Batch Processing in Affinity Photo

[Pink Panther]

I have thousands of RAW photos just waiting for this feature.  

[Kaiser_King]

Still no updates on this?  No macros can be created to just apply a preset ?  Any updates from the developers?

[MEB]

Hi @Kaiser_King,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
There wasn't changes here, sorry. You can create macros in Photo Persona and apply them in a Batch Job but not to RAW files or for setting in Develop Persona.

[jarcon]

We are still waiting to be able to use affinity suite only, but it seems that this will take way more time that expected, meanwhile, what can we use for RAW batch processing on develop persona similar to Lightroom?

[RAuten]

I would like to get clarification on my issue that is similar to this thread, as to my understanding. I'm new to Affinity Photo and trying to migrate away from Lightroom 6 on my Mac (using basic functions like importing 300-400 photos and edit them one-by-one making minor changes and then export all of them to a specific folder). I'm not sure how to do this in Affinity Photo other than doing this one at a time. Is this correct? Any suggested video or training links to help my process? Thank you for your time. 

 

[Old Bruce]

38 minutes ago, RAuten said:

(using basic functions like importing 300-400 photos and edit them one-by-one making minor changes and then export all of them to a specific folder)

Are the minor changes all the same? Are the photos RAW files or TIFFs or PNGs or JPEGs or a mix?

If the files are Raw files then you pretty much have to do the one at a time thing.

If the minor changes are based on exactly the same set of adjustments then you can run a batch job.

If the minor changes are a little bit different every 10 or 40 pictures then you will probably have to do the one at a time thing.

[RAuten]

Not all the changes will be the same for each photo - maybe crop, exposure, black/white, highlights, etc. The photos may be RAW or JPEG. I'm just trying to figure out a workflow in managing the mass of photos - I don't  mind making changes as needed one by one but for example didn't want to have to export them all one by one. Thanks for your feedback. 

 

 

[carl123]

10 hours ago, RAuten said:

I don't  mind making changes as needed one by one but for example didn't want to have to export them all one by one

 

Once you make the changes just File > Save them as Affinity documents then you can use File > New Batch Job to export them all, at once, in whatever file format, size, etc you want

[RAuten]

Thank you for your feedback, I will try this in the next day or so. 

[UncleMonkey]

I agree (in more restrained language) with @doolderboy — it's weird that after 3½ years the feature isn't there and there isn't even an ETA or a reason why not. Surely lots of users, probably most, have cameras that need the same RAW adjustments over and over? Not to mention that all the images from a shoot under fluorescent lighting… and so on.

Could we ask for a 

• Yes, we'll add it [when?] or
• No, it's not on the cards [why?]

[AlanPC]

Quote

Surely lots of users, probably most, have cameras that need the same RAW adjustments over and over?

Yep. I run a specific noise filter via DXO and can easily do an entire shoot with that software. But with Affinity I have to do one at a time, which is why I don't use Affinity any more.

 

[Pink Panther]

Yeah, that is the principal reason why I am not using Affinity Photo anymore. Unfortunately, no one give any reason why this feature is not added and also the great part of the releases are bug fixes, instead of real features. There is a saturation graph that is still broken since a long time ago. 

I wish it gets better and gets good as Lightroom, then I could use it again.

[AlanPC]

To me this "minor" issue is huge, because I don't use it much. Which means when I DO, I can't remember how to do things, which is a poor user experience, so I don't use it much...

Vicious circle.

[Pink Panther]

Yeah, it could be better. I hope they could fix it and also give us a ETA. @MEB Please!!!! Raise this flag to your Product Managers!!!!!!

[RAuten]

I took another approach and posed my question to Affinity Support by email directly. Immediately the next day I receive an email informing me "Unfortunately there is no way to do what you are looking for at the moment in Affinity Photo." Upon receiving I asked for an ETA - silence. Apparently, I must keep LR in my tool bag. It would nice to a have formal request process for functionality enhancements from the Affinity user base to Affinity; and transparency from Affinity on future deliverables. 

 

[Pink Panther]

To be honest, I think they know about this "issue" or lack of feature. I just think they don't care because it will not bring too much value to the software since we have a few people asking for it between thousands that have the Affinity Photo. 

I would be glad to see a message from someone in the Affinity Photo team saying: We are not going to do that. Then this discussion is over and we can move or think in another solution.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, RAuten said:

I took another approach and posed my question to Affinity Support by email directly. Immediately the next day I receive an email informing me "Unfortunately there is no way to do what you are looking for at the moment in Affinity Photo." Upon receiving I asked for an ETA - silence.

Over the last two years or so, the staff have made it clear in several different topics that they will no longer provide ETA's for any new features because too many users were taking estimates as promises about delivery times, & because the inherent uncertainty in software development makes even ballpark estimates difficult, particularly for apps like the Affinity suite that were developed from a new-from-scratch codebase & a single unified native document format.

The bottom line is if there is a feature you need & it is currently missing from the Affinity apps then do not count on it being added anytime soon & instead use something that already provides it. The staff themselves have said as much in a few posts.

[rckc]

They don't need to add the feature because it's already covered through open source options.

Try XnView MP.

Use it with Affinity Photo like you would Bridge or Lightroom with Photoshop.

Edited November 18, 2020 by rckc
spelling

[AlanPC]

I have XnView but I have no idea how you'd use that to get Affinity to batch process a bunch of raw files?

[rckc]

Oof, you're right! Sorry man.

Have you tried https://www.darktable.org/?

[rckc]

I tried out both DarkTable and RawTherapee.
RawTherapee seems better so far.
It has more options than lightroom, which includes batch editing and processing.
The only problem is learning where everything's at.

https://rawtherapee.com/

[bgalakazam]

Hi, I bought Affinity Photo a while back to have an alternative to the subscription model of Adobe. I have used the app a few times to retouch black and white photos since my scanner's IR doesn't work with the b&w film and often leaves dust specs.

For an upcoming Leica M purchase, I plan to shoot DNG. But it looks like I will not be able to batch process (apply preset) to multiple files. Am I understanding this thread correctly? Say I go on holiday and take 100+ photos, I don't want to do any fine retouching, just a preset to make the DNG viewable. 

[Old Bruce]

6 minutes ago, bgalakazam said:

For an upcoming Leica M purchase, I plan to shoot DNG. But it looks like I will not be able to batch process (apply preset) to multiple files. Am I understanding this thread correctly? Say I go on holiday and take 100+ photos, I don't want to do any fine retouching, just a preset to make the DNG viewable. 

That is correct. What I do is make a preset for a basic good enough start and then run the same day/location pictures through one at a time tediously clicking on the preset menu to apply it.

This is one of the mysteries of Photo, the presets are saved and they will apply but we can't batch process them.

You can batch process all the photos from the leica with the default setup, check to see if you like the applied curve etc and then set that and choose a file format TIFF, JPEG, PNG or the Affinity file format and have look at the results. Quite quick at that.

 

So I guess I am saying No and Yes, after a fashion.

 

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Old Bruce said:

So I guess I am saying No and Yes, after a fashion.

You could also load a RAW image in via File > Open, Develop it without making any changes in the Develop Persona, and then if it needs further changes once it is in the Photo Persona you could make changes there while recording a macro. After saving the macro in the Library, you could then use a batch job to process the other similar images, and apply the macro during the batch processing.

This would not be perfect, of course, but neither would applying a standard Preset be perfect; only close.

[AlanPC]

For me, a key reason for wanting to batch-process is so I can automatically correct lens warping and such. Right now, and apparently for the foreseeable future, I'm having to use a different software (DXO) to do this.