It's Time For Affinity Manager

Since refocusing on Adobe Bridge to manage photos on my laptop, I've been trying to choose a good image processor to go with it. At first, I thought Photoshop Elements was best, but now I'm favoring Affinity Photo. I noticed two things: it could use a digital asset manager of its own, and the Affinity company (Serif) was bought last year by Canva. So now I wonder (worry?) about the quality of Affinity's future.

Affinity Manager

There are three programs in the family:

• Affinity Photo
• Affinity Designer
• Affinity Publisher

It sure would make sense to create a hub for all three called Affinity Manager that adds the basic digital asset management (DAM) features found in Adobe Bridge or Lightroom. If Affinity (Serif...Canva) were to add such a tool, I'd be excited. That would be, I think, an "insta-buy" for me. The Affinity suite would be sweet indeed.

Canva owns Affinity

Canva bought Serif (or Affinity). This is interesting but concerning. I have used the free version of Canva on the web many times. Overall, I like how easy it is to actually do simple graphic design work.

On the flip side, since Canva is a web-based service with a subscription model, that doesn't bode well for Affinity's key strengths: traditional native (local) software with a one-time fee (perpetual license) that happens to be relatively affordable.

I would like to try Affinity Designer in lieu of Canva since it's a native program and works with Affinity Photo. The prospect looks good at the moment, but there's some valid concern as to how Canva may change (worsen) Affinity over time.

That said, I'll be optimistic instead of cynical. Canva has pledged to avoid the concerns above and maintain Affinity's strengths while also accelerating updates. Great pledge and words; the design community will be watching Canva's actions closely.

Affinity Photo vs Photoshop Elements

I want two photo processing tasks to go along with Adobe Bridge's photo management: an image editor and a RAW developer. Affinity and Photoshop both do these. But there are key differences:

• Downsides
• PSE costs more, and its license is limited to three years
• PSE includes its own DAM program, but it conflates with Adobe Bridge
• Upsides
• Aff Photo costs less and its license is perpetual
• Aff Photo lacks DAM, which stays out of Adobe Bridge's way

As I mentioned though, it sure would be great if Affinity Manager (DAM) was a reality. If nothing else, it would remove the Adobe Creative Cloud cruft from my laptop.

I'll mention GIMP, the free photoshop-like program. I tried, but there is a cost to use it. The UI is a bit unpolished and cluttered, and the tools seem to require a learning curve. It being unintuitive and complex made me...dial exposure to zero. No thanks, I'm out.

Since Affinity Photo is only $70 USD, I will likely buy it along with Wonderdraft for $30 USD. That totals to $100, which is what it costs to buy Photoshop Elements. And PSE only lasts three years; Affinity and Wonderdraft last "forever."

The choice seems clear.