Excel Lens and Shooting Statistics Tool for Mac/Aperture Users!!!

I have been made aware that no such program really exists for the Mac+Aperture combo.

There are some for lightroom and many for windows, but nothing for Mac+Aperture that is effective.

I have created a spreadsheet to help solve this. It isn't totally automatic, you have to use the search filters in Aperture to get the numbers, but the forumlas and calculations auuto populate.

Sheet 1 is for all your shots, your whole library. I broke down the FLs into ranges centered on common primes, so that anyone can use it.

Sheet 2 is for what you consider "keepers" or "gallery" or whatever it means to you. For me, that is 4 and 5 star images.

It allows for those who shoot both APS-C and FF to get their data from one chart accounting for the crop factor. What I do is use one search paramater EXIF: Lens Model, and do separate searches for my APS-C and FF cameras, the sheet automatically adds the numbers together.

It has a column for "wide aperture shots", which of course is whatever that means for you. For me, I use F4 and below, because that is what I consider the most demanding Aperture range for lenses.

It has a section for ISO as well.

So once you input data into the first 2 sheets, the 3rd one is where most of the evaluative info is.

It will evaluate performance of each focal length range, showing the difference between the shoot rate and the keeper rate. If you shoot a particular focal length often but don't get many keepers, it will read as a higher % difference, indicating that unpgrading that lens may yield a higher keeper rate.

It will evaluate the keeper rate of each focal length range at "wide apertures". Low keeper rates for a particular focal length range at wide apertures may indicate the low light, or shallow DOF performance of that lens is inadequte, and upgrading it may increase your keeper rate.

It evaluates your ISO performance, which actaually is more a function of the camera. If you find your high ISOs aren't getting a good keeper rate, then perhaps a camera upgrade really is better for you than a lens upgrade.

Of course, it isn't perfect, so please please add to it, improve it, etc, consider this a living document of POTN where it will continually get improved and expanded upon, then reposted in this thread for further improvement.

And as always, even math is open to interpretation, so this wont tell you the perfect answer to your problems, but it can help add a perspective to it.

Enjoy, and please participate!

Already thought a a few updates

I changed the formula in the evaluative portion so it made more sense.

Now, a lenses need rating is calculated by dividing the frequency with which you select that focal length as a favorite, by the keeper rate.

This makes it so that a focal length range that you use very often, but produces a low keeper rate, will have a very high need rating.

Conversely, a focal range that you use very rarely and produces a high keeper rate, will have the lowest need rating.


Then on the opposite side of the page, it ranks common prime focal lengths in the order in which you would get the most bang for your buck by upgrading.