Chris L

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

This was my point exactly. And it's also neat being able to scan bits of line art and colourise with a transparent background. 
I'm surprised Serif is being so stubborn about not implementing this feature. It's almost like 'Er, no. We don't want pro studios using our product, so we'll hobble it' 🙄
But at least we can now select items with the same fill/stroke. Yay!

Converting 1200ppi 1bit images to vector is just not a feasible workflow in stressful production scenarios. Aside from the problem that for very detailed line work it produces very heavy and difficult to process vector files, for more detailed inked art work it just can't resolve the details sufficiently.
Take comic printing as an example: it is entirely impractical to convert hundreds of pages of line art... And having to check each page for problems.
And, as @MikeW pointed out earlier, as long as imported high resolution 1bit artwork isn't even retained in the PDF output, the whole point is moot.
The preferred solution is for [1] Affinity Photo to natively support 1bit images at any resolution, and allow these to be edited that way. [2] Publisher and Designer should be able to process them, and output to a PDF. Colorizing should be possible in Designer and Publisher.
The developers have already stated that [1] will never be implemented. (I suspect this might be related to them wanting to avoid a complete re-haul of the core processing engine.)  Instead, they have seemingly decided to output 1bit images only. Which leaves [2] - and this must be added before Publisher can be fully integrated in many regular prepress conditions and workflows.
[2] is absolutely essential for prepress work. Simple as that. No workarounds, no excuses. That said, I am pretty certain the devs are aware of this, and will implement support for this at some point. It should be given top priority after the latest 1.9 release.
I agree with @loukash: be software agnostic. If Affinity or other software will not provide what is required to pull off a job without turning upside down and twisting left and right, then switch to other software that can. I still use InDesign for FXL ebook work, because Affinity Publisher lacks this option.
Similarly, any 1bit high resolution artwork editing I do in PhotoLine, which is the only image editor that I know of that allows for native 1bit editing AND use layers! Nothing else on the market, including Adobe Photoshop, handles 1bit images that well. Being able to edit layered 1bit images is pretty darn awesome when an important part of my workflow revolves around manipulating 1bit high resolution imagery. 😎
Same for indexed pixel art jobs: Affinity Photo, Photoshop, PhotoLine, and just about any other general image editor out there cannot handle 8-bit  (or less) indexed fixed colour palettes with full layer support. Either it is not supported at all (Photo and PhotoLine) or the editing is severely hampered (Photoshop only allows for a single layer in indexed colour mode).
Which means I use alternative dedicated pixel art software (ProMotion NG, but there are other options).
Anyway, what I am trying to say: the job at hand should, in the end, dictate what tool fits best to handle that job. Endless work-arounds may be helpful in the odd unexpected bind, but are useless and time-consuming if used in a common day-to-day pipeline and workflow. Then it's time to find an alternative solution to fill the gap.

Firstly, even though this workflow works, it is incredibly tedious and requires another software — working professionally I don‘t have the time and my customers don‘t want to spend the money wasting my time like this when I could just use InDesign, import the original file and recolour it with a single mouse click.
Also, you need to consider that the sample above is an artwork and since vectorising is never 100% accurate by doing so you change the artists vision in many subtle ways that may change the aura / impact / energy / personality of the image — an absolute no-go!
There are workflows that require 1 Bit images for one reason or another and fact is, that all three Affinity products are currently not suitable when you need to work with this kind of images.
I think it is important to raise and push the issue with 1 Bit images once in a while and talk bout it, hoping the developers implement it at some point, but ‚alternative workflows‘ are just not feasible in many cases and currently the situation simply is that you have to use another software if you need to work with 1 bit images — and for me that is absolutely fine; I like the Affinity apps very much, but in cases where my favourite tool doesn‘t work, I use a different one.

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

*Sigh*
Just been googling this very issue. I have a design where the background colour of the object is almost identical to the guide colour. And no way to change the guide colour. C'mon guy,s this is such a basic 'Pro' feature that it souldn't even be an issue that it's missing. It's like buying a car without a fuel gauge.

It's the same as not being able to colour 1 bit tiff files, or being able to globally change colours. For a professional designer these are absolute basic features for a design app. You would get way more Print designers flocking to you if you could 'fix' some of these basic features.

Otherwise, the job you have done so far, for the price being asked is nothing short of phenomenal. Keep up the great work!!

*Sigh*
Just been googling this very issue. I have a design where the background colour of the object is almost identical to the guide colour. And no way to change the guide colour. C'mon guy,s this is such a basic 'Pro' feature that it souldn't even be an issue that it's missing. It's like buying a car without a fuel gauge.

It's the same as not being able to colour 1 bit tiff files, or being able to globally change colours. For a professional designer these are absolute basic features for a design app. You would get way more Print designers flocking to you if you could 'fix' some of these basic features.

Otherwise, the job you have done so far, for the price being asked is nothing short of phenomenal. Keep up the great work!!

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

+1 for 1 bit bitmap its great for game-engine use for opacity mask creation

I'm going to go ahead and +1 this topic.
I started in prepress-land in the mid-90's. And I can tell you unequivocally that 1-bit TIFF support is crucial for production purposes.
First, there is the need for "copy-dot" operations where you have a halftone that you don't want to rescreen. You'd scan this at 100% at a resolution of at least 1200dpi, but preferably 2400-4800dpi. When saved as a bitmap 1-bit TIFF, it outputs at the max resolution of the output device and is not rescreened, and hence, no moire pattern.
Second, and similar to the First, is doing a "copy-dot" on engravings and lithographs. Again, you want those fine detail lines output at crazy-high resolution and not screened.
Third, there is the need for "line art" illustrations. Again, once scanned at a high dpi and placed in the page layout or illustration program as a 1-bit TIFF, it outputs at the max resolution of the device. This yields nice, razor-crisp illustrations for things like instruction manuals, B&W catalogs, and cartoons.
Fourth... this is a curve ball... there was a program waaaaaay back in the MacOS 8 days that I've never seen replicated. (And the name of which I can't remember.) You'd import your 1-bit TIFF, then you could colorize it: either paint the black or else "color inside the lines" in solid colors. It would then be saved as an EPS that would output at... you guessed it... the max resolution of the output device. It was phenomenal for super-crisp catalog work where you are given a hand-drawn lineart that needs colorized, not vectorized. (An example)
Regardless, 1-bit TIFFs, when exporting as a PDF, the data becomes part of the vector data, as opposed to raster data, even though it's technically raster data. The RIP then processes it as part of the line file and it isn't halftoned (unless, of course, it's set to a tint of a spot color, or a CMYK color.) Either way, it's still output at ultra-high resolution. Which is the point. 
Bottom line, this is a crucial missing feature in Affinity Photo, and I sure do hope that it's addressed sooner rather than later.

Just to throw my 2 cents in. This is what I'd consider a pretty basic feature for an app like this. It's great to be able to create global colours and they work really well. But I had update 45 PDF files last week which I opened in Publisher and I had to select every line, fill etc and change to a global colour. Took me hours to do something that could have been done in a fraction of the time with 'find and replace'.

If it's assumed that Serif's plan is to steal users from Adobe then this should be given some priority.

Just to throw my 2 cents in. This is what I'd consider a pretty basic feature for an app like this. It's great to be able to create global colours and they work really well. But I had update 45 PDF files last week which I opened in Publisher and I had to select every line, fill etc and change to a global colour. Took me hours to do something that could have been done in a fraction of the time with 'find and replace'.

If it's assumed that Serif's plan is to steal users from Adobe then this should be given some priority.

Just to throw my 2 cents in. This is what I'd consider a pretty basic feature for an app like this. It's great to be able to create global colours and they work really well. But I had update 45 PDF files last week which I opened in Publisher and I had to select every line, fill etc and change to a global colour. Took me hours to do something that could have been done in a fraction of the time with 'find and replace'.

If it's assumed that Serif's plan is to steal users from Adobe then this should be given some priority.

Just to throw my 2 cents in. This is what I'd consider a pretty basic feature for an app like this. It's great to be able to create global colours and they work really well. But I had update 45 PDF files last week which I opened in Publisher and I had to select every line, fill etc and change to a global colour. Took me hours to do something that could have been done in a fraction of the time with 'find and replace'.

If it's assumed that Serif's plan is to steal users from Adobe then this should be given some priority.

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

I used to use the 1 bit bitmap tiff an awful lot as an Adobe user. I can't find a simple way to drop a bitmap into a document and colourise it within the document, and also have a transparent background. I know I can create a png with transparency and drop that into a designer or publisher file, but this is no good when working with line art. You simply can't do it with the same quality.

I don't know if this possible as I am new to this but in InDesign I used to import bitmap files at 300+Dpi and then you could colour them to suit and set the transparency of the bitmap as required to obtain a 'greyscale' of the colour. Otherwise you will need to change everything to vectors in the correct pantone colours. You may also need to check separations for anything that overprints. Black may print as an overprint, which isn't always desirable.