Affinity

Hi all, I'm in the market for some new editing software, does Affinity Photo pretty much do everything that photoshop does, for purely landscape photo editing anyway? Can it do lens corrections, remove chromatic aberrations etc?
 
It has a pretty full set of features, including those you mention:

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.l...ent_lensCorrection.html?title=Lens Correction
https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.l...ticAberration.html?title=Chromatic Aberration

But note that Affinity Photo doesn't replace Lightroom and has only a basic raw processor, so you might want to supplement it with a dedicated application to handle raw development and image selection. As a Nikon user, you can download the free NX Studio package:

www.dpreview.com

Review: Nikon NX Studio answers our plea for a free, all-in-one editing app

Nikon's new NX Studio software suite combines the company's previous ViewNX-i and CaptureNX-D applications into a single one-stop solution for editing Raw files from your Nikon digital camera. Find out more about its updates and enhancements in our review.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com
For Nikon's own lenses it has automatic corrections:

The Lens Corrections Tool

nikonimglib.com nikonimglib.com
Alternatively, there's a free version of Capture One Express:
www.captureone.com

Buy Capture One

Get Capture One's flagship photo editing software, trusted by pros and studios worldwide. Capture One Pro supports files from all major camera brands.
www.captureone.com www.captureone.com
 
Retune said:
It has a pretty full set of features, including those you mention:

https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Adjustments/adjustment_lensCorrection.html?title=Lens Correction
https://affinity.help/photo/en-US.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Filters/filter_chromaticAberration.html?title=Chromatic Aberration

But note that Affinity Photo doesn't replace Lightroom and has only a basic raw processor, so you might want to supplement it with a dedicated application to handle raw development and image selection. As a Nikon user, you can download the free NX Studio package:

www.dpreview.com

Review: Nikon NX Studio answers our plea for a free, all-in-one editing app

Nikon's new NX Studio software suite combines the company's previous ViewNX-i and CaptureNX-D applications into a single one-stop solution for editing Raw files from your Nikon digital camera. Find out more about its updates and enhancements in our review.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com
For Nikon's own lenses it has automatic corrections:

The Lens Corrections Tool

nikonimglib.com nikonimglib.com
Alternatively, there's a free version of Capture One Express:
www.captureone.com

Buy Capture One

Get Capture One's flagship photo editing software, trusted by pros and studios worldwide. Capture One Pro supports files from all major camera brands.
www.captureone.com www.captureone.com
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Thabk you for this, I don't currently use lightroom, what would you use the nx studio for? I just use photomatix pro and photoshop for finishing touches but I feel like I'm missing out..
 
IanC said:
Thabk you for this, I don't currently use lightroom, what would you use the nx studio for? I just use photomatix pro and photoshop for finishing touches but I feel like I'm missing out..
Click to expand...
Previewing, selecting and tagging images for further work, some basic editing, adjusting in-camera settings like Nikon Picture Controls or Active D-Lighting when shooting raw, and the raw conversion itself.

I generally prefer the results from Nikon's own raw converter to those from Adobe Camera Raw (or at least the old versions compatible with CS6 - I don't have CC) or to those from Affinity Photo's built-in raw converter.

Affinity's raw converter is also fairly rudimentary, and there's no equivalent to Bridge for previewing images. Affinity opens one image at a time, and any raw edits you make are baked in at the time of conversion; you have to start from scratch if you want to tweak a raw setting.
 
"Heads Up"

There's a new update out today for "Affinity Photo" (Mac Version) and probably Windows version 1.10.0 if anyone is interested.
 
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scottishmonkey said:
Anyone updated yet? Or know what the update changes?
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I read today that they've given their apps a "major boost in performance".

9to5mac.com

Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher updated with major boost in performance - 9to5Mac

Affinity announced today that Photo, Designer, and Publisher are being updated with version 1.10 with a boost in performance.
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com

G.K.Jnr. said:
"Heads Up"

There's a new update out today for "Affinity Photo" (Mac Version) and probably Windows to version 1.10.0 if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...
Thanks, George!
 
I bought Affinity Photo for Mac from the Serif website but Designer and Publisher from the Apple App Store. I'll be interested to see how they handle the upgrade to version 2, especially how they handle the pricing. Of course, the iOS versions all came from the App Store, but it'll be interesting to see what the differences are.
 
Interesting version number. Some people had assumed 2.0.x (presumably a paid upgrade) must soon follow 1.9.x, but incrementing the version to 1.10.x instead gives us no clues about when that might happen. Now they can go all the way to 1.99.x if they feel like it...

No update prompt in the Windows application for me, but you can get it here:

Affinity Photo Updates (Windows)

Download the latest and previous versions of Affinity Photo (Windows)
store.serif.com store.serif.com
 
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scottishmonkey said:
Anyone updated yet? Or know what the update changes?
Click to expand...


Yes I have updated my copy, it certainly loads faster and I've been using it today. As yet I've found no problems whatsoever..
 
Currently updating all three Affinity apps - all three are free. Too soon to see how they work.
 
Updated flawlessly to 1.10 last night on my Windows PC from the start/prompt screen.
Not used it deep enough yet to notice any changes
 
Affinity is one I'm looking at as I consider taking the plunge and getting into editing more. I'd previously understood that it wasn't the best for RAW files. Has this improved?
 
Plain Nev said:
Affinity is one I'm looking at as I consider taking the plunge and getting into editing more. I'd previously understood that it wasn't the best for RAW files. Has this improved?
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It is fine for Raw files. Some of the sliders are labelled differently to the labels that Adobe use which makes switching between Lightroom and Affinity Photo a bit awkward but if you are not used to Lightroom that will not matter. The results are as good as Lightroom.
 
Plain Nev said:
Affinity is one I'm looking at as I consider taking the plunge and getting into editing more. I'd previously understood that it wasn't the best for RAW files. Has this improved?
Click to expand...
They've made some improvements, but personally I use something else for raw files. One thing it doesn't have is 'non-destructive' editing in the raw processing module (the 'Develop Persona'), which means you can't tweak your raw edits later, but have to start from scratch every time you re-load a raw file. Many other raw processors store raw edits in a sidecar file or database, so you can return to and refine them later. The other thing it lacks is any sort of lightbox-style interface for previewing, rating and culling your images; you just load one at a time. However, from the other thread you are a Capture One Express user, which provides these functions. Affinity would actually complement that rather well. You can simply save as a tiff from Express and load it into Affinity for more sophisticated editing when required.
 
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People make a big thing about Lightroom using a sidecar file for its Raw editing and the ability to revisit your Raw editing at any time. In 17 years of digital photography, most of it using Raw files, I don't think I have ever once wanted to revisit my Raw editiing. If I was to, starting from scratch would not be an issue and would probably be my preference, but I have not ever wanted to. I have plenty of new Raw files to be going at.
 
Retune said:
They've made some improvements, but personally I use something else for raw files. One thing it doesn't have is 'non-destructive' editing in the raw processing module (the 'Develop Persona'), which means you can't tweak your raw edits later, but have to start from scratch every time you re-load a raw file. Many other raw processors store raw edits in a sidecar file or database, so you can return to and refine them later. The other thing it lacks is any sort of lightbox-style interface for previewing, rating and culling your images; you just load one at a time. However, from the other thread you are a Capture One Express user, which provides these functions. Affinity would actually complement that rather well. You can simply save as a tiff from Express and load it into Affinity for more sophisticated editing when required.
Click to expand...

That's a very good idea. Thanks for the tip.
 
john.margetts said:
People make a big thing about Lightroom using a sidecar file for its Raw editing and the ability to revisit your Raw editing at any time.
Click to expand...
Yes you can revisit & review your edits using the editing history facility in LR, but this is saved along with images in the catalogue and doesn't depend on .xmp sidecars. In fact saving metadata to file (.xmp) can be switched off, and LR can be run sidecar-free.

And for some of us it can be invaluable to keep the raw resource.
 
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There can be conflicts between Affinity & C1, at least on Windows, with Affinity crashing - but if this happens, Google et al are your friends for workarounds ...
 
"Heads Up"

There's a new update out today for "Affinity Photo" (Mac Version) and probably Windows to version 1.10.1 if anyone is interested.
 
There are some good fixes in this version. Out of interest, does it wipe out your installed brushes when updating? I'm sure the last version forces me to reinstall them again
 
Fuju said:
There are some good fixes in this version. Out of interest, does it wipe out your installed brushes when updating? I'm sure the last version forces me to reinstall them again
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Can't help you on that one as I have only the standard brushes that come with Affinity on my copy.
 
I've not heard any updates regarding v.2 but I highly doubt it will be subscription as their model has always been (prior to Affinity) that incremental updates are free, but major releases are discounted for current users so I'd expect to pay maybe £25-30 for v.2 at some point this year.
 
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The thing about subscription was a joke from last year, but maybe they should announce it on Friday 1st April just to wind everyone up! I haven't seen anything recent on 2.0, and the fact they went from 1.9.x to 1.10.x means the version numbers offer no clue. There's an article here that claims a beta is already being tested and there'll be a 2022 release, but as I haven't seen anything about this on the Affinity forums I wonder if the author is confused?:
aecmag.com

Serif Affinity - a rival for Adobe Creative Cloud

As AEC IT directors feel the pinch, they are seeking powerful alternatives. With Serif Affinity, Adobe Creative Cloud now has a serious threat
aecmag.com aecmag.com
Although I don't expect there'll be a subscription, or at least not a compulsory one, I wonder if they will one day require product activation? Affinity is one of the few commerical image editing packages that doesn't require online activation, just a key. That means they can never stop you installing it, as Adobe can with unsupported versions of CS like CS3. Affinity introduced (currently optional) online registration and accounts a while back (version 1.9?) which might be paving the way for this. If 2.0 required this, I'd be less likely to buy the upgrade.
 
Serif have been very tight lipped over v2. I've got a feeling they've been paying close attention to all the little niggles people have and the feature requests and I'll hazard a guess and say version 2 will be quite a beast of an upgrade.

I do seriously hope they include a photo library and at a least an option to display your gallery below the editing persona like in Lightroom. Also focus stacking could be improved too.
 
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Fuju said:
Serif have been very tight lipped over v2. I've got a feeling they've been paying close attention to all the little niggles people have and the feature requests and I'll hazard a guess and say version 2 will be quite a beast of an upgrade.
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Hopefully they'll improve their highlight recovery
 
"Heads UP"

Just in case anyone is interested there's 50% off everything at Affinity at the moment.
 
G.K.Jnr. said:
"Heads UP"

Just in case anyone is interested there's 50% off everything at Affinity at the moment.
Click to expand...
Serif ALWAYS seem to have some kind of price promotion running.
There can't be many people who have paid full retail price for Affinty.
It's great software at retail, with 50% off it's an absolute steal.
 
G.K.Jnr. said:
"Heads UP"

Just in case anyone is interested there's 50% off everything at Affinity at the moment.
Click to expand...

I bought it the other day.

I do the majority of my editing in Lightroom 5 & anything for layers & masking in CS6 which has been okay so far. But I thought at £24 it's worth a buy even if I just use it for more accurate masking & panorama stitching or something. Heck, it's worth £24 for the entertainment time spent playing around with it!! :ROFLMAO:
 
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