded'. Easy if you're on current or -1 or -2 version. But do it before CS6 is released!!!
PS plug-ins & actions - check with developer website, usually an update is available (if needed).
Elements - not sure if dual platform out of the box, you may need to buy a new Mac version.
MS Office - is available. Or can plump for iWork or OpenOffice instead.
CD Burning - built in, but 'Toast' makes it more friendly.
As Paul said, you can by VMWare Fusion or Parallels desktop and set it up to run windoze on the mac. Then you can just start the virtual PC and run all your favourite old PC software while you find your shiney new Mac equivalents. Just don't move e-mail to it, and don't bother connecting it to the net - then you don't need the antivirus/spam/spyware junk. It'll even run the PC version of PS CS happily enough - I did that while waiting for them to change my license over to the Mac.
HTH, anything else gimme a shout, probably been there & seen it, fallen over it a few times and kicked it a few more .
Posted by Paul Whippey on December 8, 2011 at 3:52 PM
Great points Nick.
You can always use a normal PC three button mouse if you want of course! Personally I've never found Apple any good at mice, but I'm yet to try one of their latest touch offerings. The mighty mouse that was supplied with this Mac pro was consigned to the bin a few days after it was delivered!
Looks like there's a lot of experienced Mac users on here, I think you will be fine with the transition Mike.
I find macs intuitive to use and since they switched to intel, it's a no brainer. I use Lightroom & PS. Tried Aperture but just couldn't get on with it. A while back they were selling them really cheap and from what I know, it's a very powerful image editing software. You can download a trial version to see if it works for you.
Posted by Bob Johnson on December 9, 2011 at 3:31 AM
Forgot to mention the amazing apple magic trackpad. My magic mouse has now retired back to its hole with a nice piece of cheddar
Go for it Mike, you know it makes sense
Bob
Posted by Matt Cole on December 9, 2011 at 3:48 AM
I also saw the light earlier this year and made the switch and I haven't regretted it for one minute. Nick's comment about the lack of crashing, anti-virus software, endless Windows updates etc is no exaggeration.
Hi Mike why get a mac and run XP in VM when you can do the same thing with win 7 and save your self time and money by not getting a mac. I find windows fine I have only had the BSOD 2 times and that was due to 2 HDD going south which can happen to any mac or pc.
I made the switch to a 27 iMac a year ago. Go for it as it is worth it.
I have all three raw converters (capture, aperture, Lightroom )
Lightroom is the most complete one-stop-do it all package; but it is cumbersome when you simply want to process an image - I much prefer the output and procezx from capture for this. I am lead to beleive that Lightroom struggles with a serious number of images per library and aperture excells here.
The biggest issue that I have (which means I still use lightroom as the main package) is that it is the only package that will easily import a tab delimited keyword hierarchal structure. This is important to me as I have the taximony of species in this format which allows me to select buzzard and it populates the Latin, species, genus. .... Right up to animilia in one hit.
Discussion
13 repliesalso as a rule do most add-ons have equivelent drivers for Mac software, ie my old graphics tablet, flatbed scanner, printer, calibration tool....... or like Win7 is it now all obsolete regards plug and play driver compatability without a huge amount of time spent researching and resetting systems...
I have just made the same move and went the Lightroom/Elements route... very glad I did too.. Nick is the Aperture person, I did consider it but decided to stick with lightroom as I knew it well.
You may find that Elements is all you need as it has an organiser and some very good editing tools plus a version of Adobe Camera Raw... But limited 16bit support...
As for drivers etc. you can get equivalents etc for the Mac, what you will have to watch is that buying now you will have Lion as the operating system (I am still on Snow Leopard) and Apple dropped Rosetta support which means that any older software will not work, I am afraid you will have to check the websites of your peripherals to see if they support Lion (Mac OS 10.7), we had a problem when we came to calibrate the projector for the WPoY awards night when we found out that the Macs running it were on Lion and did not support our EyeOne software....
HTH
Phil
Old hardware compatabily sems to be an issue whichever route I go
David
I am swaying towards the Apple iMac system
Bob
I suspect you will have to get new drivers for your calibration device, which may be a problem, but most products are Mac compatible. Most printers/scanners are not an issue and there are lots of drivers shipped with Mac OS X. The only issue of sorts I've had was with some PS noise plugins not working in 64 bit mode.
You can always dual boot into Windows if you wish using Bootcamp, or use something like VMWare Fusion or Parallels if you want to run any Windows apps that you cant find on the Mac. Its a lot easier now that Apple moved to Intel CPU's, it used to be a real pain back in the PPC days!
Seriously, several years after switching, I totally miss the PC... crashing, anti-spyware, anti-spam, antivirus, windows update, crashing.. ahh those were the days
Any new system will most likely get you OS X Lion, if you're really lucky you might still find one with OS X Snow Leopard.
Hardware:
In terms of drivers, unless the printer is ancient or the company out of business, then it's more than likely the driver will be around or even built-in. You may lose some manufacturer functionality such as toner/ink level monitoring though if it the driver is supplied by Apple and the manufacturer is lazy & wants you to buy a new model.
Scanners - similar story.
Calibrator - if bought in the last 3 yrs, then it'll probably have a driver. Having said that, My Monaco Optix DTP94 isn't supported on Lion, and is the one thing holding me back from switching. ICC/ColorEyes may be releasing some software that allows it to keep running, so check them to see if they support your calibrator too (if the manufacturer doesn't).
Tablet - if it's Wacom and USB, then 99% chance there'll be a driver for it.
Software
Lightroom - dual platform license can be used on both mac & windows.
Aperture - only on a Mac
Photomechanic - replaces Breezebrowser on the Mac.
Photoshop - windows s/n doesn't work on Mac & needs to be 'cross-graded'. Easy if you're on current or -1 or -2 version. But do it before CS6 is released!!!
PS plug-ins & actions - check with developer website, usually an update is available (if needed).
Elements - not sure if dual platform out of the box, you may need to buy a new Mac version.
MS Office - is available. Or can plump for iWork or OpenOffice instead.
CD Burning - built in, but 'Toast' makes it more friendly.
As Paul said, you can by VMWare Fusion or Parallels desktop and set it up to run windoze on the mac. Then you can just start the virtual PC and run all your favourite old PC software while you find your shiney new Mac equivalents. Just don't move e-mail to it, and don't bother connecting it to the net - then you don't need the antivirus/spam/spyware junk. It'll even run the PC version of PS CS happily enough - I did that while waiting for them to change my license over to the Mac.
HTH, anything else gimme a shout, probably been there & seen it, fallen over it a few times and kicked it a few more
You can always use a normal PC three button mouse if you want of course!
Looks like there's a lot of experienced Mac users on here, I think you will be fine with the transition Mike.
Go for it Mike, you know it makes sense
Bob
I use LR and PS.
Matt
Phil.
Ps and yes I am not a mac fan.
I made the switch to a 27 iMac a year ago. Go for it as it is worth it.
I have all three raw converters (capture, aperture, Lightroom )
Lightroom is the most complete one-stop-do it all package; but it is cumbersome when you simply want to process an image - I much prefer the output and procezx from capture for this. I am lead to beleive that Lightroom struggles with a serious number of images per library and aperture excells here.
The biggest issue that I have (which means I still use lightroom as the main package) is that it is the only package that will easily import a tab delimited keyword hierarchal structure. This is important to me as I have the taximony of species in this format which allows me to select buzzard and it populates the Latin, species, genus. .... Right up to animilia in one hit.