WDCash Loc: Milford, Delaware, USA

I just downloaded a 90 day free trial of Affinity. I have been using Lightroom with the Creative Cloud subscription and think it serves me very well, when I am activly taking puctures.
However, as hard as it might be for some to think, I sometimes go weeks or even months, sometimes, without picking up a camera.
The $10 a month subscription fee seems a bargin, at times like now, when Im taking and editing alot of photos. But strangly buggs me during the times when Im not using it.

I prefer to shoot RAW so I need to be able to process my photos. But the catalog database in Lightroom is mostly unutalized, at least so far, for me.

So Im trying out Affinity as an alternative.

If you have used Affinity or have another "for purchase" RAW editors to suggest please speak up.

I may very well end up back with LR. Time will tell

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Affinity is a great raster editor and the best bargain hands down if you want to use a raster editor to process your photos.

Affinity's raw processing module is poor -- enough so that you should avoid it. That doesn't mean don't use Affinity but get your raw conversion done with some other software and then continue processing with AP.

There are other good options to handle raw conversion -- even free options like Raw Therapee. DXO PL3 is excellent.

Joe

Lucian Loc: From Wales, living in Ohio

Take a look at On1 RAW as well as the whole Topaz Labs suite. With Topaz you can buy as little or as much as you want from their suite and unlike all the others, they give FREE UPGRADES for life, you never spend another penny on it. I have used it for more than ten years and never paid a penny more for all the upgrade over the years. I did make new purchases as they brought out new things, but again, it is free to upgrade as the new versions come out. They are an excellent company.

I stopped with Photoshop the day they started the monthly ransom charges and never looked back. CS 6 did everything I have needed over the years, and buy it once and own it forever, no monthly charge to keep it on your computer. You might look around to find an old copy of CS6 to buy somewhere. Both On1 and Topaz are well worth the money, do check them out, plus easy to use.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Rawtherapee has come a long way and it is very powerful. For the sporadic use the OP indicated, I would suggest RT over darktable just for ease of use.

Oh, and to emphasize, their is no associated cost

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

If you are looking for things do do with your "no shooting" time, explore the rest of what you are getting. Look into the content aware features in Photoshop. Try out connecting the Lightroom on your phone to the Lightroom Classic on your computer. Try Portfolio. Pick out some old RAWs, make a Virtual Copy and try the AI powered Auto button in the Develop module. "Playing" with this stuff is a lot more fun than watching TV at night!

At times it seems that Adobe has run out of things to add to Lightroom Classic. Those of us that see the subscription as the only source for our old favorite program, we can miss what Adobe has been spending their fortune on. The Adobe "ecosystem" is full of new creative and interesting stuff!

My "real camera" sees some shelf time too. What my cell phone/pocket camera does with Lightroom is "blowing me away"!

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

If you do cancel your Adobe subscription, remember that the Library module will continue to work even when the Develop module stops.

Jeffers

Photoshop Elements is still "for purchase" and has a very good Raw processor. You do have to process each image individually.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Elements is a great and affordable editor, especially for those who don't need all the features of PhotoShop and don't want to deal with the learning curve. However, its raw processor is a lite version of the Adobe Camera Raw module found in PhotoShop, and any experienced Lightroom user would almost certainly be very dissatisfied using it.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Affinity is a great program but the weak link is the Develop persona, its raw processing module. It lacks a very significant number of important features found in the best raw editors like Lightroom, Capture One, ON1, and DXO PhotoLab Elite. If you are an experienced Lightroom user the Develop persona would probably disappoint. However, You can download a free trial and check it out yourself. Plus, Affinity is currently selling at 50% off at $24.99 for the next week or two.

WDCash Loc: Milford, Delaware, USA

And I just signed up for a trial use of Topaz "suite 2?" Not sure if that is the correct name. We are so blessed to have so many choices available.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I’m having a hard time reconciling those two statements.

Food for thought... if you also go weeks or months between using the software then learning a new software will be harder. But maybe affinity is more intuitive. That would help given infrequent use.

Please post the results of you trial, and your assessment of Affinity, here for others to see.

francwoods

I've been using Photolab 3 from DxO for the RAW (non-destructive) output 16 bit tiff and then use Affinity Photo to finish. DxO also has the Nik Collection (originally from Google) and they plugin to Affinity as well.

Jimmy T Loc: Virginia

I have five Topaz AI products and I love them! However, before you commit and purchase there are three VERY important things that you should know.
a. Go online to their website and read the minimum and recommended required computer capabilities for each program. https://topazlabs.com/gigapixel-ai/
b. I have a gaming computer with 16GB of RAM and a 4.00gh Intel Core i7-6700K processor. Some processes take from 15 seconds to >+2 minutes to complete when applied.
c. Free updates: "Starting in August 2020, we will charge for product upgrades to DeNoise AI, Sharpen AI, Gigapixel AI, and Mask AI," source - https://community.topazlabs.com/t/ongoing-product-value-and-paid-upgrades/13299?utm_source=Topaz+Updates&utm_campaign=6ee379e38b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_08_30_10_18_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5e4dd8652a-6ee379e38b-92602881&mc_cid=6ee379e38b&mc_eid=c9be7297b0
Like I said above, I have five Topaz AI products and I love them!
I'm not sure that I would have committed to Topaz if I had known the above.
Smile,
JimmyT Sends

Delderby Loc: Derby UK

It would be useful if you could identify the Raw facilities that are missing or inadequate from Affinity - given that Affinity is a Raster editor in common with PhotoShop and others.

Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains

I have processed at least a thousand RAW files in Affinity Photo and cannot identify the deficiencies that Joe states are present in AP almost everytime a thread on AP appears on this forum. I have never needed to use a second program. Joe is enormously knowledgable in this field, far above me, but I believe he has expectations of the Develop Persona that are not what it is designed to do, or needs to do. According to the Affinity Photo Workbook, which I would encourage the OP to also purchase if he purchases the program, the Develop Persona's function is to pepare the file for editing in the other Personas.

To the OP, I would suggest you do a forum search for Affinity Photo and that should find numerous threads on your question, including some where Joe describes in great detail the problems he sees with AP. I would encourage you to make a decision as to purchasing it based on your own experience during the trial period. Lightroom was the first editing/processing program I used and AP is, IMHO, a much more advanced editing tool than LR (some professional reviewers say that AP is nearly as capable, or as capable, as Photoshop), although AP does not have a storage and file organizing feature like LR. After LR I subsequently tried several other programs before, after a trial period, settling on AP, which for me was the most intuitive and had the easiest learning curve, although this varies from person to person. Just my experience and opinions, FWIW.