Affinity photo 2?

foxleybob · Jul 16, 2024

I've just signed up to the free trial of Affinity Photo 2

Best Photo Editing Software | Affinity Photo

The first-choice photo editor of millions of photographers, artists, and other professionals around the world – try Affinity Photo for free today!

affinity.serif.com

Does anyone here have any comments to make about it please?

JoeW · Jul 16, 2024

I love AP. I've been using it for probably 8 years now and am very happy with it.

I also detest paying a monthly fee for something I anticipate using for decades so the concept of "buy it outright" is a big winner for me.

DigiFilm · Jul 16, 2024

It's a fine editor, I have it for rare use when I want to work with certain modules, but primarily use Darktable, which is much more powerful and able to run batch processing.

It's kind of an odd setup to me with the 'personas', in that you must make your RAW adjustments, then 'develop' the image before you can do any other adjustments. I always found that limiting in the first version, since once you develop the image you can no longer go back and make adjustments to the RAW. I think they've changed that in Affinity 2, but haven't used it that much to be sure.

It has a pretty good NR module and can do some very precise sharpening. Learn to use the High-Pass filter for sharpening when you want to sharpen a subject but leave the background untouched. The inpainting feature for erasing unwanted elements is good too.

Make sure to save the Affinity Photo version of your edits, that way you can return to them at a later date. You will need to use 'export' to turn your finished photos into a jpeg.

It's going to take time regardless of the software, so keep that in mind. Stick with the basics to start. Exposure/Contrast/Brightness etc.

foxleybob · Aug 12, 2024

I have now purchased it before the sale ends.

I see there's a lot of tutorials which will keep me busy :encouragement:

gk fotografie · Aug 12, 2024

foxleybob said:
I've just signed up to the free trial of Affinity Photo 2

Best Photo Editing Software | Affinity Photo

The first-choice photo editor of millions of photographers, artists, and other professionals around the world – try Affinity Photo for free today!

affinity.serif.com

Does anyone here have any comments to make about it please?

It's one of the programs, but not the only one, I use.
A good editing program for very little money, so good luck!

AQS · Aug 12, 2024

foxleybob said:
I have now purchased it before the sale ends.
I see there's a lot of tutorials which will keep me busy

There exist more than quite a few videos on Youtube about how to use it.

I can't complain, I gave up on Adobe when I discovered Affinity, their Designer, Photo and Publisher replaced Adobe CS Suite perfectly.

Is there a learning curve? Yes. Is it 100% the same as PS? No. But it's still fantastic.

AQS · Aug 12, 2024

DigiFilm said:
It's a fine editor, I have it for rare use when I want to work with certain modules, but primarily use Darktable, which is much more powerful and able to run batch processing.

It's kind of an odd setup to me with the 'personas', in that you must make your RAW adjustments, then 'develop' the image before you can do any other adjustments. I always found that limiting in the first version, since once you develop the image you can no longer go back and make adjustments to the RAW. I think they've changed that in Affinity 2, but haven't used it that much to be sure.

It has a pretty good NR module and can do some very precise sharpening. Learn to use the High-Pass filter for sharpening when you want to sharpen a subject but leave the background untouched. The inpainting feature for erasing unwanted elements is good too.

Make sure to save the Affinity Photo version of your edits, that way you can return to them at a later date. You will need to use 'export' to turn your finished photos into a jpeg.

It's going to take time regardless of the software, so keep that in mind. Stick with the basics to start. Exposure/Contrast/Brightness etc.

What do you mean it doesn't run batch processing? You can run Batch Jobs.

Personas take a little getting used to. The workflow is a little different.

foxleybob · Aug 13, 2024

JoeW said:
I love AP. I've been using it for probably 8 years now and am very happy with it.

I also detest paying a monthly fee for something I anticipate using for decades so the concept of "buy it outright" is a big winner for me.

Did it take you long to master it Joe?

JoeW · Aug 13, 2024

"Master"? I think the truth about sophisticated editing programs is they all take a lot of time and work to "master" them. But I very quickly learned how to do basic editing (crop, lighten/darken, clone, alter color palette, change white balance). Affinity has a lot of video tutorials set up that are pretty short.

foxleybob · Aug 13, 2024

Thanks, Good to know, that's about all I need for editing JPEG photos :encouragement:

SunriseAvenue · Aug 15, 2024

Affinity Photo is great and it has been up there with Photoshop and Darktable when it comes to best photo editing software, like in this Shutterbug article and many others. I haven't used it much, because I prefer other stuff mostly, but the times I worked with it I was never disappointed.

foxleybob · Nov 2, 2024

I see there's a beta update for the Affinity photo that is being made.

foxleybob · Nov 3, 2024

Thank you all.
Am wondering ...
Roughly, how long before Versions change?
ie V1 to V2 to V3 (maybe)
I ask because I read somewhere that to upgrade from V1 to V2, a punter had to buy again. :uncomfortableness:

Is that correct?

JoeW · Nov 4, 2024

foxleybob said:
Thank you all.
Am wondering ...
Roughly, how long before Versions change?
ie V1 to V2 to V3 (maybe)
I ask because I read somewhere that to upgrade from V1 to V2, a punter had to buy again.
Is that correct?

There is no guarantee how long a version lasts before they move to a new one. That caveat noted, I bought V1 and it was good for over 7 years (with numerous free upgrades--probably 20 upgrades?) before Affinity went to V2. If past performance is any indication, you should be good for multiple years, maybe even as long as a decade. And I continued to use V1 for a year after they upgraded to V2 and they still provide support. So unless a new upgrade radically changes things, you should be able to continue to use whatever version you've got (as long as it meets your needs) and not buy V3, V4, or V5.