What's the Difference Between Affinity Photo and Photoshop?

[TheDesertBoy]

Hi,

 

So I'm here off the back of an - amazingly presented - YouTube advert for Affinity Photo. I am just starting to get into photography and would love a program to post-process my images. I've done a bit of research on this program and I must say it does look very good, especially at that price point, but I was just wondering if there are any notable features missing in this program that are present in photoshop. Or, even any features that this program has that photoshop doesn't.

 

I've looked at the FAQ and haven't found this question there but feel free to remove this post mods and link me if there is a pinned thread somewhere. Thanks for any help :)

[Busenitz]

Several hundred dollars a year?  :-)

 

I'll leave a serious answer to someone more qualified than myself.  

[Medical Officer Bones]

Off the top of my hat:

Affinity Photo misses:

- 3d features

- 3d printing features

- animation, timeline

- video timeline

- scripting

- 1bit and indexed bitmap support

 

The things missing for photography:

- smart objects and live smart filters (but Affinity Photo offers a wide range of non-destructive filters as well)

- non-destructive RAW editing (which is to be added in a future version)

- layer distortion (but a perspective filter is available)

- duotones, tritones, or hexachrome support (which may be important to professional photographers looking to print their work at a high quality)

- spot channels (which is forthcoming in a new version)

 

 

Having said this, 3d in Photoshop is pretty terrible (you're better off downloading the free and open source Blender that is by FAR superior in this regard), and if you need video/animation much better free and commercial software is available as well. I never used the ones built into Photoshop - far too limiting in my opinion.

 

Photoshop import is quite adequate, but understandably will always remain a hit and miss affair.

 

On the other hand, a number of features arguably work better than the equivalent ones in Photoshop: for example the layer masks, the fact that all transformations are by default non-destructive, advanced layer blending, a nice curve option for anti-aliasing, the grid, 360degree photo editing (still a bit limited, though), and the way many tools are implemented.

 

Roadmap: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/10075-affinity-photo-feature-roadmap

[TheDesertBoy]

Off the top of my hat:

Affinity Photo misses:

- 3d features

- 3d printing features

- animation, timeline

- video timeline

- scripting

- 1bit and indexed bitmap support

 

The things missing for photography:

- smart objects and live smart filters (but Affinity Photo offers a wide range of non-destructive filters as well)

- non-destructive RAW editing (which is to be added in a future version)

- layer distortion (but a perspective filter is available)

- duotones, tritones, or hexachrome support (which may be important to professional photographers looking to print their work at a high quality)

- spot channels (which is forthcoming in a new version)

 

 

Having said this, 3d in Photoshop is pretty terrible (you're better off downloading the free and open source Blender that is by FAR superior in this regard), and if you need video/animation much better free and commercial software is available as well. I never used the ones built into Photoshop - far too limiting in my opinion.

 

Photoshop import is quite adequate, but understandably will always remain a hit and miss affair.

 

On the other hand, a number of features arguably work better than the equivalent ones in Photoshop: for example the layer masks, the fact that all transformations are by default non-destructive, advanced layer blending, a nice curve option for anti-aliasing, the grid, 360degree photo editing (still a bit limited, though), and the way many tools are implemented.

 

Roadmap: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/10075-affinity-photo-feature-roadmap

 

Thanks for the detailed reply :) The only missing thing there that I'd want is non-destructive RAW editing - would you know are rough timescale for an update including that? Like,, a month, 6 months or a year? Thanks

[Medical Officer Bones]

Unsure... According to their roadmap it ought to be included before version 1.6 is released, I believe? I suppose 1.6 will be released sometime this year, and I'd be very surprised if non-destructive RAW editing would not be part of that update. It is one of the most requested things.

 

I think the devs are working on smart object like options that would integrate the non-destructive RAW feature as well.

 

But again, I am not privy to their internal development. Perhaps one of the devs might chime in here to elucidate further on this matter?

[R C-R]

In Affinity Photo RAW editing is destructive in the sense that once a RAW file is developed, you can't go back to the "undeveloped" state to change the develop settings & develop it again. But this does not delete or otherwise affect the original RAW file, so if worst comes to worst, you can open it & try different develop settings, creating a new afphoto file.

[Pollux]

Hello,

@R C-R,

In Photoshop is stored in the background during the development an xmp file,
You can not create the file at the end of the development, but with click on the finished xmp save the file and somehow work with it,
There is nothing lost, you change later just as you would like the settings in another direction, which can be an advantage.

In Affinity Photo this is not provided but you have the possibility to save your settings, although somewhat more complicated, but goes.
The cumbersome thing is, it is not automatically saved by clicking on finished and you have to save in each individual report of the developer its presets. With some imagination, this is approximately the same as the one achieved with the xmp automatically.Man can not develop a picture also, and later the settings further complete or change.

Pollux

[rmar]

The key for me is the statement "just starting to get into photography".

 

The deciding factor is the price imo. AP has a lot of photoshops power without the high price tag. Combine it with the (now free) NIK Collection and you have a killer combination.

 

It's still at Version 1 so there will be many more free updates coming prior to a V2. There is a list that covers the developers plans somewhere on these forums, plus a lot of feature requests that they might incorporate to satisfy photoshop experts.