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Five Photos

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  1. @sgbotsford yes, that's exactly what I said: I'm also saying that – if you want to switch between DAM apps – the only true future-proof option is to use a DAM that relies on a folder structure on a hard disk rather than on albums and collections because such a structure is defined and stored in the database of that app.
  2. This question is impossible to answer as (a) we have no clue if the Serif team even plans to provide a feature to replicate the catalog structure (albums, collections) and (b) only the developers might know with which other DAMs such a feature would work with if any. Heck, we don't even know if and when there will be an Affinity DAM, yet alone what feature set it would include. That said, your best bet is probably Lightroom. It's currently the most widely used DAM which makes it more likely that a new product – especially if released to compete with Lightroom – might support such a feature. Luminar, for instance, plans to support photo edits made with Lightroom in the future. Also, all current Affinity products are known to be able to work with files from Adobe's products they are competing with such as Photoshop and Illustrator. P.S. as long as we are only talking about the DAM part (and not about the compatibility of the edits made to photos), compatibility actually isn't the big issue. Instead of albums and collections, which depend on the database's structure, you could simply organize your photos in folders instead. Any good DAM would be able to work with that folder structure and allow you to easily replicate your photo organization. The downside is, of course, that one photo can only live in one folder rather than in multiple albums/collections.
  3. Hi guys, I'm the original poster of this thread and I feel all your pain. When I started this thread, Serif said they were thinking about creating a DAM for a couple of years already (and yes @R C-R you are right, somebody indeed said once "I'm sitting next to the guys that are writing the DAM... It's a thing". It was @MattP and it was in this thread in December 2017). Today, more than a year later, it feels like they're still about as far in the process as they were before. My humble advice to all of you is to stop worrying about it. I bet that nothing will be released anytime soon and even if so, it won't be the Lightroom killer we're all hoping for. Even if they actually are developing a DAM right now, it will take Serif another year or two to come out with something and even then, that product will probably be way behind of what Lightroom with its 20 years plus history is capable of today. The best example of this is Skylum with its Luminar software. They said in 2017 that they'll release a DAM in 2018 – pushing everybody's hopes up high. They barely kept their promise with a December 2018 release that was so underwhelming that many of us wished they wouldn't have created anything at all. It will take them another couple of years to catch up with Lightroom, if ever. It's my prediction that, even if Serif puts all their resources in the development of a DAM today, they won't be able to build anything great before 2021 or even later. I think it was a different story creating Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher as both these apps have quite a lot of similar features to those of Affinity Photo. A DAM, on the other hand, is a whole different kind of beast and I started to realize that quite a while back. I still wish they would give us more clarity about the roadmap or if there's even one in existence, but I buried my hopes for an Affinity DAM and believe me or not, I'm a happier person today. Lightroom is great and what Adobe is doing with the new Lightroom CC ecosystem is only pushing them further ahead of the competition. My two cents.
  4. I hear you. I use Lightroom's develop module only if I need to apply quick fixes to snapshots. Things like cropping, straightening, and sometimes lifting shadows or pulling highlights. If I'm looking at a good photo that needs more work I switch to Luminar. And if I need to do HDR stacking, panoramas, or something else that's more complex I choose Affinity. Have you tried Lightroom's new AI-based auto adjustment option, though? It's quite awesome! Lately, I found myself doing more and more editing in Lightroom because of it. But, basically, I am also using Lightroom solely as my DAM and don't really need its post-processing functions. Yet, I'm more than happy to send the monthly $10 to Adobe for what I get with Lightroom Classic. Here's my take on the value of Adobe's photography plan: https://five.photos/the-value-of-adobes-photography-plan/
  5. @PhilHurd likewise! I also looked at Exposure X3, but it wasn't for me. Tell me, what is wrong with Lightroom? Is it just Adobe's subscription model that bothers you?
  6. Yeah... Unfortunately, I don't think that we'll ever see a true Aperture replacement coming from Apple. I'm pretty convinced by now that Apple's focus lies entirely on iPhoneographers and hobbyists. They completely forgot about the enthusiasts and professionals. As long as they can provide a somewhat useful tool to their iPhone users to keep them captivated in their ecosystem they're gonna be happy. Why build more?
  7. With the newest version of Photos it's possible to send original RAW files directly to Luminar or Affinity for further editing. That said, whatever you do, don't switch to Photos! That's where I came from after Apple lost some of my photos in their iCloud Photo Library. Lightroom is a much more robust solution. The new Lightroom CC looks and behaves a lot like a better version of Photos anyways.
  8. @PhilHurd +1 I have given up on the idea of an Affinity DAM and switched to Lightroom in the meantime, too. I also use Luminar for most of my post-processing needs these days. However, Affinity Photo certainly will stay in my toolbox as a Photoshop replacement, which it is ideal for in my opinion. By combining Lightroom, Luminar and Affinity I created a very powerful workflow that matches my needs. Honestly, at this point, I don't even want Affinity to build a DAM anymore. I also made peace with Adobe's subscription model. Frankly, I don't think it's expensive at all for what I get from Lightroom. And I love the direction the all-new Lightroom CC is heading. For me, a cloud is essential and Adobe's new approach fits my needs perfectly. Right now I am using Lightroom Classic, though. But as soon as Adobe integrates smart folders (aka smart collections), plugin support for external photo editors like Luminar and Affinity, and more metadata options into Lightroom CC, I will switch to the new solution. Luminar would have to build an excellent DAM for me to jump ship.
  9. I currently use Luminar as a Lightroom replacement and Affinity Photo instead of Photoshop. Very happy with that solution. Luminar for all the basic work from developing the RAW to exposure and color corrections. Affinity for all the more complex work like compositions, sky replacements, panorama stitching, and stacks. That said, my setup only works for image editing. I still use Lightroom as my DAM because there’s no good alternative to it.
  10. Interesting... I just tested it with the beta (see attached file) and indeed, shadows recovery works better. Thanks! Still not as good as Luminar or Lightroom, though (compare to PDF I submitted above – same test).
  11. @HVDB Fotografie True, clipped highlights are not recoverable – not with any program. However, @befehr's concerns are justified and I think it's no secret that Affinity's RAW development module lacks the quality of the rest of the app. I did a comparison myself (see attached file). The original photo has both, overexposed and underexposed parts. I simply pushed the shadows slider all the way up (+100) and pulled the highlights slider all the way down (–100) in Lightroom, Luminar, and Affinity Photo. I'm aware that, in a normal post-processing workflow, one probably wouldn't go all the way with those sliders. But... the results in this little test still speak for themselves. RAW.pdf
  12. I get very poor results with Affinity’s RAW development module, especially for highlights and shadows adjustments. Lightroom and Luminar are waaaay better for RAW development. However, it seems like I get superior results with Affinity Photo for iPad compared to the desktop version! Anybody experiencing the same? And if so, why is that? Is the iPad version using a different/better algorithm?
  13. RAW: So true! Good point you’re making. I need to get used to work with TIFF files in Affinity after I treated the RAWs in LR or Luminar. Naming: yeah... I see your point. However, it is nice that Luminar’s plugin renames the edited file like it does. I can now have a smart collection looking for photos with “Luminar2018-edited” in the name and automatically have a collection of all my photos edited with Luminar. Affinity just doesn’t provide any plugin right now. I mean, I don’t know if it’s possible, but it would be great, for instance, if we could select multiple images in LR and send them all over to Affinity for Panorama Stitching or HDR Merging. I guess such things would be possible with a well thought through LR plugin.
  14. Thanks ricks but you're missing my point. I know about this workflow but compared to Luminar's plugin this... ...doesn't send the RAW file to Affinity (but a TIFF) ...doesn't name the TIFF file it sends back to Lightroom like Luminar does It's not a big deal. I was just pleasantly surprised about Luminar's great little implementation into Lightroom's workflow.
  15. As long as Affinity doesn't have DAM capabilities, we have to use other DAM software like Adobe Lightroom. So, why not provide at least a plugin for LR? And I am not talking about setting up Affinity Photo as an additional external editor in the LR Classic preferences because that sends only a TIFF file to Affinity Photo. I was playing with Macphun's Luminar for the past few days and their plugin integrates very well into Lightroom. From the LR catalog, it is now possible to "open the source file" (aka the RAW) in Luminar using the export dialog. When finished editing the photo in Luminar, I just have to click "done" and that edited RAW file is automatically saved back into the Lightroom catalog as a separate TIFF. The plugin even renames the photo to "[original file name]_Luminar2018-edit". What a great solution!
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