Best File Formats for Editing....

[Adam D'Agosto]

Hi all, quick question....

I really miss not having Lightroom's photo browsing and ranking feature to help sort through my photos. So, I use CyberLink Photo Director for that. All I really want to do is separate the 3- 4- and 5-star photos from the rest, move those all into a separate editing folder and then use AP to go at it.

Problem is, when I export those photos to a new folder, my only choices are: JPEG, TIFF and PNG. My original file format out of the Nikon is a .NEF RAW file.

Of those choices, which should I choose to then bring into AF for RAW editing? I know its not JPEG, so TIFF or PNG OR.....don't do it because none of these are good options....that's a choice too.

Thanks!!

Adam

[John Rostron]

If you want to do raw processing, then you need to open the original .nef raw files. When you have developed your raw fike, you cannot save or export it back to a raw file. If you did it would no longer be a raw file would it. The original raw remains inviolable.

You can save your developed file as an .afphoto file (File > Save) which preserves all layers, adjustments etc. 

You can export your developed file as .tif, .png or .jpg. A tif file can preserve layers and also adjustments, but these will not be recognised by  non-Affinity programs. A png or jpg file will be flattened before saving. A png-24 file will preserve all detail. A png-8 file will have a reduced colour space (more suitable for diagrams). A jpg file will always lose some detail.

Within Photo, you can return your developed image to the raw processor (click on the Develop icon) and perform some more raw-style processing.

In answer to your final question, use tiff if you need to preserve layers, or png if you do not. Or save as afphoto to preserve everything.

John

 

[Adam D'Agosto]

Thank you!!

After playing around more with Cyberlink Photo Director, I found a half ass way to work around its deficiencies and still get the sorting operation done AND preserve the NEF file. So, I'll stick with Photo Director until Affinity Photo come up with their own image browser and selection tool.....I hope!!

[KC Honie]

Fast Raw Viewer is an inexpensive way to quickly cull photos.

You cull actual raw images, not jpg previews.

https://www.fastrawviewer.com

I assume AFPhoto will read the XMP sidecar files created by FRV, I only use it to cull so will have to try that out...

 

[John Rostron]

2 hours ago, KC Honie said:

I assume AFPhoto will read the XMP sidecar files created by FRV,

As far as I am aware, Affinity Photo will not read xmp sidecar files, though it is rumoured to be on the way.

John

[IanSG]

1 hour ago, John Rostron said:

As far as I am aware, Affinity Photo will not read xmp sidecar files, though it is rumoured to be on the way.

John

Not that it makes any difference, but is it rumoured or just something that's been asked for?

[John Rostron]

2 hours ago, IanSG said:

Not that it makes any difference, but is it rumoured or just something that's been asked for?

This is just something that I have seen mentioned in these forums.

Quote

Jim Hacker, Minister for Administrative Affairs: I've heard that there is a rumour that ..... 

Sir Humphrey Appleby, Permanent Secretary: Yes, its true.

Jim Hacker: So it is true then that .....

Sir Humphrey: No, it is just true that there is a rumour.

From the TV series: Yes Minister.

 

John

 

[IanSG]

Thanks for that!  If you get the chance, read the books - the footnotes pointing out the parallels with actual events are somewhere between scary and hilarious, depending on whether you believe politicians actualy do things.

[smadell]

Another thumbs up for FastRawViewer. It is fast, inexpensive (less than $20), and lets you move or copy culled photos to another folder. Affinity Photo will not use the .xmp files generated by FRV, but (to me) the point of the app is culling, not editing; I find the .xmp files from FRV to be superfluous, anyway. The files you move are your original NEF raw files, which can be accessed by AP (or any raw developer) as they normally would be. Great little program!

[KC Honie]

12 minutes ago, smadell said:

Another thumbs up for FastRawViewer. It is fast, inexpensive (less than $20), and lets you move or copy culled photos to another folder. Affinity Photo will not use the .xmp files generated by FRV, but (to me) the point of the app is culling, not editing; I find the .xmp files from FRV to be superfluous, anyway. The files you move are your original NEF raw files, which can be accessed by AP (or any raw developer) as they normally would be. Great little program!

I don't like XMP files anyway, I prefer the XMP data to be imbedded in the catalog.  

I would never make changes to the document before shipping it to AP.

Like you, I use FastRawViewer to quickly cull images before importing in to Capture One Pro.  Then I use AP to do deep dives on specific photos.

FRW is on sale for 25% off, I think it ends today.

I am not affiliated with FRW in any way.