This app from Gentlemen Coders is made by Nik Bhatt who was the technical lead on Apple’s Aperture photo software and more recently, the developer of the Raw Power photo editing app.
I like to organize my photos in the Finder, which Nitro supports with an excellent photo browser. But Nitro also features close integration with the digital asset manager (DAM) that is the Apple Photos app, if that is your preference.
It’s early days for the app, but there already is a lot of technical know-how built into it. The more I learn how to use the app, the more I like it!
I prefer to edit photos on a decent-sized display on my Mac so I have not yet installed the Nitro Photo app on my iPhone. And I don’t routinely use an iPad.
But Nitro Photo is an “Apple app,” all the way, and shares data across devices using iCloud. So if you want to see files from the Finder on your Mac displayed on an iOS device, you would have to sync them via iCloud Drive and access them them via the Files app on iOS.
As karlnyhus says being an apple app you can see files in from the osx finder in Nitro. More specifically you are given the option on Nitro startup to select either Apple Photos of a specific folder in the IOS Files app as a source for your photos, then you can add additional folders from the IOS Files app from within Nitro.
I use the app exclusively on an M1 iPad Air, often connected to an external display for more ‘real estate’. As mentioned above, it gives access to BOTH photos in the Apple Photos app and those in a Finder folder (directory). Once set up, I can switch to either effortlessly. One feature I’m exploring is the ability to Share/Export/“Backup” photos to an external hard drive. For me it’s Apple Photos meets Adobe Lightroom Classic. So far, it’s been a dream come true. Not the least of which is that, as mentioned above, the Dev previously worked for Apple on the Aperture app.
I held on to Aperture for way too long and then grudgingly switched to Photos. I bought a Nitro license almost as soon as it was released. I mostly use Nitro as an adjunct to Photos to restore some measure of Aperture functionality to my workflow.
It is taking some effort to wrap my head around the way the Nitro Photo app does things. I am comfortable using the Adobe Camera Raw engine in Adobe Bridge, Lightroom, and Photoshop … and this Nitro Photo app is not that.
There is a lot more “magic” going on in Apple’s raw decoder. See the “Auto Enhance,” “Recover Highlights,” and the various “Boost” features, for example. So far, only a partial user manual exists at this point in time to help. Trial and error is the order of the day.
But the user interface has a lovely flow to it and only occasionally does something I was not expecting.
EDIT TO ADD: I forgot that I’ve been helped by watching all of the videos on Nik’s YouTube channel! Gentlemen Coders - YouTube Time to re-watch them all, I think.
Having not tried it yet, does it make it easier to separate RAW/Jepgs than Photos does? I stopped putting RAW+JPeg files in Photos at all just because of the way Photos handles it (i.e. not at all on iPadOS, and awkwardly on a Mac). I want them to be 2 separate entries, not one merged entry where you don’t know if you are looking at the RAW or Jpeg.
As I do things now, all RAWs go into Lightroom, and Jpegs go in Photos. I really like Photos as a memories app, while Lightroom is my “photography” app.
At the moment, I like the Nitro Photo app a lot for photos that can get by mostly with global adjustments. Adobe Camera Raw still does a much better job with local adjustments, aka “masking.”
It’s time for me to have a look at the Photomator app. So I take advantage of the free seven-day trial in the Apple App Store. Editing some photos in Photomator. The darned ML (Machine Learning) is pretty good. Photomator is actually very good at quickly getting a pleasing JPEG out of a raw photo. Masking seems solid. Much better than with the Nitro Photo app.
Uh-oh! Crashed on the fifth photo I edited, a FUJIFILM compressed raw file. And again on the sixth photo even after a shutdown and restart! That could be a showstopper. I did not have this problem with a few Nikon raw files that I edited.
But is it really crashing? This only happens on my Fuji compressed raws. It gives me the following message. But then it allows me to continue and export the photo as a nice JPEG! Hmmm … What’s up with that?
So, Photomator works great (when it’s working) at both global and local adjustments and is easy to use.
But they have been purchased by Apple and who knows what Apple will do with them? Its future is a little uncertain.
It also has a big brother, Pixelmator Pro, which is a wannabe Photoshop competitor.
Currently $30 a year subscription for Photomater and a $50 one-time purchase for Pixelmator Pro, which I bought a long time ago … and apparently my one-time purchase is still good! The Apple App Store just downloaded Pixelmator Pro to my M1 MacBook Air without any mention of an additional charge! Wow, I’m surprised after all this time.
All my RAWs are Nikon NEFs, so I haven’t had an issues (been shooting Nikon for 20 years now, from DSLR to mirrorless). I stopped using Photomator once Apple bought them though because I don’t want to like it and then have it go away. I can’t imagine that Apple will keep it around, so I am a bit surprised they are still asking for money for it. It is still early though.
That said, I really do like Lightroom. I think it is an amazing piece of software (up there with Excel! ), but I would like to have a fall back if I decide I can’t do a subscription anymore (my job is under threat with he new US administration, so I might be retiring soon).
Side note, I was watching Marques Brownlee’s newest video on Apple Intelligence, and he made a comment during the video of how bad Apple Photos is, and that everyone thinks that way. I don’t think that way, do other people here? Apple Photos is not great from a prosumer level, to the point that it sometimes drives me nuts. On the other hand, to display my memories from the past decade, and does it quickly and reliably, so I think it’s pretty good for the average person. Photomator was like an improved Photo’s app, which is what I am hoping Nitro is as well, once I try it.
I think Apple will keep the Pixelmator products around after buying them. Pretty sure, however, that they will rename Photomator as “Apple Lightroom” and Pixelmator Pro as “Apple Photoshop!”
), but I would like to have a fall back if I decide I can’t do a subscription anymore (my job is under threat with he new US administration, so I might be retiring soon).