Darktable 3.6 Released For This Free Alternative To Adobe Lightroom

[Tuxee]

Freedom, chance to switch to Linux if you happen to feel like that and, consequently, my support. My question actually arises from a broader perspective: what kind of professional user, asking me IT support, may I suggest switching to Linux? Because otherwise I'm not willing to provide IT support, neither free nor paid. Do LR users qualify?

Well, you can suggest dt as a viable and competent alternative - there is an abundance of sources comparing workflows and results as there are YouTube tutorials (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi9gWwOU2FY). However, the problem won't be the software but rather the user and how entrenched he or she are with LR. People have to use MS Office despite the never ventured beyond simple letters or most basic spreadsheets. For the more agile ones: The whole setup process (distro and software) is a job of mere minutes. They can literally give it a try instantly.

[lucrus]

That begs the question "why do you want to replace LR?" As a professional user.

Freedom, chance to switch to Linux if you happen to feel like that and, consequently, my support. My question actually arises from a broader perspective: what kind of professional user, asking me IT support, may I suggest switching to Linux? Because otherwise I'm not willing to provide IT support, neither free nor paid. Do LR users qualify?

[darkbasic]

IMHO opinion DT is better than LR, but I admit I have used DT more than LR.

[UpSideDown]

So, I don't know Darktable nor Lightroom, and I just wonder how much DT really is a replacement for LR for professional users. I mean, we all know Gimp is NOT a replacement for Photoshop in professional environments by any stretch of imagination: maybe developers and casual users find what they need in Gimp, but that's all. On the other hand Blender seems to be a serious and viable replacement for 3ds Max, at least for a good slice of professional users.

Where does DT stand in this respect? May I suggest to evaluate it as a reasonable replacement to professional users?

My understanding is that darktable provides top class image quality and beats Lightroom for flexibility, but it assumes users are prepared to put more work into understanding the tool. It's also a slower workflow, better suited to the fine art market than the bulk market. You may well achieve better results with dt than LR if you know dt well, but it will take longer to get there.

[Tuxee]

So, I don't know Darktable nor Lightroom, and I just wonder how much DT really is a replacement for LR for professional users. I mean, we all know Gimp is NOT a replacement for Photoshop in professional environments by any stretch of imagination: maybe developers and casual users find what they need in Gimp, but that's all. On the other hand Blender seems to be a serious and viable replacement for 3ds Max, at least for a good slice of professional users.

Where does DT stand in this respect? May I suggest to evaluate it as a reasonable replacement to professional users?

That begs the question "why do you want to replace LR?" As a professional user.

I do some professional photography (i.e. I get money for these jobs) and have used darktable since its very early days. OTOH I have never used LR. So from my standpoint darktable can be used professionally. I doubt it is a drop-in replacement for LR - all these programs have a hefty learning curve and when you are used to LR I assume it would take a fair amount of time to adapt (as vice-versa). So if you are on a non-Linux OS and used to LR - why should you replace it? Working as a pro the cost of LR will hardly be an issue, the good integration with other Adobe products definitely a plus. That said, I do all my postprocessing in darktable, nothing else, so I don't miss any "extra" integration.
darktable has now been around for 10+ years with solid release cycles and my Nikon equipment is well supported by both darktable and lensfun - so that's a definite plus. darktable is also a pure-bred Linux application. The Windows and Mac builds had serious issues in their early days, dunno whether this has improved.

[Johnny_Bit]

So, I don't know Darktable nor Lightroom, and I just wonder how much DT really is a replacement for LR for professional users.[...]

Where does DT stand in this respect? May I suggest to evaluate it as a reasonable replacement to professional users?

It's complex topic - first of all Lightroom isn't the king in "professional" world. Well, it is surely used by pros, however there's more variance: in fashion industry most pros rather use Capture One, especially with phase one cameras. And if you notice Capture One is quite different from Lightroom. And darktable isn't like both of those either. darktable is different.

darktable is not like other raw processors one may have used in the past and it should not be considered as a drop-in replacement for any other application. It has a steep learning curve but if you put in the time to learn it, the results can surpass anything you can achieve in other software.
Image processing uses algorithms that are often the culmination of decades of research. These algorithms must then be adapted for use in a darktable module (to correct for assumptions that don’t hold true when used in darktable’s image pipeline, for example). Such algorithms often require multiple parameters in order to produce and accurately control the desired effect.
Most software hides this complexity behind a simple interface which, while great for simple use cases and well-exposed images, also makes such software brittle. Simple interfaces have limitations that are not caused by the underlying algorithms but by the compromises required to create a simplified UI.
Commercial imaging software usually aims to either enable unskilled users to achieve complex tasks or to enable skilled users to achieve very fast results. This all comes at cost: As quick and efficient as they may be for typical uses, these applications don not allow for non-standard photography, and can prove frustrating to use if you start editing images with a clear idea of the result you want.
The main difference between darktable and other software is that darktable is meant to be manually driven and is tuned to accurately respect the artist’s intent. However, the consequence is that much of the processing that other software does automatically now relies on the user’s skill and understanding of the pixel pipeline.
During the days of analog film photography, some photographers chose to process and print negatives themselves to add their own artistic touch, while many photographers just outsourced these steps to laboratories. In the digital era, darktable caters mostly to the first kind of photographer.

So ultimately - darktable is different. You can offer it as a replacement, but it won't be a drop-in. It'll require time investment to learn it and understand it. For me it was worth it.

[lucrus]

So, I don't know Darktable nor Lightroom, and I just wonder how much DT really is a replacement for LR for professional users. I mean, we all know Gimp is NOT a replacement for Photoshop in professional environments by any stretch of imagination: maybe developers and casual users find what they need in Gimp, but that's all. On the other hand Blender seems to be a serious and viable replacement for 3ds Max, at least for a good slice of professional users.

Where does DT stand in this respect? May I suggest to evaluate it as a reasonable replacement to professional users?

[Johnny_Bit]

I might circle back and give them another look if rawspeed ever gets it's act together.

It's Canon that should've help, not us - and not rawspeed. The whole problem was not only technical but also legal. Devs overcame problems and now it's slowly progressing: https://github.com/darktable-org/rawspeed/pull/271
Thanks for well wishes though.

https://github.com/darktable-org/rawspeed/issues/121

I have to wonder how many people just accept the base curve in DT

Not many... for years now darktable has filmic (now filmic rgb) that's waaaay ahead of that. Keep up

Actually I find the base curve worse than the in camera JPEGS.

Devs did too! so now there's also several curve modules, actual filmic, Lut3d... your news are OLD

I prefer to edit raw files in resolve where it is far easier to use all the dynamic range your camera has

Try newest darktable, with scene refered mode and modern color science. You'll be amazed. Quite a lot changed since "base curve at the start of the pipe" days.

[MadeUpName]

I wish the Darktable guys the best, I might circle back and give them another look if rawspeed ever gets it's act together.

https://github.com/darktable-org/rawspeed/issues/121

But in the mean time I prefer to edit raw files in resolve where it is far easier to use all the dynamic range your camera has which is the whole point of shooting RAW or LOG in the first place. I have to wonder how many people just accept the base curve in DT then think they are a bad photographer because even with RAW their dynamic range isn't any better than a JPEG. Actually I find the base curve worse than the in camera JPEGS. DT really needs to find a way to stick their base curve at the end of the pipeline where it belongs not at the beginning where it blows out the highlights and crushed the blacks leaving them unrecoverable before you even get to start editing. Sure you can go in and edit the settings so it doesn't use the base curve at all but then you have to do all the work the base curve does yourself. Put it after the stack and you would get the best of both worlds.

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Darktable 3.6 Released For This Free Alternative To Adobe Lightroom

Darktable 3.6 is out as this summer's feature update to this open-source RAW photography software package and a great alternative to Adobe Photoshop Lightroom...

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Darktable-3.6-Released