Affinity Photo 2.0. 9th November?

RichardC27 said:
Had a 10 minute play with it this afternoon. Haven't a clue what I'm doing, I've only ever really edited in LR. Unless I'm doing something wrong the Raw editor is absolutely horrible compared to LR but again I don't really know what I'm doing.

The only thing I'd use it for is stacking if I ever have a go at some startrail photography again over the winter, so even for that it's probably worth a tenner. I do get PS as part of my Adobe subscription but never use it and the iPad app is basically useless.
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Yes I’m used to LR now and it seems to be getting better with each update so probably won’t purchase theV2’s but looks good value for many
 
It instals as an app, so all the files are inaccessible, and their shortcuts for calling the programme from other programmes don't work, so far totally unimpressed.
 
They still haven't cracked the raw conversion so its a no from me
I do have Publisher v1, but use it so little that there's no point me buying v2
 
RedRobin said:
.... That feature can actually be very useful. There have been occasions when I have looked at my p-p efforts in the cold light of day later and wondered WTF was I thinking of to have done that! If I have done secondary (to C1) edits in ON1 I never Save the file to save storage space - I shoot thousands of images.

But if I RAW convert in Affinity Photo it will need to be better at it than C1 which is asking a lot perhaps.
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Yes, it can indeed be useful, but personally it's not something I think I've ever used for real.

The AP raw processing gets some bad press, but I've never used it.
 
Reading the comments, following all the hype, most people seem suitably underwhelmed.
(Including me)
 
myotis said:
I don't know very much about ON1 raw 2023. Reviews that I've seen all tend to conclude that the top three still show subtle differences. compared to the rest. But I'm not convinced how much these things matter all that much in practice as long as there is a basic level of quality.

This site is worth looking at, if you aren't familiar with it:

ON1 Photo RAW Archives - Life after Photoshop

www.lifeafterphotoshop.com www.lifeafterphotoshop.com
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.... Graham, I have now had a read through some of the articles on that website you posted a link to and in one titled :

The best photo editing software for organizing, editing, RAW and effects​

The author writes :

"The fact is, everyone will be looking for something different in their software, so trying to put this list in order of merit really doesn’t make much sense. This is even more true for people like me who use two or more applications to get the full spread of features they want."

This hits the nail squarely on the head in my opinion. Each editing app is a different tool in the toolbox, each with its own strengths and each with its own limitations or weaknesses. That is how or why I justify having C1, ON1, Luminar AI, and Affinity Universal, all installed on my Mac. It's Horses-for-Courses.

Capturing the image on the sensor is only the first step in achieving the vision you had for the finished result and the whole process is to be enjoyed.

P.S. - Currently, my primary use for the Affinity threesome is Publisher which I use quite a lot and I have a project which Designer will help with. Costing me only 45 squid for all three v2 apps, it's a no-brainer! But it would also be worth it at the normal £89.99 price.
 
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For those that have installed AP on a PC does it install into its own (user chosen folder?) and leave v1 intact ???

TIA
 
Box Brownie said:
For those that have installed AP on a PC does it install into its own (user chosen folder?) and leave v1 intact ???

TIA
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.... Whether on a PC (Windows?) or a Mac, v2 is not an update of v1 but is a self-contained, different licensed, 'upgrade' titled v2. So, you should be able to keep both independent version apps irrespective of platform.

I don't know for certain yet but I would expect v2 to be able to open and edit files originally created in v1 after saving them.
 
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I only bought V1 because it was cheap, and I was curious. I had already got Adobe PS/LR and found that Affinity fell well short of this though I was impressed with what was provided for the money. I shall continue with Adobe particularly after the recent upgrades so will not be updating Affinity.

Dave
 
For those using Affinity Publisher, Serif state that v2 has been given a performance boost to assist handling larger documents and I can report that compared to v1, faster performance is very very noticeable indeed - I immediately noticed it before reading that performance had been boosted. Books have been introduced too. < @Chipper this might interest you.

And yes, of course v2 opens v1 files. < That was a silly question I asked myself earlier. Onwards and upwards!
 
RedRobin said:
For those using Affinity Publisher, Serif state that v2 has been given a performance boost to assist handling larger documents and I can report that compared to v1, faster performance is very very noticeable indeed - I immediately noticed it before reading that performance had been boosted. Books have been introduced too. < @Chipper this might interest you.

And yes, of course v2 opens v1 files. < That was a silly question I asked myself earlier. Onwards and upwards!
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have you compared Affinity photo version 1 to version 2 , is version 2 faster ?
I may try out the trial version and see anyway :) If it is may be worth upgrading anyway especially when I do focus stacking
 
In my opinion, the price says it all, as I don't see any reason to upgrade.
 
tijuana taxi said:
They still haven't cracked the raw conversion so its a no from me
I do have Publisher v1, but use it so little that there's no point me buying v2
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That was my experience today using the trial but I’m glad I have V1 as it has some uses like object removal and stacking options. I also tried Dxo pure raw and didn’t like it one bit,I perhaps need to give it a bit longer but I know it’s not for me, so LR is staying
 
RedRobin said:
.... Whether on a PC (Windows?) or a Mac, v2 is not an update of v1 but is a self-contained, different licensed, 'upgrade' titled v2. So, you should be able to keep both independent version apps irrespective of platform.

I don't know for certain yet but I would expect v2 to be able to open and edit files originally created in v1 after saving them.
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I had both versions opened and the iPad versions, I didn’t try the edited files from one to other though
 
FWIW

I have installed v2 Photo as a trial (for now) and unlike every other program this has a default installation i.e. not able to select a custom folder for the installation and once installed I cannot identify the location of the installation :thinking:

In many ways this is academic as it has added itself to right click context menu but as it GPU dependant I cannot, unlike all the other applications, custom set the Graphics Settings to favour the GPU.

So a little puzzling as to just where the .exe is located ?

Edit ~ I am not the only one that wants to access .exe location
Serif it seems recognises the issue and are working on it....

Affinity Photo v2 .exe file location

forum.affinity.serif.com forum.affinity.serif.com
 
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I also started a thread on their forum

Photo 2 installation directory??

I have just bought and installed V2, but I can not find the installation directory!! I need a shortcut to be able to open photos in it from another application, which I do all the time
forum.affinity.serif.com forum.affinity.serif.com

I fixed it myself with the path shown on one of my posts there.

However, I am totally unimpressed and will be getting a refund.

It is installed as an app, unless they repackage it as a proper programme (unlikely as they have obviously go sucked in by ms's BS) I don't want it.

I have found it to be a bit slower, especially on merges.

After 20 years of avoiding Serif software, I bought Affinity 1, which generally find good, just to get a few months use out of it before support is stopped.
I bought V2 based on my experience with V1. Mistake

Truth is, I can manage well with Gimp and Rawtherapee, but Affinity 1 gave an all in one simple to use solution that did nearly all I need (I still go back to Gimp or Rawtherapee at times)
 
SsSsSsSsSnake said:
That was my experience today using the trial but I’m glad I have V1 as it has some uses like object removal and stacking options. I also tried Dxo pure raw and didn’t like it one bit,I perhaps need to give it a bit longer but I know it’s not for me, so LR is staying
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I use PureRaw when I think a photo is a bit over noisy, especially helpful as a m4/3 user.
Mainly use the Prime setting or the Deep option with sharpening turned off.
Works well enough for me alongside LR as a plug in, but only use it selectively
 
LCPete said:
have you compared Affinity photo version 1 to version 2 , is version 2 faster ?
I may try out the trial version and see anyway :) If it is may be worth upgrading anyway especially when I do focus stacking
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.... No I haven't because I have never tried V1 Affinity Photo but only Publisher and Designer.

Serif have only stated a performance boost for V2 Publisher and they ain't telling any porky-pies about that! It's absolutely true, immediately noticeable. I just don't know if they have given V2 Photo a performance boost but it is logical that a performance boost would apply globally.

The V2 Trial version will certainly help you decide yay or nay. Sorry I can't be more help.

I currently use Capture One 22 and ON1 2023 for work on my RAW image files but I will occasionally find Photo usefully time-saving when I have an image file already imported into Publisher or Designer and want to tweek or manipulate it because I can then do so without leaving Publisher.

As both my Olympus TG-6 and OM-1 have onboard Focus Stacking I have not needed to focus stack externally but in the past a long time ago I have used Affinity to combine focus bracketed images and very fluidly and successfully - Fun and educating to watch it build the layers.
 
tijuana taxi said:
I use PureRaw when I think a photo is a bit over noisy, especially helpful as a m4/3 user.
Mainly use the Prime setting or the Deep option with sharpening turned off.
Works well enough for me alongside LR as a plug in, but only use it selectively
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Yes probably more my incorrect choices , I find I have less patience to try new stuff for long enough, age could be my excuse lol
 
I forgot to add that I found in my bought apple apps Dxo optics for apple photos which I bought in 2015, I tried it yesterday and found it very good which is what prompted me to trial DXO raw latest, so I will still use the original
 
Interesting.

This morning I posted the way I had made the link to the exe file work on IrfanView in reply to somebody who also couldn't get the way they gave in their FAQ to work, he tried it and it didn't work, but he had probably made a simple error that would have stopped it working even if it was going to work.

I went to reply to him, only to get a message saying I had reached the limit of posts I could make in a day! One post!

Looks like they don't like people discussing their errors :)
 
Well I've tried V2, albeit very briefly, but don't find any improvement for my purposes.
It appears more clunky and it's no faster, if not slightly slower in some operations than V1.
The killer for me is that whereas V1 works with NIK 4, V2 doesn't work with all plugins and would require (if it works!) an upgrade to NIK 5 at another £69+ making it a cost of around £100 to update what I already have that works fine as it is.

Interestingly the DXO compatibility chart for NIK 4 says it doesn't work with macOS Ventura, whereas it works perfectly for me so I am sceptical of whatever might happen with NIK 5.
So for me, the trial of Affinity Photo 2 has been binned.
 
gramps said:
Well I've tried V2, albeit very briefly, but don't find any improvement for my purposes.
It appears more clunky and it's no faster, if not slightly slower in some operations than V1.
The killer for me is that whereas V1 works with NIK 4, V2 doesn't work with all plugins and would require (if it works!) an upgrade to NIK 5 at another £69+ making it a cost of around £100 to update what I already have that works fine as it is.

Interestingly the DXO compatibility chart for NIK 4 says it doesn't work with macOS Ventura, whereas it works perfectly for me so I am sceptical of whatever might happen with NIK 5.
So for me, the trial of Affinity Photo 2 has been binned.
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That was my feeling too
 
I see looking on their forum that they are having a lot of problems, reasons being Card Declined payment as that happened to me hence why I tried the trial version and then deleted it as it does not really offer me more. So many folk not happy at all on that forum, glad it did not go through in the end, so will stick with what I already have.
 
SsSsSsSsSnake said:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NqrMWlU3go
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.... As someone who has never used Affinity Photo before, this excellent video has got me very excited.

It's not going to replace Capture One / ON1 as my first stages RAW editing but it offers a very easy and intuitive way to explore more creative and non-destructive final versions.

However, if you are more of a 'literal' photographer rather than an 'emotional' or 'graphic' photographer, then I can see that Affinity Photo may not be for you.

www.lifeafterphotoshop.com

What kind of photographer are you – literal, emotional or graphic? - Life after Photoshop

Photography isn’t just about taking pictures of things. Very often you’re trying to capture something deeper, like a metaphor or an emotion or simply a graphically satisfying image. The trouble is that what you see isn’t necessarily what other people see.
www.lifeafterphotoshop.com www.lifeafterphotoshop.com

User Interface (UI) and effective graphic communication has always been a skill of mine which others have recognised (I was invited to and worked for Adobe at the birth of InDesign CS1 for its first 4 years of life). In my opinion, Affinity's UI is second to none in this field of currently available apps. It is very much in the tradition of Mac whereas the others by comparison are much more like early Windows. But I was privileged to have been born in Macdom.

I am now a 'retired-but-hardwired' professional Art Director and simply want to explore and enjoy my photographic efforts. I feel that Affinity V2 is potentially very enabling just as the best cameras and lenses are.

I'm not feeling much love for Affinity here this morning though.
 
RedRobin said:
I'm not feeling much love for Affinity here this morning though.
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I use Affinity V1 in conjunction with PhotoLab 5 and am very happy with it ... I just don't like V2 in its present format, or having to pay for an upgrade to the plugins as well as for the programme upgrade. Simply put it isn't worth the £100 it would cost me to do what I can do now, plus maybe a few bells and whistles that I would, in the main, never use.
 
Fuji Dave said:
I see looking on their forum that they are having a lot of problems, reasons being Card Declined payment as that happened to me hence why I tried the trial version and then deleted it as it does not really offer me more. So many folk not happy at all on that forum, glad it did not go through in the end, so will stick with what I already have.
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.... I haven't visited Affinity's user forum yet but I know from experience in other fields that people generally are much more vocal in their dissatisfactions than they are in expressing their satisfaction. Also, amongst a group of people if more than one person expresses dissatisfaction it brings out more negatives.

Coincidentally I was talking to Waitrose earlier this week about feedback (I regularly give them very honest feedback, both positive and negative) and we agreed that people generally are much less forthcoming when they have positive feedback to give. That's a shame because both are needed and helpful for any supplier to then help their customers.

However, if any product doesn't offer you what you want then there isn't any reason to buy it.
 
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gramps said:
I use Affinity V1 in conjunction with PhotoLab 5 and am very happy with it ... I just don't like V2 in its present format, or having to pay for an upgrade to the plugins as well as for the programme upgrade. Simply put it isn't worth the £100 it would cost me to do what I can do now, plus maybe a few bells and whistles that I would, in the main, never use.
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.... Absolutely! It is a waste of money to buy anything which doesn't improve what you already have or you would never use. Or which doesn't enable you to reach more of your potential.

Btw, I am exploring how to use the FL-LM3 you recently sold me and it's looking potentially very enabling indeed. So thank you yet again. I have been discussing its uses on a dedicated Olympus OM forum and receiving a lot of tips.
 
They have just posted this

11a.jpg

But I think there is a mistake,

This is what I posted yesterday

11b.jpg

So if any one ties their solution and it doesn't work try using the one I posted with the slash between WindowsApps and AffinityPhoto2.exe
 
RedRobin said:
Btw, I am exploring how to use the FL-LM3 you recently sold me and it's looking potentially very enabling indeed. So thank you yet again. I have been discussing its uses on a dedicated Olympus OM forum and receiving a lot of tips.
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Satisfying to know that it is getting some good use rather than being in a box in my cabinet. :)
 
Sangoma said:
They have just posted this

View attachment 373110

But I think there is a mistake,

This is what I posted yesterday

View attachment 373111

So if any one ties their solution and it doesn't work try using the one I posted with the slash between WindowsApps and AffinityPhoto2.exe
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That is all well and good, but for a Luddite, not that I'm going to download it, but why should "we" have to make changes to the registry ?
 
Sangoma said:
They have just posted this

View attachment 373110

But I think there is a mistake,

This is what I posted yesterday

View attachment 373111

So if any one ties their solution and it doesn't work try using the one I posted with the slash between WindowsApps and AffinityPhoto2.exe
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.... I hate to say it but it looks like the joys of being on a Windows platform have not gone away with the passage of time. It's simply Drag-n-Drop on the Mac and job is done - The next click opens the app. And the same works for all three in the Affinity holy trinity.

But it's great that solutions have been found even if somewhat tedious and offputting.
 
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Sangoma said:
They have just posted this

View attachment 373110

But I think there is a mistake,

This is what I posted yesterday

View attachment 373111

So if any one ties their solution and it doesn't work try using the one I posted with the slash between WindowsApps and AffinityPhoto2.exe
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Also, I note the paths they suggest for Publisher and Designer are to that of Photo.....so by implication they are installed differently to Photo???
 
Cobra said:
That is all well and good, but for a Luddite, not that I'm going to download it, but why should "we" have to make changes to the registry ?
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They are not registery changes but they are IMO a (to be confirmed) get outs by Serif to 'cover' their situation by putting the onus on users and other software producers to "correct" their usage models!
 
Box Brownie said:
Also, I note the paths they suggest for Publisher and Designer are to that of Photo.....so by implication they are installed differently to Photo???
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No, they are installed the same way.

I get the feeling they are getting into a bit of a blind panic, and still getting things wrong.

Those solutions will not work in all cases without other changes, no doubt they will catch up with that tomorrow or so.

You notice they also say "unfortunately it is down to each third party app to support execution alias .exe files when launching external applications." so if yours doesn't work tough!!!

"How to Win Friends and Influence People"
 
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