Load Time for Affinity Photo 2.4.1

[Kelly Paul]

I have been using Affinity Photo occasionally for the past three years for special tasks that my Capture One could not perform (such as Stack/Merge, Focus Merge).  Now, I would like to move to Affinity Photo as my single photo edit software.  However, there are some performance impacts to me as below:

1. Load time in Affinity Photo is about 28 seconds/image.  Considering I edit about 200 images each time, this load time translates to about 1 hour and 40 minutes.  In contrast, Capture One avoids the load time completely as it allows me to edit the first image within few seconds of loading.  Loading continues in parallel as I edit second and more images.   So, time taken for load from my perspective is zero time.
2. Each image in also requires to initiate Develop Persona, which takes about 35 seconds/image.  This translates to another about 1 hour and 40 minutes.  In comparison, this second steps is not there for Capture One.
3. Also, Capture One allows batch export of all selected images of about 40 images of 200, all in one step.

My question is, if my mathematics is correct, should I continue using both software (Capture One for image editing and Affinity Photo for Stack and Focus Merge) as I had been for the past three years ?   Alternatively, is there some workflow to reduce load time impact for me.

Thanks for any help/guidance on this.

... Kelly.

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums @Kelly Paul 

So you're saying that Affinity Photo takes a cumulative time of over 3 hrs just in loading? Really?

• Where are the images located?
  • Local Drive, External Drive, NAS, Cloud?
• You mention taking additional time for the Develop Persona, so are you processing RAW images?
• Are you double-clicking on the file(s) in Explorer or Finder, or are you first launching AP then opening a file (s) ? Are you using drag-n-drop to open images?
• Please provide us with information about your system, GPU, CPU, OS and Version.

Loading a RAW file, from one of my external USB drives, only takes 13 secs for me, that's double-clicking on a file with AP closed. Launching and loading files from my internal drives, double-clicking on the file, ~6 secs, with AP open, only 3 secs. I don't have a very powerful system.

 

[Kelly Paul]

Hi Ron,

Yes, I am processing RAW files always.  This batch of RAW files that I was testing were taken by a Sony Camera with 61-megapixel sensor.  So, my RAW files are larger. My RAW files are in my PC local folders.

I first open the Affinity Photo and then, open new files by clicking on menu File > Open.  I also use the menu to move to Develop Persona.

I use a Microsoft Surface-Laptop-3 PC with AMD Ryzen 7.

I use the same PC for my comparison with Capture One’s photo editing workflow.

... Kelly.

[mopperle]

Hmm, on my 5 year old Notebook (Windows) opening a 37MB RAW file takes 5 sec. Developing takes a fraction of a second and exporting ~4-5 sec.

I can not compare with CaptureOne, only Lightroom, which takes about the same amount of time. Main difference is that in Lightroom Pictures are loaded into its library, which might also take several minutes. But AFPhoto has no such library. Not sure about CaptureOne.

Maybe you give some more hardware specs about your Surface-Laptop.

And not sure, why you load all images at once. Maybe because you think you have to load all files at once?

[R C-R]

16 hours ago, Kelly Paul said:

I first open the Affinity Photo and then, open new files by clicking on menu File > Open.  I also use the menu to move to Develop Persona.

If you are opening RAW files in AP they should automatically open in the Develop Persona. Are you saying that they are not opening in that persona so you have to select it from the application menu (or main Toolbar if it is configured as it is by default with buttons for 5 personas)?

If so, this would indicate you are not opening a RAW format file, or at least not one that Affinity recognizes as such.

[Kelly Paul]

If so, this would indicate you are not opening a RAW format file, or at least not one that Affinity recognizes as such.

I hope my Sony camera's RAW file is recognized.  Anyway, moving from Photo Persona to Develop Persona is not a major concern for me.

My PC is also about 5 years old, but your PC seems to be faster.  I was user of Lightroom until about 6 years ago when I switched to Capture One.  Thanks all of you for help and sharing your own experiences with me.

I believe my best option is to continue as before … using Capture One for my normal photo editing needs and using Affinity Photo for special needs involving stack and merge with multiple images.  The only disadvantage for me is to keep track of terminology/menu differences for the two very capable and complex software at the same time!

FYI… here is my photo editing workflow for a typical day of photo shoot for me (I expect workflow need will vary for different users):

1. Load about 200 images. Capture One loads all images in parallel without any load time impact for me.
2. I have opted in Capture One Library to store only the edit changes in its library, and not the RAW images. My Raw Images remain in my PC folder only.
3. Then I view each of the 200 images in Capture One (no editing at this stage). I tag them as keep/reject. (typically, I end up with about 40 images to keep and remaining to reject).  Then, I select only images tagged Keep to be visible in Capture One.
4. I change the initial sequence of images is by Date/Time to Manual Sequence in Capture One. Then, I drag the images to the sequence I want.
5. I do photo edit adjustments to each of the selected 40 plus images.  (I find Capture One and Affinity Photo to be equally good for this step).
6. I select the export/output option to create .JPG files. Capture One creates all the 40 plus edited images in one step, in my PC Folder for Edited Images, and assigning a prefix sequence number (example “03 A7R01597.jpg”).   
7. As a last step, I select images marked “Rejects” in Capture One, and request these images be deleted in Library as well as in my PC Folder of RAW images.
8. Occasionally, when I need some special tasks such as Timelapse, Merge, or other stacked edit functions, I use exclusively Affinity Photo 2 (as Capture One does not perform such multi-image processes.  I create a final image in .JPG and move the image file to my edited photos folder.   

Thanks again,

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, Kelly Paul said:

I hope my Sony camera's RAW file is recognized.

What is the model number for your camera? Have you checked the list of supported RAW formats?

[Kelly Paul]

My Camera is Sony ILCE-7RM5 (A7R V) with a 61 mp sensor and it is in the list of Supported Cameras.  Initial Photo Persona allows some initial edit, so I use these edits before moving on to the Develop Persona for more edit.

[R C-R]

5 hours ago, Kelly Paul said:

Initial Photo Persona allows some initial edit, so I use these edits before moving on to the Develop Persona for more edit.

If you mean these files open in the Photo Persona then they are not RAW images. Can you post an example file from your camera that are opening into the Photo persona rather than directly into the Develop persona?

[Kelly Paul]

9 hours ago, R C-R said:

If you mean these files open in the Photo Persona then they are not RAW images. Can you post an example file from your camera that are opening into the Photo persona rather than directly into the Develop persona?

My Sony Camera has options to create (1) Uncompressed RAW or (2) Lossless Compressed RAW or (3) Compressed RAW.  (I never create .jpg format in camera).  I have used the “Compressed RAW” file format to keep the RAW file size smaller.  I believe Affinity Photo creates a “.afphoto” format to keep edit changes done to the image.

I did a load time test for different input file formats for the same image as below:

1. A7R01905.ARW (Compressed RAW)                             18-20 seconds. 
2. A7R01905.afphoto (Affinity Photo’s format)                 2-3 seconds.
3. A7R01905.jpg                                                                  3-4 seconds.

I have attached the sample image RAW file as requested.

A7R01905.ARW

[R C-R]

11 minutes ago, Kelly Paul said:

I have attached the sample image RAW file as requested.

That file opens on my Mac in the Develop Persona. It takes about 8 seconds to do that.

[Kelly Paul]

1 hour ago, R C-R said:

That file opens on my Mac in the Develop Persona. It takes about 8 seconds to do that.

Regardless load time is 18 seconds or 8 seconds (as with your MAC), I believe my best option is to continue as before … using Capture One for batch of images and Affinity Photo for special images involving stack and merge with multiple images.  I believe load time will not be an issue compared to hours of editing work for creating a single image for artistic/competition/for sale.  My need is different (just batch of images).  Thanks.