Is Affinity better than Adobe? [ 1-year review ]
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- čas přidán 5. 07. 2024
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It's been just over a year since I switched from Adobe Creative Cloud to the Affinity suite by Serif, and this unsolicited video is all about my personal experience.
Time Stamps
00:00 Intro
01:25 Affinity's true capability
02:06 How the Affinity desktop and iPad versions work together
02:46 Strong, powerful and streamlined
03:22 Affinity's strong connection to their community
04:12 This is Affinity's most valuable attribute as a suite
04:46 The most important reason why Affinity beats Adobe
06:21 Adobe is still the king... for now
08:37 The lesson Adobe should really learn from
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If you have more specific questions about my Affinity experience, hit me up in the comments.
What do you use to organize your photos? I switched from Aperture when Apple killed it to Affinity Photo when it came out and at first was somewhat angry because I had to alter my workflow with regard to organizing the files. Now I use a combination of finder and Apple Photos to organize photos.
@@tayloriginals999 I’m an old time user of Aperture too and it took me awhile to find what I needed as a replacement for Aperture too. After having tried a variety of options, including Lightroom, I finally settled with Capture One and have been using it regularly for 5 years now. It is not the cheapest solution on the market but for me the quality of the output outweighed other considerations. It is both an organizer of your photos and an advanced raw editor with the added possibility to work in layers with the raw file. They offer dedicated versions for Nikon, Fuji and Sony for a reduced price, if that’s practical for you. You can either get a copy for a one-time fee or as a monthly prescription plan. I don’t have the exact pricing now, so you better go to their website to find out.
If it’s just an organizer for your photos you need I can recommend Photomechanics for that.
@@tayloriginals999 I take a tremendously tedious approach to self organization that I learned through my time as a magazine art director, long before apps like Bridge. Even when I had that app, I didn’t use it that often because my system worked for me.
Does Affinity Photo have spot removal? I've found this surprisingly missing from a couple of Lightroom alternatives
Brother I own 3 versions of infinity and unfortunately for me. I’m not doing anything with them because I rent Photoshop & lightroom. A few minutes of your opinion is OK!!! I don’t want to hear a whole tutorial on your opinion. I could found out about how all programs interacted with one another in the first minute of your video. If you did five instructions on how to use any of the programs later in your video. You lost me with all your opinion comments . Hope you take this as a useful note to you rather than a put down!!!
I've bought all 3 of their apps for half off. I dont even need Affinity Design or Publisher since I just do photography. I just like the fact that for $75 total I can have a whole creative suite to explore my creativity.
Yeah, even at full price, it’s a deal, but way better at half off.
ADOBE user for 30 years.. dropped it like a hot cake for AFFINITY!!!
Same
Same. Affinity is an absolute joy to work in.
Same. 10 years of Adobe. Dropped it like it was hot but not in a good way. Never looked back from Affinity
Not 30 years for me but certainly almost 20. Seems SO much easier on affinity. Although I do miss being able to do small animations which I could do in PS that I can't do in affinity.
@@ArtByEmilyHare I still own CS6 but I rarely open it... but yes there are some things missing but I look at more of what Affinity can do VS cannot.
At the Studio we use 50% Adobe 50% Affinity... and I really think We'll be 100% Affinity by the end of 2021... I've been an Adobe user for almost 20 years
Good to hear from someone using the apps in a studio setting. Thanks.
Used Adobe 20+ years myself, switched to Affinity suite a year ago, and have loved every minute. It just makes sense in so many ways.
So... It's 2022. Did it happen?
@@iggyboyo not to 100%, but now we move from Affinity to Adobe back and forward everyday... in fact there are a few things we do exclusively on Affinity,.. it's faster and better results...
I also love the fact that Affinity adapted their software for the new m1 chip before Adobe! They are showing them up as they are more responsive and ready to adapt.
100%. Just the fact that Adobe held so firmly onto Flash for so long shows exactly where Adobe's head is at.
Affinity has always been more Mac-friendly than Windows (it was released on Mac way before PC). The opposite is kinda true for Adobe.
Or maybe they just had a much easier job to do given the scale and scope of their software. Adobe would logically need more time.
I just hate it that even if I pay ridiculously high price for 10 years I still don’t own the software 😓
yep, you're renting.
Softwear from 10 years ago runs like crap or not at all.
I don’t rent my home. I don’t lease a car. I’m certainly not going to rent software. Their finance department has determined that it’s the best way to squeeze maximum dollars out of their users - plain and simple.
@@thisislilalice That's definitely not true of Adobe software. I used Adobe CS3 for 10 years and I still have it installed on my PC, Windows 10. In fact, Adobe went through some trouble to make sure that people who continue to use CS3, and CS2 could still install, and license the software. They created new installers and issued new serial numbers because they upgraded their system on their end which would have made it impossible to license the software. But in terms of using the software day to day, it's flawless. The same can not be said for every software, and also. as much as I love MacOS, its ruthlessly backwards incompatible. No way to install old software on a relatively new MacOS. As much as I dislike Windows, this is one area where they have always been better. And of course, Adobe too. Also, Serif's old discontinued DrawPlus still works fine on Windows 10. Actually, it works better on Windows 10. Much more stable and problems with the stylus use and paths are happening less often. I have some software from the year 2000 that I'm still running on Windows.
@@KuttyJoe you’re at a disadvantage using software from 2007 in 2021
I'm working in a training center and we've been Adobe training center for few years but it cost us few thousands bucks per year, so we're now in the process of switching to Affinity.
Right on. Thanks for watching.
Just switched to Affinity as well! Works a lot better on my Mac so far
Glad you're enjoy the apps.
Adobe look like have secret contract with microsoft.
Usually most app work better in Mac.
Except for adobe .. the performance is similar with Windows 🤣
True
Also a nice fact: Every Affinity App uses the same file structure, so you can open an .afphoto in Affinity Publisher for example.
Indeed
For what it’s worth you can also drag ans drop PSD files from file manager into Publisher 😊
Tell me, as a newbie, if I learn the Affinity suite, and use it for a few years, and then happen to decide to switch to the Adobe suite, which I have NEVER used (the reason could be my colleagues insist or something like that)… would it be doable. Everyone talks about migrating from Adobe to Affinity, but I am now also wondering how hard the reverse would be. P.S. I am just trying to make the plunge easier.. or am I overthinking it?
@Kla Boi Yes thanks. I presume many of the the concepts would be the same though the execution would differ?
@Kla Boi Yep, got it, thanks!
Keep the Affinity videos coming, great stuff!
I am an Adobe CC subscriber, you know, the $10 a month package...and I really like it.
From a design standpoint, I saw some work a friend did in Affinity photo and was really impressed. So I did my research, found your channel and decided I had to give Affinity a shot. Couldn't believe my luck when they were selling the 'Trinity' at 50% off and so bought all 3, (a real bargain at fill price IMO).
Long story short, I got straight into Photo and Designer, and wow!...Sleek, fast, clean, great user interface, intuitive (Ps experience helps obviously), and make no mistake, really powerful programs and produced some very professional work.. I was blown away and to be honest, right from the off in Affinity, I prefer the overall user experience of Photo and Designer, over Photoshop, and very high quality results!..I love it!!
Jumping into Publisher this weekend and I can't wait....Seriously, I can't stress enough how good the Affinity suite is, and super quality.
Looking forward to similar videos, and subscribed.
Thanks. I have plenty of videos to film coming soon.
Affinity's price makes it affordable to learn the basics of photo editing and image design. I probably won't make a career out of it, but I at least can do design for fun now without hurting my wallet too much.
I think Affinity appreciates your perspective entirely.
That's what my lector say when I ask him can I use open source programs for my lessons and homework 😅
You should be bigger here, you explain everything so well, have a nice, clean video production, you look comfortable on camera. I found your videos because I just got a drawing display (Xp-pen) and I was looking for an alternative to photoshop, and I saw everywhere that Affinity was a good alternative and I stumbled with your videos. Hope you grow a lot!! Greetings from Colombia
Thank you Maria. That means a lot to me. I hope I grow a lot too. Feel free to share with all your creative friends.
@@DaveConrey I will!
If drawing is the main reason you use Affinity Photo, I reco9mmend you try the free program called Krita. It's geared towards drawing, whereas Photo is better for photo editing. With Krita you get better brushes and there are a tone of free brush packs made by users that you can download.
I'm about to buy all 3 today because of you. Thanks so much. This video came right on time.
Happy to help.
Now it's the with all the Affinity programs at 50% off! I bought all of them. 😁
I remember when Macromedia was challenging Adobe and Adobe swallowed them up. In the absorption process I noticed that the Adobe apps became somewhat bloated and clunky. They kept dreamweaver and sadly dropped Fireworks. When I was recommended Affinity by a colleague I was blown away at its speed and intuitiveness. When combined with the amazing price I switched over in a flash and have not regretted my decision.
Nice. thanks for watching.
Adobe just offers so much more in so many ways! Textures, type editing, filter gallery and so much more.
I’m hoping affinity catches up so I can make the switch!
I come from the era where we didn't have as many of those functions, so my process doesn't really rely on bells and whistles. I believe there are work-arounds to everything in Affinity, but i get how people rely on the accelerated processes of Adobe.
And thanks for checking out my video, Charlie. Best of luck in Tennessee.
@@DaveConrey yeah it was a cool video man! Thanks for sharing and I’m loving Tennessee so far thanks!
I used Serif products for years...Page Plus and Draw Plus were my main programs used for graphics. I eventually converted to Adobe when I changed to the Apple ecosystem (Serif was Windows only). Back then you bought Adobe's suite of products for $1,100+. When Serif started producing Affinity applications and supporting Mac, I phased out all the Adobe products. Adobe's decision to go to a subscription model helped my decision to look for alternatives. Between Affinity and Capture One, all my needs are met for much less out of my pocket.
Thanks for sharing
Im a new Affinity Fanboy since January 2021. Its amazing all the features, simplicity, it works perfectly and one-pay method, no subscription
Indeed. Thanks for watching.
I have used adobe Photoshop/Illustrator of and on for years and I felt no loyalty to it. I purchased The Affinity suite for my laptop and I love it’s ease of use so much so that I also bought it for my Mac and iPad. I have ended up turning into an evangelist for it!
I agree with every word you say. For me it’s the best creative software out there, as I have a habit of switching between software when I’m working on designs. I find it a joy to use!
Excellent video, I look forward to watching your other uploads!
Thanks so much. I appreciate you watching.
Replaced my computer and was not able to get the not-cloud adobe suite that I'd been using for maybe 8 years. Felt the same as you, that Adobe's all or nothing subscription is a land grab and ridiculous cost for what I use. Desperate search for a photo editor that can do what I need - I found Affinity. And without hesitation bought all three Affinity programs. AFFINITY has proven to be a FANTASTIC SOLUTION.
Glad it worked out in your favor. Thank you for watching.
One of the most things I like about Affinity is they are listening to people!!! The next ones is they keep making it better and better everyday! That is a google business should be! I will always support you AFFINITY as long as you keep your words, works.
Thank you for your sharing!
Couldn't agree more!
I recently saw a ad for this on FB and thought I look more into it. I was on the fence buying Adobe and paying the monthly fee. Affinity is amazing especially with the 50% off deal they are having right now. I'm going to go for it and purchase Affinity designer and I'm thinking of grabbing Publisher too. Great video !
Thanks, and yeah, you should totally get the apps. You won't be disappointed.
Lag within the programs is the reason why I have become a main Affinity user. No matter what settings I used, photoshop always crashed my computer, and indesign and illustrator ran slowly. Plus Affinity Designer is easier to use for art than Illustrator (especially for the point handles)
I agree. Designer, like Illustrator, is my weakest program personally, but I definitely feel way more comfortable in the former.
Yep. Photoshop is a mess right now, performance-wise.
I've been using Affinity for years now....I used Illustrator from 1998-2017.....I switched over when my my Illustrator didn't work on my computer anymore and I had pay a subscription.... I love not having to pay a subscription fee with Affinity and it does everything I need to design t-shirts.
Same, Juna, same. Thanks for popping by.
Quark! Thanks for mentioning it. Brought back some memories. I’m a designer since the early 90s and always thought it doesn’t matter what works as long as the design gets to the production or intended media. I think I am gonna look into affinity today. Thanks for a great video.
Today is last day of sale, hurry!
Hope you got in. Sale looks like it's over already. That said, still very affordable even at full price.
Took all my words from my mouth! Thanks from another Affinity FanBoy!
My pleasure! thanks.
I just have to say thanks. I had no idea about affinity. I'm a software engineer. I used to be a UX designer. Used Adobe products exclusively. I still do some of that in my sparetime, but Adobe is too expensive for casual use. Found out about Affinity from this video and bought designer before the video was done playing. I love it! At 50% off for $25, can't beat it. Thanks again!
My pleasure... now if Affinity would kindly remit my commission. 😅😅😅
@@DaveConrey I also just bought Photo because... $25. I say they owe you at least a cup of coffee.
definitely diving into your videos. Thank you so much for taking the ti to teach us that are green in the field. Have a great day
Thanks, you too!
Been using Affinity since the beginning. Love it. It's fast, clean and still gets the job done without the price of adobe. Mind you, I've been an Adobe user for over 33 years.
Couldn't agree more! Thanks for watching.
Hey Dave! Which Affinity would you recommend for Book cover designs, or logos? Thanks!
If you’re want to do both if those, then definite Designer. It’s the only one that gives you real flexibility with vector designs. If you’re designing the whole book though, then you’ll want Publisher.
I got a trial of Affinity about a year ago to see what it was like, and like your experience, it had everything I needed. The transition was so smooth, and I liked it so much that I said bye-bye to Adobe too, and have no regrets. Doing ad designs for publications I only used image tracing occasionally as a time saving feature, not a big deal, but when I do need it, that's about the only thing I miss. I do however do a lot of both pixel and vector in the same files, and I love how Affinity handles both so seamlessly. Makes me question how much of my life has been spent saving and re-opening files, lol.
Yeah, Designer is great for the crossover. Fingers crossed version 2.0 has something similar to live trace.
Hi Lon, for Image tracing you can use Inkscape, it is called Trace Bitmap and Inscape is free software. I hope that next major update will have that option in Affinity as Dave said in the video. I wrote to Affinity couple days ago and asked about Image trace and shape builder tool and they reply to me "They are requested features and may be ones added in future updates but we don't have any timeframe to when this may be, sorry." So, I am sure that these will be added, they have this in mind. Salute
@@okilioki77 I do use Inkscape, it's actually a very powerful program for free. The main thing I always used it for was converting SVG files that Adobe always had a problem with, also love how Affinity can handle those. Now I just use it for the trace when I need it. It would just be nice to have it "all in one", and Affinity is very close to being that.
@@longroth4882 I think it is just matter of time, probably with upgrade on 2.0 version I gess
I've been an Adobe user since I was a kid and I'm glad I got Affinity. Especially now since Affinity Photo can open .NEF (older file format for camera RAW) files WITHOUT .DNG conversion.
And in Publisher, I was able to open InDesign files WITHOUT errors.
That's good to know. Thanks for sharing that info.
@@DaveConrey and I was happy as hell to discover that. And even my PSD files opened up with ZERO ISSUES. It even kept the custom text blending too
@@DaveConrey and I'll have to unfortunately give credit to brief hardware failure that made me switch to Affinity
I was going to jump in and bring up the Quark Xpess saga.. From Queen of the scene to Has-been and the reason.. PRICE.. This is one of THE best and most incite-full reviews I have watched. Thanks Dave Thumbs up from me
Thanks, I really appreciate you sharing that.
Thanks Mr. Totally agree with you. I bought the Affinity suite one year ago and it was love at first sight. Now I just need to find an alternative to After Effects. Any recommendation?
Look into Davinci Resolve for a all-in-one solution for video and audio. There's a function of Resolve called Fusion that is a highly functional alternative to After Effects. The best part is that Davinci Resolve is FREE!
For tutorial on Davinci, I highly recommend Casey Faris' channel: czcams.com/users/CaseyFaris777
@@DaveConrey thank you very much Mr. Dave, I'm checking it right now
i got affinity designer about 8 months ago and am loving it! i was hoping to see a shape builder tool and blend tool in the 1.9 update, do you think its likely that they or even one will be in the eventual 2.0 update when that comes? (they have publicly spoken out on twitter several times since 2018 saying that a shapebuilder tool is in the works and i would love to see its addition to the software)
The shape builder is definitely one of the things that Affinity is likely getting requests for. That and an alternative to Adobe Illustrator's Live Trace, so my guess is that in version 2.0, we'll see at least one if not both of those options. The shape builder would see to be fairly easy for them since they already have so much functionality on vector shapes.
vector custom brush is one of their feature list. I've asked them in the last live youtube and they say it's one of their feature list. shape builder is also essential, I don't know if it will be complex to program that feature or not
Spot on Robbie - a Blend Tool is on the top of my list. Switched to AD as Illustrator was just too bloated on my iMac - really hated opening it up. I'd fallen behind using AI (missed 3 or 4 of the CS upgrades) so purchased some manuals to get back up to speed but just found it too hard to get back on track. Got Affinity Designer (almost in desperation) and had the interface and tools working for me in 2 days! Have since purchased Affinity Photo and Publisher.
Thank you Sir, been looking exactly for video like this ✊
You’re welcome
I cannot disagree with anything you said, Dave. I bought Affinity a couple of years ago, and never looked back. I’ve saved a ton of money and Affinity has filled all my needs. I love these guys too!
Nice
Another thing folks don't mention is that the Affinity suite runs great on older machines. I have a 2011 Mac and the Adobe suite crawls on it while Affinity is snappy as hell
My 2012 MacBook Pro struggled a bit as the apps got more sophisticated, so I had to buy new, but it still worked better than Adobe.
@@DaveConrey Not to mention that PS 2021 is a performance dumpster-fire even on new machines. They have really broken something and they don't really seem to be too concerned with fixing it. Just one more reason people are checking out Affinity.
And just-released versions 1.9 has lots of new features and improvements. Just now they even sell at 50 %.
Version 2.0 will be a paid upgrade, but I am excited to learn what new goodies they will offer.
Agreed
I'm interested in using Affinity for screen printing but have 2 questions. Can you add registration marks to an image? Using your tiger image as an example can you separate the image and print only what's going to be black and print only what's going to be white and so on? Thanks and appreciate the video!!
Honestly, I’ve never seen output for seps as an option, but I also haven’t looked. The do support channels and Pantone color, as well as recently adding registration color as an option, so maybe it’s possible. I can’t say for sure.
I do all my shirt printing as direct to garment but I was thinking about adding screen printed tees to the repertoire. Perhaps I’ll investigate further.
I was looking for an alternative a couple months ago and I couldn't be happier with my switch. I was able to pick up Affinity Designer within a week after Googling everything. I just need three programs which Affinity offers. For video editing, I go with Filmora X. These subscription models for these programs can be ridiculous if not using the whole suite. I don't see myself switching to Adobe unless I work with a client who demands it.
I feel the same. Thanks for watching.
Very well and fair comparison. I admire affinity because the points you mentioned in this video
Thank you.
I'm currently an art student and have to use Creative Cloud for College (which is luckily paying for CC, so I dont have to spend 50 bucks). And since I don't want to keep spending 750€ (way more once I no longer get the student discount) each year on CC, I've started getting used to Affinitys Program Suite and aside from a few features, I love them.
That's great. Thanks for sharing.
Hi, awesome video. I have grown an immense curiosity in affinity and would like to purchase this software. I wanted to ask, as a person with no background with any of these software, what are the differences between affinity designer, affinity photo, etc. when compared to their counterparts (photoshop, adobe, etc.).
I am planning on switching to a new laptop (windows to windows), so will I need to buy affinity software twice (windows to apple) or is it a one-time buy on the same operating system? Also, what can some of their applications be?
I am going to start learning from scratch and it looks fun, and am more excited to use them because of your video. Thank you.
Ok, let's break this down.
The main difference between Designer and Photo is the type of files they natively generate. Designer is "vector", or scalable graphics oriented. Photo is what's commonly referred to as raster oriented. Of course each app has some capabilities of both vector and raster, but depending on the type of work you want to do, one might be more powerful than another. For instance, if you wanted to do more logo type work, or you wanted to make illustrative/typographic style designs, you would likely want Designer. If you were going to do more photo oriented work, then you'll want Photo, of course.
You might want to check out this video I made breaking down the different apps capabilities and strengths: czcams.com/video/kS3rVDaPQ9g/video.html
As far as the different licenses required for getting new machines, I cannot answer that with confidence. I would recommend checking out the forums on the Affinity website to find out more. There's a ton of useful information for specifics like that.
Thanks for watching.
Good points but what about the filenames? If if I have clients that want psd files.. can affinity save as .psd?
yes, PSD is available out of all apps, but not AI or INDD.
Right now I just sat and struggled with the limited budget, different options, and better choice.. and after your review, I'm sure that Affinity will be a better investment than adobe. Thank you for your review.
Glad I could help!
The ONE big thing I wish Affinity Photo had (and many have requested on the forums) is a timeline editor to create animated gifs. The Affinity Suite has NOTHING for doing frame animations. So in the meantime, I can still create the frames in Photo and open them in GIMP to make and export the gif.
I have Adobe CC at work, and man, do I miss my Affinity Suite when I'm fighting with InDesign/Illustrator/Photoshop. Other than the animation stuff in Photoshop, Affinity does all the stuff I want to do - and it does a better job of it!! Big fan of Affinity. When they eventually make us pay for an update (in theory, when they launch the 2.0 apps), I will CHEERFULLY give them my money!
That is definitely something I expect in version 2.0
I totally feel ya on the nightmare of fighting Adobe after using Affinity! I convinced my previous workplace to buy the Affinity suite because every time I had to use their Adobe apps, I ended up wanting to scream... or cry XD I love how intuitive Affinity is compared to Adobe!
Great video, appreciate your commentary!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I switched from Adobe to Affinity about a year ago and find it does what i need really well. I feel really comfortable using it and it is like coming home as before Adobe I used the old Draw Plus and Photo Plus (about 20 years ago) by Serif who now do Affinity.
Right on. Thanks for watching.
I love Adobe. Been using them for about 10 years or more, it's the very basis of my ability to do my work. Bought Affinity about a month ago (all programs for win & mac) and am making the switch because hot damn £50 a month is expensive. Just can't justify it any more.
Exactly where I was about 18 months ago. I was so wary of jumping away from Adobe, but I'm glad I did. No looking back.
@@DaveConrey Yeah, I first started looking about this time last year maybe, but was in full time employment and just about to start having to work from home so didn't want to make the jump as it wasn't what the company was set up using. Kinda wish I'd done it for myself now, but also glad I've gotten in on this sweet deal now at least. Don even own a Mac at the mo, just got the licences in case I get an M1 in the future.
All Adobe cares about is for their investors to make money. Adobe doesn’t care about users anymore. That’s why you have to make a monthly payment ( car payment style ) so that their investors benefit. Affinity or Serif do care about the users. They are dedicated to making better apps for us with investors or greed in mind.
Agreed
I sort of agree with you, but keep in mind Adobe is the engine behind many other companies and program software exclusively for many large scale operations. Also, just bc a company has a subscription based model, doesn’t means its for the benefit of it’s investors.
I’m a diehard Affinity user tho, but im just saying
It's easy to think this, but it's not quite that simple really. Speak to the individuals and they certainly do care. The engineers care, as do product management. It's a large organisation and an old and broad codebase, an oil tanker can't turn as fast as a car. Despite this, Adobe is actually one of the better(But still not good) examples of a multibillion-dollar entity being able to get changes done, try being an Autodesk customer.
With all that being said, when they switched to a subscription pricing model, they did not deliver on what they promised or what subscription revenue enables and deliver fixes for bugs slowly and still release features in yearly cycles. It has become pretty evident over the last few years that they probably need to make some substantial and fundamental changes in some of their apps in order to stay competitive in the next few years, as they've been feature chasing (Partially due to competitors like Serif) rather than working on fundamentals for a while now.
Exactly. I'm so thankful I found out about Affinity and didn't get strong-armed into Adobe's BS subscription scheme. I'm even finding that in some ways, depending on what you're doing, Affinity is actually superior anyway.
if I was adobe I will do the same thing because the users are getting much money from my program like it is for 10 dollars and in one month he can get 100 dollars or 500 dollars or more the 10 dollars are just nothing if you work but now there is another program and the same so i will switch why not
one of my favorite things about Adobe products is that I feel there is always something to discover. All that "fluff" is stuff that makes the program feel like an adventure. I don't want to miss that with affinity
We’ll see what the future holds.
Hi Dave is there also a colormix panel like in lightroom? I cannot find it In affinity photo. And if it is not,, what would be the best workflow?
So there isn't one panel that is exactly like Lightroom, but in the adjustments panel, there are two options you can mess around with. One would be the Channel Mixer, and the other is Selective Color. Of course you can also tune color with the Levels and Curves options too.
@@DaveConrey same like in photoshop I think
I'm loving Affinity since the recent switch. Yes, live trace and shape builder would be amazing. I'm sure they will bring it.
Agreed
I remember both QuarkXPress and InDesign when I was back in high school. I personally use affinity because of the cost, And the synchronicity between desktop an iPad. If adobe allowed you to just have, say illustrator, Photoshop, and in design, for a grand total of say 10 bucks a month without any additional perks. And when I say no perks, I mean it, no storage no additional apps, no nothing. Then we’ll talk.
Indeed
The review is well made, 12 years on adobe software all point you talk about are true also became an affinity fanboy, i feel like affinity team are real designer when I compare to adobe who don't even listen to their community. Actually in love with the ipad version, a new workflow that is super effective. Great video
Thanks so much
My bottom line doesn't support Adobe's subscription business model especially when the program features I use have changed very little since Photoshop 9. It is this program tech 'plateau' which Affinity exploits very efficiently both in memory usage and cost. Great job, Dave.
Thank you, Max.
had adobe for 20 years. got Affinity and am blown away. have a branding / graphic / web design shop. Love love Affinity. So intuitive and does what it is suppose to and the ipad version is so close to desktop. The thing I found with Adobe is you really do not use the majority of their apps. They are not necessary. On my m1 mba Affinity is super smooth. Keep the videos coming.
More coming for sure.
I wish affinity will make a good video editor as well, I have all 3. Affinity needs a lot more exposure
I don't think they'll make a video editor anytime soon, but if you haven't taken a look at Davinci Resolve, I highly recommend it. Best part, it's free, and a fully capable video editor.
DaVinci Resolve is much better than Adobe products. Try it out for free.
I was using Premiere and After Effects for 7 years before switching to Davinci Resolve! Highly recommend!
Solid review. Never even heard of Affinity until tonight and now I'm probably going to buy it.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Dave, I only have one question - What do you use to catalogue/organise your folders of images?
Personally, I just use a very systematic approach to folders on my computer. My experience as a magazine art director trained me to work with specifics folders and naming conventions that I still use today. Even when I did use Adobe, I rarely used Bridge on my own except to batch process items.
Thanks for the comparison. I was wondering how Affinity stacked up against others.
Apparently, Apple is very high on the as.hole list when it comes to repair. I watch the Louis Rossman channel on repair. The situation is real bad.
I use Affinity for hobby stuff given they are so cheap. Learning how to use them is the fun part. I go from lesson to lesson until I get the job done, like logos and stuff for websites.
Affinity has room to grow still, but they are solid apps for sure
Switched last year when I updated my iOS and CS6 stopped being read. Wasn't going to pay for a monthly CC subscription. Have never looked back. Affinity is absolutely as good and CAN produce the same results as Adobe - and the one off price is ridiculously good.
Agreed. Thanks for watching.
Great video, currently use adobe lightroom mobile with canon 70d for workflow but wanted to upgrade to canon r6, BUT apparently big problems with LRM not able to read cr3 files on r6- can affinity mobile app handle cr3 files from canon r6 for a smooth workflow?? If so will def. dive in. (Also do i need to buy ipad and mac apps separately, or is there group price?) Thanks for the great content!
Sorry, I couldn’t answer the CR3 file question, but maybe someone in the affinity forums has more info for that question. As far as the platforms, yes, you purchase each one individually, which is another reason to get them before they take away the current 50% discount
Dave Conrey great Thank you so much!
I am super excited to see the future of Affinity. As a pro designer in a studio that works only with Adobe, I am passionate about alternative programs and entry points for new designers and creates to get creating without paying crazy prices, or losing access to their work simply because they didn't renew the license. Design comes from the mind and the world around us but the barrier of entry can be so expensive so lots of people miss out and can't get to learn without spending a fortune. We need to have options to allow people to build their creative skills by supporting these hardworking developers but while also being able to learn and use stuff without subscribing and draining yourself forever.
I feel the same
I was to a friend, thinking, there’s got to be another option than just Adobe. The creative suite packages just seem to rip my pocket out for no reason like that fluff it has.
Thanks for watching.
I would love to see Affinity make a Lightroom and After Effects alternatives. Then I might make the switch.
Those are popular requests for sure
i ve seen "Natron" that might be a good alternative to AE, but i don t know in anyway that program, but hope it could help you
@@TytusDubel I took a quick look at it and it looks like a good alternative for composoting but not for motion graphics. Also I use Ai for illustration so I can import the layers in Ae without needing to seperetaly export them all.
Try Rawtherapee and dark table for raw editing
You sir are a gent. Thanks so much for opening my eyes to another way...
Glad to help
Just purchased all three from the site. I've been working from the CS5 suite, so far from the screenshots it looks fairly similar. I'll be checking out those tutorials you mentioned. Thank you for the information. I've been looking for a cheaper alternative for Adobe, Procreate is amazing, but I've been missing a windows version, and photo editing capabilities, looks like this one will fit the bill. How is it with Windows Ink?
I'm not sure what Windows Ink is, but I know plenty of people who use the apps on Windows.
@@DaveConrey I have a laptop with a stylus, and touch screen. The Windows Ink is the software that will let me draw directly on the screen with the stylus. So far similar to the iPen for my iPad, but I haven't been able to get it to work as smoothly.
I was a hard core Quark fan until Indesign became the no-brainer choice and I switched. I am feeling MAJOR deja vu with Affinity. I have been a major Adobe supporter until the subscription model happened, and have been hobbling along with 6.0 ever since. As you said DO BETTER ADOBE.
Yup. Thanks for sharing.
Was an Adobe guy for over 20 yrs and now almost exclusively Affinity for about 2 yrs. My biggest beef with Adobe isn't just the forced subscription price, but how they are more focused on constantly adding new features to their programs instead of simply streamlining or improving on what they already have! The end results are expensive, over-bloated apps packed with a bunch of features you may not even need. Affinity actually understood this from the start and listened! ☮
I seriously wonder if they are caught on a never ending treadmill of needing to add more and more features to justify the monthly subscription, so much that they can’t streamline because it’s not going to sell more subscriptions.
@@DaveConrey yeah, I will always have respect for their innovations over the decades, but unless they start rethinking their business model, eventually they will lose enough users that they will be forced to!
Have been using Photoshop professionally for twenty+ years. But for the last two years I have wasted so much time and frustration sorting out bugs and other changes every time Adobe updates Photoshop, which averages every 4-5 weeks now. On average, for every bug they fix, they introduce a new one. I went searching for relief and fortunately found Affinity Photo. After working with it, coming up with work-arounds for the few Photoshop features it lacks, I am switching. Thanks Dave for validating all my efforts.
My pleasure. I’m always finding new ways to work and I’m not looking back at Adobe.
I remember Quark!! And Pagemaker and Freehand. Happy days. Using Affinity now!
Same
Hey, is there an alternative to after effects?
Davinci Resolve is a video editor that also has a strong motion graphics editor within it called Fusion. Best part, it's free. There's a guy on here named Casey Faris that does a lot of videos on the topic: czcams.com/users/CaseyFaris777playlists
@@DaveConrey men, Casey Faris is my hero. Also JayAreTV and Billy Rybka for learning DaVinci Resolve and Fusion
For Central America, the previous price wasn't exactly cheap but it was a reasonable price, now it's better,
greetings from Central America haha, nice video btw.
Hi! 🍌🍌🍌🍌
Yeah, local prices mess you up. It's almost 50 % more expensive here in Denmark (regular price, not sure about COVID price). I don't know if that is as bad as the price you're getting. But it's still _very_ reasonable price, so I'm not complaining too much.
Great video! I've been working from home this last year. A few times, my work's Adobe license would go on the fritz. Well tracking down someone (90% of my company has been furloughed) to get it up and running was a day or two process. I jumped on the Affinity bandwagon. Man , I'm glad I did! I've been telling my freelancing friends to get it. But, like mentioned in the video - no auto trace :-( Hopefully it will come in the next version. I just forwarded this video to my friend - trying to make another convert.. lol
Thanks for sharing the video with friends, Bill. I appreciate it.
Interesting. Never heard of them. Thanks for making me aware!
Happy to share
I’ve been an Adobe user for 30 years and I started out using layout program PageMaker, then QuarkExpress, then InDesign (Adobe’s rebrand/remake of PageMaker). My choice was based on what used by the agency and/or preferred by the client. As Adobe products have changed to a saas model and continues to add code to slow down its products performance, I went looking for a reasonable replacement - Affinity products have certainly filled that roll. Unless a client has a need to use one of Adobe’s programs, I will continue using others’ outstanding software that fill the need.
Nice, thanks for sharing.
Steven, I share your background and history and have done the switch too. Actually I jumped on Affinity’s early beta programs because it looked so promising and I’ve not been using Adobe since then. I’m still very impressed with their products and how they interact with each other. I do both graphic design, photography, layout, typography and personality I don’t lack anything in this apps. The best part is how smooth and fast they are!
It certainly is better for me as a freelance designer and illustrator. I am not saying their software is superior on the whole, but it does the job in most cases at a fraction of the price. And designer made me like vector drawing, which is something I always hated in illustrator. I like that these problems are user friendly, even if they sometimes lack some pro features.
I agree. I don’t gravitate towards vector art, but I do enjoy it more in Designer.
I was a Serif PagePlus user back in the 90s. Serif has always been a community-oriented company. I jumped on all 3 of their Affinity products as soon as they came out. (I think I paid $30 each on launch price!) Love them! I believe with the new version that Publisher can import and use InDesign files.
Yes, Publisher can import IDML files out of InDesign, but not the native INDD files.
Great video. I want to buy all 3 affinity apps for the 70 something you mention.
Is there a disccount coupon? Can I pay using Paypal?
Not anymore, they just closed the door on that deal on June 30th.
"Central America" real lolz from me. I bought in WAYYYY back and haven't paid for a single upgrade. The only thing I regret it buying it from the Apple App Store. One day, if I made a ton of money from this suite, I'd re-buy the license directly from them and not have to rely on the App Store.
That’s a solid decision.
@@DaveConrey Good software development tools made this all possible. It seems like the model of "charge very little, but charge the same price on an integer number upgrade" seems to work great. It makes the value prop very enticing. It's only when companies charge full price right when the upgrade comes out that pisses people off (a la Final Cut Pro 7 -> Final Cut Pro X). I remember people losing their minds buying a $1200 piece of software on say January 1st..... only to find out that they MUST pay $300 for the next version on January 2nd. NO grace period!! WHA?
But then you look back, and those that bought FCPx back in 2010, still haven't spent a dime on upgrades/updates. Now THAT'S value.
Yeah, had that thought, too...
All 3 programs are $24.99 each. Now that is a steal...
Indeed
Really love this review! It’s making my decision to switch to Affinity much easier!
Glad it was helpful!
Could you do a demonstration video on doing an event flyer and a certificate in affinity photo? I have yet to find any videos as such. Thanks for discussing the comparison between the two. Great video!
That’s definitely a possibility
@@DaveConrey wonderful! I look forward to it!👌🏽🙌🏽
I agree with you 100%! Adobe is lazy. They have subscription revenues so they don't have to try. The very idea of "borrowing" software is at least strange. I come from a not very wealthy country, but the prices of Adobe subscriptions are disproportionate to earnings. And only some of the programs are translated into Polish. I love Affinty and I support them a lot.
Right on! Thanks for sharing.
You only ever borrow software, a license doesn’t mean you own it, it means that you own the right to run it. A lot of people who have never worked in the licensing/procurement side of IT don’t tend to understand that. Also perpetual licenses aren’t really perpetual. You buy a license to run a particular version of an application but at some point that version will reach End Of Life (thus is different to Desupported) after which your license is no longer valid. This hasn’t been a major issue to date as most software most people run that has reached that point is too old to do a ‘Phone Home’ license check, most people upgrade for new features well ahead of that date and most of the time there’s no value in the producers enforcing this. It’s likely to become better known as ‘Phone Home’ has become common and changes to patent law means that producers may now be forced to either disable old versions or buy a new license from patent owners when the license for algorithms they used in those old versions expires.
I am falling in love with Affinity. I was an early adopter of Adobe products (illustrator 88) before it ate Aldus and Macromedia. Frankly, Adobe is now subscription bloatware. I'm a Mac user and Adobe and Apple have worked in tandem for many years like they were made for each other. Now I feel with each system upgrade, they have us by the shorthairs with forced obsolescence. I was fine with the features in P Shop 6. I still have my DVDs but I can't use them any longer unless I have a dinosaur computer. I own PC's I just prefer working on a Mac... for serious work anyways ;¬)
I agree
In the process of switching to affinity now. Design tools are just supportive for me so I don't need all the bells and whistles. I actually think the simplicity of affinity is one of its biggest selling points. It's just cleaner and it makes more sense to someone who isn't specifically design centric.
I think you'll appreciate it.
good comparsion. I'm with ya 100% Dave, I luv my Affinity Photo to.
awesome, thanks.
As of lately I have noticed that Affinity are becoming their own thing, in that they are no longer simply adding Adobe features. They're starting to really make their apps their own in a much better way. Not to mention, as of late all of Adobe updates have really been them trying to imitate Affinity features.
Affinity IS BETTER than Adobe, no matter how much of a share Adobe has over the creative industries.
I think they have some growing and refinement to do still, but I agree
I giggled so much with the bananas central america bit. Affinity kicks ass!
happy to make you smile. Thanks for watching.
100% agree with everything said here. I moved from Adobe to Affinity two years ago and have never looked back. Anything that is not yet available in Affinity - there is always a work around. And Affinity work hard to add stuff if enough requests are made. I wish for two more things, an iPad version of Publisher and an affiliate program!!!
I really wish they had an affiliate program as well.
I used Adobe for years. Did a few years of their subscription and hated every minute of it. Then I saw Affinity come out and thought I would give it a try... Haven't gone back to Adobe since. Keep up the great work Affinity!
Nice, thanks for watching.
While I like Affinity I just constantly stumble over the features that keep missing for my projects. For example I am now in one where I need to regularly switch between 5 different patterns and export each one. There is just no way to make it fast and easy. So maybe Affinity isn't it for me. :'o
Fair enough!
From what I understand from your post it sounds like the Export Persona (available in Affinity Photo and Designer) will satisfy your need beautifully. Investigate, I think it may bring you some happiness.
What I really first love with on Affinity Designer was the amount you can zoom in, Illustrator actually has a limit on how far you zoom, glad I picked up affinity designer and photo
Yeah, that’s a cool feature. Thanks for watching.
Hi Sir, so is that Live Trace in Designer available - now that v2 is available?
Nope, didn’t make it into this version yet.
I take a photos of street and I put to the photo my cinematic street preset. I set some options like selective colors, mix colors, grading, vignette, dehaze etc. I also make a presets. Will I do those things in Affinity Photo? I don’t wanna pay every month for Adobe.
You can run Macros (Actions in Adobe), and set those up. You can also have object styles in all 3 apps, and you can create LUTS from some adjustment layers. So you have options.
"Affinity works everywhere and Adobe works everywhere" - except for Linux.
Same reason Affinuty won’t build for Android.
true :/ super annoying i would switch to linux if not for adobe /affinity
The main and only reason I still using Adobe is because AE, for animation and motion graphics and think still the stronges out there
Hard to beat.
Brought in just to support them - I only needed publisher to edit a CV but didn't want to go down the inDesign route. Great products!
I agree.
Still waiting for a DAM (Lightroom alternative) from Affinty
It may not happen, but it could. They're pretty tight lipped about next generation offerings.
Check out NeoFinder desktop, for an inexpensive, functional and fast DAM that can read Affinity Photo files (as well as other file types)
Photo Mechanic Pro crushes Lightroom. Went from LR to Photo Mechanic and loving it.
@@DaveConrey Affinity has openly mentioned they are in the beginning stages of a DAM Lightroom alternative
As 'Bold Line Design, LLC' mentioned, from the earliest days of Affinity Designer (their first app) Serif talked about making a DAM. I would be stunned if that didn't happen.