I’m not even going to start this review with much of a preamble – we’re not exactly fans of Adobe’s products and their draconian subscription model; that’s why, when Affinity announced their new Affinity Version 3.0 (Affinity from here on out) was completely free to use forever, I had to check it out to see if it could replace Lightroom as your primary editing software. After three weeks of using it as my primary editor, I have some strong opinions.
The Big Picture: Most Things Except Lightroom
Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite is the de facto standard for modern creative workflows – you have a photo editor (Photoshop), a photo cataloging tool (Lightroom), a publishing/layout app (InDesign), graphic design software (Illustrator), video editing software (Premiere), and a bunch else. When it comes to still image editing tools, Affinity can replace Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, but it still can’t replace Lightroom. For most photographers, this will likely mean they would be better served with a tool like Capture One if they prefer to escape the subscription hamster wheel. There’s a lot to like in Affinity, and I personally will continue to root for them as they continue to build their product – but without a solid cataloging tool and work environment, this is a pass unless you need all the graphic design features.
We’re giving Affinity by Canva two out of five stars. You can download the software on Affinity’s website for free for Windows and Mac.
- Pro: Free is a hard price to beat.
- Pro: Truly a three-in-one tool for photographers with graphics-intensive workflows (Photo editing, graphic design, print/page layout in one tool)
- Con: No catalog management features, largely designed to work one image at a time
- Con: Batch Processing of images requires all your target images to be the same size and dimensions, causing errors in the final files
- Con: Macros are easy to set up, but my Watermark macro was 50/50 at best – sometimes it would place the watermark file on the target file, sometimes it wouldn’t.
- Con: Canva’s reputation for putting photographers’ interests first is questionable at best. I’m glad AI isn’t being pushed on us now, but for how long?
Affinity by Canva – Workflows and Capabilities
A little bit of history before jumping in, I’ve worked with the Affinity Photo and Designer applications (formerly made and distributed by a company called Serif) since about 2017. At the time, it was one of the few options available on both Mac and iOS (specifically for iPad) that allowed for fully non-destructive editing with a feature set that rivaled Adobe’s Photoshop. It used to be a suite of three separate apps that had some interoperability (mainly a quick import function that could open any of Affinity’s file type containers), but each with its own workspaces, tools, and functions. For example, if you needed to work with a RAW image that you intended to use in a magazine layout, you’d have to first convert and edit your RAW file in Affinity Photo and then import it into Affinity Publish. Today, Affinity by Canva eliminates a lot of that style of siloed workflow by essentially merging all three software products into one.
As a photography-first tool, the new Affinity is very similar to the original Photo app from nearly ten years ago – you can still develop and non-destructively edit RAW files, you have a ton of editing options: from curves to effects. Affinity comes with a variety of included tools, macros, and shortcuts to help streamline your workflow. However, depending on your needs, it may feel slower than working with Lightroom or Capture One – especially when handling large numbers of images. Since there is no catalog management component to Affinity, you’ll either have to be extremely meticulous as to how you save your files or will have to first import your files into another catalog management tool, like Apple’s Photos app. On macOS, Affinity easily integrates with Photos, allowing you to right-click and edit directly from Photos – no need to search for the file’s location in your library. I have issues with this workaround. I’m not a fan of how Apple’s Photos application doesn’t handle multiple photo libraries well, and it becomes excessively cumbersome to make it work – in that sense, Lightroom continues to prove itself valuable to photographers.
As a photo editing tool, Affinity delivers just about every tool you could ask for. There are healing masks, pressure-sensitive dodge and burn tools, the ability to develop RAW files and apply lens profiles, and of course, crop and straighten options. In terms of workflow and tools available, this is a direct competitor to Adobe’s Photoshop product. In terms of streamlining processes, Affinity offers various multi-step processing workflow options, including HDR stacking, Panorama stitching, and even a Batch Process option that allows you to apply various macros without ever pulling the image into your editing space. Macros in Affinity make setup simple for recording, saving, editing, and applying macros to speed up your workflow. However, I found that exporting and renaming the final files requires significantly more effort than a similar workflow in Lightroom/Capture One. A considerable amount of my day is spent on batch processing and renaming files for future publishing, and if this were my only option, it would turn the process into a nightmare to manage.
To AI or Not to AI
Outside of the industry-shaking free-ninety-nine price tag, the next biggest and innovative feature in Affinity is that the use of AI tools is fully optional. They fully embrace the user’s choice approach, forcing the user to enable subject-detection/identification for their Object Select tool. While it may seem excessive, I love the fact that they’re making it a conscious decision on the part of the photographer to choose the AI tools they want to use; this goes in stark contrast to the Adobe approach of forcing AI tools on their users. Their approach, especially to Generative AI tools like Generative Expand, Portrait Lighting, and Portrait Mode, gets its own “panel” and is locked behind a paywall. If you don’t need it or use it, you’re free to use the free version with the option subject-detect object selection tool. For some, it may seem like overkill, but for me, ultimately, it should be up to the individual photographer.
Image Quality and Results
In terms of results, Affinity delivers the goods exactly as it advertises. Because we’re working in a true non-destructive editing environment, you can easily lose yourself making the most minuscule adjustment or add layer upon layer to your base file and never worry that you’ve damaged your original file. In this respect, I thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of being able to always return to the beginning without fear of losing fidelity or integrity in my original file.
For a one-off or detailed edit, I could see myself getting into Affinity and building on a base image. There are plenty of tools to add various effects and masks to an image, and if that’s your preferred workflow, you may even consider ditching your current editing software – it’s hard to compete with free.
In terms of color editing, Affinity allows you to turn any LUT (.cube) file into a preset by simply importing the .cube file into the Pixel>New Adjustment Layer>LUT menu. Below is a series of before-and-after samples:
Do We Really Need Another Photo Editor?
While that question is going to be answered by the public that uses these tools, despite what the score above reads, I’m still rooting for Affinity to be successful. There is something of a learning curve whenever you switch to a new piece of software and Affinity is no different. While many of my keyboard shortcuts resulted in my accessing options or tools I wasn’t intending on using, the same could be said when I started using Capture One over Lightroom. In the end, Affinity helps you produce solid images that can be exported in a myriad of formats, including industry standards such as TIFF, JPG, PNG, and even PSD. This, combined with their “free forever” promise and no intrusive AI tools forced on their userbase, makes me want Affinity to stick around forever. Hopefully, the next iteration will include a catalog manager.
Declaration of Journalistic Intent
The Phoblographer is one of the last standing dedicated photography publications that speaks to both art and tech in our articles. We put declarations up front in our reviews to adhere to journalistic standards that several publications abide by. These help you understand a lot more about what we do:
- At the time of publishing this review, CANVAS isn’t running direct-sold advertising with the Phoblographer. This doesn’t affect our reviews anyway and it never has in our 15 years of publishing our articles. This article is in no way sponsored.
- Note that this isn’t necessarily our final review of the unit. It will be updated, and it’s more of an in-progress review than anything. In fact, almost all our reviews are like this.
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- CANVA offers the Affinity software for free for all. There was no exchange of money between us or our third-party partners and the Phoblographer for this to happen. Manufacturers trust the Phoblographer’s reviews, as they are incredibly blunt.
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