GinesJJ

Thanks for your prompt response Walt. That explains it.

Have just seen version 1.7.0.240 of Affinity photo advertised as a free download here: https://www.techspot.com/downloads/7044-affinity-photo.html. Seems to have loads of nice enhancements and added functionality. Have also checked that I have the 'latest' version, which I seem to have ie. [UK] 1.6.5.123 ... so my question is: Is this version 1.7.0.240 a bona-fidae version or not (I've found www.techspot.com to have always been above unorthodox behaviour) and if it is why do I not get told by Serif/Affinity themselves?. Thanks to whomever can shed some light ...

Hi 'All Media Lab'. Wow!. That is a LONG list of issues ... I would have probably considered not buying Luminar if I had known. Still, as mentioned, £44 is hardly enough to go out for a meal with the wife, so I'll take it as an opportunity to learn more about this 'Tone Mapping' arcana ... I run Windows 10 Bld 1809 on a home-assembled Intel i7 processor, 16GB of memory and a 2560x1440 Phillip monitor. Nothing to boast about but good enough for the job (also do presentations and slide shows with Photodex). Tot binnenkort

Hi 'All Media Labs'. No offence taken. You are, of course, very entitled to have your own personal views. In this case, as they are based on first hand experience, I think they are a valuable statement that can help the rest of us. In that light, I accept your comments very gladly. I myself find that after three weeks of extensive use (trials and tests as I mentioned earlier), Luminar 3 is robust and stable enough if somewhat slow. Wouldn't consider comparing it to AP which is a vastly superior in terms of maturity, breath of functionality and general behaviour. After several years of GIMP (relatively heavy) use, AP came as a gift from heavens so I have nothing but superlative praise for, and have (apparently) become an AP 'evangelist' amongst my friends and colleagues, carried away by my enthusiasm for the product. Take the rest of your comments on board and mostly agree with you as I've found nothing that Luminar does that cannot be done in AP. Only in a bit more long-handed, protracted way. If Serif could/would look into enhancing the 'Tone Mapping Persona' (wish they'd chosen a different terminology) or look into giving us an integrated DAM or work on the Slicing tool in the 'Export Persona' amongst others, for me it would really expand the usefulness of their product no end. That is why I mentioned the need for a 'Road Map' which if published (I'm sure they have a pretty good idea of their development objectives and time-scales). If we have to wait for a while or pay for the upgrade, I for one would have no problems whatsoever. Anyway, nice corresponding with you and thank you for the info on Luminar.

Hi and thanks for the comments. I have been a delighted Affinity user from the day it came into the UK market (and GIMP previously). Really object to being manipulated by Messrs Adobe & Co. into this 'yearly license' malarkey, so however good their products may be ... I'll find some alternative, thanks. Would think of myself as a semi-professional photographer with several years experience and as mentioned, cannot believe how good AP really is. So ... if they want to take their time to fine tune their product range before looking into providing us with a DAM facility, I'll be more than happy to wait and will probably look into it (with the intention to purchase) when they do so. Bought Luminar 3, another remarkable piece of software, which in several areas seems to be ahead of AP (in my opinion) AND it comes with a rather workable DAM. So, after a few weeks of extensive trials and tests, will be using them both. AP for its superlative range of editing facilities and Luminar 3 for its sophisticated Tone Mapping and DAM facilities. Paid £44 for it ... which is a rather pedestrian evening out. Would be nice to have it all closely integrated but can live with it not being so ... Once again, thanks for your assistance gents.

Purchased recently a copy of Luminar 3 with Libraries because it seemed a good value for money, very clever program which saves me time, specially with its sophisticated Tone Mapping facilities (which I believe to be one step ahead to Affinity's). Very pleased with it as far as it goes (a few quirks and rough edges here and there) but I'm particularly happy with its its Library Management functionality. I cannot think of any editing that cannot be done, one way or another, in Affinity (my editor of choice from day 1) but I was left wandering if this functionality is something that may be coming to Affinity in the foreseeable future?. Luminar people do publish a road map that tell us what enhancements/improvements they are working on next and I found that very helpful.

Hans, In the Export persona, there is a 'Slice Tool' that allows me to cut slices out of a photo and export them separately into different files. That is in itself great, but I am constrained by the 'shape' of the slice ie. it must be rectangular or square. Rgds

I've been looking at the slicing facilities and, nice as they are, I find there is some missing functionality that would come very handy for creative mods. Such as triangular/free-format slices, replicating slices with different off-sets, split a photo (or part thereof) into equal slices, etc ... I am totally delighted with Affinity Photo and do not want to come across as being negative, but maybe there are some plans to bring such functionality on board?. Maybe even some sort of scripting language (do not want to call it programming language) that would totally shift Affinity Photo well above its competitors ... Any thoughts?

Further to my initial posting, I've removed and re-installed Windows6.1-KB2670838-x64.msu and Affinity 1.5.1 installs properly now. Can only guess that the initial install of the MS extension left some debris which got on the way. Problem resolved.

Had to do a clean reinstall of Windows 7 with SP1 and DirectX11 on my laptop for various reasons which are not relevant to this topic. When reinstalling Affinity v1.5.1 I am told that 'Windows 7 SP1 or higher not found' and that 'DirectX 11 not found'. I can assure you they ARE THERE and that many other packages see them. As results I cannot use Affinity Photo and had to re-install GIMP with the subsequent waste of time. Is this a known problem? and more to the point ... is there going to be a forthcoming solution to it?. Looking forward to some answers ... Juan J Gines