Affinity DAM and Lightroom?

[SaucyWeeTart]

Hi guys,

 

I was just wrestling about with a Lightroom catalogue there and it raised a question about your upcoming DAM software. How easy will it be to transfer over from LR to Affinity? Will it even be possible to swipe data from lightroom catalogs in the first place?

 

The reason I ask, aside from the obvious, is that my current process with Lightroom is to save every project in it's own catalog and open each one only when needed. It's a bit fiddly, but does work. I'm therefore wondering if I should be preparing my files for some sort of mass transfer in the future, because it might take me some time.

 

I understand that this is information you might not want to give away at this stage, but thought I'd ask anyway.

 

Thanks.

[Lee D]

Hi SaucyWeeTart,

 

As it's a future release, the features have yet to be confirmed and it will be some time before more information is available.

[Fixx]

It is somewhat unconvential to make separate catalogues of each project. Usually each project has its own folder in master catalogue and it works fine. Just apply suitable keywords to images, preferably in import stage, as it is usually best method to find needed images later on.

How migration to ADAM is going to work, that is totally unknown.

[anon1]

-

[Keith Reeder]

It is somewhat unconvential to make separate catalogues of each project. 

 

Agreed. In Lr, it is explicitly the recommendation that a single catalogue be used, and keywords applied. 

[Keith Reeder]

In Capture One there is an extra option to choose this workflow and it is called Sessions in contrast to Catalog and I find it very useful 

 

Yep, I much prefer sessions to the catalogue, in Capture One.

[SaucyWeeTart]

Agreed. In Lr, it is explicitly the recommendation that a single catalogue be used, and keywords applied. 

 

I actually did work with a single catalog for quite a long time, but when I bought a MacBook with a small amount of storage space I have to sync everything to the cloud through oDrive. Syncing a single large catalog every time I close LR would take an age.

[wheelhot]

I have to ask, is there any ETA for Affinity DAM? at least the beta or something, it has been awhile since we hear any news and though I like Capture One RAW engine, I'm getting fed up with its cataloguing feature and the software seems not render RAW images as fast as I liked (using A7R and I have the latest 15" MBP with Radeon 460), and I've never been a huge fan of its UI, damn I miss Aperture. 

[Alfred]

Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, wheelhot. :)

 

I have to ask, is there any ETA for Affinity DAM? 

 

No, there isn't even an ETA for Affinity Publisher, so if I were you I wouldn't hold my breath!

[wheelhot]

Thanks Alfred :)

 

Affinity Publisher is something like InDesign I guess? And when was the news of its development first surfaced? 

 

Would be nice to hear from the dev the status of their ongoing projects, like how far off from Alpha Stage or Beta Stage. I kept hearing people complaining that Affinity releasing on Windows caused them to be sidetracked from the other software that they need to release. 

[Alfred]

Affinity Publisher is something like InDesign I guess? And when was the news of its development first surfaced?

 

Affinity Publisher will be a page layout app, but the similarity between it and Adobe InDesign (or Serif's very own and long-established PagePlus) probably ends there. We've been warned to expect that the first release of APub will be fairly basic.

 

Although Serif's intention to include a page layout app to the Affinity suite was announced pretty early on, the first announcements about its expected release date were wildly optimistic and they're being much more cautious now.

 

Would be nice to hear from the dev the status of their ongoing projects, like how far off from Alpha Stage or Beta Stage. I kept hearing people complaining that Affinity releasing on Windows caused them to be sidetracked from the other software that they need to release. 

 

I think some users have been wrongly assuming that the developers who are working on the Windows versions of Affinity Designer and Photo could have been contributing to the development of Publisher for the Mac.

[wheelhot]

Affinity Publisher will be a page layout app, but the similarity between it and Adobe InDesign (or Serif's very own and long-established PagePlus) probably ends there. We've been warned to expect that the first release of APub will be fairly basic.

 

Although Serif's intention to include a page layout app to the Affinity suite was announced pretty early on, the first announcements about its expected release date were wildly optimistic and they're being much more cautious now.

 

 

I think some users have been wrongly assuming that the developers who are working on the Windows versions of Affinity Designer and Photo could have been contributing to the development of Publisher for the Mac.

 

Aah, luckily publisher isn't what I'm looking for, where's the DAM  :P

 

I guess the battle right now will be MacPhun DAM vs Affinity DAM and how will they differ in terms of tools offered, speed, cataloguing feature, ease of use and who will release first. 

[KC Honie]

On June 4, 2017 at 1:36 AM, wheelhot said:

 

Aah, luckily publisher isn't what I'm looking for, where's the DAM 

 

 

Indeed, where is the DAM!!!

[KC Honie]

Pixelmator has also been teasing a new product since March '17, it may be a DAM as well...

 

It is unfortunate that Serif announced the product so early then has gone silent

[Tom Schülke]

Well As a Workaround, ive installed the free App     " XnViewMp"

works fine for me...  

[KC Honie]

Unfortunately it is time for me to reup my CC Photography subscription, so that means tens of thousands of additional images over the next year locked into lightroom and photoshop.  At this stage even if serif were to release their DAM it would be nearly impossible to switch (unless they import LR edits).

 

PS. Announced in 2015, supposed to be in beta in 2016...  It is late 2017 and all we are hearing is crickets... Sounds like the project was killed to me.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, KC Honie said:

PS. Announced in 2015, supposed to be in beta in 2016...  It is late 2017 and all we are hearing is crickets... Sounds like the project was killed to me.

The staff have said repeatedly (& recently) that the Affinity Publisher beta (not the as yet unnamed DAM) first announced in 2015 has been delayed because they were much too optimistic about how much time & effort it would take to get it to useable (as in suitable for user testing) beta status, but that project is not dead.

 

They have also said they plan to eventually have a DAM to complete the Affinity suite but Publisher will come first.

[KC Honie]

41 minutes ago, R C-R said:

The staff have said repeatedly (& recently) that the Affinity Publisher beta (not the as yet unnamed DAM) first announced in 2015 has been delayed because they were much too optimistic about how much time & effort it would take to get it to useable (as in suitable for user testing) beta status, but that project is not dead.

 

They have also said they plan to eventually have a DAM to complete the Affinity suite but Publisher will come first.

 

Yup, that would be my whole point, if Publisher is 2 to 3 years late, then how many years are we away from a DAM...  My understanding is that the Affinity software engineering team is very lean...

 

I wish the pixelmator boys had been able to acquire the rights to Apple's Aperture, then for us photographers many of the problems would be solved 

[ColinG]

I would not hold my breath, If you want a good DAM then you are probably stuck with LR or the like....unless you are a Mac user and the next incarnation of Apple Photos has improved:-) I love Affinity but have given up using it as I need a DAM so therefore have Adobe CC. That duplicates what Affinity offers so it is a no brainer to me.

[KC Honie]

On September 24, 2017 at 5:49 PM, ColinG said:

I would not hold my breath, If you want a good DAM then you are probably stuck with LR or the like....unless you are a Mac user and the next incarnation of Apple Photos has improved:-) I love Infinity but have given up using it as I need a DAM so therefore have Adobe CC. That duplicates what Infinity offers so it is a no brainer to me.

Exactly, if one is locked in to LR then by default you are also locked in to PS...

 

I really do like the affinity products, but for photographers they are incomplete without a DAM.

 

I am going to have to re-up my CC Photography subscription and therefore over the next year or so will add many thousands of photos to LR.  At some point switching becomes impossible

 

Unless of course the DAM will import LR edits

[Ron P.]

I had to cancel my CC Photography bundle, but I am still using the current perpetual LR version. I've become very accustom to LR. I also have On1 Raw, and they just added a catalog feature, but I'm not using it. 

I ran the trial to Affinity Photo and subsequently purchased it, hoping it will help fill the PS void. I do almost all my photo processing in LR. So far I'm having a few problems with sending a photo from LR to Affinity and then getting it back in LR. I read where this is suppose to be possible. Hopefully it is and just a small glitch where the install of AP changed the PSD file association. I manually removed AP from that.

Until this thread I had no idea that Serif was even considering a DAM, which right now is not a deal breaker for me. I'll still use LR, just needing something to replace PS.

[pugwash]

Like many photographers I would like to ditch Adobe products, I don't like the subscription model. We are spoilt for choice with Ps replacements, Pixelmator, On1, Affinity, Luminar etc. Unfortunately none of them have a DAM that comes anywhere near offering the functionality of Lr. On1 have tried, but to my mind it still has a long way to go. I've tried Capture one but didn't like it.

 

There are two browsers that are promising, XnViewMP and NeoFinder, but neither have proper access to .afphoto files as Serif have not released technical details of the file format not provided a Spotlight plugin so metadata in not available. If they do not intend to release a DAM in the near future they should make it possible for third parties to access metadata so users can have an efficient workflow which does not involve Lr.

[ColinG]

I have no problem with the subscription model fortunately. Adobe CC gives me a very nice DAM and editor in LR along with PS which does everything that Affinity Photo does. These are mature products and its is my guess that the 2017 release of LR will attend to the speed issues (not that they are too bad here). To be honest all this talk of a DAM is pointless in my books - all you will get is a reincarnation of LR anyway. Look at On1 - it is getting there now but what does their DAM do that LR does not. And there is a stand alone license for LR anyway so you do not have to go subscription.

[KC Honie]

On October 7, 2017 at 9:19 AM, ColinG said:

And there is a stand alone license for LR anyway so you do not have to go subscription.

 

If my memory serves correctly, LR6 will be the last stand alone version of LR

[KC Honie]

With the Adobe's announcement of Lightroom CC (and cloud only storage) and depreciation of Lightroom Classic CC is it time to strike with Affinity DAM while the iron is hot...