Affinity Photo 1.5 for Mac and Windows

[Richard Williams]

<p>Serif has just launched Affinity Photo 1.5, with significant new features. It's the first version to be released on Windows, and is a free update to existing Mac users:</p>

<p>http://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/photo/new-features/</p>

<p>For new purchasers, it's discounted to £30 GBP / $40 USD / 40 Euros until 22 Dec.</p>

<p> </p>

[Glenn McCreery]

<p>Thanks for the alert. I updated. It looks like Affinity Photo is now getting closer to Photoshop in capability (but still not quite there).</p>

[Richard Williams]

<p>I'm really interested to see where they take this. It's already capable enough for me, except for raw processing, for which I use third party software anyway (even with PS). There are a few PS things I miss (e.g. fixed aspect ratios aren't available in the rectangular marquee, only the crop tool), and I'm not entirely convinced by the need for 'personas'. I also wish I could selectively switch off Windows 10's display scaling for this application. I like to use a global setting of 150%, but not for everything - Affinity's interface elements take up a lot of screen real estate when display upscaling is active, and it ignores the application-specific 'disable display scaling' compatibility setting.</p>

<p>Affinity Designer, their alternative to Illustrator, is also excellent, while Publisher (cf InDesign) and some sort of DAM application (it's unclear if this will be closer to Bridge or Lightroom) are in the pipeline. In a couple of years we'll probably have a rather complete alternative to the sadly discontinued (and perpetually licensed) Adobe CS Design Standard bundle (except for Acrobat).</p>

[g_richards]

<p>Right now I use Lyn for my cataloging of images. I used to use Aperture for just about all my image processing & cataloging until Apple did away with that program. Today, I find myself spread out using various software. I hope one of these days, I can just use one program. Maybe when Affinity has a DAM solution they might be the answer. My understanding is that Affinity is now capable of working with Apple's Photos software so maybe one could use Photos for cataloging and Affinity for processing? Anyone here doing that?</p>

[Richard Williams]

<p>I don't edit on a Mac, but it looks like there are some Affinity extensions for Apple Photos:<br>

http://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-9492<br>

There is also a third party extension that lets you configure any editor as an external editor for Apple Photos:<br>

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/external-editors-for-photos/id1074021862<br>

I do wonder about the future of standalone Lightroom in the CC era - will Adobe continue to offer it with a perpetual licence, or will it be absorbed by the Cloud?</p>