iPhoto is cr*p. Can I delete it?

Tinpusher

Tinpusher

Registered
It is with some remorse that I must admit that if there's one thing that my PC does better than my G4, it's handle my Fujifilm Finepix S5500.

Importing using the Fuji supplied software- forget it. So I tried iPhoto, which is... WORSE!!!

What I want to be able to do is plug the camera in, press a few buttons and have all the images transferred to the hard disk, sorted into folders retaining the original file name from the camera (DSCF.....). One folder per day.

I do not want to go through the rigmorole of navigating to 2005, then 12, then 11 to find my photos. Neither do I want to have to think of a name for the "album". Not unless the "album" will automatically create itself and name itself for the day that the photo was taken. Like the PC version of Fuji's software does for me.

I also don't like the endless copies that iPhoto stores for me. One thumbnail and one original, if I rotate the image. No thank you!

It seems the only way I can use my Fuji camera with my mac, the way I want it to work is to do the transfer process manually. In which case I want to delete iPhoto.

Can I do this? Is there anything I have to watch for when I'm deleting this infernal waste of HD space?
 
first of all, you seem to be missing the point of iphoto - why are you going into the folder tree system? the point of iphoto is to do what itunes did for music, to photos. i cannot remember the last time i looked in folders for photos or music. hard drive space now is big enough for a photo to take up an insignificant amount of space, so the multiple files iphoto creates to run efficiently are therefore insignificant. don't worry about this, seriously, it's not 1993. MacOSX will keep your hard drive clean.

if you need a reel of photos in a folder, highlight the ones you want in iphoto, and drag and drop them to the desktop, or a folder. once you have finished with them, delete the duplicates.

each time you plug your camera in, a new 'reel' is created in the iphoto library, you can name these how you want. to split them up, go to view, and tick film rolls. if you don't name your reel, it will revert to xx/xx/xxxx, Roll xxx. (the date and roll number)

iPhoto is the best thing to happen to photography since the digital camera - it's completely solved the ball-ache i first had to contend with for years after getting my first digital. since utilising iphoto a year ago i have taken 6,000 photos. in the three years before that, i took 1400. it's the ease it offers that has done that.

if you still aren't convinced, there is always image capture, in the applications folder, which will simply interact with your camera, and dump the photos in a folder of your choice. but you will be losing out on a piece of software people switch to mac for in the first place.
 
Tinpusher said:
It is with some remorse that I must admit that if there's one thing that my PC does better than my G4, it's handle my Fujifilm Finepix S5500.

Importing using the Fuji supplied software- forget it. So I tried iPhoto, which is... WORSE!!!

What I want to be able to do is plug the camera in, press a few buttons and have all the images transferred to the hard disk, sorted into folders retaining the original file name from the camera (DSCF.....). One folder per day.

I do not want to go through the rigmorole of navigating to 2005, then 12, then 11 to find my photos. Neither do I want to have to think of a name for the "album". Not unless the "album" will automatically create itself and name itself for the day that the photo was taken. Like the PC version of Fuji's software does for me.

I also don't like the endless copies that iPhoto stores for me. One thumbnail and one original, if I rotate the image. No thank you!

It seems the only way I can use my Fuji camera with my mac, the way I want it to work is to do the transfer process manually. In which case I want to delete iPhoto.

Can I do this? Is there anything I have to watch for when I'm deleting this infernal waste of HD space?
Click to expand...

Personally, I love the way iPhoto works... but to each his own.

Why not just manually drag the files off the camera into your own directory structure? From what you're describing, it seems like you might gain only a few seconds having an application do it for you. I'm sure you could even write a fairly simple applescript to automate it.

Also have you used ImageCapture? It's in /Applications.

It also looks like Automator could possibly assist. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera to test it with.
 
Hmmm. Maybe I should give it another chance.

But let's say I do give it another chance, and still decide it's a pants, what's the process for removing it and all of it's cretinous sub-folders?
 
Tinpusher said:
Hmmm. Maybe I should give it another chance.

But let's say I do give it another chance, and still decide it's a pants, what's the process for removing it and all of it's cretinous sub-folders?
Click to expand...

I'd back up any photos you want to keep and then delete the following directories/files.

~/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library/
~/Library/Cache/iPhoto
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPhoto.plist
/Applications/iPhoto

That should get rid of most everything.

You can then use Image Capture's "general" preferences panel to tell the computer what to do when a camera is connected.
 
If after the second chance you won't like it still, just drag it to trash. And it's done.
 
The folder structure issue is a non-issue for iPhoto users, since we really don't care how iPhoto stores the image, just so long as we can find it quickly. I use keywords, comments and smart-albums to easily find anything I want, and I never have to worry or care about where in the folder structure it actually is.
 
exactly, just like itunes. if you need access to the actul file (for editing or transporting), then you just drag it/them to the desktop directly from iphoto. it makes a harmless copy, leaving all the originals completly intact. when you've finsihed, delete the copy.


give up caring. it's great.
 
Sounds like you tried to abuse iPhoto. Either you give iPhoto a chance (use it to organise your photos and _don't_ care about what it does behind closed doors) or you handle files/folders yourself. Doesn't make much sense to do both at the same time.
 
I think it's important to stress the drag and drop functionality in iPhoto. If you need the file outside of iphoto, just click it in the library and drag it where you want it (desktop, external drive, whatever) to place a copy there without changing your library.

It's something you just don't see very much in a PC environment, but it's all over in Mac OS & its related software (especially helpful in iTunes). One of those functions we mac users take for granted. And that's my 2 cents.
 
I use Image Capture as my default image downloading software. I simply download to the desktop and place the images into whatever folders I have created for them.

You probably know this, but open Image Capture and then preferences. Under the CAMERA setting select Image Capture where it says "When a camera is connected, open:".

If iPhoto is your current defualt programme for downloading digital images, changing to Image Capture will make this the default software.

It may be worth unticking the box under the setting SCANNER where it says "Open scanner window when Image Capture is launched" as you may not want your scanner activiated everytime Image Capture is opened.
 
mosx86 said:
Personally, I love the way iPhoto works... but to each his own.

Why not just manually drag the files off the camera into your own directory structure? From what you're describing, it seems like you might gain only a few seconds having an application do it for you. I'm sure you could even write a fairly simple applescript to automate it.

Also have you used ImageCapture? It's in /Applications.

It also looks like Automator could possibly assist. Unfortunately, I don't have a camera to test it with.
Click to expand...

I'm still in the process of giving iPhoto another chance, but I'm intrigued about this Automator thing. What is this?
 
Mmmm, very interesting. I like the flavour of that.

Quick question about deleting iPhoto though. Will I lose functionality in pro-spec programmes like Final Cut Pro (which I don't have yet so I can't trial it), and also in lesser spec programmes like iDvD and iMovie?
 
Tinpusher said:
Mmmm, very interesting. I like the flavour of that.

Quick question about deleting iPhoto though. Will I lose functionality in pro-spec programmes like Final Cut Pro (which I don't have yet so I can't trial it), and also in lesser spec programmes like iDvD and iMovie?
Click to expand...

Programs like iDVD and iMovie have tie ins to iPhoto's library/albums. Makes it easy when importing photos into projects. I can't speak for Final Cut Pro as I don't have that program.

Deleting iPhoto shouldn't affect iDVD or iMovie though as I think they simply look at iPhoto's database.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top