Affinity Photo becomes free (apart from AI capabilities)

[Murray Foote]

Article from Luminous Landscape:


https://luminous-landscape.com/affinity-goes-free-except-for-a-couple-of-things-what-professional-photographers-need-to-know

 

[Asher Kelman]

Thanks for the heads up. I am used to PS but intrigued by ON1 and find Capture one useful for getting complexion right.

I only pay for PS and Lightroom CC (and get own Lightroom Classic which I never use!)

I am planning on using ON1 for culling and sky replacement.

I am glad the other companies are competing so well. I know that Affinity has a great reputation and being free is fabulous. Robert Watchers has been an avid fan for some time.

Does Affinity do any procedure uniquely better than PS or other software.

Asher

 

[Murray Foote]

I don't use Affinity so I don't know. My main editor is Capture One, especially for live music images. I use Lightroom Classic for database and culling, and have used FastRaw Viewer for culling, especially for landscape images. It is very cheap and is the only way to get an accurate picture of a RAW file, less relevant for live music images with excess specular highlights. I use 3D LUT Creator and Capture One for infrared. I also use DxO PureRaw and Topaz Photo (Studio) at times. Though I have not used it, my impression is that DxO PhotoLab is the main alternative to Lightroom and Capture One.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Your comment on FastRaw Viewer being the only way to get an accurate picture is a stunning statement so it must be that someone did a remarkable side by side test of all the premium Raw converters!

Asher

 

[Murray Foote]

I don't remember what reviews I have read but it's claimed by the manufacturer and supported in reviews.

 

[Robert Watcher]

Thanks for the heads up. I am used to PS but intrigued by ON1 and find Capture one useful for getting complexion right.

I only pay for PS and Lightroom CC (and get own Lightroom Classic which I never use!)

I am planning on using ON1 for culling and sky replacement.

I am glad the other companies are competing so well. I know that Affinity has a great reputation and being free is fabulous. Robert Watchers has been an avid fan for some time.

Does Affinity do any procedure uniquely better than PS or other software.

Asher

I don’t believe that Affinity offers features that aren’t in Photoshop per se —— however it is very fast, provides many live filters for non-destructive editing that give instant screen update to see what is being affected, very customizable interface, it’s a real application that sits on the desktop, has an identical functionality with the iOS version, and totally free forever including all updates.

Now beyond that, I have benefitted greatly from the affinity Publisher app being that I purchased the Universal licence when affinity 2 came out. Now all 3 applications - Photo, Design and Publisher are in the one new app —- and images can be effortlessly moved between each one for workflow. In Adobe, moving between Photoshop and illustrator or in design requires saving and opening in the other.

A huge consideration is that Affinity by Canva with all functionality for raster editing, vector editing, and layout editing, are totally free. Whereas Adobe requires a $92 CAD per month if paid yearly for their creative cloud standard which includes their apps to do the same type of thing. To have the photography package with Photoshop and Lightroom is $25CAD per month if paid yearly.

If AI features similar to Photoshop are desired, a dedicated button provides that within the new affinity app with a Canva pro subscription which is $120 CAD per year. And the image being worked on stays in the Affinity app, not exported or opened in Canva. Additionally all AI content is stored on your device, not the cloud —— for those with concerns about use of their images.

Being that I have all of the Affinity suite, I haven’t gotten around to downloading the new Affinity app yet —- but will probably do that today. I will not at this time be using their Canva AI features, and can disable the button option so that it doesn’t show. Without it, all previous Affinity functionality is exactly the same along with some new features related to masking and live filters and other tweaks.

I personally would never require any additional features than what I have already been using in Affinity Photo for years now, since it was released back when I lived in Central America and was photographing in the streets every day. I did purchase on1 Photo Raw several years ago as an alternative to Lightroom for organizing and accessing hard drives of files quickly and main editing. But exporting to Affinity Photo for layers, composites, cloning, etc has always been part of my workflow —- and in the last year or so, Affinity Publisher has become essential to me.


https://www.affinity.studio/

———

 

[Asher Kelman]

Robert,

Your report of Affinity Photo is so helpful and confirms it’s so well designed, likely since they themselves might have built it not purchased other companies work product.

So perhaps, share more of your experiences with ON1 as I am looking at that for its changes of sky efficiently and rapid culling.

But I have not used it yet.

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

Robert,

Your report of Affinity Photo is so helpful and confirms it’s so well designed, likely since they themselves might have built it not purchased other companies work product.

So perhaps, share more of your experiences with ON1 as I am looking at that for its changes of sky efficiently and rapid culling.

But I have not used it yet.

Asher

I’ve hardly ever used the sky replacement other than playing with it a few times. I thought it worked pretty well when I added a sky to this file of the Toronto skyline after I printed this large metalic print for our living room, I was curious what it could do. I selected one of the shots that I took a bit earlier in the evening as I was setting up - before the lights started showing in the buildings. It was kind of drab as it was, and the sky and generated reflections on the foreground, added some life for sure.


BTW - something that needs to be stated about these skyline shots, is that I photographed them with my Olympus micro 4//3 camera at 600mm (75-300mm kit lens) from over a mile and a half distance from the buildings, from a great vantage point on the east end of Toronto. Even with the small sensor I have a very satisfying print with a with of around 40”.

As well I played with adding a sky to this interpretive mono toned piece that I photographed across from Kings Cross station in London UK last year. The borders and artistic treatments were done in on1 Photo Raw

But not really much else. I use Live Comp on my Olympus cameras to capture unique painted skies, or look for a nice dramic skies in the backgrounds when possible,

 

[Robert Watcher]

Here is a decent overview comparing the new FREE Affinity by Canva and the previous Affinity Photo 2

 

[Asher Kelman]

Robert, I really like both of your adventures with ON1. It’s interesting that we tend to find treasured ways of doing satisfying parts of our creations with just part of a software like ON1 or Snapseed for example.

I will be looking at the video you kindly shared of Affinity Canva and Photo2.

Thanks for your sharing these gems!

Asher

 

[Tom Dinning]

Affinity ain’t free from where I stand. 7 day trial then subscription.
Is that another Trump exist?

 

[Jerome Marot]

Affinity ain’t free from where I stand. 7 day trial then subscription.
Is that another Trump exist?

This site says Affinity is free (at least where I stand): https://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/all-new-affinity/

And this is where it can be downloaded: https://www.affinity.studio/

However, people in the know noticed that the software sends enormous amount of data to Canva's servers, basically following all your edits.

 

[Robert Watcher]

Affinity is 100% free. Fully featured. Canva AI requires a subscription to use, but is not required to use Affinty. In order to download, there is a need for an account, however that. Isn’t any different than any software that I have purchased.

 

[Robert Watcher]

Not that it bothers me personally, but I was curious and my question, is the following statement true about the new Affinity by Canva - “people in the know noticed that the software sends enormous amount of data to Canva’s servers, basically following all your edits.”, returned some thoughtful info .

——-

Short Answer: The statement is partially true. Reports indicate that Affinity by Canva does transmit analytics data to Canva’s servers, even when users attempt to disable it. However, the claim that it “follows all your edits” is an exaggeration — the data sent is primarily analytics and telemetry, not a literal record of every single edit you make.

---

What’s Actually Happening

• Analytics Uploads: Affinity by Canva has been observed sending data to Canva’s servers via api.canva.com using the Snowplow analytics platform. This happens even if users try to block or disable analytics uploads gtaeng.com.
• Mechanism: The behavior is managed through Affinity’s cloud services (Affinity.CloudServices), which invoke telemetry uploads.
• User Control: While Canva provides privacy settings for its main platform (e.g., toggling permissions for AI training or third-party data use Canva +1), Affinity users have reported difficulty fully disabling analytics uploads.


---

Clarifying the Claim

• True Elements:• Affinity by Canva does send data back to Canva servers.
• Attempts to block analytics have not fully stopped this behavior.

• Exaggerated Elements:• The phrase “basically following all your edits” suggests a detailed, edit-by-edit surveillance. Current evidence points to telemetry and usage analytics, not a literal log of every brush stroke or adjustment.
• The data is more likely aggregated usage metrics rather than a comprehensive mirror of your creative process.



---

What You Can Do

• Check Privacy Settings: In Canva’s account settings, you can toggle permissions related to data sharing Canva.
• Offline Mode: Some users attempt to run Affinity in offline mode to reduce data transmission, though reports suggest this does not fully stop analytics uploads gtaeng.com.
• Firewall/Network Blocking: Advanced users sometimes block connections to api.canva.com to prevent telemetry uploads.


---

Conclusion

The statement you quoted captures a real concern but overstates it. Affinity by Canva does send analytics data to Canva servers, but it’s not proven that it tracks every single edit in detail. It’s more accurate to say the software transmits telemetry and usage data, sometimes without clear user consent, which has raised privacy concerns among its community.

Links were provided to support this synopsis.