Exporting RAW images in Version 1.9 ?

[Tahunga]

Today I got the e-mail announcing Affinity Version 1.9. and immediately noticed that it is supposed to include one new feature which is of great interest to me, namely "Raw Editing". I downloaded the new version and did some testing using a couple of my RAW image files which happen to be in the PEF format (i.e. Pentax Raw format). Here is what I found: after the initial opening of my files it is true, I can now apply all sorts of adjustments to these images which I could not in the previous version. However, what I could not find is how to EXPORT or SAVE the images back in the PEF format. PEF or any other RAW format or even DNG format is not offered in the export process. To me this doesn't present much of a change compared to the previous version of Affinity. The only difference to me is that in the older version I had to open the RAW image and then click on the "Develop" button which opened the image to work with all the features of Affinity. In the new version it is true that I can apply many if not most of the editing features. But once that's done, I can't save the image back in its original format. ......am I missing something here?

[v_kyr]

1 hour ago, Tahunga said:

Today I got the e-mail announcing Affinity Version 1.9. and immediately noticed that it is supposed to include one new feature which is of great interest to me, namely "Raw Editing".

Well "RAW editing" doesn't mean here to edit a RAW file and store it then back as an edited RAW file into the same format. It's instead more meant to process/develop a RAW file so it can be stored as or converted into a common bitmap file (JPG/PNG/TIFF etc.) then. - Digital Negative (DNG) is Adobe's way to deal with an open TIFF/EP based RAW format, they offer a converter for converting manufacturer-specific raw data (PEF, NEF, CR2/3,...) into DNG files. The DNG file format is used among the Adobe apps like CameraRAW, Lightroom, Adobe Bridge and other third party apps. Though most third party apps only read the DNG file format.

Tools which deal with RAW file development are usually more correctly called "RAW converters" instead of "RAW editors" (in the wrong sense here that they then create/manipulate RAW files in a plain RAW format saveable manner). What most RAW converters do instead is, they keep the original RAW file (PEF in your case) and store along with that some custom sidecar file, which keeps the made settings and manipulations applied to the original unchanged RAW file.

[Pšenda]

7 hours ago, Tahunga said:

Today I got the e-mail announcing Affinity Version 1.9. and immediately noticed that it is supposed to include one new feature which is of great interest to me, namely "Raw Editing"

Only for interest. Is it really presented as a new feature? As far as I know, the development of a RAW file has been in APhoto for several years.

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, v_kyr said:

It's instead more meant to process/develop a RAW file so it can be stored as or converted into a common bitmap file

I will allow myself a small addition/refinement: "It's instead more meant to process/develop a RAW data from RAW file, so it can be stored as or converted into a common bitmap file...". 

Edited February 5, 2021 by Pšenda

[Dan C]

Hi @Tahunga,

My apologies for the delayed response here!

On 2/5/2021 at 12:54 AM, Tahunga said:

what I could not find is how to EXPORT or SAVE the images back in the PEF format. PEF or any other RAW format or even DNG format is not offered in the export process. (...) am I missing something here?

Unfortunately Affinity Photo does not currently support non-destructive development of RAW files, nor can we currently save/export to a RAW format, my apologies.

This is something that many users have requested on our forums and is certainly something our developers hope to add in the future, likely using a similar system that v_kyr describes below - although we have no timescale for this currently.

On 2/5/2021 at 2:44 AM, v_kyr said:

What most RAW converters do instead is, they keep the original RAW file (PEF in your case) and store along with that some custom sidecar file, which keeps the made settings and manipulations applied to the original unchanged RAW file.

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On 2/5/2021 at 8:51 AM, Pšenda said:

Only for interest. Is it really presented as a new feature?

I can't speak directly for the customer, however 1.9 did advertise 'RAW improvements' on our website, specifically referring to the iPad version which now supports the Serif LABS RAW engine  -