File | New HDR merge... doesn't apply automatic lens correction not applied to individual RAW files

[Richard Liu]

Is there some reason why automatic lens distortion corrections that are applied to a single RAW file when the assistant is so configured, are not applied to RAW files that participate in File | New HDR merge... ?  It would seem to be one of the more evident things to do.  Now I find myself having to remove pin cushion and barrel distortion in a separate step.

I am running ver. 1.6.7 on a Mac.

[walt.farrell]

Probably for the same reason that using raw files in a batch job gives less satisfactory results. Many of the standard assistants are not applied unless files are developed manually.

[Richard Liu]

Thanks for the reply.  Other than the issue at hand, the results seem perfectly fine when I use the the RAW files directly instead of developing them individually first.  I have the Develop Assistant configured not to use a tone curve and to apply color noise reduction.  As far as I am aware, Affinity Photo does not support batch development (but correct me if I'm wrong).  Thus, manually developing even a half-dozen RAW files could be rather tedious, even if the "development" consists only in opening the RAW file and clicking Develop.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Richard Liu said:

As far as I am aware, Affinity Photo does not support batch development (but correct me if I'm wrong).

It does support that. You can use File > New Batch Job and select RAW files as the input and it will work. However, as the various Develop Assistant settings are not applied (or applied differently?) some users have reported sub-optimum results.

[Richard Liu]

Oh, I hadn't noticed that.  Must try it.  Thanks.

[Richard Liu]

Just tried batch job.  No joy.  I can at least confirm that, despite being configured in the Develop Assistant, lens correction is not applied to any RAW files in a batch job.  I have no idea whether any of the configurable default actions in the Develop Assistant are honored.  Viewing the situation from the end of a forty-year career in IT, given the fact that macros that can be applied to batch jobs are created and run in the Photo Persona, then some minimal development -- to use Affinity Photo's terminology -- must be performed on a RAW file before it can be processed by any macros.  One such minimal development might have been to (virtually) open the RAW file, perform any default actions, and "click Develop."  Performing default actions configured in the Develop Assistant could be an option in Batch Job.  As things stand now, it is unclear what Affinity Photo is doing to a RAW file that it encounters in a batch job before handing it over to the Photo Persona, and, above all, why it should be doing anything differently than when a RAW file is opened manually.

[walt.farrell]

There are other thread that describe what is happening. What is clear is that improvements are needed, and if I remember correctly Serif has agreed, but we don't know a priority or timeframe.