Affinity Photo for iPad out (iOS)

Riz_Guru

Riz_Guru

Messages
7,597
Name
Riz
Edit My Images
No
Hi all,

Affinity Photo has just been announced for the iPad following the release of the newer iPad Pro devices by Apple yesterday.
Anybody know if it'll support Fuji RAW files along with lens corrections and Film Simulations?
Has anybody got experience with the desktop version, how does it compare with Lightroom? :)
 
Lightroom is a Raw processor. Whilst Affinity has a Raw processor it is rubbish.
However, it is a very good pixel editor.

I really don't understand though, why all these software companies think we want to edit our high res images on a bloody tablet.
 
Last edited:
Fuguru said:
Has anybody got experience with the desktop version, how does it compare with Lightroom?
Click to expand...


I've been using Affinity Photo for quite sometime now
and it is my preferred pixel editor… better speed and
cool UI.

I don't like Lr's colour engine nor its feature for my RAW
processing. AP is not a RAW processor at all either as
RAW processing is just a format recognition feature and
not a dedicate application.

In any case, Elliot is absolutely right. Raw processing and
editing need respectable screen real estate to be performed
comfortably and adequately and getting these apps to work
on smaller devices is total nonsense to me!
 
It's probably due to the fact that larger tablets are available to buy and probably more to come. The younger generation are used to doing everything on their phone so whilst dedicated photographers might not use there is a whole world out there where their only large screen is a tablet.
 
The more I am thinking about it, the more I am actually considering taking the plunge, especially with the features iOS 11 is brining and the fact you can now buy 512GB capacities.
Affinity Photo, LR Mobile and other good photo applications running a the smaller 10.5" iPad Pro which will fit in my camera bag sounds appealing.
If it reduces post-processing times coupled with the great Fuji JPEG's it could be my go to option, very quick and easy to upload to social media too.
Backup all the photos to a couple of Clouds (iCloud and DropBox Business etc) and job done. :D
 
I think it only works on the last two versions of iPads so no use to me. I would have been tempted because of the price although I don't want to do any serious editing on an iPad either.
 
Got an Air 1 but still buying before 19th to get at under£20. Ipad pro2 12.9 be with me before christmas lol
 
I've bitten the bullet on the 10.5/512 and Affinity. Should be here today so I'll let you know how it goes - I think IOS 11* will be the big enabler though - especially with the more open file system - will make it easier to move files between apps I understand.

*Obviously we're waiting for that.
 
Merluza said:
I think it only works on the last two versions of iPads so no use to me. I would have been tempted because of the price although I don't want to do any serious editing on an iPad either.
Click to expand...
Its compatible with iPad Air 2 (released October 2014); the 'new' iPad (launched March 2017) as well as all iPad Pro models.
 
I think you can download a 14 day trial to have a play around with. I downloaded it 2 days ago and its been fun so far. There are also quite a few tuition videos out now too.
 
Furtim said:
I've bitten the bullet on the 10.5/512 and Affinity. Should be here today so I'll let you know how it goes - I think IOS 11* will be the big enabler though - especially with the more open file system - will make it easier to move files between apps I understand.

*Obviously we're waiting for that.
Click to expand...
Great to hear and looking forward to your thoughts, I am still pondering which size to get... 10.5" or the bigger 12.9" :)
 
One obvious failing of Affinity photo is not being able to add IPTC metadata, so it's no use to me and I suspect quite few other photographers. My light weight kit will still be my MacBook Air 11", Photo Mechanic and Lightroom. My iPad Air 2 gets very little use.
 
Ive just purchased the new ipad pro 12.9 and affinity, and im actually liking it. Its great as im not stuck up on my mac away from family, and if you have astropad or duet display you can still use the desktop versions of affinity or photoshop by mirroring the mac. I also purchase the apple pencil which is somethin i need to get used to but so far im very happy with the new style of editing route im now taking.
 
Fuguru said:
Great to hear and looking forward to your thoughts, I am still pondering which size to get... 10.5" or the bigger 12.9" :)
Click to expand...

Well I've had it for 24 hours now. It's different for sure.

I got the pencil and keyboard too, and have spend a bit of time playing around.

I like the Adobe Lightroom / Mobile workflow - means I can sit in the same room as the rest of family rather than in office with main computer.

I can certainly see me using this out and about, overnight etc to import and cull, and perform 90% of edits I usually do, and tweaking the rest when back at come in front of the big iMac.

The pen works really well.

I've a bit of a learning curve with Affinity - not totally sold on that at the moment, especially as you can't pull raw files in from camera on iPad (unlike Lightroom, Snapseed etc), but I understand they are working on that. It's crashed out on me a few times too.

I think it needs IOS11 to be truly useful, but time will tell.

Beginning to think 512Gb may have been overkill though!
 
Thanks for the comments folks, I'm really close to buying one, going to try and hold out until iOS 11 is out if I can. :)
 
Bit of an update on Affinity
  1. Compressed raw from Fuji X100F - 24Mb, in Lightroom.
  2. Drag raw file from catalog in Lightroom over the Affinity icon in the task bar, this loads the raw file in Affinity on the desktop.
  3. In Affinity Desktop, File - Save As, and save it on iCloud as a .afphoto file; this creates a 200MB file on iCloud.
  4. On iPad, open Affinity, click on (+) and Import from Cloud - pick the picture and wait for the same 200Mb file to download.
  5. Once that's done - it's blisteringly fast to develop and edit the photo on the iPad.
Now - they say they are working on a direct Camera Kit -> Affinity for iPad link as we speak, due soon. It's needed I think as when you do want to work with the raw file, the above is a bit of a faff to say the least.
There was also a bug fix update yesterday I think - does seem more stable - not bombed out since.

I think I still prefer the Lightroom approach:
  • Camera -> Lightroom Desktop -> Lightroom Mobile sends Smart Previews for working on. Far far quicker to send over than the 200MB + files from Affinity and not a lot less detail apparent; all changes are reflected on desktop too. You can get 200+ images this way for the same space as one Affinity file.
  • Camera -> iPad Photos -> Lightroom Mobile -> Lightroom Desktop worked a dream this morning. Took the card out of the camera into SD card reader. Plugged in, and all files transferred over to Photo app automatically very very quickly (faster than the desktop, perhaps I need a USB 3 card reader!). Open Lightroom mobile, add from Camera Roll and edit away. Get home, open Lightroom, grab a cup of tea and all my raw files from this morning are available on desktop with all the edits are available on desktop.
The big omissions from LR Mobile are spot healing and the adjustment brush though - if you need those, you can't use them on the mobile platform (although edits from desktop are carried over). Strangely though, there are things you can do on mobile, but can't do on the desktop (colour hue on a gradient filter for example) - and these again are passed back seamlessly.

My suspicion is Affinity is build around file handling in IOS 11 and hence is a bit clunky at present with IOS 10. Hopefully the beta will be out soon and we'll find out.
 
Really tempted to give this a go on the iPad. Recently bought a 10.5" Pro with the Pencil and have been enjoying it so far. Have been using the pencil in Adobe Sketch for artwork and so on and find it a really neat too.

Have heard really good stuff about the Affinity software. Have just downloaded a trial of Affinity Designer to have a play around with so may have to look into Photo either on the Mac or iPad. An Adobe killer do you think?
 
Furtim said:
Bit of an update on Affinity
  1. Compressed raw from Fuji X100F - 24Mb, in Lightroom.
  2. Drag raw file from catalog in Lightroom over the Affinity icon in the task bar, this loads the raw file in Affinity on the desktop.
  3. In Affinity Desktop, File - Save As, and save it on iCloud as a .afphoto file; this creates a 200MB file on iCloud.
  4. On iPad, open Affinity, click on (+) and Import from Cloud - pick the picture and wait for the same 200Mb file to download.
  5. Once that's done - it's blisteringly fast to develop and edit the photo on the iPad.
Now - they say they are working on a direct Camera Kit -> Affinity for iPad link as we speak, due soon. It's needed I think as when you do want to work with the raw file, the above is a bit of a faff to say the least.
There was also a bug fix update yesterday I think - does seem more stable - not bombed out since.

I think I still prefer the Lightroom approach:
  • Camera -> Lightroom Desktop -> Lightroom Mobile sends Smart Previews for working on. Far far quicker to send over than the 200MB + files from Affinity and not a lot less detail apparent; all changes are reflected on desktop too. You can get 200+ images this way for the same space as one Affinity file.
  • Camera -> iPad Photos -> Lightroom Mobile -> Lightroom Desktop worked a dream this morning. Took the card out of the camera into SD card reader. Plugged in, and all files transferred over to Photo app automatically very very quickly (faster than the desktop, perhaps I need a USB 3 card reader!). Open Lightroom mobile, add from Camera Roll and edit away. Get home, open Lightroom, grab a cup of tea and all my raw files from this morning are available on desktop with all the edits are available on desktop.
The big omissions from LR Mobile are spot healing and the adjustment brush though - if you need those, you can't use them on the mobile platform (although edits from desktop are carried over). Strangely though, there are things you can do on mobile, but can't do on the desktop (colour hue on a gradient filter for example) - and these again are passed back seamlessly.

My suspicion is Affinity is build around file handling in IOS 11 and hence is a bit clunky at present with IOS 10. Hopefully the beta will be out soon and we'll find out.
Click to expand...

Have you tried using the Lightening to SD (USB3) adaptor and importing the RAW files into your Apple Photo's app, then try and importing into Affinity Photo from Photo's?
Speed is the key and shifting the RAW files around as easily as possible, 200MB per image seems crazy!
 
Fuguru said:
Have you tried using the Lightening to SD (USB3) adaptor and importing the RAW files into your Apple Photo's app, then try and importing into Affinity Photo from Photo's?
Speed is the key and shifting the RAW files around as easily as possible, 200MB per image seems crazy!
Click to expand...

Yes - doesn't work for me. I see the thumbnail of the raw file I want in the import from Photos but when I open it get a screen identifying the file as raw, but with no EXIF and not image.

*** UPDATE
Just had a thought as I type this - by default my Fuji raw files are compressed; just tried it with an uncompressed raw file, and it works. Problem is I don't want to work with uncompressed raw files and it halves my card capacity. I've just posted a question on their forum as to the ETA for compressed Fuji raw support.
 
Last edited:
Furtim said:
Yes - doesn't work for me. I see the thumbnail of the raw file I want in the import from Photos but when I open it get a screen identifying the file as raw, but with no EXIF and not image.

*** UPDATE
Just had a thought as I type this - by default my Fuji raw files are compressed; just tried it with an uncompressed raw file, and it works. Problem is I don't want to work with uncompressed raw files and it halves my card capacity. I've just posted a question on their forum as to the ETA for compressed Fuji raw support.
Click to expand...

Just to keep all the updates together:
  1. It appears the ability to open raw files from Photos was added in last weeks 'patch'. So that's good, and why it now works.
  2. I've had a response from Serif on the Fuji Compressed raws - Affinity uses the Apple Photos conversion built into IOS for the actual raw conversion - IOS does not support Fuji compressed, so neither does Affinity. It will come when Apple adds it into IOS.

IOS / raw formats supported are listed here -> https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207049
 
Last edited:
Furtim said:
Just to keep all the updates together:
  1. It appears the ability to open raw files from Photos was added in last weeks 'patch'. So that's good, and why it now works.
  2. I've had a response from Serif on the Fuji Compressed raws - Affinity uses the Apple Photos conversion built into IOS for the actual raw conversion - IOS does not support Fuji compressed, so neither does Affinity. It will come when Apple adds it into IOS.

IOS / raw formats supported are listed here -> https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207049
Click to expand...

That's good news but will Apple give us Fuji RAW compressed file handling in the next iOS update? :(

I am considering using iCloud and DropBox Business as my off-site backup store so should tie in well with the iPad's incoming iOS11, then looking at the Sandisk ixpand USB3/Lightening flash drives for a more localized way of moving the files about and possibly copying them onto a NAS with a quick one button USB backup facility.
My desire to move away from non-hardcore post processing off the MacBook Pro is burning for sure.

A new MacBook Pro 2017 will set me back between £2700-3200 where as I could keep my 2010 model for the hardcore editing and get a iPad setup for around £1000.

:D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top