advice on what photo organiser to use with Affinity

[Richard55]

I'm a new user. Used to use Photoshop elements (11) to organise my photos but it won't work on my new 64 bit Imac. What do other Affinity users use to organise their photos? Thanks.

[Jaffa]

Personally I use the old stand-alone, fully paid,  Lightroom 6, which works fine for me at present, Richard.  However, I recognise that at some point in the future, I will need to change.   To get better answers, you should detail more of what you are looking for, apart from organising  --  eg,  Batch processing,   key-word tags, cost, etc.  

[Fixx]

...and do you need raw developer or just a JPEG image organiser...

For light use many people like Apples Photos. It should work OK with AP.

More demanding users might use Adobe Bridge (free download). It has some caveats with Affinity files (no previews show). Some people like XnViewMP or NeoFinder. I like too ApolloOne though it is more a viewer DAM features being somewhat weak and it ignores Affinity files.

If raw developing and cataloguing is needed people tend to use Lightroom (despite it being rental), Capture One, DXO Photolab, or slightly cheaper alternatives like Exposure X6, Luminar or ON1PhotoRAW, or some free alternative.

[George H]

I have used Adobe on MACs for years but last year I had to get rid of it because I upgraded my OS and CS5 would no longer run on my system. I did not want to pay the $$$$$ subscription fee for newer versions so after looking around I settled on Affinity as my best alternative. Good features and excellent price. One area where it lacks is that I am unable to import large batches of raw files. The application becomes memory bound and slows to a crawl.  So what to do? I have used Adobe bridge for years to do sort my raw images and do some preliminary adjustments before sending the picture to Photoshop. 

After a lot of searching, and many trial and errors, I found "Raw Power" to be an excellent Adobe Bridge alternative that I am able to tie into Affinity. It is $29 at the MAC app store. I would prefer free but the cost is reasonable when you consider that once you buy it you can install it on all of your Macs. There is also a cheaper IOS version. It is fast, able to view large numbers of raw files, ties into Apple Photos if you are into that, or you can simply point it to a folder. The export settings will open the file in the photo editor of your choice, which in my case the choice is Affinity.

There is a trial version that allows you to play with it but it will insert an ugly watermark when you export. You have to download the trial version from their website which is:
 
https://gentlemencoders.com/

I suggest that you give it a try. 

 

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Edited January 9, 2021 by George H

[RichardMH]

I use Adobe Bridge, which is free!