Why I absolutely hate Affinity Photo (Constructive critiscism.)

[Amotilos]

I have been an Affinity user and fan for as long as the product itself. I noticed various annoyances and omissions, but bit my tongue in silence, hoping that the sazzy newcomer would find its footing soon enough.

How wrong I was.

Yes, there's much to love with Affinity Photo. 
1) You can actually buy it
2) It works close enough to Photoshop for users to transition with hair left on their heads
3) It does some things very well, as you all know

But that's it.

Now to what needs to change! If was Elon, but thankfully I'm not, this would be on my agenda on my first Monday morning meeting with developers.

"Hello developers!
I know you've made a killer project, but it's a wolf eats wolf world out there, and you'll all be out of a job soon if we don't get our show back on the road. So take out your notebooks and sharpen your pencils.

Affinity Photo needs to make a good first impression. And that doen't mean trying to impress by being confusing and complicated. And f*** the Photoshoppers. They're not our customers. Hell, most of them already have a paid up Adobe subscription. No. In order to survive we need to make THE best piece of software for people interested in images and photos - an app that's so forward thinking that in a few years Affinity will be synonymous with photos.

Don't know what I mean? All of you go out and get the smallest MacBook Air and open Apple Photos. What do you see when you open it? All your photos! That's right. So the first task is to make Affinity Photo actually know and care for your precious photos. It needs to find them, catalogue them, and keep track of them. As long as you let it, it'll keep them safe and looking good.

It needs to know you've inserted a memory card or that your camera/device is online or connected via Bluetooth or WiFi or NFC. Then it takes care of the rest, so you can do culling/selecting/whatever.

And why y'all got the smallest MacBook? Because of screen layout and real estate and readability on the beach in Ibiza. No good having tiny dark gray writing on a slightly darker background there. You need to have a 18% grey reference, but only when adjusting colour. Your icons don't need to be intricate and unreadable and so alike that nobody remembers them.

And what's with the "personas?" Whose idea was this? Jonathan? Come here, bend over. And hand me the cane! Trying to be a clever boy? I'll show you clever!
There is only ONE persona, and that's the user. The software follows the users intent in a normal workflow from ingestion, culling, modifications and to export.

One smack for each time I've had to re-do a "development persona" thing and start the whole process over because of some adjustment I with hindsight should have made in that wretched module. And while we're at it, the raw developer sucks and is so far behind the state of the art as to be laughable. Tone curves without labels, histogram, values? Rewrite. Now!

Nowhere am I asked what I'm about to do. NOWHERE!! I have a Epson P800 printer, and it prints colours way beyond even Adobe RGB. Yet Affinity believes I'm well served with sRGB colour - even my smartphone does better - and all browsers recognise colour spaces now - just not you lot, you still have your NEC Coloursync CRT's from 1985. No wonder my prints look like shit!

And the tools were made in a hurry to a deadline - much as you'll have to re-do them now! Only this time you do it the right way!

If I want to straighten the perspective in a photo, why in God's name show me a grid of my flawed photo? I want a straight rectangular grid so I can align my photo with it! Who even thinks like this? Like ever??
And if I want to apply high pass sharpening, why do I have to vade through a ton of settings? No, I'm not wanting to multiply anything, I just want linear light or some other sane maths function applying the effect. And why do the dialogue boxes show up all over the place out of easy reach?

There's more: when I've finally made adjustments to the first in a series of 400 shots for a fashion shoot, what do I have to do? Apply them individually to 399 pictures! There's no easy and predictable way to make settings stick. Who does this sort of programming? Who?? 

And talking about a realistic shoot. I have a fancy camera (and you all have fancy phones) that's wireless. So why aren't my pictures showing up in Affinity Photo when I press the shutter?? Heh?

Everybody and their uncle can do this trick. And it's way more impressive than having "personas"!

And the dialogue boxes! Not remembering what I did last and asking for confirmation for everything that's NOT necessary, like "Do you really, really want to quit the developing persona? Remember the photo that's on your disk has not been processed when you quit. And that would be SUCH a pity! Are you sure you want to quit?" A bounty on the head of the developer who wrote that routine! And imagine having 20 pictures open and having to go through this charade 19 more times.

And there's no logic to the "strength, opacity, flow, hardness, dynamics and texture" - inventing new meaning for everyday words just confuses everyone. Get the metaphor right from the start and scrap all these terms. And where's the effects brush? The one brush that I can use on my trackpad or with my Apple Pencil that does everything? Mice are for grannies.

And if I'm feeling technical I have to open the Apple app Digital Color Meter to see what I'm doing as the scopes and histograms are tiny and without scales and behave weirdly. Why?? If they don't work leave them out! Not to mention my Color Checkers are not supported and no way to calibrate my workflow.

So developers, you have failed big time. Not only have you NOT made a cutting edge working tool for a photographer, you've managed to frustrate beginners and pros alike! That deserves some sort of medal. Or a dunce cap.

No go out and do me proud or hand in your keycards. 3 weeks from now! Hurry!"

 

[loukash]

No offense, but you already lost me during your clickbait-y thread title: "Hate" is supposed to be "constructive"? Gimme a break.

As for the rest of your essay: tl;dr  

[pruus]

I like Affinity as is. It could have a better and steap add options curve. But every other program can all be better. So Affinity. But now we have a good production app. Glad for the open ear of the community and the developers. You can't be everyone's friend. it's clear. As user you have options to go on... and choose another program. Good luck! 

[Evaluation complete.]

Not too long for an experienced reader like me; I read it all. Before you rush to ritualistically criticize the style or critique the critique itself, here is the feedback – summarized and concretized – as any mature company would welcome with respect for customers taking the time to provide valuable input. I don’t see much here I can directly disagree with; it aligns closely with what I’ve seen others request as well.

Here is a concise list of the critical feedback points translated into clear observations and suggestions:

1. Photo Management Integration: Affinity Photo should manage photos natively by cataloging, organizing, and safeguarding them, akin to Apple Photos, including seamless device connection (e.g., memory cards, cameras, wireless devices).

2. Interface Design: Improve readability and usability, particularly on smaller screens or bright environments, by refining contrast and simplifying icon designs.

3. Personas Redesign: Replace the multi-persona workflow with a seamless, user-driven interface that follows a natural progression from photo ingestion to export without forcing module transitions.

4. RAW Development Improvements: Enhance the RAW editor with modern features, including labeled tone curves, histograms with values, and support for advanced color spaces (e.g., beyond sRGB).

5. Print Color Management: Address limitations in color space handling to support modern high-gamut printers and ensure accurate print previews.

6. Perspective Correction: Simplify perspective tools to use a straight rectangular grid for alignment instead of displaying the flawed photo’s grid.

7. High-Pass Sharpening Simplification: Reduce unnecessary settings in sharpening tools, offering straightforward options like "linear light" directly.

8. Batch Editing Workflow: Introduce an efficient and predictable way to batch apply settings or adjustments to multiple images.

9. Real-Time Wireless Integration: Enable real-time image transfer from modern cameras and devices directly into Affinity Photo.

10. Dialogues and Confirmation Prompts: Streamline dialogues by reducing redundant prompts, especially for workflows involving multiple open images.

11. Brush System Simplification: Refine brush terminology and functionality into a single versatile tool that integrates seamlessly with modern input methods (e.g., trackpads, Apple Pencil).

12. Scopes and Calibration: Improve the size, clarity, and functionality of histograms and scopes, and introduce calibration tools for color workflows.

13. General Tool Refinements: Review tool usability and ensure they meet the needs of both beginners and professionals without unnecessary complexity or obscure logic.

A huge thank you, @Amotilos, for taking the time to provide feedback to Serif.

🛠️

[loukash]

@Ingelise, recommended reading on the forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/52-feedback-suggestions page:

Quote

Just a few things to bear in mind:

• Please search first, it may well be that you have a suggestion that others also want. If so add your feelings to their thread.
• If you cannot find your idea, make a new post. Try to keep your post as concise as possible, and for the title of your post to describe the request as best you can.
• Please just do one suggestion per thread. If your post title is “Here’s a few ideas to improve Affinity Publisher” you’ll be asked to split them up.
• Please understand we can’t possibly do everything which is requested, but we try to make the best calls we can in terms of prioritising our work. Constantly nagging or being overly ranty that we haven’t implemented one of your suggestions will not help your cause, and such posts will be deleted.

(emphasis mine)

[DarkClown]

3 hours ago, loukash said:

@Ingelise, recommended reading on the forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/52-feedback-suggestions page:

LOL ... Don't kill the translator 🙂

[Evaluation complete.]

I simply recommend that someone here focus on the genre and the obvious issues with the products rather than their internet-based pastimes. You cannot impose order in a forum with a few main topics each containing thousands of posts, as is the case here. However, customers can push their observations and considerations into the minds of Serif and Canva, and that is ultimately a matter between the customer and the supplier. Serif just needs to read each topic diligently.

What is absolutely crucial to emphasize is that your personal feelings about this are over 100% irrelevant, and the constant noise from the ever-willing volunteer helpers is incredibly disruptive here. I look forward to a future AI-driven feature where I can type, “What do active and skilled users of the product, who actually have valuable contributions, say?”

Let’s once again acknowledge that the verbose post at the top encapsulated nothing but familiar and valid points and observations, requiring more attention and focus than a post on X.com. It addresses a reality that could mean there is no Affinity at all in 5-10 years given the market conditions.

If that happens, it won’t be @Amotilos ’ fault.

[did78]

I was loving Affinity, but I have the feeling that nothing has been done in terms of features since the beginning of the V2, except cosmetics and minor fixes. Nothing new, compared to the alternative offers...5 years ago Affinity was on par with the other, it's not the case today :(

What I miss the most is modern selection tools.

[Waltarus]

I have used Affinity Photo almost since it first came out.  I appreciate that it isn't s subscription based software and for the most part it meets my needs.  

With that being said, I can easily agree with some of the points being made here, especially about the weak raw develop 'persona' and lack of photo management catalogue.  And yes, the icons look silly and confusing to new users.

[PaoloT]

4 hours ago, did78 said:

I have the feeling that nothing has been done in terms of features since the beginning of the V2

I see a huge amount of new features.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/whats-new/?srsltid=AfmBOoouzEjI6IPxqEUZVuudx6DW-s9VSLHvITbW7zvegnaoaDSqsvu5

Not to say what is being added with v2.6.

 

 

[did78]

9 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

I see a huge amount of new features.

https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/whats-new/?srsltid=AfmBOoouzEjI6IPxqEUZVuudx6DW-s9VSLHvITbW7zvegnaoaDSqsvu5

Not to say what is being added with v2.6.

 

 

I don't see new features in Affinity photo other than small cosmetics and fixes.

What I call features is generative fill, intelligent selection, improved rescaling, intelligent NR etc ... it's not small user interface changes and things like that.

The main reason to go with Affinity today is the permanent license and the reasonable cost, which is, for sure, a very good reason, even with a degraded Q/P compared with 5 years before