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Affinity Photo DAM


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Hello!

Firstly, to the developers: thank you for making Affinity Photo! It is a great app which does a LOT, and it was so reasonably priced I couldn't even believe it.  I am an amateur photographer, and Affinity is my first foray into digital editing/post-processing, and currently going through a course on Affinity Photo to learn how to use it to its maximal potential.  I use a Mac and I use the Apple Photos app for storing my photos, but it is not very good.  It's fine for storing finished JPEGs and it is nice it syncs across my devices, but I don't want to put my RAW photos in it and have them lost in the mad file structure of the photos library when I come to editing them, also use up all my Cloud storage and Mac SSD on RAWs.  So this is what I would like: to have some DAM software that works well with Affinity Photo and external drives, and use that to catalogue my RAW photos in external drives. Then edit the ones I want to edit, and store those as JPEGs in the Apple Photos app for accessibility across my devices. It is slightly annoying that Apple Photos is not really the best photos app from what I can tell, and yet it seems to be the only one Apple lets you use with iCloud, unless I am wrong about that?

I have some questions: I heard via old posts on Reddit whilst searching for DAM software that Affinity might be getting its own DAM software to work with Affinity Photo, is this true? Is it coming soon, or is there a timeframe for it?  Or is there an app that users of Affinity would recommend to use as a DAM, bearing in mind I want to use principally external drives for storing RAW photos, and have them catalogued in such a way that I can find them easily in case in future I need it. Or do you just recommend editing those RAW photos you want to keep, and then chucking the rest, as this may become expensive in terms of storage? 

Thanks for your help!

 

Best wishes,

Joseph

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We are all eager to learn if or better when an Affinity DAM will be released.

Meanwhile I am using GraphicConverter on my Mac to review and organize my photos. It is reasonably priced (one time purchase) and offers everything I need to get my pics sorted and structured. Because it uses folders as a structure and XMP-files for additional information, there is no lock-in like with Apple Photos. I especially like that it treats JPG and RAW files independently, but linked.

If you want to beef up Apple Photos instead, you may try the extension PowerPhotos for additional functions.

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6 hours ago, Blende21 said:

We are all eager to learn if or better when an Affinity DAM will be released.

Meanwhile I am using GraphicConverter on my Mac to review and organize my photos. It is reasonably priced (one time purchase) and offers everything I need to get my pics sorted and structured. Because it uses folders as a structure and XMP-files for additional information, there is no lock-in like with Apple Photos. I especially like that it treats JPG and RAW files independently, but linked.

If you want to beef up Apple Photos instead, you may try the extension PowerPhotos for additional functions.

Thanks for your suggestions, I will check them out! :)

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Might give a shot to Mylio.

With it you can get completely rid of the Cloud.

I use it myself and like it very much.

It doesn't recognize Affinity files and raw support is not for the newest cams. Check it out on the support page.

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15 hours ago, Blende21 said:

it uses folders as a structure and XMP-files for additional information

On1 Photo RAW works like this also, except that it uses .on1 sidecar files instead of .xmp.  The sidecar files are not generated by default (I think in favor of a database?) but I always turn those on as I trust them to persist and to transfer a bit more effectively.

 

4 hours ago, Bekesizl said:

It doesn't recognize Affinity files

Considering the proprietary nature of the file format this should not be surprising.

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GraphicsConverter recognizes the usual bunch of file formats, but not the Affinity suites own formats.

Since it organizes pictures along folders, the pictures can still be organized, and from there opened with one of the Affinity programs.

If a RAW format is needed as output, TIFF is probably the best, although it uses a huge chunk of memory.

Edit: Just tried it with GraphicConverter 11.2 (current release) - it recognizes and opens afphoto-files as well !

Edited by Blende21
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On 6/18/2020 at 11:47 AM, Blende21 said:

Edit: Just tried it with GraphicConverter 11.2 (current release) - it recognizes and opens afphoto-files as well !

Shows previews, and opens them too – I am not sure what is the use of opening just preview image. Setting external editors is though easy and with right click you can choose suitable app.

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Recent Affinity Photo here  - just loving it!

I also use Apple Photos as a DAM. It has two strong features - visually appealing and cleanly laid out (I think that's important when looking and managing photographs), and the basic editing options are actually useful, and nice to use because you can always go back and easily change what you have done. However, I clearly need something more integrated with Affinity Photo powerful features, better management tools, and more stable than Apple Photos.

Please Affinity Photo, counting on you!

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23 hours ago, Blende21 said:

This thread is not about editing, but about organizing your pics. Read from the start ...

What?

I do know perfectly well what is DAM and what is discussed here.

It is good there is more and more sw that can access Affinity previews.

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I personally no longer believe in a DAM from Serif. For 5 years now, customers have wanted a DAM without any reaction from Serif except very vague statements here in the forum. I think I'll stick with the Adobe solution for photographers and am a little disappointed with Serif.

24" iMAC Apple M1 chip, iPad 8, MACOS Sonoma & iPadOS, Affinity V2-Universallizenz 

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1 hour ago, j3rry said:

I personally no longer believe in a DAM from Serif. For 5 years now, customers have wanted a DAM without any reaction from Serif except very vague statements here in the forum.

Serif does seem to be a company that remains fairly mum on issuing public announcements on something until they're absolutely 100% sure they're ready to commit to it.

For the longest time, I kept seeing posts from people asking them about their rumored up and coming competitor to Indesign, and their replies would almost always be along the lines of "we're working on something along those lines that may or may not be shown at some indeterminate point in the not too distant future", or "we can't comment on that at this very moment." Then one day, seemingly out of the blue, they announced they were prepping up for a beta release, and then it was practically all they'd talk about.

So going by this most recent example, if they've vaguely alluded to working on a DAM, then it's probably coming. No one knows when exactly, but it's coming.

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If you look at it from a workflow perspective, the DAM missing is the next most important element to give customers full autonomy from Adobe.

Professional or engaged amateurs alike produce way more footage than they „need“ or can process. So the first step is always to get this flood under management and do some initial steps to organize and balance this as a resource. This is what Lightroom does, and it is pretty good at it.

Once you start using Lightroom, you are dedicated to the rest of CC.

The current alternative solutions all lack the full integration of the following workflow, that is set to create satisfaction and/or money from the „stars“ selected before. Without a fully integrated DAM, the Affinity Suite is like an impressive building set on a weak foundation.

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As photographer and happy Affinity customer, I believe that, to enter the DAM market with the typical style of Affinity, the work is immense because, to date, no product can beat Lightroom in the organization and management of photos. 

Photographer & Guitarist equipped with Affinity Photo, Designer & Publisher on Mac.

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4 hours ago, Rico54 said:

As photographer and happy Affinity customer, I believe that, to enter the DAM market with the typical style of Affinity, the work is immense because, to date, no product can beat Lightroom in the organization and management of photos. 

What was made by man, man can do again.

IMHO a replacement for LR is crucial for Affinity if they want users to move all of their workflow away from CC. Adobe seems to be well aware of this - you only get LR as part of a bundle, not stand alone any more. This option died with LR6. The way LR is structured makes up an effective lock-in for the users into the CC-ecosystem, creating a steady flow of money for Adobe.

From my view the reason the Affinity suite is without a DAM at the moment is probably that the company spirit is driven by the creative element. A DAM is more on the organisation of workflows, probably not the key competence of the dev team at Serif.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/25/2020 at 7:21 AM, Rico54 said:

As photographer and happy Affinity customer, I believe that, to enter the DAM market with the typical style of Affinity, the work is immense because, to date, no product can beat Lightroom in the organization and management of photos.

No argument that LR may be the standard to beat. That said, On1 Photo Raw 2020 (and probably others) is hot on their heels. I migrated over to On1 earlier this year to replace LR 6.14 which was no longer supported on Mac Catalina. Overall On1 has met expectations as a replacement as DAM and for tasks formerly done with Adobe Elements.
As I understand it, On1 interfaces with AP in much the same way as does LR. On1 can send files to and from AP in psd, jpg or TIFF format but it cannot read the AP format. Photos sent to AP for editing must either be flattened to save back to On1 in a compatible format or saved separately in AP format if one wants to keep the layers. 

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Also looking forward to Affinity DAM because of working with thousands of images. One of the few reasons I had to hold onto CC subscription was to use Lightroom for cataloging. Also use Capture One Pro for this purpose, but if Affinity offers a native DAM I would be more than happy to use that.

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I am in the same position. Photography user of Adobe and LR more or less everyday. Purchased all Affimity apps to support Serif.

I will leave Adobe as soon as I have a DAM (preferably within Affinity) that replace LR.

With over 100 K photos I need a DAM that can do what LR can. The fact that LR leave the orignal photo and save changes outside the original is cruical!

Sorry to say that I am not using Affinity very much but when (?) I can purchase a new DAM I will also stop useing LR and PS!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Affinity announced about five or six years ago that they were making a DAM. Then they recanted and said they were not. Then they announced that they definitely were making a DAM. However, after five years and no product, one has to wonder how committed they are to making a DAM. I understand that Affinity would like to avoid being tied to a release date, but it would be nice to get updates on occasion as to what they are doing. Many people, including myself, have postponed investments in other DAM software in the hopes that Affinity would produce something, but people cannot wait forever.

I agree with some of the comments on here that the lack of a DAM prevents many from committing entirely to Affinity products. It would be nice to have the entire photo workflow go through Affinity software as it would be a seamless process instead of using software from multiple manufacturers. At any rate, some acknowledgement from Affinity management would be a proper courtesy to its customers and fan base.

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