Affinity Photo unstable after minor OSX update

[JanHendriek]

Hello,

I am running Affinity Photo (AfP) 1.7.3 on a MacBook running OSX 10.13.6
I am also printing pictures myself on a Epson SC-P600.
A couple of days ago I ran several updates from the Apple store :
- AfP from 1.7.2 to 1.7.3
- some minor OSX updates : Safari, security and iTunes
From that moment on the print results were no longer good (slight magenta shift and dull colors). The prints are not that bad, but certainly not good enough if you take into account the effort made in AfP to have good results.

I then ran the remaining update from the Apple store : Apple printerdrivers https://support.apple.com/nl-nl/HT201465
The print issue was not solved.

I also noticed that, after the update(s) AfP (and OSX) has become unstable when another icc-profile than the enclosed is assigned to the document (flickering screen, weird colors, very bright screen). After a while OSX crashes.The document contains a jpg-file with an enclosed sRGB profile
The screen/crash problem occurs only if the newly assigned profiles is of version 2.4.0. (as reported by ColorSync.app). There are no problems with profiles of version  2.1.0 and 4.3.0. I can reproduce this and I will submit a crash-report (just cleaned them all).
The generic Epson profiles are 2.4.0

 

So, my questions are : 
Has anybody else had similar experiences ?
Is this a known issue in the AfP community ?
Could the print quality be related to the unstability/crash issue ?

Thanks
jan

[Chris B]

Hi Jan,

I've seen a few reports of images opening with a magenta shift. Can you see the magenta on the image when you open it or is it just when printing? Could you upload a sample of the image here:
https://www.dropbox.com/request/E5QpCOyBkGhWKIEtlfNe

I will have to spend some time looking into the other ICC profile issue. 

[JanHendriek]

Hello,

I uploaded 4 files
- the jpeg
- a generic Epson-icc
- a softproof-icc for the Printfab-driver (https://www.zedonet.com/en_download_colorprofiles.phtml?printer=Epson_SureColorP600)
- a Mojave crashreport 

I didn't have a colorcast on the screen of my laptop, neither did I have one on my calibrated Dell. It is the print.

As for the stability/crash issue ... 

Apple support advised me this morning to upgrade from High Sierra to Catalina. Because of some 32-bit apps I still use, I decided to upgrade to Mojave.

Oddly, ColorSync.app now no longer shows the generic icc-profiles from Epson and the Printfab-profile. Both are version 2.4.0

I repeated the Document-assign test in AfP with both profiles. The screen doesn't flicker because OSX immediately crashes.

Tomorrow, I will make some prints to see how it is.

Greetings
Jan

[JanHendriek]

Yesterday, I've send you the tiff from wich the jpeg was made.
I have now also send the jpeg (added HSL- and levels layers in AfP, then exported to jpg).

 

[JanHendriek]

Yesterday, I discovered that the stability/crash problem disapears when I revert the colorprofile of my MacBook from a custom one (made with X-Rite i1Display and DisplayCal) to the Apple default (i.e. Color LCD).
I never had an issue with any custom screen profile in the years before.
It seems to be a MacOS/Colorsync issue.

As for the quality of the prints, the problem is still there.
 

[Chris B]

Are you able to take a photograph of your printed image? 

I've tried printing the image you sent but I'm not seeing any magenta at all. 

[JanHendriek]

Hello,

The problem with the quality of the prints is also solved now. It was a MacOS problem.

Updating the Epson-printerdriver (10.16 --> 10.33) did not solve the issue, a complete removal and reinstallation did.

This is a very bad Apple-experience.
I read on their website that ... 
"Technology is most powerful when it empowers everyone."  
"We want everyone to enjoy the everyday moments that technology helps make possible"
"Because the true value of a device isn’t measured by how powerful it is, but by how much it empowers you."
Needles to say that, after running the minor update of their operating system,  I felt not empowered at all, neither did I enjoy their technology and device. It was a very bad experience.

Anyway, I appreciate that Affinity's support-team helped me solving my problems and I wonder if they have plans to create a Linux-version of Photo.

Kind regards.
Jan
 

[fde101]

2 hours ago, JanHendriek said:

I wonder if they have plans to create a Linux-version of Photo

This has been discussed already on numerous threads and the only responses Serif has provided so far have suggested that they were not unwilling to re-evaluate but that at least for the time being this is not on the table.