FritzTheCat

We are pleased to announce an update for the Windows release of Affinity Photo, version 1.8.5
Changes in this build
The changes in Affinity Photo for Windows 1.8.5 (made since the last release Affinity Photo for Windows 1.8.4) are as follows:
Fixes & Improvements:
Fixed many tablet input problems (by reverting the default input method to be Low Precision mode, the same as in 1.8.3).  Added tablet input preference (in Tools section) to opt-in to High Precision mode, or Windows Ink mode
(NOTE: previous command line options --legacy-wintab and --disable-wintab are now ignored). Fixed cursor disappearing following keyboard shortcuts that display dialogs, while using a brush tool Fixed raster Crop Tool units multiplying incorrectly on the context toolbar Earlier changes and fixes in 1.8 made since 1.7 (including the new 1.8 features) are listed in some detail in 1.8.0 , 1.8.2  and the 1.8.3 update announcements.
 
UPDATING TO THIS VERSION (Free for existing customers)
The software version can be seen on the splash screen and the About dialog (in Help > About Affinity Photo).
If you’ve purchased from the Affinity Store— each time you start the Affinity Store software it will check for updates and offer any available update. The latest update will install over the top of any earlier version, with no need to uninstall. You can download the latest installer by logging into the affinity store here and find the order in your account and use the "Download" button in there. Alternatively, this new release (and previous versions of Affinity Photo for Windows) can be downloaded from this link. (that installer is NOT for Windows Store purchases and needs a product key).
If you’ve purchased from the Microsoft Store— Microsoft Store updates are done automatically by the operating system (each time you start the application). If this does not happen for you, open the Windows Store app and click the three dots in the top right corner of the app and then go to Downloads and Updates. Click Get Updates. This should hopefully force the update to show.

Hi @FritzTheCat,
Do you have more than 1 monitor connected to your PC ?

Changing background colours and tonal ranges seems to have a huge effect on the effects of the dodge and burn brushes.
 
For what it's worth:
 
First image, on a single colour pixel layer, is the dodge brush, from top to bottom: 
Tonal range: Shadows, Protect Hue on, then Protect Hue off
Tonal range: Midtones, Protect Hue on, then Protect Hue off
Tonal range: Highlights: Protect Hue on, then Protect Hue off.
 
Comes out like this
 

 
There are clear differences between the protection settings.
 
 
Now the same sequence with the burn brush:
 

 
Again, pretty clear differences except perhaps in the highlights tonal range.
 
Same sequence, dodge brush, different base colour:
 

 
And with the burn brush:
 

 
In the two images with the maroon backgrounds, the differences between the protection on/off pairs are practically non-existent - perceptually and by the numbers.
 
But the differences in the next two are quite dramatic (dodge down the left, burn down the right), in the highlights and shadows if not in the midtones:
 

 

 
So it depends on all sorts of things: the underlying colours that are being dodged or burned, the tonal range that the tool is working on, probably more.
 
It's all in the algorithms... 
 
But maybe try different tonal ranges as well as protect on/off.
 
 
 

I would like to know why the "Show Clipped Highlights, Clipped Shadows, and Clipped Tones is only available for RAW images?  Can this feature be added to jpg/jpeg or other images types as well?  In fact, can it also be incorporated into Affinity Photo for iPad too?
Thank you.
Art Greenberg
Selden, NY
akgreenberg@optimum.net

Well there you go!! A BIG update and did we get what we asked for?

Being able to use X-rite colour passport is one of the most important features for me and needs to be addressed by Affinity. I shoot a lot of product shots and colour management is vital. I also use the X-rite system for everything else because of the unparalleled of colour control it gives me. I moved to Affinity Photo to support anyone who isn't adobe, but this is a feature I must have, otherwise I have to add yet another piece of software to use the colour/lens/camera profiling into the mix instead of being able to sort it all out under one roof.
Seriously Affinity, please address this very real problem in the new version.
K

AiDon, This was requested way back in June 2016 and now more than two years later we are still waiting even after the  answer to the original post was " You may want to add this to the Features Request section. " Affinity also teamed up with X-Rite some time ago to offer the Affinity Photo free with an X-Rite Colorchecker but still we wait and wait and wait. Same thing on the Plug-in side of things, that page has been the same for must be well over a year if not more http://www.miguelboto.com/affinity/photo/plugins-support/win/
Company are not interested or not listening to there customers.
 

Hi, Well as the last post here was back in June with NO reply from Seriff/Affinity (March I beleive was the input from them) I think we are flogging a dead horse, same as Skylum, not listening to there customers!!!!  Russ.

As you can currently get a free Affinity Photo license with the purchase of X-Rite's Colorchecker Passport, I had hoped that it would be supported directly in the software. Apparently, this is not the case, even though this feature has been requested since 2016. This is frankly a bit disappointing.
 
BTW, It seems that some people are resorting to using Davinci Resolve to color correct still images (photos).
 
 

Hey Affinity. How come you are giving as gift with X-rite products but can not fully use them with you?

As you can see above there has been no reply  to this requset from anyone to do with Affinity since Nov 2017 and afraid this seems to be the norm from companies who make up these apps, get the money and turn invisable when customers ask for something that really must be simple to invoke as Adobe have done it for years.

Hey Granddaddy,
As an American you should be used by now to being told that even the smallest (and sometimes imaginary) achievement is called "huge" or "wonderful" or "Beautiful"
You might be interested to know that in the beta release line versions 1.8.0.xxx ( the xxx is for beta increments) are being announced.
I agree that the the updates in 1.7.2 were probably significant enough to warrant an increment of the second version number, but be grateful that Affinity are rolling these updates out quickly - maybe they had already started work on the 1.8 line and wanted to get the improvements out quicker.
See the updates in the following thread:
Great tool, great that we are being given more real improvements - just dying to see support for Canon's EOS-R raw files (and I know that has to come from a 3rd party).