Interestingly, upgrades to major new releases of Ubuntu LTS (long term support) aren’t presented to current LTS users by the operating system until the x.1 releases, though users can proactively install earlier versions if they wish.
Ok, let’s talk Sequoia 15.1 or, if you are lucky and have an iPhone 16, iOS 18.1
I have a M2 Mac and so I updated to 15.1 and……… I’m not sure. I didn’t find much need for Apple Intelligence. Maybe I haven’t received much emails today nor have a need to write long form text. So, I haven’t really experienced the power of AI. The new Siri has a nice color. I like it and it’s easy to trigger - double Cmd tap and it appears. I did ask Siri to WhatsApp message my wife and, as expected, it didn’t work. Does not know WhatsApp.
I need to spend more time but it sure did not give me a wow factor upon installation. Maybe these are things that grow on you over time. It will be funny if Alfred is more useful than Siri 2.0, Siri with Apple Intelligence.
Hey, I can set multiple timers and have Siri show them to me. Nice!
I can’t collage photos though.
I don’t usually bother with the betas, and only the stable releases. So far, I’ve had no issues whatsoever with it. I’m not a fan of the writing tools so far, because whatever I write, I feel like the AI makes it worse. But no real issues, and certainly no show stopping bugs on either of my MacBooks. I thought I had run into one when it failed to recognize my Canon printer, but that was because I forgot to check for an update. But all in all, it’s been a solid release for me. I haven’t noticed much of anything in iOS18 yet because I haven’t upgraded my iPhone to one with Apple Intelligence. That’ll change soon though.
It’s the first time I’ve not updated my MacOS immediately on release. I still haven’t done it yet. I just haven’t seen anything that makes me think “Apple has released a new OS, I need to get my hands on it”. If I remember I may do it this weekend, just so that it’s done and I know my software is up to date.
iOS 18 hasn’t been mind blowing, but the biggest change for me is I’ve stopped using Photos app entirely since they’ve now ruined it. It took a few days for my “muscle memory” to switch from opening Photos to the replacement app I chose (HashPhotos), but it’s automatic now and the functionality of Hash is much better than Photos.
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The Photos app is a brief stop for me these days as I go there only to AirDrop a recently taken photo from my iPhone to my Mac.
Same here. I use it to view only and then it’s a quick peek. Quite frankly, the new layout is making it hard to even do that. It is a cluster in my opinion.
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I use Image Capture to transfer images, bypassing the Photos app completely.
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My software tools for working with photos from my Fujifilm X-T4, Nikon D750, and iPhone XS, are Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw (which, despite “raw” in its name, can also edit and adjust JPEG, HEIC, and TIFF photos).
Bridge comes with a Photo Downloader app that I use to import photos from SD cards out of my “big” cameras. It also has a flexible Batch Rename tool. Adobe Bridge is a great front end to the Camera Raw app.
EDIT TO ADD: Here’s a good comparison of Adobe’s popular photo software if anyone is interested. Adobe Bridge vs Lightroom Classic - YouTube - Photo Kitchen Photographer M.D. Welch likes the many features of Lightroom Classic but understands that not everyone needs or uses them in their workflow.
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At the risk of hijacking this thread to photo workflows …
I mount my SD cards directly in Finder, and drag the images to my ingest folder. I then use PhotoMechanic to sort through them, deleting all but the “keepers”. Still in PhotoMechanic I ingest, automatically setting the file name and common metadata. RAW files are then DNG’d via Adobe’s tool. Back in PhotoMechanic I keyword the images.
I have a variety of tools to process the images, the main being PhotoShop. I use the aforementioned PhotoMechanic as the image browser. (Alas, PhotoMechanic has recently switched to a subscription model, and for a company that just updated the software to Apple Silicon, and took years to deliver on their integrated cataloging tool, I’m releuctant to upgrade.)
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Bringing back to the thread topic.
I too find the new Photos app a major step backward in usability for me. But as I upgraded only yesterday it is to be seen if this is just reluctance to change.
And I find the large tiles/buttons for the Safari suggestions another usability miss. I can now see only four at time, whereas previously I could see both recents and suggestions, and more than four of each (IIRC).
I’ve not found settings to change either. Bummer.
If you can get past the rather dated appearance, Photo Mechanic is a well-liked app used by many pro photogs.
If you are using Adobe Photoshop to edit raw files, aren’t you actually using Adobe Camera Raw? Photoshop can’t do anything with a photo until it has been converted into an RGB pixel-based format.
Yes of course I’m using Camera Raw as the RAW processing engine. 
And PhotoMechanic is an awesome app, despite its interface quirks. I learned of PhotoMechanic from a friend who was a sports photographer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, back when they had sports photographers. I’ve been using it for years (my license receipt is from 2008).
Just want make clear to those who might not know, that I can edit my raw files in Adobe Camera Raw without having to open Photoshop and take that large memory hit. (I’m using an M1 MacBook Air with only 16GB memory!)
Since recent major improvements in the last year to Camera Raw, I rarely need to use Photoshop.
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I’m also sticking to the “old” PhotoMechanic. It does the job.
I use a mixture:
- PhotoMechanic: for speed - great for first sorts/culling, keywording
- Lightroom (Adobe: please make the catalog as fast as PhotoMechanic!): manages my catalog - RAW processing good enough for most photos
- LR Plugin: jfriedl’s Geoencoding plugin
- Photoshop: not that much
- DxO PhotoLab 8: best RAW processor (Capture One might disagree), this is where I process the rare images that will be printed
- ExifTool: sometimes, a shell script is the right tool. Also allows me to change locked attributed (camera model,…)
And since this is about Sequoia:
Sorry, could not resist. Preparing a presentation/demo on ancient OSes (young IT professionals never saw/used Mac OS, Windows XP, MS-DOS, Solaris…).
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I downloaded the demo of this, and read/watched every review I could for it. Unfortunately, on YouTube 99% of the reviews seem to be paid. The reviews that weren’t did seem to like it, but didn’t think it was really a Lightroom replacement. I did see a few comments similar to your’s though, saying that it is the best RAW processor. I just want one program to do everything though, without spending thousands on software. Playing with it I found it awkward coming from LRC. I am sure I could learn it, but decided it was easier to stick with what I know, sub or not.
I was ready to invest in Photo Mechanic as well, until I saw they went sub based. So Bridge or Studio NX (Nikon’s software) it is for me.
Now I keep seeing people say to get Topaz as well…
Coming from LR, PhotoLab is…confusing. I can confirm that. 
I’d also like one single program. If I could use only one: Lightroom.
Take a look at “Darktable”. Free/Open Source.
The YouTube reviews scared me off of this one. Supposedly the learning curve is quite steep?
At $10 a month for LRC/Photoshop, I can live with that subscription. I don’t love it, but I think the software is really good. It never fails to amaze me with what it can do and since it is so popular there is a ton of help available online.
If there’s a subscription where you get a ton of value for your money, it’s the LR/PS one. Especially considering they cost hundreds of dollars before moving to it. Photoshop CS6 Extended was $999! And since you mentioned “spending thousands”: that combination does almost everything.
I once calculated the cost of buying PS/LR before (with all updates) and broke it down to monthly cost. It’s cheaper now.
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Nikon’s NX Studio software was kinda fun to use, but it crashed too often. If that has been fixed, their software knows all about Nikon-specific settings/features like Active D-Lighting and other oddities.
But my D750 sits on the shelf these days in favor of my FUJIFILM X-T4. So it is back to Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw for me. 
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