Imports desaturated

[DCLaForce]

I've been using Affinity Photo for over a year now, haven't changed anything, but when I tried to upload pictures this afternoon, everything was intensely desaturated. The colors look correct in preview, but when I open it, the colors just aren't there. I've already uninstalled and reinstalled. Any help would be appreciated.

[Ron P.]

Welcome to the forums @DCLaForce,

When you view a RAW file, CR2 in your case, in an image viewer, or on the small screen on the back of your camera, you're viewing an embedded jpg file. The jpg file has processed the RAW data according to settings in your camera, and provides the jpg so you can have  a preview of your image. Until you process/develop the image that's what you will see.

When you open the RAW file in Affinity Develop persona, you have the option of having some tonal adjustments automatically applied through the Assistant Manager. If you have Take no action set, then RAW images will appear dull, maybe a little washed out. This is normal, and also it gives you more control over how you want your image to appear.

Serif has numerous tutorial videos to help you understand their apps. For this go to the Affinity Photo Official Tutorials and scroll down to the Raw Development section.

[lepr]

.

[Ron P.]

26 minutes ago, >|< said:

On macOS, which the OP is using, Finder and Preview display an image generated from the raw data, not the embedded JPEG.

Ok so how does that happen? So Mac's process RAW data just like any processing app? I would think it has to be something very similar to what Affinity Photo does in the Develop persona, by automatically applying Exposure bias, Tone Curve. Does the Mac OS retrieve those from what the camera has set, ie; what the camera applies to create a jpg? RAW has to be processed somehow, by something to be viewed. Windows did provide the necessary codec to view them in Explorer, but that's just providing the embedded jpg. My RAW images which are Canon's CR2 also, appear much better in Explorer than when I open them in Develop, because I don't want Affinity applying what it thinks they should look like.

Mac OS must rely on the settings dictated by the Camera settings for jpg. I doubt it can process hundreds of RAW images quickly to be viewed in Finder, or an image viewer. I was curious about this so done some searching. What I found was that Mac OSX uses the embedded jpg. https://gentlemencoders.com/how-raw-works-on-ios/

[lepr]

.

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, >|< said:

My raw files are 24 megapixels. Finder's Quick Look generates and displays an image in approximately one second. Preview app does it in about half a second.

How do you know they're not using the embedded JPG preview?

[lepr]

On 4/6/2019 at 3:47 PM, walt.farrell said:

How do you know they're not using the embedded JPG preview?

.

[R C-R]

10 hours ago, Ron P. said:

Ok so how does that happen? So Mac's process RAW data just like any processing app?

AFAIK, Preview.app & Quick Look use Apple's 'Core Image RAW' engine for this, similar to the Develop Assistant option in the Mac version of Affinity Photo to use the Apple instead of the Serif Labs one.

On my old & slow iMac, the time it takes Preview.app or Quick Look to generate the image varies considerably depending on RAW file size, its extension (like nef, cr2, or dng), & possibly the camera model & if the image was recently opened (so there is a memory-resident cached version). Sometimes it is as short as a second or so; other times closer to 8-10 seconds for large files.

[v_kyr]

9 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

How do you know they're not using the embedded JPG preview?

They tell you here the way they handle it.

[walt.farrell]

23 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

They tell you here the way they handle it.

I did not ask about FastRawViewer, but about Preview and Finder. And >|< provided a good empirical answer.

[v_kyr]

14 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I did not ask about FastRawViewer...

Ah Ok didn't checked/saw  that assumed FRV was meant.

[DCLaForce]

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

@Ron P.  I took a look at the menu options that you suggested, but nothing changed no matter how I changed the settings. The pictures that I took with my old T6 2 weeks ago look perfectly fine. The only thing that's changed is my camera; so I have to assume it's some kind of compatibility issue. Raw files that I opened from my T6 were well saturated and contrasted, and only required minor adjustments. The pictures from the 77d are all showing up like the one above and I can't even get them back to looking as good as they did in the preview.

[Ron P.]

Have you tried running the current customer beta? It runs parallel to the release version. You might give it a try. You can download it here

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/82704-affinity-photo-customer-beta-170116/

[v_kyr]

Or with the release version (since you are on a Mac and probably under an actual MacOS) try to change the used RAW engine from the Serif one to the Apple one instead. You can do so via accessing the top button Assistence Settings panel and there then clicking on the Development Assistent button for the Mac version. Note that you have to restart APh afterwards.

[DCLaForce]

20 hours ago, v_kyr said:

Or with the release version (since you are on a Mac and probably under an actual MacOS) try to change the used RAW engine from the Serif one to the Apple one instead. You can do so via accessing the top button Assistence Settings panel and there then clicking on the Development Assistent button for the Mac version. Note that you have to restart APh afterwards.

Tried that one. No change.

[DCLaForce]

20 hours ago, Ron P. said:

Have you tried running the current customer beta? It runs parallel to the release version. You might give it a try. You can download it here

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/82704-affinity-photo-customer-beta-170116/

Oooh, I didn't know that was a thing. I'll check it out shortly. Thank you.

[DCLaForce]

Yup. It works perfectly in the new Beta.