How does one begin to give a first glance on the supposed Photoshop Killer that is Affinity Photo? I’m a windows guy, and wanted to test it ever since it was announced. Finally, there is a windows beta out there that I could download for free and take it for a spin. I’ve decided to keep this as focused as possible in order to be both useful and friendly to your time.
Affinity Photo debuts Photoshop alternative for Windows in free public beta
Initially announced a few months ago, Affinity Photo for Windows has been anxiously awaited. Today, it’s finally here in the form of a completely free public beta. Hailed as the only real potential competitor to Photoshop, Affinity Photo’s Windows debut opens it up to a much wider audience. With the current cost of “free” lasting throughout the public beta period, it will be interesting to see how many are won over.
Affinity Photo for the Mac has received many favourable reviews, and it was chosen as Apple’s “App of the Year” in 2015. So, it already has a pretty strong following. Having had a brief play with the beta myself, it does take some getting used to if you’ve been using Photoshop for a couple of decades. But, it’s fairly easy to get used to the differences in layout and workflow.
Affinity Photo: can it give Adobe a run for its money?
I am currently in the market for a Lightroom replacement. It’s a story involving a dead laptop and Adobe’s business practices, which are simultaneously too mundane and too incendiary to address, so I shall not indulge you with the details. But a Lightroom replacement is a tall order. First, and most obviously because Lightroom’s reputation precedes it. Second, because I have an extensive history with Lightroom. Still, the plunge must be taken.
One of the students at the Photocritic Photography School mentioned Affinity Photo a little while back, and now seemed as good a moment as any to take it for a spin using its 14 day free trial. Affinity Photo has had a few mentions here on DIYP, but no in depth review since it came out of beta for Mac in July last year, so it also seemed reasonable to share my findings with you, lovely readers. (Please be aware, I’m coming at this from the perspective of a Lightroom user. I don’t tend to use Photoshop all that much.)
Interview with Photoshop contender, Affinity – iPad pro, Windows, demos and future plans
Photoshop contender, Affinity Photo, made a big splash about two weeks ago when they announced that they are rolling out a windows Beta, effectively more than doubling their potential market.
We caught up with Affinity managing director Ashley Hewson at the UK Photography show (full TPS report here) to talk about Affinity’s future plans, their Windows Beta and how they will integrate with the iPad Pro. Hit the jump for a quick summary and some of my thoughts.
Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer coming soon to Windows
Mac owners have had the opportunity to make use of applications Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer for almost a year now, but that the software has only been available for the Mac has been a frustration for Windows based photographers stuck in the Adobe world with no real viable alternative.
Now, that’s all about to change, with Serif’s announcement today that Affinity Photo and Designer applications are coming to Windows.
Affinity Photo Out Of Beta – $50, no subscription
If you don’t like the Adobe licensing model, or if you are just craving for an alternative, Affinity Photo just went live today. Affinity photo is a complete photo editing software similar to photoshop in features but redesigned completely. If you recall, we took Affinity Photo for a test drive and while the overall impressions were pretty good, it still needed some polishing. Hopefully, now that it’s out of beta (still mac only), all the small issues have been ironed out.
As far as costs go, Affinity really sticks it to Adobe with a $49.99 price tag ($39.99 for the next two weeks) and one of the most prominent bullets on their launch video is No Subscription (but you still get free updates). Hit the jump for the full feature list and kick off video.
Timelapse Showing High End Retouching using Affinity Photo
Ever since Affinity Photo was announced we were wondering how it will match up to Photoshop. Dracorubio took it for a round and was ok with it, though not overly impressed. Now photographer Felix Barjou gave it a spin for a full retouch session.
The retouch is sped up to about two and half minutes and for me it was not trivial to see any major differences in the workflow vs. the predominant Photoshop alternative. Can you?
Felix tells us that “This software is pretty cool. The corrector tool is more powerful than Photoshop, but some small things are missing, like invert a layer mask, keyboard shortcuts for wacom users and such, but it is still a beta version”
As a PSA, Affinity Photo is still available as a free Beta, though we aren’t sure what ill happen to all the beta users once the software is completed.
Affinity Photo – First Impressions: Inpainting Brush; Photoshop Plugins; Frequency Separation
Following up on the yesterday’s post about a possible Photoshop alternative in the works, named Affinity Photo (which is currently in Beta, and the Beta is free for download).
Calling an application an alternative to Photoshop is no small thing. Photoshop has been an industry standard for years, and has built up an enormous user base in almost every field of digital image creation.
I’ve been running Affinity Photo for a few hours now, seeing where it goes and how it holds up. Now keep in mind this is Beta software, so not everything works just yet or as it should be. But working with the software can certainly give a direction on where it is going.
New High-End Real Alternative To Photoshop – Can It Shake The Paradigm? (+ Free Beta)
Photoshop is practically the standard of editing today. Sure everyone will say “Open your editing software”, but what they mean is start Photoshop. There is a good reason for that too. Adobe (and Photoshop) have been in the market for a really long time, they have experience and PS integrate nicely with the Creative Cloud. There are some options out there, but none are considered as fully featured and rounded as Photoshop, which (like microsoft word in their days) make it the de-facto standard.
But all this is about to change if Affinity Photo will have their say.
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