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Thread: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative to Photoshop?

  1. #11

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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    I got a response on their forum that a trial version will be available in about one month.

  2. #12

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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    Anyone try it with very large files (large pixel dimensions)?

    --Darin

  3. #13
    joseph
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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    Quote Originally Posted by Darin Boville View Post
    Anyone try it with very large files (large pixel dimensions)?

    --Darin
    I bought it and first impressions are very favourable. My system- I’m running a 2011 MBP with 16gb of RAM, hooked up to an external monitor. You can set the amount of RAM available to the program in the preferences, something I haven’t seen under OS X in a very long time. Setting a large amount of RAM, and making use of it does seem to penalise other programs, however, which I discovered while opening up a large image to test. Perhaps large amounts of RAM should only be allocated when necessary.

    Using the external monitor, all my palates go on the MBP, and the external monitor is used as the image window.

    Digital RAW files are converted by the operating system in OS X; I wonder if this is something that makes it more convenient to develop the program for mac only? I seem to remember that Adobe used to use periodic version upgrades as part of a marketing blackmail strategy, but that you could always open a new RAW file using Preview, if you were on a mac. Perhaps the various Windows offerings do the same now, I don't know. The only time I ever have to interact with PC's is when somebody expects that I might be able to fix them when they go wrong. I try not to spend too much time with them, but obviously, that's a personal preference, and I respect that your personal preference might not be the same as mine. It's a mutual respect thing...

    I opened a 2.3 GB 16bit rgb TIFF, and it seems very responsive so far. As an example, I maxed out the size of a brush, up to 4096 pixels, then chose the burn tool and dragged it across a 21,000 pixel wide rgb image- it took about a second for the burn to show, which is an improvement over PS, and huge leap in performance over Aperture.

    It seems very comparable to photoshop, though there are still a few things missing- there doesn’t seem to be any support for some metadata or file info, for example. The lack of IPTC data means that an image will have to be imported into another program that can append that info, for example. It’s possible to set Affinity Photo as the external editor for Apple Aperture, though saving or re-exporting the image from Affinity doesn’t automatically save the image back into Aperture, as it does with photoshop, meaning it will have to be re-imported manually.

    The learning curve is not particularly steep if you take a little time to get acquainted with the program. I think that it will improve over time, and according to the website, periodic upgrades will be free. It would be good if they listened to their users and incorporated improvements, I can't think why they wouldn't.

    All in all, I would imagine that Adobe should have cause to take note. If they come up with a version for Windows, then I think it could force some sort of reduction in CS prices over time...

  4. #14
    joseph
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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    BTW- I have tried the Gimp too- and it simply doesn't work on a mac, if you're someone who likes to use all the features. Life is just too short to try to learn the absolutely non-intuitive workarounds, and as has been mentioned, 8 bit images is the limit of its performance anyway.

    All in all, and for the moment at least, I'm very glad to be able to break away from the CS subscription model.

  5. #15
    hacker extraordinaire
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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    I am digitally challenged; I generally prefer not to mix computers and photography. To the extent that I do, I use Imagemagick from the command line. This actually works for me to avoid the two hemispheres of my brain from getting in a fight. Clearly a limited set of manipulations is possible but that is working for me at the moment.
    Science is what we understand well enough to explain to a computer. Art is everything else we do.
    --A=B by Petkovšek et. al.

  6. #16
    ghostcount's Avatar
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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    Quote Originally Posted by Sal Santamaura View Post
    I went and searched for it to see what's offered, particularly curious about whether full 16-bit editing was included. It was. Unfortunately, from the perspective of someone who's not a member of the iCult, Affinity doesn't seem to offer a windows version. If and when one is added, I'd probably be willing to buy a copy.
    Looks like a Windows Beta version of Affinity Photo and Designer are now available for free. It requires 64-bit Windows 7 and above.

    https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/photo/windows/

    From Petapixel

    As with the Mac version, Affinity Photo for Windows will also cost $50 — a one-time payment — when the free beta test period ends and the app officially launches.
    "Sex is like maths, add the bed, subtract the clothes, divide the whoo hoo and hope you don't multiply." - Leather jacket guy

  7. #17
    multiplex
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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    i run a mac, and attempted to use the free trial and decided not to buy their program.

    they do have nice videos on vimeo though..
    Last edited by jnantz; 10-Nov-2016 at 14:20.

  8. #18

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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    Quote Originally Posted by jb7 View Post
    BTW- I have tried the Gimp too- and it simply doesn't work on a mac, if you're someone who likes to use all the features. Life is just too short to try to learn the absolutely non-intuitive workarounds, and as has been mentioned, 8 bit images is the limit of its performance anyway.

    All in all, and for the moment at least, I'm very glad to be able to break away from the CS subscription model.
    Henry, Sal, Ken and others,

    The beta version - stable enough, I'm using it already there is one year without flaws - works with 8, 16, 32 & 64 bits precision image:

    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	gimp-precision.jpg 
Views:	42 
Size:	90.6 KB 
ID:	157270

    The Beta version is auto updated every week or so, and I had zero problems until now.
    With the image size I'm working - 170-200GB - it's best to have AT LEAST 4GB of RAM - ideal to go to 16GB for fast working,


    Renato

  9. #19

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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    Woo! Thanks for this news. I was wondering where to go after Photoshop CS6 as I refuse to pay Adobe's subscription. I wonder if Affinity Photo makes better use of multiple CPU cores than PS does?

  10. #20
    ghostcount's Avatar
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    Re: Affinity Photo - a useful alternative tp Photoshop?

    On sale for $39.99 until December 22.
    "Sex is like maths, add the bed, subtract the clothes, divide the whoo hoo and hope you don't multiply." - Leather jacket guy

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