BrentB

RAW in Lightroom (top) and Preview (bottom). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A quick-and-dirty comparison using Affinity Photo 1.6.6 trial (since I'm at work). The top is Serif and tone curve applied via the Develop Assistant settings (the best possible setup using the Serif). The bottom is the RAW file opened in Preview. Personally, I find the difference significant. Not the end of the world, but I'm not excited about doing more work than I have to in order to get my RAW file to a decent starting point in order to start processing. One of several trade-offs of paying $50 once vs. the $29.99 a month I was spending on Adobe CC, I guess...

I have the same issue. When I open RAW files in Lightroom, Adobe RAW, or even Preview on my Mac, the image nearly matches the corresponding .jpg pair in terms of exposure. These are file pairs from three different cameras (Nikon, Canon, Sony). When I open them in Affinity Photo, the difference is remarkable - even with the Tone Curve applied in Develop, they're still very dark and appear markedly underexposed. And flat. Really, really flat. The only way I can get them close is by using Apple RAW instead of Serif and still using the Tone Curve - even then, they're still not that close. I have no idea what, if anything, Lightroom, Adobe RAW, and Preview are doing to the RAW image - but most of my RAW files look awful when opened in AP using the default (Serif) engine and it's odd this might be the way it's supposed to be working - even with the Tone Curve "preset." Everyone else I know who has used Affinity Photo shared similar concerns. I see others on the forum have noticed the same issue having come from a variety of other image editing products. I have never heard anything like what R C-R said about Lightroom applying a preset. I can't find anything when searching to back that up either, nor can I find evidence of it in my current version of Lightroom when opening RAW files taken with the Canon we have here at work. Not saying it's not possible, just that I've not heard of that. I guess the bottom line is if RAW files don't look underexposed and flat with other image editing products, it seems odd that they would in Affinity Photo (and more odd that this would be done intentionally).

This has nothing to do with in-camera settings - it's something with the Serif engine. I can view RAW files from three different cameras (Canon, Nikon, Sony) and compare them with their corresponding .jpg files in Preview, Lightroom and Adobe RAW and they all look nearly identical in terms of exposure. Opening them in Affinity Photo, however, they appear very, very, very underexposed. This is the first thing I noticed when using the application. And this is with "Apply Tone Curve" on - if I turn that off they look like hell. To get things close, I have to use Apple Core Image RAW with the Tone Curve applied as well.