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dave2017

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Everything posted by dave2017

  1. Oops - just checking again. I'll be back. EIther way - I really would like to see a Rotate by 180 degrees, however it's done.
  2. I just tried the Flip Vertical option in AP (MacOS X version). It is actually a double rotate by 90 degrees - i.e. 180 degrees, rather than a mirror operation. As such it's actually slightly more useful quite often, but it might be helpful to label it as a rotate by 180 degrees. OK - it's perhaps not such a big deal, but ....
  3. It would be good if there were (maybe there is, but I can't find it) a way to close a whole bunch of images in one go. Further, this should apply to RAW mode as well as JPEG or other. Lastly, when restarting, it should be possible to open from a completely clear situation. Currently I'm using a fairly slow iMac machine (about 5-6 times slower than my i7 based MBP), and RAW is killing it. Also I thought it was a neat idea to have more than one file open, butnow this is coming back to bite me. On exit I am asked either to Develop or Cancel, and having to do that for each one is a pain if all I want to do is abort. I can abort AP by using Force Quit,but on restart the program still seems to want to reload some previous files. Am I missing something? Sometimes just doing one or two tests on RAW is sufficient to realise that JPEG is good enough, and then one should be able to abort one or more open files without suffering a big performance/time hit.
  4. It is possible to see how the Histogram for an image works on parts by using the Crop tool with the Histogram open, but the histogram is only updated when the crop is committed, so trial attempts have to be made with the crop tool, and any which don't look good enough have to be reverted with Undo. Would it be possible to make a tool which works this way (doesn't have to be Crop) but which allows trial measurements on selected areas? It is possible to have the Histogram open as well as one of the Scope tools, but would it be possible to have more of the Scope tools open at the same time? Not so good on a laptop, but on a large screen would be little problem. Lastly, re the selective measurement (crop) idea above. Some of the Scope tools don't work so well with a reduced area - unless the Gain is turned up. The max gain seems to be 500% which might not be enough for some small areas. Is there anyway of automating this so as to avoid having to manually turn up the gain in order to see any useful result? Should be possible, surely.
  5. I have now tried out FileBrowser and set up shared folders which work on my MBP. I was able to download a test photo from the shared folder on my MBP very quickly with this trial App. However I think moving files back to the MBP by that route may (sigh ... usual Apple blocking ... arcane stuff ... not allowing uploads ... which has been a total pita for years .... ) not be so easy. I have the feeling that Readdle Documents is more likely to work. The good thing about using locally shared files on a LAN is that it’s quick, and no files should go outside the local domain, or find their way to offsite storage. Thanks for prompting me to check this. Glad you seem to be finding a way to get things to work for you too within your Windows system.
  6. I had Readdle Documents years ago, so I think I was able to download it for free on my iPad Pro today - or if not free - not very expensive. Similarly Readdle's version of Mail. It does allow download from a few cloud sites, including Box, and also has a Nearby option, which I take to mean a server on a local LAN. In my case it found the BT hub, which couldn't figure out what to do with it, but in the past I have had a Buffalo NAS server attached. Maybe it would have found that if I get that installed back on the local LAN. I did download a file from Box, edited it using AP on my iPad Pro, and then send it back whence it came. If this could be done from a local server instead of 3rd party servers in the wider internet that would be great. I've just not tested that yet. The round trip to and from Box is OK - but not terrribly quick - whereas I'd expect turn around from a local server to be very quick - though might not be as I have always found direct (i.e. within device) or wired system storage to be much faster than using wireless connections. Further, wired connections are significantly less likely to be subject to interference or interception. One other tool which I recommend, but which seems to be no longer available, is Project Desktops - which runs on Mac OS X. However I think it might still be available from the US App store. This tool makes organising a lot simpler in the MacOS environment - not perfect - but a heck of a lot better. I can't understand why either (a) it is still not available or (b) there are no competitor products with very similar functionality. see http://www.project-desktops.com/ I'll also look into Filebrowser - to see if that's worth having as an extra tool.
  7. I think there are reasons why some people, such as myself, generally hate Windows. Sure - Apple has problems - but for me they've never been anything like as bad as the utter rubbish which I've had to put up with from Windows. As a mere home user I figured most problems out - eventually - but then I found that everyone else was coming to me to to get their Windows problems sorted. With most Apple machines if you are doing something not too complicated you simply turn the machine on, or wake it up, and get on with the task you want to do. I used to reckon I saved at least an hour a day by not having to cajole a system into working even moderately well. Within a corporate environment things may be different. It's possible - indeed likely - that there may be many machines all configured in roughly the same way, and a support team who will fix problems - hopefully quickly. Sure there are some applications which only run on Windows, and which are very good, but most of the good ones are cross platform, and there are some good ones which run on Apple, such as Final Cut Pro X, for which there isn't a Windows alternative. A lot depends on what you - as a user - want to do. For most basic tasks Apple versions of software work well enough. What software do you use? I use OpenOffice for text editing - though I do have Word, but I do use Excel for a spreadsheet. I use multiple browsers for web - Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari, plus Apple Mail for email. You may have figured that I'm not a great fan of Apple's iCloud, but then I'm not a great fan of any of the cloud offerings. If I were running WIndows I think I'd still have a problem. I have found it quite a pain trying to get photos into and out of the iPad. Very probably the suggestion that it's easiest with iCloud is correct - but that means embracing the iCloud with all the problems which that might bring (IMO).
  8. I use Apple and I never liked WIndows. However, I really dislike the iCloud - or at least Apple's attempts to force people to use it. It should be possible to do things locally, and preferably without having to use iTunes. With the recent updates to MacOS and iOS it seems harder to stop the problems which Apple seems to be forcing on to users. What part of "my data should not leave my environment unless I really want it to" does Apple not understand? Apple doesn't seem to realise or care that some people may have sensitive data which they don't want to migrate out on to external networks. The way the iCloud is set up in the new OS versions will copy anything which is on the desktop into iCloud. However, when doing some photo editing tasks this may work just fine - seemingly - and it would be good if one could have clouds available for some work, but absolutely not for some other tasks and data. No doubt Apple will point out that the data is very secure in their iCloud, and that some features can be turned off. My answer to those responses would be (a) you would say that wouldn't you - but your servers have been hacked in the past and (b) turning features off once files have already been uploaded to iCloud is too late - the horse has bolted. All this is a shame as I can see that sometimes using a cloud is a lot simpler than using other means, such as copying files to USB sticks, or emailing them to oneself, or using other third party transfer software. I'm not totally against clouds, and I do use Box sometimes, and occasionally Dropbox. In its simplest mode Box does seem to be manageable - though I think it's possible to configure it in such as way as to introduce all the issues which I dislike about iCloud. Systems which "cleverly" sync all files in certain folders seem to me to present an "accident waiting to happen" scenario, as sooner or later a user will put a file into a folder and the sync operation will cause some unwanted action or behaviour. Re AP - perhaps if it could be made to work with Box as well as iCloud - but with very tight user control - that might suit some users such as myself. I don't only have this attitude to clouds for software such as AP. Another tool - which I quite like - Scrivener- for text processing (and there is a similar one called Ulysses) - both seem to rely on Dropbox. We can't expect developers to target all the cloud systems which are currently available, but there are some which those who like that kind of thing seem to believe are major enough for consideration.
  9. In Affinity Photo blend modes are a feature - and I guess most people with some experience have tried them or know how to use them. They are arranged in groups - but it would be helpful if the menu could be presented either with spaces or other delimiters between groups in the menu, of with different backgrounds or features so that the groups become clearer - e.g. Darkening group, LIghtening group and so on. I've not checked right now with the iPad version as well, but it would be good if this also applied to that version. This wouldn't alter the functionality, but might make the interface easier for some people.
  10. Maybe this from Fuji might help - http://site-search.fujifilm.com/?ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fujifilm.com%2Fsupport%2Fdigital_cameras%2Fsoftware%2Ffirmware%2Fa%2F&kw=RAW+processing&site=global&temp=global&ie=u&by=js For the latest cameras it seems that they recommend connecting the camera by cable and using the new software, as the claim is that the processors inside the camera will do the RAW conversion faster. For older cameras I expect it's a question of choosing one of the earlier software programs. I was surprised to discover that some cameras (such as mine) can have a firmware upgrade - but unless that fixes a known issue which is associated with RAW that's not going to work, and upgrading firmware has risks which might be best avoided. For my camera it seems that the upgrade affects Windows interaction - which is not relevant to me.
  11. So do I - hope that somebody will pick this up and fix the problems, that is. I have iMacs which might be similar vintage to yours. Is yours one with a metal surround, or one of the even earlier ones with white plastic? I can't remember without checking again what the earliest OS which will work with AP is. One of my older iMacs has migrated from Lion->Mountain Line -> El Capitan and runs AP 1.6.7. I put more memory in that one, so it has 16 Gbytes of main memory - though a word of warning there is that it doesn't make it go much faster. If you have one with only 4 Gbytes of memory it is definitely worth inceasing that to 8 Gbytes, as that will reduce the likelihood of memory thrashing significantly, but depending on your pattern of work going up to 16 Gbytes may only give very marginal improvements. You'll know if your iMac tends to slow down because of having too many windows and applications open. So I'm not actually suggesting that you shouldn't push your iMac up to 16 Gbytes (if you can), but that it won't make too much difference for some applications such as iMovie and FCPX, where processing speed of the CPU and graphics performance make a big difference. My MBP is much faster, with an i7 proessor and has a Retina display, and I would recommend a new iMac if that's the way you want to go, or a new MBP, but for much of what I do, or like to do, I find that a large screen is much easier to work with and gives better results. My slow machine is, however, a bit infuriating for use with video - such as FCPX, though if I can get the editing done on faster machines, then it should be fine for playback purposes. Good luck, anyway. I'll come back if I can find out a Fuji tool for doing the RAW processing.
  12. I have now almost exhausted all the possibilities. AP does not like the RAF files from my Fuji camera - though it will accept the RAF files from one of the latest ones. This is very disappointing. Another disappointment is that it only seems possible to save "Developed" versions of RAF files. If they are not processed that way they disappear. In this area AP is lacking as a DAM tool. I know it isn't one, and isn't intended to be one, but at least keeping copies of files which have been worked on (as it does with Jpegs) would be useful. I have now almost perfected a route into the iPad via Box, and I can save files in Box on the iPad (I think) for transfer into AP - but there's no point for Fuji RAF files from my camera. I also tried a few other apps to see if they did any better. The PS and Lightroom CC versions on the iPad are limited, and require administration of filthy lucre in order to activate them. One app was outstanding though - that was Snapseed. It works amazingly fast, and ultimately it can generate Jpegs which can then be fed back into AP if required. For quick adjustments Snapseed is great, and many people who just want to touch up their photos a bit, without going the distance of spending hours or days to get a near perfect result with other tools (including AP) might find that Snapseed does what they want/need. Of course another approach would be to use Snapseed to get a good Jpeg, then do the remaining edits back in AP. One more line I've not (yet) tried is to see whether Fuji have a specific program for use with my camera - in which case that might actually be the best way (at least under the circumstances) to get a good output for further editing.
  13. Hi edwardsson That's quite interesting. I wonder if different Fuji cameras give different results. The X-T2 camera is newer than mine - 2017ish - https://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/fujifilm-x-t2-1324463/review However, it does seem odd that other applications I have can process the RAW file from my own Fuji camera, and that the iPad version of AP in particular can't. As I wrote earlier, I can get those files opened with the desktop version, though they have to be opened within the application itself. If you point me in the direction of the original file you tried, I'll see if I can do that here. There still could be something that Apple is doing to these files - if it's not a Fuji issue. Ah - I can see the file now on the photography blog - thanks for putting the link in your post. How did you download to the AP app? That might also give a clue. I just used email. I suppose I could use iCloud or Dropbox, but I am really not at all keen on cloud systems and try to avoid them whenever possible. I particularly dislike "clever" cloud systems which sync files automatically, and I don't care if they are encrypted and "nobody else can see your files" - I jusI don't believe that - and there are very specific complaints about Dropbox which confirm my concerns. I could try Box - which I use occasionally too. At least with Box I currently believe that it only uploads files I want to upload - and give explicit instructions for. Thanks for trying.
  14. I have now seemingly migrated a Fuji RAW - RAF file to my iPad, and "opened" it in AP. The controls look right, but the image itself is completely black. See the screenshot below. To be sure that I was getting the file across I sent it via email. I first checked it in Mail on the iPad - clearly visible with the inbuilt - whatever - software. It was the correct file. I tried sharing it from mail to AP - but that didn't appear to work. Eventually I figured that if I opened up AP and made sure that it was at the home page - the one which shows a whole bunch of photos - and no particular one is open - with the "+" sign, that I could do it. I then opened up the email again by dragging up from the bottom, and moving the mail item into the RHS as a sidebar to AP. From there I was able to drag the photo over AP - which finally resulted in the display as shown below. Fiddling with the controls makes no difference - it stays black! That's as much progress as I've been able to make with Fuji Raw files.
  15. I've now explored the photos from my other cameras, both with desktop AP and the iPad version. They work. What doesn't work is the Fuji RAF format on the iPad version. Trying to open a Fuji RAF in the desktop version doesn't appear to work either - but I have now found I can do it. The problem with the desktop version seems to be the interface for opening the RAF file. I am running with MacOS High Sierra, and if I try to use the drop down menu to open the AP application it stalls - hangs forever. However if I simply open up AP and select Open from there, and navigate to the file, then I can see it in RAW mode. Incidentally this is also a problem if I try to use Darktable - but again it works by opening the application first, and then navigating to the file. Some of the apps work by selecting a file and then dragging over the display for the selected application. I'm not sure about RawTherapee - as that uses Unix/Linux type navigation. I found that Adobe Photoshop Elements has no problem opening. So the problem you and I noticed on the desktop version of AP may actually be an interface problem between the OS and the application. Try opening the files explicitly within the AP application. I can't yet really comment on how well the Develop (RAW) mode words in AP - though it seemed OK for the Canon and the Panasonic images. I don't see that there'll ba a problem once you've got the image showing in the Develop persona. The iPad version remains problematic for Fui RAW though. There may be a way - but I've not found it yet.
  16. I've done a few posts recently, and forgot to tick the box to receive notifications. At first I assumed that I could edit the original posts, and turn the notification on, but when I tried to do that I couldn't see any change. I adopted an untidy solution, which was to repeat the post, and to turn the notification on before I submitted. I also put a note on the original that it could be deleted. Is there a way to turn notification on/off on this forum once a post has been submitted? Maybe I missed something?!
  17. Hi vtsoi It's possible that since you want RAW to work you are more at the Pro end or advanced amateur. I'm hardly either of those, but I do like things to work. I have three cameras which do RAW - a Canon SX1-IS, a Fuji F600 EXR, and a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ100. Sometimes I shoot RAW and sometimes shoot RAW+JPEG, and other times I just stick with JPEG. JPEG can be very good, though sometimes not. When I first opened up a RAW image a few years ago I was really surprised about how good it was - and I was using a fairly old iMac similar to what you describe. I'm not quite sure what processing engine was used on that occasion, it may have been the standard Apple one at the time. RAW is not always good - sometimes the photos just don't merit it. GIMP can be made to work with RAW, and a couple of other RAW packages which run on iMacs are RawTherapee and DarkTable. I think I can get Affinity Photo to work with RAW from some cameras, but it was just my experimenting with the iPad version a few days ago which concerned me, as I could not get the RAW images from my Fuji to work at all. After a few attempts I did a search to find out if anyone had noticed or resolved this, which is why I'm now here. I don't know if the iPad version will work with RAW files from other cameras yet - I've not had time to check. I have noticed some other odd anomalies from AP, but overall I still feel these packages are good value. You feel you wasted your money for the app on the iPad Pro, but it's under £20 - and your iPad Pro probably cost at least 25 times that. It's amazing that this kind of software works at all. If you have a newer iPad Pro with a 12 MP camera you can also try to use RAW with that, though Apple do not provide any way to capture RAW, so you'd need to use a 3rd party capture app. There are some free ones which might work and some not very expensive ones which are reportedly good - such as Obscura. Then the problems with RAW on the iPad may continue, as it can be difficult or impossible to import/export files from these devices, and arguably the only tool which really works on the iPad is Lightroom - with a catch that you can't export RAW from that unless you pay for Adobe CC - so you have to do all the early work in RAW on the iPad.
  18. I have just found this quite old thread by a search. In my case I have been trying to open a RAF file from a Fuji camera in the iPad version of Affinity Photo - without success. I have a JPEG of the same image, and further I can see the image from the RAF file when I open Mail - since I used Mail to transfer the files onto the iPad Pro. I have other cameras which do RAW - which I will now check - a Canon and a Panasonic. It’s a shame about the Fuji Files not working, though. Is there ever going to be progress on this? I keep recommending Affinity Photo to others, but some might get fed up with me soon if I have to admit that there are some significant problem areas.
  19. I have just found this thread by a search. In my case I have been trying to open a RAF file. From a Fuji camera in the iPad version of Affinity Photo - without success. I have a JPEG of the same image, and further, I can see the image from the RAF file when I open Mail - since I used Mail to transfer the files onto the iPad Pro. I have other cameras which do RAW - which I will now check - a Canon and a Panasonic. It’s a shame about the Fuji Files not working, though. Is there ever going to be progress on this? I keep recommending Affinity Photo to others, but some might get fed up with me soon if I have to admit that there are some significant problem areas. PLEASE DELETE THIS VERSION OF THIS POST - WHICH DOES NOT HAVE NOTIFICATION OF REPLIES.
  20. +another one I thought it was just me until I found all these requests. This is the kind of thing I was referring to in one of my posts recently about the iPad interface being confusing - though it’s not the only thing. If one selects a layer or mask, and that is indicated in the stack it’s then very disconcerting to find that there is no really good visual feedback. I did manage to do some sharpening of small area of an image tonight by brushing over a layer mask, and the results aren’t too bad, but I felt that I was working blind. It’s also not helpful for demonstrating to other people.
  21. +another one I thought it was just me until I found all these requests. This is the kind of thing I was referring to in one of my posts recently about the iPad interface being confusing - though it’s not the only thing. If one selects a layer or mask, and that is indicated in the stack it’s then very disconcerting to find that there is no really good visual feedback. I did manage to do some sharpening of small area of an image tonight by brushing over a layer mask, and the results aren’t too bad, but I felt that I was working blind. It’s also not helpful for demonstrating to other people. Not quite related to the topic - see following post. 1. How can I delete a post once posted? 2. Can I turn on notifications for replies to a post if I forget to do it at first? If anyone can reply to the two queries that would be great, and if an admin or other can delete this post then that would be good.
  22. It would be useful to have floating panels - both in the desktop and iPad versions of AP - for some features. For example, the Scopes panels - and indeed regarding scopes would it not be helpful to also be able to see more than one scope at a time? If the panels could be individually floated, then it should be possible to do this, so that one could have, for example, an RGB parade and a Vectorscope visible or even a Curves and a Vectorscope simultaneously. The panels could be pinned to parts of the screen as the user wished. It is possible that this could become confusing however - as sometimes happens with GIMP if many tools are used. In the iPad version of AP it seems awkward to have only one tool "out" at any one time - and floating panels could overcome this.
  23. I've now regained the use of my MacBook Pro, so can now do more comparisons. Some features of the iPad interface seem easier/better than the desktop version. I am now getting to like the way that parameters can be adjusted by moving fingers left/right over the screen in the iPad version, though sometimes this can lead to "conflicts". Some features of the desktop version are hidden away - unless one knows where/how to look for them. For example, the scopes which are available under the Studio menu. In the iPad version the scopes are accessible via the icon which looks like a camer on the RHS.
  24. This one of James Ritson’s tutorials gives some really good hints/clues about the iPad interface - https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLjZ7Y0kROWisfGm2miEbOVAUYCxxCiE_e&v=dYs-Z8KzxJQ
  25. Hi stokerg, Do do you use, or try to use, the more advanced features, such as Live Filters as mentioned near the end of this great video from James Ritson? That’s the kind of thing I’m trying to do. I think the interface for the iPad version is sufficiently different to be confusing or obscure - and right now my MBP is in for repair so I’m having to use the iPad Pro.. Watch how the “painting’ with the Unsharp Mask filter “brush’ works on the black and white houses - brilliant. Or this one on Quick Masks - https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLjZ7Y0kROWitLXsh6z4Z3qBYCS6xoIXHN&v=0FLRYlXu6O8 I think James has been doing a whole bunch more for the iPad recently - https://www.jamesritson.co.uk/tutorials/ Or this video (not one from James) which which shows how to set up Live Filters in the iPad version? Anyway - thanks for showing interest.
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