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Is Affinity Photo 2 an Upgrade from Adobe CS6


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Hi. I refuse to go any further with Adobe's subscription and been using CS6 for many years now. I do feel like I'm missing out on newer features and I'm wondering if I switch to Affinity 2, will I be doing an upgrade? Does Affinity have a lot of new features that CS6 does not have and what are they?

Thanks in advance.

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Hi @Mistro

Try the trials and then decide for yourself.

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1 hour ago, Mistro said:

Hi. I refuse to go any further with Adobe's subscription and been using CS6 for many years now. I do feel like I'm missing out on newer features and I'm wondering if I switch to Affinity 2, will I be doing an upgrade? Does Affinity have a lot of new features that CS6 does not have and what are they?

Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the Forums!  There are so many people posting every few seconds that a complete answer probably couldn't come for some time.  May I suggest that you go to YouTube, and enter "Affinity Photo 2" and perhaps watch the excellent video featuring James Ritson.  At the end of that video, which demonstrates many of the new features in Photo 2, there will be links to corresponding videos regarding Affinity Designer 2 and Affinity Publisher 2.  You might be interested in viewing those as well.  Especially because Serif is offering the Universal License that gives you all three apps (plus the same three for iPad) for both Mac and Windows at a really nice introductory price.

I hope this will help you decide!  


24" iMAC Apple M1 chip, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16 GB unified memory, 1 TB SSD storage, Ventura 13.6.  Photo, Publisher, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.3.
MacBook Pro 13" 2020, Apple M1 chip, 16GB unified memory, 256GB  SSD storage
,  Ventura 13.6.   Publisher, Photo, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.1.1.  
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Thanks for the advice. I just know I'm gonna buy it especially with the discount going on now (it's a no brainer really). And just because I buy Affinity does not mean I have to uninstall CS6. It's just that I have a routine with CS6 and I'm no photoshop guru so there are features I likely do not take advantage of to this day so it's a bit challenging for me to gauge how feature rich Affinity 2 is compared to the older CS6. I was thinking perhaps there are many features Affinity have over CS6 because of how dated CS6 is. Just curious what they would be.

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2 minutes ago, Mistro said:

Thanks for the advice. I just know I'm gonna buy it especially with the discount going on now (it's a no brainer really). And just because I buy Affinity does not mean I have to uninstall CS6. It's just that I have a routine with CS6 and I'm no photoshop guru so there are features I likely do not take advantage of to this day so it's a bit challenging for me to gauge how feature rich Affinity 2 is compared to the older CS6.

Just at first, because Affinity has so many ways to accomplish a desired result, you may find that the transition from CS6 is sometimes a wee bit confusing.  That is partly what these Forums are for!  Just ask away.  There are many really helpful and extremely knowledgeable people who have helped me so much, and who will be glad to help you too as you become acquainted!  So Welcome again! in advance.  


24" iMAC Apple M1 chip, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16 GB unified memory, 1 TB SSD storage, Ventura 13.6.  Photo, Publisher, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.3.
MacBook Pro 13" 2020, Apple M1 chip, 16GB unified memory, 256GB  SSD storage
,  Ventura 13.6.   Publisher, Photo, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.1.1.  
 iPad Pro 12.9 2020 (4th Gen. IOS 16.6.1); Apple pencil.  
Wired and bluetooth mice and keyboards.9_9

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Recommending Affinity Photo depends on your current needs and workflow and what types of works you currently do and intend to finish in the future.

some points to be aware of;

  • Compared to Photoshop CS6 you will instantly love the live preview of Layer Blend modes.
  • Non destructive adjustment layers and live filter layers are amazing.
  • you will hate that exported PSDs will have their text layers pixelated.
  • There is no way of exporting files which keep the RGB levels and Alpha channel intact. (in the same file)
  • Affinity Photo imo has an amazing compatibility and interpretation of PSDs.

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 Affinity keeps working forever, whereas CS6 stops when Adobe shuts down the activation server.  Does that count as a "feature"? (JK, they'd never do that.🤫)

 More to the point, in a head-to-head "feature" list, CS6 destroys Affinity Photo. In a real-world use scenarios, not so much, even current Photoshop CC.

Affinity Photo V2 doesn't have Content Aware Scale as in CS6. It also lacks 3D and Video, so no animated .gifs.  Liquify is non-destructive in Affinity, but CS5 had the best version of Liquify in any program, anywhere. Adobe New & Improved it in CS6 by removing core functionality to make it faster in demos and give them another feature bulletpoint.

CS6 can import directly from a scanner.

CS6's native file format can't handle > 4GB and makes you save in a different format. No, really.

CS6 can't save image editing history, whereas Affinity can in it's native file format. Although it makes for gargantuan files, it's extremely useful in certain circumstances.

There's some plugins that won't work with Affinity that work in Photoshop. The one to export for Skyrim files, and Topaz Gigapixel don't work, however Topaz Sharpen and DeNoise work Perfectly. I was actually kinda shocked the last version (CC Trial a year or so ago) had a ton more "features", but virtually zero improvements from my perspective as a photographer. Much of the the vaunted built-in AI stuff was unusably slow and hardly worked better than their non-AI counterparts that have been around for ages like Unsharp Mask, a technique once used in darkrooms, on*gasp*film.

CC has a motion blur sharpen thing which seems like it might be useful for some people, although my results were poor.

For RAW files, I prefer neither, although I haven't worked with V2 much yet.

I VASTLY prefer Affinity's masking, and Refine... to any Photoshop product. Although CC has a new Refine... interface with AI🙄, it's really only effective on images that are already easy to mask, so it's kinda pointless. The hair/fur thing only works if everything is in perfect focus, so I guess if you make cat memes you're in heaven. If you photograph animals with a shallow DoF, Affinity works better just running the Refine... matte brush around the perimeter.

The border of the InPainting brush repair is less obvious than the over the Adobe equivalent (in my work). However, CS6 allows you to change Blend Modes. Here's why that's important: Say you've got a closeup of a dog with short white fur and it has lots of specks of dirt (or fleas), and you want to clean that up quickly . Using either program's InPainting brush works OK, but if you set CS6's brush Blend Mode to Lighten, it will only alter the dark dirt pixels -- so it's effectively self-masking. In Affinity, you either InPaint on a blank layer with its Blend Mode mode set to lighten, or bathe your dog.

Affinity's Stack Mode is simple and intuitive, whereas CS6 is clunky and takes more menu surfing to change modes, or edit a stacked image. Affinity's Stack More is almost instantaneous when Photoshop sometimes takes actual minutes to update. Same feature, better in Affinity.

I found nothing -- in either program -- that will turn what I consider an unacceptable photo into an acceptable one. From a photographer's perspective, if I could only choose one, I'd choose Affinity Photo as I find it more productive to work in overall. This is not to say that Photoshop doesn't have certain real advantages over Affinity Photo for other people, so, as always, YMMV.

In conclusion, it's really a trade-off on how the features work, rather than some bullet-list of features made by some corporate marketing guy who doesn't actually use the software.

If you need video editing, go get the free version of DaVinci Resolve, it's better than anything Adobe, anyway.

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You simply have to try it out in a trial. It's simply too complicated and individual for anyone in here to give you an accurate picture.

On top of that, it can quickly kickstart both enthusiasts and fanboys tirades of propaganda about real or imagined benefits.

Only you know what's best for you, for sure.

 1) You have completely wrecked the layers panel, Serif.

2) I recommend Reddit groups instead of this forum. Not the same few bot-like users replying to everything, a wider representation of users, fewer fanboys, more qualified users. In short, better!

3) I was here to report bugs and submit improvement requests for professional work professionally in a large setup and to bring a lot of knowledge from the world, i.e. professional product development, web- and software development, usability, user experience design and accessibility. I actually know what I am talking about!

BUT! We are phasing out Designer and Affinity in 2022 Q1 - and replacing it with feature complete and algorithmically competent alternatives.
Publisher is unsuitable for serious use, and was never adopted.

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1 hour ago, François R said:

You simply have to try it out in a trial. It's simply too complicated and individual for anyone in here to give you an accurate picture.

On top of that, it can quickly kickstart both enthusiasts and fanboys tirades of propaganda about real or imagined benefits.

Only you know what's best for you, for sure.

I got your point. Well I already made up my mind to get the whole suite and I will keep my CS6 installed for things I need to get done quickly until I learn Affinity. So consider me a new Affinity user regardless. I just want to try and break out of habits and learn new things when it comes to working with these programs. I would facepalm myself if I got all excited about learning a new time saving feature that I had all along in CS6. But it wouldn't really matter. More tools, the better.

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3 minutes ago, Mistro said:

I got your point. Well I already made up my mind to get the whole suite and I will keep my CS6 installed for things I need to get done quickly until I learn Affinity. So consider me a new Affinity user regardless. I just want to try and break out of habits and learn new things when it comes to working with these programs. I would facepalm myself if I got all excited about learning a new time saving feature that I had all along in CS6. But it wouldn't really matter. More tools, the better.

If you are currently running CS6, just be sure you check the OS minimum requirement for Affinity V2 apps to be sure you don't purchase if you're on an OS that's too old to support it. FWIW.

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23 minutes ago, nwhit said:

If you are currently running CS6, just be sure you check the OS minimum requirement for Affinity V2 apps to be sure you don't purchase if you're on an OS that's too old to support it.

Exactly.
CS6 won't run on MacOS Catalina.
Affinity 2 won't run on Mojave.

The only method to bring those two together on Mac is virtualization.

MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2

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2 hours ago, nwhit said:

If you are currently running CS6, just be sure you check the OS minimum requirement for Affinity V2 apps to be sure you don't purchase if you're on an OS that's too old to support it. FWIW.

I downloaded and did some tests with Affinity already with the trial. I think my system can handle it. Windows 10, i7 8700k, 32gb RAM, GTX980Ti, M.2 SSD.

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It depends on what features you are using. I find for sketching/painting Affinity to be better (even the older versions) and it's quicker/more versatile for larger files/higher than 8 bits color depth. Also CS6 didn't have instant blend mode preview and the like.

If however you want to automate tasks or even go into scripting or if you require animation features then Affinity has none of those (beyond the most basic macro recording capability). Then even a Photoshop 5.x from the turn of the century will handily beat it. 😇

 

 

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6 hours ago, ChopperNova said:

 

Such a great comparison here! worth as own article.. thanks for sharing

Yeah depending on the use case, In various real-world scenarios, I also found that affinity is comparable enough with adobe apps.
The only dealbreaker for me is its compatibility with Adobe format otherwise it can be such a perfect companion app.

Regarding CS6 vs AD, for someone who is an AI veteran like you, it might need habit adjustment.

But for someone who just starting, then AD is like an app from a different generation. much easier and intuitive to use despite the lack of features.
I also can't bear to use recent adobe CC apps with how slow it's been today.

I get a lot of things done faster in AD.

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Well, I pulled the trigger and got the Universal License. I will still keep CS6 especially for the "Actions" feature. I hope Affinity gets this kind of automation because I often do projects that require processing many images. But I take Affinity for what it is and not looking at it as either or. I guess since I'm starting fresh with a new program, when I discover something I never did in CS6, I'll investigate to see if it was always there.

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