Apple's Photos app for OSX replaces iPhoto
LOS ANGELES - Say goodbye to an old friend, iPhoto, and hello to Apple's new Photos app, which is about to take its place on computer screens.
The Photos app, which will be included on all new Apple computers beginning in the spring, is available today as a free public beta. LINK: https://appleseed.apple.com/sp/betaprogram.
Requirements: users should have Yosemite, the latest Apple operating system, which is available as a free download, and iOS8, the mobile operating system for iPhones, iPads and the iPhone touch. It works with all iPhones from the 4S on up.
Fans of iPhoto, get ready for a big change in your pocketbook. The app's redesign is all about taking photos on phones and tablets as well as cameras, and having them seamlessly sync between all the devices.
And you'll pay for this. Apple offers 5 gigabyte of free storage, but any heavy photo/video user knows that will last you a few weeks before it maxes out. Five GB should handle at least 3,000 photos. Apple offers 20 GB of storage for $12 a year, or a hefty $240 yearly for 1 terabyte. This compares to $110 a year for Dropbox or $99 yearly on Amazon for unlimited photo storage.
The new Photos app/iCloud offering is different from the current iCloud sync system that transfers the last 1,000 photos taken on any of the devices to the icloud.com service in that all the media goes up, and not just the originals, but the edited versions as well.
So, for instance, if you snap a photo on the iPhone and use the Photos app filter to convert it to black and white, the photo will show up on your computer and iPad with both versions.
The photos app on the computer looks and feels like the one on the i-devices, except there's way more advanced editing features available, which photographers should love. Since so many more people own iPhones than Macs, getting used to the Photo app they already know from their mobile devices won't take that much of a learning curve.
In making way for the Photos app for the computer, Apple also ditched Aperture, it's pro-level organization and editing tool. The $79.99 software is still for sale, but will be removed from the Mac App store in the spring, when Photos begins wide distribution on new computers. The iPhoto app had always been free with new Macs, and it won't be offered anymore as well.
The pluses of the new app are the wider view of the photos within the app--there's more to see, the editing tools, which rival the expensive Photoshop and the ability to sync everything across platforms.
But if you hate getting nag messages from Apple now that you don't have enough room in your iCloud--get ready for more feedback from Apple, especially if you're a heavy shooter.
So anyone who really wants to use the syncing features can expect to spend at least $12 a year for 20 GB, or more. For the folks who've loved their iPhoto, and want to continue syncing photos manually, Apple points out they can still use the Photos app for free.
But having the photos backed up online is way safer than relying on your internal hard drive, so this is a great, if pricey service.
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