Affinity vs Lightroom? Black Friday temptation!

[Orguy]

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I want an easy to use photo editor for fairly simple tasks on my Q3 images. Beyond the basic controls in Apple photo app all I really miss is the ability to deal with combining images for hdr and focus stacking. The subscription model for Lightroom and the complexity of it are huge turnoffs. There is 40% off now at affinity so I am tempted by it. What do you think? Would Affinity for photos be adequate?

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[Anbaric]

Affinity is an excellent image editor, but it's more of an alternative to Photoshop than a replacement for Lightroom. It's great for editing individual images (or stacks of images for the applications you mention), but be aware that there isn't a Lightroom-style multiple image viewer for selection and culling, its raw converter is a bit basic, and it doesn't organise or manage your images. But of course a pure image editor may be just what you want, and it certainly supports both HDR and focus stacking.

Edited November 26, 2023 by Anbaric

[Denebola]

@anbaric is perfectly right. If you are interested in managing images too (cataloguing, searching, etc…) you are then interested in a DAM (Digital Assets Management). In such case my personal suggestion* is IMatch, an extremely powerful DAM (https://www.photools.com/imatch/). This too is not based on subscription and, IMHO, far better than Lightroom

Den

*=I’m not affiliated in any way with Photools, just a very satisfied user

[hepcat]

I abandoned Adobe when they went to the subscription model.  I use Affinity in place of Photoshop and Capture One replaced Lightroom.  Capture One isn't "cheap" but it's a full bodied and full featured image management package that I've come to like far better than Lightroom.

[idusidusi]

5 minutes ago, hepcat said:

I abandoned Adobe when they went to the subscription model.  I use Affinity in place of Photoshop and Capture One replaced Lightroom.  Capture One isn't "cheap" but it's a full bodied and full featured image management package that I've come to like far better than Lightroom.

+1 for C1, I also use RAW POWER, and Affinity.

[pcgarner]

9 minutes ago, hepcat said:

I abandoned Adobe when they went to the subscription model.  I use Affinity in place of Photoshop and Capture One replaced Lightroom.  Capture One isn't "cheap" but it's a full bodied and full featured image management package that I've come to like far better than Lightroom.

I too walked from LR when they shifted to subscription. Affinity is a full-bodied replacement at an incredibly low price. Instead of Capture One, I use the DxO suite. Regardless, don't feel you have to play Adobe's game--it's a great formula for guaranteed income, but for Adobe, not its users.

Edited November 26, 2023 by pcgarner

[dpitt]

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3 hours ago, hepcat said:

I abandoned Adobe when they went to the subscription model.  I use Affinity in place of Photoshop and Capture One replaced Lightroom.  Capture One isn't "cheap" but it's a full bodied and full featured image management package that I've come to like far better than Lightroom.

+1 for Capture One.
It offers all editing I will ever need in one package.
With LR, most of it is there, but if you want more like you mention then you have to switch back and forth between PS and LR.

And I do not like subscription models.

Currently Kamera Express is discounting Capture One Pro v23 at 175 € (normal > 300€)

Edited November 27, 2023 by dpitt

[jaapv]

ON 1 is a good alternative for Lightroom. One of its strong points are the excellent tutorials on its website. However, if you find Lightroom complex, a better choice might be Photoshop Elements. 

[My1stLeicaCam]

I’ve got affinity v1. 
Was reading on V1 vs V2. 
‘Decided to stick to V1.

Not using photography to earn a living & utilization is low, so I see no point to pay a monthly subscription of $13 to Adobe. 

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by My1stLeicaCam

[idusidusi]

Yes anything wants me on subscription loses me.

[jaapv]

Who is talking about a subscription? Photoshop Elements 2024  costs  60 $ right now….

[idusidusi]

2 minutes ago, jaapv said:

Who is talking about a subscription? Photoshop Elements 2024  costs www 60 $ right now….

Was not aware of that but I have had no Adobe for years now.

 

[jaapv]

3 hours ago, idusidusi said:

Yes anything wants me on subscription loses me.

We would hate to lose you as you pay your Premium Member subscription here 🥲

[idusidusi]

25 minutes ago, jaapv said:

We would hate to lose you as you pay your Premium Member subscription here 🥲

I disagree the difference between a forum where I go mostly to find info or advice. A software subscription is a different matter.

[jaapv]

Maybe, but I find the Adobe subscription model ideal. It saves me money by not having to buy expensive updates every year and keeps my software up to date on a continuous basis. 

[jaapv]

14 hours ago, Denebola said:

@anbaric is perfectly right. If you are interested in managing images too (cataloguing, searching, etc…) you are then interested in a DAM (Digital Assets Management). In such case my personal suggestion* is IMatch, an extremely powerful DAM (https://www.photools.com/imatch/). This too is not based on subscription and, IMHO, far better than Lightroom

Den

*=I’m not affiliated in any way with Photools, just a very satisfied user

Unfortunately Windows only, so not usable by the majority of our members.

[Denebola]

41 minutes ago, jaapv said:

Unfortunately Windows only, so not usable by the majority of our members.

You are absolutely right, I forgot to mention this specificity. I don't want to start a religion war! 😂

[idusidusi]

1 hour ago, jaapv said:

Maybe, but I find the Adobe subscription model ideal. It saves me money by not having to buy expensive updates every year and keeps my software up to date on a continuous basis. 

So it suits you that's fine by me. Just not something I want to be a part of for software.

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[jaapv]

I’m used to it. Professional software is often by subscription. BTW the C1 subscription is about 40$ a month, nearly three times Adobe. 

[Anbaric]

I think the standard Capture One Pro subscription is $15 USD (or £15 GBP) a month, but down to $7.50/£7.50 today with the Black Friday deal. The 'perpetual' licence is also 50% off, so $150/£150 today. Capture One are heavily pushing the subscription by making the perpetual less attractive, though, with more limited updates than they used to provide.

For people who used to buy every version of a particular product and need (or enjoy) the latest updates, I guess a subscription can make sense, but for those of us who just use the core feature set it looks very much like you are paying again and again for more or less the same thing. We used to use Adobe CS sporadically at work for boring things like preparing technical illustrations, and had good academic pricing for collections like Design Standard (PS, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Pro). None of this requires AI sky replacement, content-aware fill or really anything more recent than we had in CS3 (in fact, heavy image manipulation would be malpractice in our field). Now Adobe wants about the same for one year of this selection of packages as we used to pay for a 'perpetual' licence we might use for 5 years or longer, and they are denying access to all but the most recent versions of CS by switching off the activation servers for software their customers may have paid thousands for. Eventually CS6 will go the same way, and it will be CC or nothing for any new installation. Adobe can get away with this because they have a near monopoly in professional image editing (less so in raw conversion, etc.). While packages like Affinity have powerful professional features, people who are paid money to edit every day want to use the industry standard software they are used to, so Adobe can continue to milk this cash cow indefinitely.