AP decreases quality of pictures

[Canvas]

Hi :)

Whenever I open one of my pictures with AP it gets blurrier than the original. I especially see it when zooming in. The difference is not that huge but still a problem for me, as I need sharp pictures of my artworks. The screenshots show the difference.

Does anybody know what the problem could be?

Thanks in advance!

[Gabe]

Hi @Canvas,

Welcome to the forums. 

Can you attach the original file, please? 

Thanks,

Gabe. 

[Canvas]

Hi @GabrielM

Of course, here it is.

[Gabe]

I can't see any difference between Affinity Photo and other apps. What App did you use to preview it? Some preview apps will smooth or sharpen the photo. 

[Canvas]

@GabrielM I simply used "Preview" from my mac. 

[Gabe]

Preview is pretty bad at colour management. A good example to show this would be to take a screenshot of your photo while opened in Preview, and open the screenshot next to your picture. You will see that the screenshot looks different. A quick test I've done. I actually took it a step further and took a second screenshot of the first screenshot. From left to right, you have the original photo, screenshot of the original screenshot of the screenshot. 

[Canvas]

@GabrielM Hm...but it actually even looks worse if I open the original in AP. If I open the image in Preview it is at least as sharp as in the original however if I open it with AP it gets very unsharp. This is what I tried to show with the first two screenshots. The upper one is opened in Preview whereas the lower one is opened in AP. 

 

[Gabe]

I've checked our app preview against 2 different apps (Photoshop and the basic Paint) and they all show the same "blurred" image. I believe the Preview might add some sort of sharpness to the image. 

[Canvas]

@GabrielM Okey, thank you. Then I'll have to find a way to take sharper pictures in the first place.

[Gabe]

13 minutes ago, Canvas said:

@GabrielM Okey, thank you. Then I'll have to find a way to take sharper pictures in the first way.

That, or you can use our sharpening tools. Have a look at some tutorials: 

Finishing Off

• Sharpening
• Selective Sharpening

[Canvas]

@GabrielM Thank you!

[Canvas]

7 hours ago, >|< said:

Preview does not sharpen an image when zoomed in.

 

 

6 hours ago, >|< said:

 

If you indeed are developing raw files with Affinity Photo, note that it applies no sharpening by default, whereas other raw developers often apply a default sharpening.

 

 

Thanks for your answers. But does Preview sharpen it now or not? 

[PopstarNZ]

I'm not convinced the feedback given in regards to this question is right.

I just did a quick experiment where I used Graphic Converter top open and convert my NEF file to Tiff (to prevent any compression issues) and open that into Affinity Design Vs Open the NEF and develop in Affinity Design. The second path had loss in sharpness.

There is something in the way the Affinity Design is opening the file

If someone could find a fix for this I would be grateful.

Edited October 15, 2020 by PopstarNZ
upload pic

[Gabe]

Hi @PopstarNZ,

Welcome to the forums. 

When you converted your NEF to TIFF, that software "developed"/processed the file. If it was a 1 click process, it most likely will noise reduct/sharpen your image, more like an in-camera processing when shooting jpeg. We don't add any sharpness to the developing process, as this can be controlled by the user in Develop Persona. 

[lepr]

There is something very strange about PopstarNZ's screenshot. The px rulers of each document window are being displayed at equal scale, but the title bars of the windows say the view scale for the NEF is twice the view scale for the TIFF. The NEF is being displayed by one screen pixel per view pixel, whereas the TIFF is being displayed by four screen pixels per view pixel. In other words, the 25.3% view of the TIFF is being "pixel doubled" for display. Does anybody know why the TIFF is being displayed that way?

[Old Bruce]

@anon2 I would think the different view's zoom level is down to different DPI/PPI in the two photos. This may also be part of the difference in perceived quality.

[lepr]

21 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

@anon2 I would think the different view's zoom level is down to different DPI/PPI in the two photos

Sorry, but you've missed the points:

• the px rulers are at the same scale
• the TIFF view is "pixel doubled"

[AlainP]

@anon2, you're right about his post. On one of the images he posted the zoom is twice as much so the resolution of the picture has to be twice as low, so it get "pixellated" once zoomed.

This seems to be a bias comparaison (maybe not intended) by @PopstarNZ who has only one post on this forum.

[lepr]

5 minutes ago, AlainP said:

@anon2, you're right about his post. On one of the images he posted the zoom is twice as much so the resolution of the picture has to be twice as low, so it get "pixellated" once zoomed.

That doesn't explain the "pixel doubling" when zoomed out to 25.3%. "Pixel doubling" is expected when zoomed in to 200%.

[Gabe]

That's an interesting finding @anon2 . I can't replicate it here from scratch though. Perhaps @PopstarNZ can attach the original files?