Affinity Photo 1.5 for windows

[Joe S]

Any opinions on how this works out as a Photoshop replacement for those of us that don't care for subscription based software?

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Any opinions on how this works out as a Photoshop replacement for those of us that don't care for subscription based software?

Hi Joe,

Affinity Photo is an excellent photo-editor, depending a bit on which features you use the most. Many of its features are even better implemented than those of Photoshop, but is is still recent software, not as mature as Photoshop. That means that there may be occasional issues, mainly with the user interface, and some features could be further improved. Speed can also be improved some, although part of that is due to the architecture that uses floating point calculations that are more accurate, and it can render its Raw conversions as 32-bit / channel images which allows a lot of tonemapping without losing quality, but that consumes more memory.

But overall it's a worthy opponent/replacement, also because it allows many photoshop plugins to be used. It is also flexible in its use for (web/press) publishing purposes, or just photo-retouch, or using a mix of raster and vector based image content.

It's hard to find something better for its price, although Photoline is also powerful.

Cheers,
Bart

[Joe S]

Thanks for the input Bart.   Its nice to know that affordable, workable alternatives exist.   I am still doing fine with CS6 but assume that some day, some way it will cease to be an alternative.

Joe

[Randy Carone]

I find that $10/month is about the same as PS upgrades under the 'old' system of purchase. Love it. I should mention that I never passed on PS upgrades in the past.

[Joe S]

I find that $10/month is about the same as PS upgrades under the 'old' system of purchase. Love it. I should mention that I never passed on PS upgrades in the past.

I'm happy to report that CS6 still works great and I haven't paid for an upgrade in over five years.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I'm happy to report that CS6 still works great and I haven't paid for an upgrade in over five years.

Yes, same with me. The investment at that time in an upgrade to Photoshop CS6 Extended is getting cheaper as time passes, and I have no difficulties with running it on Windows 10. In parallel, I'm starting to use Affinity Photo for photo-editing (and Affinity Designer for specifical vector graphics) more and more.

Cheers,
Bart

[Rory]

Version 1.5.1 was released earlier this year and shows they are serious about "maturing" the product.  This shows what can be done when you are serious about fixing/improving your product in a competitive way, compared to the glacial speed that Adobe works on Photoshop/Lightroom.  Here are the 1.5.1 changes:

Changed View ▸ Show Grid: new document view grid visibility is independent from the original document grid visibility setting
Fixed AltGr so it can be used in place of Ctrl+Alt shortcuts
Fixed Develop Persona to disable greyed out UI
Fixed cannot apply a colour picked swatch by clicking on the pipette
Fixed Add Crop Preset is showing the incorrect dimensions for the default name
Fixed Gradient Type not updating
Fixed shortcut for Repeat Last Filter not being saved
Fixed crash when closing the application if the font dropdown was still being populated
Fixed Info Panel Sampler Loupe gives incorrect information
Fixed Typography panel "Show all font features" includes features that the font doesn't support
Fixed Add New Filter Assistant Option to default to child layer
Fixed crash changing text background colour
Fixed Paragraph panel letter spacing has wrong lower limit
Fixed Pen/Pencil Tool's 'Use Fill' checkbox not being saved if the tool is not selected when the application is closed down
Fixed adjusting colour opacity with scroll wheel does not update object
Fixed slider revert to opacity then changing colour space in the colour flyout
Fixed crash clicking on "no fill" on layer effects
Fixed crash when removing an Info Panel sampler
Fixed crash when opening a 32-bit Greyscale file
Fixed changing the colour mode of the Levels adjustment doesn't refresh the component dropdown
Fixed Crop Tool not showing currently selected preset
Fixed automatic lens correction applying incorrect corrections
Performance improvement when panning
Changed keyboard shortcut for repeat filter
Fixed 'Failed to reset brushes' error in Preferences
Fixed changing the shortcut for Repeat Last Filter not being saved
Fixed unable to reapply last applied snapshot in Develop
Fixed renaming a palette selects a different fill
Fixed being unable to change Character Panel 'Positioning and Transform' values using keyboard
Fixed rename Tone Mapping preset category not reflecting correct name
Improved startup and shutdown performance
Changed pixel display zoom to match physical pixels
More lens correction fixes
Fixed crash when deleting the default category in the Library panel
Fixed crash when clicking Properties for some Printers
Fixed crash when going to Edit > Preferences in Panorama Persona
Fixed scrolling a value in the transform panel giving a different value if it has focus
Fixed Develop Persona Focus panel being disabled when initially showing after a document is already open
Fixed incorrect Export Brush dialog filter
Fixed Sources panel not appearing after HDR/Focus merge
Fixed Sources panel missing double click to define/add source point
Fixed releasing Alt when dragging a Levels Adjustment slider doesn't revert the image
Fixed context bar UI not updating when crop overlays are changed using O key
Allow selection of locked nodes in Wireframe view mode
Fixed PDF Import of some bitmaps resulting in incorrect colours (wasn't using colour conversion)
Changed OpenType to relax version check for "Coiny"
Fixed OpenType applying of contextual rules,  we were advancing past the lookaheads too
Added several performance improvements
Improved application start time
Fixed crash when using cursor keys to feather a selection
Fixed Selection Brush resize shortcuts not updating the context toolbar values
Fixed mouse wheel on opacity edit not applying
Fixed Retina Rendering Performance Preference (it was always doing a two-pass render for the high quality only option)
Fixed Layers panel not updating when switching documents with a live filter open
Fixed Unlinked / Separate Grid line and Subdivision line colours are not remembered
Fixed being unable to re-apply the last applied snapshot
Changed "Save With History" to prevent silent save back to JPEG, etc
Fixed crash when clicking the swatch in Edit > Matte
Fixed crashes when opening SVGs with no bounding boxes
Fixed Help search results not displaying if temp path contains non-ASCII characters
Distinguish between beta and normal builds in Explorer's "Open With" menu
Fixed failing to select a word when right-clicking on the text caret
Fixed being unable to interact with Transform panel when you draw out a marquee
Fixed Colour Chooser not retaining the last type you were on
Fixed Grid and Axis Manager not reflecting the currently selected artboard
Improved support for badly formed PSD files
Fixed Remove button on New Stack Document dialog not working
Pixel width and height not updating in the Resize Document dialog, when changing the resolution with 'Resample' unticked
Fixed Macro panel can appear off bottom of the screen
Fixed Move Up/Down for Library categories are in the wrong order
Fixed crash when changing the order of categories in the Library panel
Fixed lens correction failing to work due to wrong lens look up
Fixed crash when attempting to use undo brush when there is no history
Fixed frequency separation crashing 32-bit documents when the bilateral is used
Fixed cancelling macros import displaying an error message
Fixed macro parameters appearing with empty tooltips
Added scroll to macro parameters flyout
Fixed changing dimensions before DPI in Resize Document dialog resizing out of aspect
Fixed deleting a develop snapshot applies the first snapshot
Fixed being unable to use keyboard shortcuts in FFT Denoise dialog
Fixed Sources panel sources only showing with Clone brush active
Fixed Sources panel toggle source preview icon doesn't change
Improved performance of previewing a clone source

[LesPalenik]

I find that $10/month is about the same as PS upgrades under the 'old' system of purchase. Love it. I should mention that I never passed on PS upgrades in the past.

The big difference is that once you paid for an upgrade, you got a working program without an expiration date.

[Rhossydd]

This shows what can be done when you are serious about fixing/improving your product in a competitive way, compared to the glacial speed that Adobe works on Photoshop/Lightroom.

A bit unfair. PS & LR are mature products that don't need a huge amount of 'fixing'.
Which is one reason I see no reason to subscribe to them.

Affinity photo is really, really good and exceptional value for money.
I'm still more comfortable with PS CS4 which works fine for me, but every time I use AP I like it more.
If Adobe make the mistake of pushing LR into subscription only mode there'll be a huge switch to CO & AP.

[Blue439]

I too have so far refused to use subscription-based software. I use version 5.1 of Photoshop, which does what I need, and the latest version of Lightroom (standalone, 6.7) to be able to demosaic RAWs from recent camera bodies.

However, I'm always interested in having other options. Is this Affinity Photo software updated reasonably regularly as new cameras are introduced?

[Blue439]

Aaaaargh ! I was reviewing Affinity Photo's feature, all was going well, I was increasingly looking forward to the switch, I had even downloaded the evaluation copy... but when I looked at the list of camera bodies and lenses taken into account for automatic optical corrections of RAW files, I saw that the Nikkor 24/1.4 and 35/1.4 were not there, nor the 19/4 PC, nor the Voigtländer 58/1.4, nor the Zeisses 15 and 135... Even more surprising, when a lens is present on the list, some of its characteristics are not even corrected, such as vignetting for the Nikkor 85/1.4 and 300/4...! 

I'm surprised no one on LuLa seems to have made mention of this.

So, I think I'll pass and stick to the latest Lightroom and my good ole Photoshop 5.1 for the time being.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Aaaaargh ! I was reviewing Affinity Photo's feature, all was going well, I was increasingly looking forward to the switch, I had even downloaded the evaluation copy... but when I looked at the list of camera bodies and lenses taken into account for automatic optical corrections of RAW files, I saw that the Nikkor 24/1.4 and 35/1.4 were not there, nor the 19/4 PC, nor the Voigtländer 58/1.4, nor the Zeisses 15 and 135... Even more surprising, when a lens is present on the list, some of its characteristics are not even corrected, such as vignetting for the Nikkor 85/1.4 and 300/4...! 

I'm surprised no one on LuLa seems to have made mention of this.

Good point if you need to apply such corrections (e.g. on architecture or with a poorly corrected lens). Personally, I don't use Affinity Photo for Raw conversion so it doesn't affect me when I bring in my Capture One Raw converted images. Even there I rarely use distortion correction.

I haven't searched their forums to see how that aspect is tackled by them, maybe a feature request has been made? Affinity Photo does have excellent Warp functionality, but I understand that having to use that all the time becomes a bit of a drag.

Cheers,
Bart

[E.J. Peiker]

Same here as Bart,  I use Affinity as a Photoshop replacement but not a Bridge or ACR replacement.  I use Capture One for that and it's lens correction profiles which covers automatic lens corrections for most of the lenses I own except for some specialty stuff.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

As to the lens profile/distortion question, it appears that Affinity Photo uses the 'Lensfun library' database for corrections.
https://affinity.serif.com/forum/index.php?/topic/37319-automatic-lens-correction-in-affinity-photo-15/?hl=%2Blens+%2Bdistortion

Here is the official Lensfun library project, but there is an updated list being maintained here.

I have not delved into that enough to see how to to get the specific parameters of a specific lens integrated with Affinity Photo, or whether that needs to be done by the guys/gals at Serif. I've asked them on their forum.

Just wanted to share this.

Cheers,
Bart

[Blue439]

As to the lens profile/distortion question, it appears that Affinity Photo uses the 'Lensfun library' database for corrections.

Yes, we have the same sources.

I am present on their forum and the general feeling there seems to be as follows:

“Well, Adobe is a big company with much more employees than Serif. Further Adobe uses it's own lens format and other standards here and so it has a quite different collaboration with the photo industry (cam vendors, lens makers etc.) for applying these things to their software tools. - Affinity just reuses an opensource lens library here, they don't calibrate lenses and apply those definitions themselves, so they are dependent on the state the lensfun db maintainers do offer and have here.”

... which is reasonable and understandable, at least to some extent, but it's just not acceptable for me.

I'll be interested to know whether the people at Serif have plans to improve on this. Their software seems really good, even does some things in a better and cleverer way than Photoshop, and it's a shame to have to not go to them because they ignore most of the lenses I use... which are not even exotic!

[myotis]

Their software seems really good, even does some things in a better and cleverer way than Photoshop, and it's a shame to have to not go to them because they ignore most of the lenses I use... which are not even exotic!

Not of direct help, but from answers on the affinty forum, PTlens (http://epaperpress.com/ptlens/) works as a plugin with Affinity Photo, which might help.

But I am just repeating what I have read on the forum, I have no experience of using it, and indeed haven't tried raw processing with Affinity Photo.

Cheers,

Graham

[Rory]

A bit unfair. PS & LR are mature products that don't need a huge amount of 'fixing'.
Which is one reason I see no reason to subscribe to them.

Affinity photo is really, really good and exceptional value for money.
I'm still more comfortable with PS CS4 which works fine for me, but every time I use AP I like it more.
If Adobe make the mistake of pushing LR into subscription only mode there'll be a huge switch to CO & AP.

I guess I am thinking of the value for the money.  I'm not seeing adobe putting a similar effort into improving lightroom where there is a long list of improvements, some going back many years, that adobe never gets around to.  If I'm paying rent I want to see return for the money. 

[Dinarius]

I shoot lot of interiors, and I spend many an hour using the Spot Healing Brush Tool and the Patch Tool in CS6 cleaning them up.

What are the equivalents of these tools like in Affinity?

Thanks.

D.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I shoot lot of interiors, and I spend many an hour using the Spot Healing Brush Tool and the Patch Tool in CS6 cleaning them up.

What are the equivalents of these tools like in Affinity?

Similar tools are available in Affinity Photo.

Inpainting video
Additionally, when used as Healing brush, the Healing pattern can be rotated, and/or scaled.

Cloning video.
Clones can be rotated, scaled or flipped.

Live Perspective projection can also be useful in architecture.

Cheers,
Bart