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There are excellent DAMs out there already.  And some of us have invested some heavy bucks in them.  I've been using MediaPro since it was called iViewPro and it still provides me with the all the "management" I need.  Or want.  I use MediaPro to manage my files; Affinity to process and edit them.  Affinity may come out with an exceptional DAM at some point. If so, I will consider it but in the meantime, I'd rather spend my time using what I've got than whining about what I don't.

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LilleG, the use of that "whining" speaks for itself and doesn't make you look more intelligent. At least to me, but who am I?

 

Just make a list of DAMs which have map features (GPS-track sync), intelligent folders and face recognition. Then add some advanced EXIF metadata in it (like serial-number of various camera-bodies), or only the possibility to search for unrated pictures. It should also be able to keep the import-window open while I go back to the library and create a new project or album (impossible on C1). A repair strategy on different levels of repairing should be included. The connection to galleries like SmugMug, Flickr or the like with back and forward sync as well. Incremental library backup. Different colors for different types of nodes (album, intelligent albums, projects, books, calendars, slideshows). The nodes I like to be able to duplicate and modify. Slideshows with manual or automatic stretch to a soundtrack, soundtracks to be selected directly in iTunes and of course, burnt as DVD with the correct parameters...

 

It all depends on workflow. I guess with some chance, you're one of the "I know best how to organize and find my files, I don't need a library"-types with tons of folders, subfolders and subsubfolders. Me too - I just let Aperture or Capture One handle them. And if I compare the handling, I have to say, I better stay clear from Phase One software like Media Pro with it's various companies of different developers.

 

There are a lot of great RAW developers out there. State of the art DAM? Less so. Much, much less so.

 

Oh, and btw: Do you know a comparison sheet like "what can you do with Media Pro SE, but can't do with CaptureOne"? Because they just want to get nearly the same price (around 200$), but they don't have a documentation to download, the localisation of CaptureOne has some rough flaws, also no documentation in another language than English. Not helpful for people running C2 in a different language. Not to mention: Basically illegal to sell that app in Europe, due to this lack of docs.

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On ‎02‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 7:39 PM, LilleG said:

Well, personally, I think what Affinity has done so far has been pretty "fab."  And I'm only looking forward to the improvements they will make.

... Affinity may come out with an exceptional DAM at some point. If so, I will consider it but in the meantime, I'd rather spend my time using what I've got than whining about what I don't.

I agree.  It's one of the reasons why I stay away from photography forums now-a-days because there's too much whining.

Meanwhile on art forums... Hey, look at this picture the Sistine Chapel that I done using nothing but a Bic ballpoint pen.

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11 minutes ago, JoJu said:

Are you possibly whining around about all those whinings? Glad to have one more on board...

 

xD

 

Oh, and don't forget the frog pills for constant happiness.

 

Dear dir,

I always sigh In as I did to Day but you do not recanize My signature.F.Jessa

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1 hour ago, LilleG said:

There are excellent DAMs out there already.  ...  I use MediaPro to manage my files; ...

 

Well, LilleG, let's agree we have different ideas of "excellent DAM". I just downloaded Media Pro Second Edition 2.2.0 or something like that. The best, I guess, is the multi user licence for a network.

 

But otherwise... it still suggests to import iPhoto library. Which disappeared the same year Apple buried Aperture... I guess it's a pretty cool tool to apply keywords and use hierarchies of keywords, but else... it's amazing that an app with such an antique interface (going back to OS 9/Windows NT?) can still exist and people are willing to pay 189 € for a 3 place licence.

 

I think, everybody arranges him- or herself with the stuff available on the local machine, we grow with it. You probably would go mad to see me "managing" my pictures in Aperture, and I would get big eyes and slight panic attacks to see you doing your MediaPro tricks. so, let's just enjoy the stuff we have, occasionally whine around a bit and see what the bright future pulls out of it's magic head...

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3 hours ago, JoJu said:

Windows doesn't include RAW-processing, therefore Affinity programmers must take care of another task.

A lot of Windows versions don't include color management - I'm not sure, if Affinity needs the newest (CM-supporting) version Win 10?

Some capabilities have to be dedicated to the whole mess of drivers, especially for graphic cards.

I agree that more users mean more incoming sales and therefore more human resources - but these are needed because Windows users need to address more support.

Within Mac OS, there are intelligent folders usable for all apps, Automator scripts and a lot more comfort functions, Developing these for Windows... I see the results in Adobe Bridge, in CaptureOne (I'm working with Windows on a daily basis) - these poor copies of OS X functions and their usage just suck.

The programmers included 'native' Affinity Photo RAW processing from the beginning, before there was even a Windows beta. I am only guessing but I believe this is because they wanted to give Mac users the option to avoid the automatic corrections Apple built into the system level version. Choice is good, don't you think?

 

I am not a Windows user but I believe all versions of Windows that Affinity supports includes color management, so I am not sure what your point about that is. Regarding drivers, are you aware of the new Metal rendering option in the 1.6 betas? Only certain Macs running El Capitan or later can use Metal, & significant 'tuning' is required for that option to improve performance. So again, I'm not sure what your point is about the capabilities that have to be dedicated to driver development. Can you explain that in more detail?

 

I think you missed my point about the benefits of more users. I am not talking about Serif/Affinity's user support but about third party support for compatible AP plugins, sites that reject submissions that lack formatting options that require an Adobe product to create, & anything else that involves a de facto Adobe "standard" that makes it hard for Adobe's competitors to gain traction in the market.

 

There was discussion of adding scripting and/or programming language support to the Affinity apps long before the Windows versions existed, & the consensus view (such as it was) among Mac Affinity users was that AppleScript was too lightweight, arcane, & limited for that, with Javascript & Python being the favorites.

 

As for the perceived slower pace of feature developments in general, I am not sure I agree that it has slowed appreciably since the Windows versions were released, but to whatever extent it has, that is a normal consequence of the development process: as new features are added & older ones improved, it takes longer to ensure that the changes do not introduce bugs & undesirable behaviors in the larger core code base because so much is interrelated & interdependent. It would be no different if there were no Windows versions.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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11 hours ago, R C-R said:

How do the Windows versions 'alter' the feature list and/or weaken the whole system?

I suppose for the same amount of human resources, you will be diverting your efforts away from research/development of additional features and improvements on the Mac platform because those bodies will be committing time on developing and ironing out whatever kinks there will be on the Windows platform.

Personally, i think it's a good move if we want to see Serif surviving. From what I've seen, besides some minor issues, Affinity Photo is already "quite good". At least for what I need, and especially for the price it asks for. Every Mac user will only typically buy it once. Spending more effort "enhancing" this software is dead money to Serif, unless said enhancement is proven to turn more Mac users towards AP.

The alternative will be Serif running very lean, possibly not even surviving, and we'll lose support for their software entirely. Which will suck, given how often Mac OS changes.

Also, my newest Mac is my Macbook Pro, early 2011 model. It's likely to be my last, because I simply do not agree with Apple's attitude and direction (both hardware and software). Everything is trending towards a more "consumer" and over-simplified feel. Your new Mac Pro looks like a toy, they took away Aperture, no more CD/DVD drives even on desktops...
It's become a numbers game since the death of Steve Jobs. It's no longer about developing nice products, but about culling "low performers" in favor of what is profitable (which is, the general consumer market). What's next on their cull list? Probably Logic as I'd imagine Final Cut Pro will stick around for a bit longer.

After all this, all I'm trying to say is, as much as I hate Windows equally (especially Windows 10), I might (quite unfortunately) be joining the Windows platform very soon. And it'd be nice if Affinity is there to provide some level of familiarity.
 

 

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3 hours ago, st87 said:

I suppose for the same amount of human resources, you will be diverting your efforts away from research/development of additional features and improvements on the Mac platform because those bodies will be committing time on developing and ironing out whatever kinks there will be on the Windows platform.

Back when the first Windows beta was announced & Mac users were worried about this, the developers said it was not a factor because the Mac & Windows development teams are separate & that the "body" problem was not about straining company resources but about finding & hiring qualified people with the necessary graphics programming experience. A little after the first Windows app was released, one of them said development is refined on the Mac version & then ported to the Windows one (or words to that effect), so assuming nothing has changed the 'diverting resources' supposition does not apply.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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1 hour ago, R C-R said:

... the developers said it was not a factor because the Mac & Windows development teams are separate & that the "body" problem was not about straining company resources ... so assuming nothing has changed the 'diverting resources' supposition does not apply.

Sweet! So then there shouldn't be a problem with Serif delivering that DAM software soon. Their announcement to PetaPixel was only a month or so ago. So I guess we have around 6 more months to go until we hear some news about a beta program?

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4 hours ago, st87 said:

Having said that though, has anyone tried Coral's AfterShot Pro?
What are your thoughts on this software and how does it compare with Aperture?

 

I haven't tried any Corel app on my Mac or on a Windows. In the early days of my PC user career, Corel managed to fail in practically everything: Their vector drawings were a mess of weird structures and their pixel files full of bad surprises. That's what I remember and what started some kind of bias against that company. Later I read a couple of "reports" about newer Corel software. In the same computer magazine which waxed poetry about Affinity, Corel always got results like "nice features, but not much work done to complete them". I still wait (but not very actively) if someone comes round the corner and yells "hey, I never thought Corel would ever made a cool software like this". I just thing, if they did something really great, we would have heard.

 

When I tried other apps, I got bored after a while because one nice or at least well done feature stood against 3-5 quirks, lousy interfaces, shortcomings in some sections I use to need and all of them.

 

In this thread, MEB claimed that Affinity announced plans for a DAM software in October 2016. 10 months later we are still only reading how cool Affinity on Windows or iPad Pro is, but we're not seeing even a beta of a DAM. Last update of and to AP 1.5.2 was in March, ever since announcements about new features... So, R C-R, you're still saying these big two new branches don't slow them down?

 

To be fair: I waited longer than a year to get support for compressed Fuji RAW files of the X-T2 by Capture One...

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14 hours ago, m43 said:

Anyone know of a DAM that will show a preview of an afphoto file like it does with a jpg, tif, or raw with embedded jpg ?     Even MacOS can do that, but Bridge for one will not.  

 

ACDSee (I use Pro 10) will show aphoto thumbnails, and their previewer (Picaview) will also show fullscreen images.

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

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My initial impression of AP is very, very positive. Good layout. Great tutorial videos. I've used PS a lot but AP appears to be far more user friendly. AND it's a very reasonable one time purchase instead of the bloody stupid subscription that Adobe uses. I hate subscriptions for software! Cross-platform is awesome--not that I use Windows anymore (avoid it like the plague) but I have friends and family who are still on it.

 

I've been using Macphun's Intensify, Noiseless, and Snapheal CK plugins for Photos, which has been reasonable enough for most tasks. But I've had several problems with database corruption in Photos. If Affinity can create a DAM software that is as good as AP AND that integrates with iCloud sync that'll be wonderful

 

Admittedly, I miss Lightroom. It's more powerful than extensions in Photos. But I could no longer stomach the monthly subscription fee. I also really wanted the ease of taking pictures on the iPhone and having the images show up automagically in on my MacBook. (Not that their syncing isn't without its issues.)

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16 hours ago, m43 said:

Anyone know of a DAM that will show a preview of an afphoto file like it does with a jpg, tif, or raw with embedded jpg ?     Even MacOS can do that, but Bridge for one will not.  

XnViewMP can do it, and it's free!  It's obviously not a pro or even prosumer level product, but for hobbyists like it's fine.

AP, AD & APub user, running Win10

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  • Staff

Hi DaveB08, JoJu

Welcome to Affinity Forums :)

As i said earlier there's plans to develop a DAM but we never specified an eta for it (neither for any Beta). We simply said to not expect anything significant before this year (2017) at the time. We knew it was something that would be difficult to estimate considering all the other products/dev going on (iPad versions, Publisher). I don't know the current state of development of the DAM but we are still months away from the end of the year so there may be some more news on this or not. I don't have enough info nor any additional details about this, sorry.

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  • 2 months later...

I recently learned that DAM is being developed under the Affinity brand. I was originally an Aperture user, and I'm migrationing to Lightroom now. However, I'm still not familiar with LR. I heard this information at such time. It is good news for me and I want to expect new environment.

There was information that development began in 2016, which stage is the development progressing now? Is there a screenshot image under development?
Is Affinity DAM similar to Lightroom, or Aperture, or Luminar? Is such information still too early?

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I'm sitting here on the fence to as to what to do.  I'd like to have something that dovetails nicely with AP for a DAM application, but it seems to be one of those things thats coming, soon, but don't hold your breath.  I really do not want to get locked into a subscription program such as what Adobe offers now with Lightroom. and did not wan to have to go through all the research to try to pick a "winner" that would work with RAW NEF and JPEG files.  One of he reasons I don't like some of the adobe apps is that they do a quick change from NEF to DMG and only show a non picture file for the raw image.  I was and continue to hope for AP to come out with a DAM that is (almost) transparent in use for users, but this seems to be asking a lot as Serif is branching out to other aspects of software and maybe resource is now too thin to nail down dates as to when things will be available; example - tutorial that has been handed about as being almost ready.  Maybe it's just me?? I like AP, but get frustrated having to work across various platforms to get a photo imported to work with.

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12 hours ago, High Desert said:

One of he reasons I don't like some of the adobe apps is that they do a quick change from NEF to DMG and only show a non picture file for the raw image

What apps do that? LR works fine with NEF and last update to LR6 will bring support for D850 (at least).

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6 hours ago, Fixx said:

What apps do that? LR works fine with NEF and last update to LR6 will bring support for D850 (at least).

This NEF to DMG happens on PS Elements.  I have been holding off on spending more money for a DAM, awaiting Affinity's response and using this, but am not happy with it at all.  I really don't want to have to spend several hundred more dollars for some software, and then Affinity releases their DAM, which would work seamlessly  with AP.  Sort of the rock and a hard place right now, decision wise.  I just wish AP would put a stake in the ground and say, this is when the DAM will be released.  Wishful thinking, I guess.  On the other side, If I do decide to go somewhere else, I am only out $50 USD and would consider it a "lesson learned".  Right now, the ball is in AP's court, and in my mind, they need to make a verbal commit to end users that this is going to appear on such and such date, rather than "sometime in 2017" which is pretty much over unless we get an early Xmas gift.

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I'm always wondering that this DAM Vaporware thing is still a theme for people over here. Honestly I would recommend people to look instead after other, available and existing resources here (if they really have an urgend need for something like this) instead of waiting for Affinity to do something in this direction.

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
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