Affinity Photo Windows (Beta)

<p>Just got a message from Serif that Affinity Photo is available for download, as beta version for Windows users. I have not tested or downloaded the software yet, that will have to wait till later today, but it is nice that Windows users have the option to use it now.</p>

<p>I've been waiting for this for a good while, and now my desktop is in a box and the desk that should go under it still in some shop - eager to try this out, but it'll have to wait a bit :-( I've got Serif's current photo editor (PhotoPlus X8), and while it may not look like much, it's a surprising well-rounded package and works really well for most things. I hope Affinity takes this to a next level, a better affordable alternative to Photoshop sure won't hurt.</p>

<p>I'm impressed. It's fast and slick and has (for my use) a comprehensive tool set. I'll be buying this when it's final, as I've just bought Affinity Designer (which is currently on offer at a launch price of £30 GBP). Photo and Designer are together likely to replace CS Design Standard on new machines at work (we don't do anything that justifies a CC subscription). If I'm being critical, some aspects of the Photo interface will seem arbitrarily different to PS users - I'm not really convinced by the need for Personas, and quite a few tools are only available via the Studio panel, which (when active) takes up a fair bit of screen real estate on my systems with custom display scaling enabled. The raw processing functions aren't competitive with ACR, though for me this isn't a problem (I use third party raw developers).</p>