Hi Chris - Great to see you getting stuck in to AP2 and that’s a great start, however I think at this stage it may have been useful to bring in AP2’s ability to keep a version with the RAW processing adjustments available for changing later in the workflow. I suggest this now because it has to be done at the initial development stage and can’t be invoked later. I’ve found this can be a time saver when, for example, I’ve overdone the exposure/black point/white point/curves adjustments and they are better dealt with later in the workflow. My apology if I have jumped the gun here and you’re planning a different approach to this. I’m very much looking forward to the future instalments. Your pacing and measured delivery are ideal for these types of videos. Thanks very much for your efforts. Kirk
Thanks for posting.Great timing Chris as I've just purchased this application and as a post processing newbie, I really appreciate any insights and recommendations in its use. I look forward to watching how this series progresses. One aspect I have noted so far is that the program lacks any asset management capabilities, so any recommendations you might have for a complimentary asset management package (preferably with no dependency on cloud storage) would be much appreciated (although I use a MAC, Photos isn't my preferred choice due to the manner in which it stores images). Incidentally, a friend also has this application and was disappointed to find that although at the same release level, his copy didn't include Negative Reversal in File>New Batch Job>Available Macros menu. The question still remains unresolved. For me at least, the macro proved a godsend as I have several thousand scanned negatives to digitise and the macro reversed all of them within a couple of hours.
Thank you! I hear good things about Mylio and Excire on the asset management topic. Haven’t tested either yet, but I’ll be doing a comparison video in the New Year.
A timely series for me, thanks. My main photo processing program is Photolab with the addition of the Nik collection, Filmpack and Viewpoint. I have Affinity (started with version 1), but use it sparingly - mostly for panorama stitching and focus merging. As Ian said, I can't seem to get my head around layers - in particular the ordering thereof, so I'm trusting that your upcoming series will bring some greater understanding. I've also found James Ritson's videos and especially his macros valuable, although the downside to them is that I don't have to further my understanding of the program's capabilities. Not necessarily a bad thing, if you're towards the pragmatic end of the spectrum..... I'm looking forward to seeing your workflow for using both programs.
That’s great, layers can be confusing. When confronted with this kind of thing I generally run a super simple test case to check that it’s doing what I think it ought to be doing.
I am a longtime user of Affinity Photo but also use most other apps including Adobe products. If I have difficult masking I will inevitably prefer AP over LR and PS. A couple of things you missed and are important. The develop module is the only one that has highlighting for blown out lights and under exposed darks and are turned on in the 3 little boxes in the top right of the screen. Secondly Affinity can make raw photos look very flat compared to other developers and it is essential to set a colour profile and make sure the profile box is ticked. For some reason on the windows version of AP2 I have not been able to set this to stay turned on.
Hi Chris. I'm an early user of Affinity Photo (since 1.0) and other Affinity software. I believe that in the point of view of a photographer AP2 is really a powerful tool. The raw engine is not good as in DxO and the highlight function not one of the best, but all the other functionalities are fantastic. I use it for panoramas, focus merge and stacking (exporting tifs from DxO) and is a great tool as pure graphic, thanks to the ability to manage vector images.
Hi Chris. Somewhere I thought you had evaluated several LR alternatives - yet I can't find it. I guess my question was whether you had a good look at Exposure (now in X7) aka Alien Skin?
Thanks for the suggestion. Having checked it out, the website blog hasn't been updated since 2022 and the last release v7 was in 2014 and although there have been some maintenance releases since then, no new functionality. Forums seem to be of the opinion it is defunct. So although it looks like it is/was decent software, I won't review it as it looks as though there are no plans for upgrades. I couldn't recommend anyone buying software on that basis.
I really like AP2. I started out with Paintshop Pro and moved to Affinity Photo 2 and loved the application. I then became a lot more fussy about my RAW development and purchased photolab 7. If I need masks I export the TIFF file to Affinity photo. Alsdo export multiple files for stacking and panos. I also tend to use NIK collection 7 inside affinity photo as I then have the power of control points in Nik and combining it with layers in Affinity. Its not seamless but I love the combination of these two bits of software. I also like the non subscription. Its also in my meta data and people know ive not faked my photos with an AI modification.
Two for the price of one: a review of AP and a landscape post processing tutorial! I really love your conservative approach to processing and keeping the picture original.
I use Affinity 2.0 often. I try to stick with PhotoLab, but if I want to make a pano, Affinity is the tool. I normally raw-process the series of images in PhotoLab and export 16-bit hi-res TIFFs and merge those in Affinity. To my eyes, I've had some great results with that workflow. Affinity would work for everything, but I really love the raw processing in PhotoLab especially v8. I look forward to the next videos, I might pick up some tips. As you say, it is a very complex tool.
I have been using Affinity for a few years now and I simply love it. But ever since I bought the Z8 Nikon, I am unable to process the RAW files from it. This and only this has made me to switch to LR and Adobe Cam Raw etc... I hope Affinity rectifies this and also makes masking as simple as in LR.
The Nikon Z8 supports uncompressed and two types of compressed RAW files, it sounds as though you are using one of the HE compressed types, in which case there is good news, support is forthcoming in the next upgrade. It's in beta at the moment. Here is a link to the article on the Affinity site - forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/220481-updated-camera-seriflabs-raw-support-and-lens-correction-database/
I just googled Affinity support for Nikon Z8 files and got this response: Yes, Affinity Photo 2 supports the Nikon Z8 in standard compression formats: Affinity Photo 2.4, the latest free update, supports the Nikon Z8, along with other new camera models from Nikon, Panasonic, and Sony. Note the standard compression formats qualifier. Also, Affinity is beyond the 2.4 update at present. Cheers, Alex
I bought the original Affinity Photo for the princely sum of £25 when it was on offer some time ago. I later bought Photolab and Nik as well. In fact, I think I bought Nik before Photolab because you can use it as a plug in for Affinity. I tend to use Photolab the most these days. For some reason, I can't seem to fully get my old head around layers. I use Davinci Resolve Studio for making videos, which is node based, so that doesn't help either. For those who use Photoshop, I think the majority of the keyboard shortcuts are the same which would make the transition easier.
It’s still very reasonably priced and they don’t have a particularly aggressive release schedule so it’s certainly attractive. And yes, some very close similarities to Photoshop!
My experience of Affinity Photo is that it is buggy as hell and completely urealiable due to this. I use a top end machine and it just doesn't work the way it should.
I'm surprised as there is very little complaint in photography forums and I have experienced nothing buggy so far. Do you have any details you can share?
It is definitely not an alternative for professional use and the main problem lies in the RAW development section which is absolutely limited, it is unacceptable that a paid program has such an elementary RAW development.
Not sure that anyone thinks it's a Lightroom substitute. The title of the video refers to Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop because the RAW conversion and basic edits mirror the functionality of Adobe Camera RAW and are also found Adobe Lightroom. Thanks for the clarification though.
Hi Chris - Great to see you getting stuck in to AP2 and that’s a great start, however I think at this stage it may have been useful to bring in AP2’s ability to keep a version with the RAW processing adjustments available for changing later in the workflow.
I suggest this now because it has to be done at the initial development stage and can’t be invoked later. I’ve found this can be a time saver when, for example, I’ve overdone the exposure/black point/white point/curves adjustments and they are better dealt with later in the workflow.
My apology if I have jumped the gun here and you’re planning a different approach to this. I’m very much looking forward to the future instalments. Your pacing and measured delivery are ideal for these types of videos. Thanks very much for your efforts. Kirk
Good point, I’ll include this in the next Affinity video, thanks for the nudge!
Thanks for posting.Great timing Chris as I've just purchased this application and as a post processing newbie, I really appreciate any insights and recommendations in its use.
I look forward to watching how this series progresses.
One aspect I have noted so far is that the program lacks any asset management capabilities, so any recommendations you might have for a complimentary asset management package (preferably with no dependency on cloud storage) would be much appreciated (although I use a MAC, Photos isn't my preferred choice due to the manner in which it stores images).
Incidentally, a friend also has this application and was disappointed to find that although at the same release level, his copy didn't include Negative Reversal in File>New Batch Job>Available Macros menu.
The question still remains unresolved.
For me at least, the macro proved a godsend as I have several thousand scanned negatives to digitise and the macro reversed all of them within a couple of hours.
Thank you! I hear good things about Mylio and Excire on the asset management topic. Haven’t tested either yet, but I’ll be doing a comparison video in the New Year.
A timely series for me, thanks. My main photo processing program is Photolab with the addition of the Nik collection, Filmpack and Viewpoint. I have Affinity (started with version 1), but use it sparingly - mostly for panorama stitching and focus merging. As Ian said, I can't seem to get my head around layers - in particular the ordering thereof, so I'm trusting that your upcoming series will bring some greater understanding. I've also found James Ritson's videos and especially his macros valuable, although the downside to them is that I don't have to further my understanding of the program's capabilities. Not necessarily a bad thing, if you're towards the pragmatic end of the spectrum.....
I'm looking forward to seeing your workflow for using both programs.
That’s great, layers can be confusing. When confronted with this kind of thing I generally run a super simple test case to check that it’s doing what I think it ought to be doing.
I am a longtime user of Affinity Photo but also use most other apps including Adobe products. If I have difficult masking I will inevitably prefer AP over LR and PS. A couple of things you missed and are important. The develop module is the only one that has highlighting for blown out lights and under exposed darks and are turned on in the 3 little boxes in the top right of the screen. Secondly Affinity can make raw photos look very flat compared to other developers and it is essential to set a colour profile and make sure the profile box is ticked. For some reason on the windows version of AP2 I have not been able to set this to stay turned on.
Thanks for pointing these omission out, that’s really useful info.
Hi Chris. I'm an early user of Affinity Photo (since 1.0) and other Affinity software. I believe that in the point of view of a photographer AP2 is really a powerful tool. The raw engine is not good as in DxO and the highlight function not one of the best, but all the other functionalities are fantastic. I use it for panoramas, focus merge and stacking (exporting tifs from DxO) and is a great tool as pure graphic, thanks to the ability to manage vector images.
Thanks for the comment! That’s pretty much where I am with Affinity at this point, panoramas, focus stacking and so on. I’m enjoying discovering more!
I use Photo Lab 8 and Affinity Photo 2 👍
A good combo I think.
Hi Chris. Somewhere I thought you had evaluated several LR alternatives - yet I can't find it. I guess my question was whether you had a good look at Exposure (now in X7) aka Alien Skin?
Thanks for the suggestion. Having checked it out, the website blog hasn't been updated since 2022 and the last release v7 was in 2014 and although there have been some maintenance releases since then, no new functionality. Forums seem to be of the opinion it is defunct. So although it looks like it is/was decent software, I won't review it as it looks as though there are no plans for upgrades. I couldn't recommend anyone buying software on that basis.
I really like AP2. I started out with Paintshop Pro and moved to Affinity Photo 2 and loved the application. I then became a lot more fussy about my RAW development and purchased photolab 7. If I need masks I export the TIFF file to Affinity photo. Alsdo export multiple files for stacking and panos. I also tend to use NIK collection 7 inside affinity photo as I then have the power of control points in Nik and combining it with layers in Affinity. Its not seamless but I love the combination of these two bits of software. I also like the non subscription. Its also in my meta data and people know ive not faked my photos with an AI modification.
That’s interesting, I’ll have a closer look at that workflow. It’s similar to the way I use Nik within Photoshop.
Two for the price of one: a review of AP and a landscape post processing tutorial! I really love your conservative approach to processing and keeping the picture original.
Thanks! I hope it’s useful!
Thanks for this video and looking forward to more. I left Photoshop/Lightroom a few weeks ago in favour of Affinity2.
Thank you. Glad it was useful!
I use Affinity 2.0 often. I try to stick with PhotoLab, but if I want to make a pano, Affinity is the tool. I normally raw-process the series of images in PhotoLab and export 16-bit hi-res TIFFs and merge those in Affinity. To my eyes, I've had some great results with that workflow. Affinity would work for everything, but I really love the raw processing in PhotoLab especially v8. I look forward to the next videos, I might pick up some tips. As you say, it is a very complex tool.
Yes, that’s the same way I came to Affinity. Good to hear others are on the same path.
I'd like ti know how Affinity Photo 2 works on antique photo restoration.
That’s not an area I know much about to be honest. I’ll investigate!
I have been using Affinity for a few years now and I simply love it. But ever since I bought the Z8 Nikon, I am unable to process the RAW files from it. This and only this has made me to switch to LR and Adobe Cam Raw etc... I hope Affinity rectifies this and also makes masking as simple as in LR.
The Nikon Z8 supports uncompressed and two types of compressed RAW files, it sounds as though you are using one of the HE compressed types, in which case there is good news, support is forthcoming in the next upgrade. It's in beta at the moment. Here is a link to the article on the Affinity site - forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/220481-updated-camera-seriflabs-raw-support-and-lens-correction-database/
I just googled Affinity support for Nikon Z8 files and got this response:
Yes, Affinity Photo 2 supports the Nikon Z8 in standard compression formats:
Affinity Photo 2.4, the latest free update, supports the Nikon Z8, along with other new camera models from Nikon, Panasonic, and Sony.
Note the standard compression formats qualifier. Also, Affinity is beyond the 2.4 update at present.
Cheers,
Alex
I bought the original Affinity Photo for the princely sum of £25 when it was on offer some time ago. I later bought Photolab and Nik as well. In fact, I think I bought Nik before Photolab because you can use it as a plug in for Affinity. I tend to use Photolab the most these days. For some reason, I can't seem to fully get my old head around layers. I use Davinci Resolve Studio for making videos, which is node based, so that doesn't help either. For those who use Photoshop, I think the majority of the keyboard shortcuts are the same which would make the transition easier.
It’s still very reasonably priced and they don’t have a particularly aggressive release schedule so it’s certainly attractive. And yes, some very close similarities to Photoshop!
My experience of Affinity Photo is that it is buggy as hell and completely urealiable due to this. I use a top end machine and it just doesn't work the way it should.
I'm surprised as there is very little complaint in photography forums and I have experienced nothing buggy so far. Do you have any details you can share?
It is definitely not an alternative for professional use and the main problem lies in the RAW development section which is absolutely limited, it is unacceptable that a paid program has such an elementary RAW development.
In fairness they don’t claim to be a pro level app, but in that context I found it surprisingly good.
Affinity photo is a photoshop alternative not a Lightroom substitute.
Not sure that anyone thinks it's a Lightroom substitute. The title of the video refers to Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop because the RAW conversion and basic edits mirror the functionality of Adobe Camera RAW and are also found Adobe Lightroom. Thanks for the clarification though.
Pitcher or picture? There is a difference. You keep referring to a liquid container or a baseball player.
I'll try to enunciate better in future. Apologies for any confusion caused.