Using APhoto v2 - a photographer's POV

[Grant Robertson]

On 11/11/2022 at 8:49 AM, fde101 said:

Duplicate the RAW layer in the Layers panel.

Does this double the size of the file? Or do both layers simply reference the original raw data from the Develop persona?

[fde101]

5 minutes ago, Grant Robertson said:

Does this double the size of the file? Or do both layers simply reference the original raw data from the Develop persona?

Not sure to be honest as I've never actually saved anything with a duplicated RAW layer or paid attention to that.  I did test that procedure to the point of it working but for any actual work on RAW images I use a dedicated RAW processor (Capture One, DxO PhotoLab, etc.) to handle the RAW development then round-trip a PSD from the RAW processor into Affinity Photo when I need to perform edits I can't do as well or at all in the RAW developer.

While I am sure Serif would not present it this way I tend to think of the Develop persona as a concession to people who don't have "real" RAW development software to work with...  the dedicated software that is out there will generally be faster to work with and give better results.

[Old Bruce]

12 minutes ago, Grant Robertson said:

Does this double the size of the file? Or do both layers simply reference the original raw data from the Develop persona?

If you have Photo then you could try it and see what happens. In my experience doubling a Linked raw file layer doesn't increase the file size that much.

[Grant Robertson]

3 minutes ago, fde101 said:

for any actual work on RAW images I use a dedicated RAW processor (Capture One, DxO PhotoLab, etc.) to handle the RAW development then round-trip a PSD from the RAW processor into Affinity Photo when I need to perform edits I can't do as well or at all in the RAW developer.

I would like to have a separate conversation with you, in a separate thread about this. I am intent on using a separate RAW processor as well (probably RawTherapee). I am currently researching what would be the best file format for passing the image from RawTherapee to Affinity Photo. But I hadn't even considered the possibility of being able to round-trip that data. I was just cruising my fingers, hoping to find a totally successful one-way transfer.