Mac users may now have a serious alternative to Photoshop as an image editor for photographers in Affinity Photo, according to a report in Creative Bloq. Available now as a free beta version, the full version is likely to cost £39.99.
Its part of an intended suite of three products, with Affinity Designer (an alternative to Adobe Illustrator) already available at the same price getting some very good reviews. Also planned is an InDesign alternative called Affinity Publisher due for release later this year.
The programmes come from Serif, who have in the past produced some interesting products aimed at the non–professional market in similar areas. Like products from other developers that I’ve tried in the past, and Adobe’s own Elements these have lacked a few essential features and lacked the ease of of use that – once learnt – makes Photoshop so straightforward, at least for most of the things photographers really need to do.
But Serif aren’t simply trying to match Photoshop, but to outdo it, and have obviously learnt something from other software too. There is a nice promotional video and it does look good, promising greater speed and the big advantage – like Lightroom – of non-destructive editing. And “CMYK, 16-bits per channel editing, LAB colour, RAW processing, ICC colour management, and Photoshop PSD and 64-bit plug-in compatibility.”
It certainly looks promising. The only bad news is that it is Mac only, although there are plans in the longer term for a Windows version.