RAW develop problems

[John CK]

Friends,

First post as a newbie and already got complaints that I hope the veterans can educate me out of. Did try to find answers from previous posts, and unfortunately found my concerns raised on different forums.

Long time to load raw files especially when trying to stack. Not a big problem.

Bigger concern is that the preview with raw is significantly different from the developed file. Trying to enhance night sky photos from a Nikon camera. The "Clarify" function previews a great rendition to get appropriate star contrast. Hit the develop button and the end result is muddy and nowhere near the preview. Workaround I guess for now is to use the Nikon software to convert the raw (NEF or NRW) to tiff, and then use Affinity to process tiff with less disparity from the preview to the final frame. Still problems with tiff. Less with jpeg but trying to keep the top level editing away from lossy formats.

Frustrating, but otherwise have to say that Affinity is INCREDIBLE !!!

Nothing else in the price range comes close to the reign of Photoshop. Was wanting to replace my aging Photoshop CS 9 to get upgraded codecs and escape from the strangle of Adobe's subscription only model. 15 years hardcore Photoshop user, so it is a gut wrenching goodbye. Lots of good programs out there from GIMP to whatever. So far in my one day experience, only Affinity has kept up blow to blow with Photoshop with functions that my CS 9 does not have. Incredible, just incredible.

Rendering from raw files is however defective. Please clue me in if it is a matter of an adjustment in the program somewhere.

Stay safe guys,

John K

[Chris B]

Hey John CK,

Welcome to the forums.

Are you using live filters and adjustments? If so, you need to be previewing these at 100% zoom as you can see differences between the export and what you see in-app if you are zoomed in/out. That's the nature of the live filters.

If that's not what's going on, it might be worth attaching some screenshots and the file itself so we can get our teeth into it and see if we can figure out what's going on.

[John CK]

Thank you Chris,

Will get some down time soon (I hope) and will try your suggestions and report back. If the problem persists, will attach screen shots.

Thank you also for the welcome.

John

[John CK]

Chris,

Exactly as you advised, if the RAW image is processed at 100 percent, the filter effect is representative. Catch 22 for me is that working with max pixel Nikon raws, over 5000 by something, the actual size visible at full scale is like a postage stamp view. No idea what it has done to the rest of the picture until zooming out after the fact. Accurate rendering at the expense of not seeing what is being done to the whole photograph.

Not sure what is happening with the developing mode in Affinity, what state the RAW file is being held while opening up more options post developing. Have found in Affinity, if the Nikon RAW file is exported to a tiff file, then disparity between the preview and rendered document is less when filters are applied. This helps a bit, and plenty of fire power available to correct discord after the fact. Not going to slit my wrists over this. Can still upload before and after screenshots of problems with RAW processing if it would help.

Really impressed by the conversion to jpeg. Put the before and after rendering (Nikon raw or tiff, to jpeg) through a pixel blow up comparison. Can hardly tell any difference.

Don't know if the conversion codecs have changed over time from ancient days, but Affinity runs rings around my Photoshop 9 CS. Beautiful program.

John

 

 

[Chris B]

Try merging all the layers as this will bake the live filters/adjustments and might give you a more accurate representation at different zoom levels. I appreciate 100% view isn't always realistic depending on numerous factors. 

[John CK]

Thanks Chris. I think this is the best solution. I was applying the filters on the RAW file (NEF) before developing, which resulted in major changes from the preview. Another factor is probably working with night star pictures, likely a harsh task for any manipulations. The changes are not as apparent when processing photos taken in normal lighting. Again, appreciate your help.

John