Darktable 3.6 Released For This Free Alternative To Adobe Lightroom

[MadeUpName]

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?

Keep in mind no professional uses lightroom by it's self they use the Adobe Suite.. They ingest in lightroom and do some color correction then head over to photoshop. Lightroom and Gimp can be used in the same way. I can not think of any thing a professional needs that isn't in ether lightroom or photoshop other than the name Adobe which sadly is a requirement if you want to work for many companies. There are LOT of things that Darktable does much better than lightroom/photoshop like parametric filters.

Every thing over here was done with either DT or Gimp or both. Please tell us how they would have been better if I had used lightroom?

https://conjuredimages.ca/pictures.php

[MadeUpName]

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.

This. Head over to the Blackmagic forum and look at the resolve sub-forum. Every third new post is "Resolve is shit because it doesn't work exactly the same as editor X". Every movie you have seen come out of Hollywood for the last number of years has been at least color graded with resolve but it's shit because it doesn't work like editor X".

Same thing here. There will be a learning curve. I would suggest it isn't going to be that bad as the big initial hurdle is in learning what you can and want to do to edit a photo. The new learning curve is just how to do it.

[Johnny_Bit]

I'd also like to point out - One of the devs, the one responsible for filmic rgb, color balance and tons of other stuff accepts donations at https://en.liberapay.com/aurelienpierre/ - please do send some love his way.

[rogerx]

Shrugs, not one mention of using RawTherapee/RT?

I've tried DarkTable awhile ago, still haven't had a chance to retry since the previous two releases, but still suspect a similar experience as in the past.

For me, if I every get time to take and edit raw images, I have always resorted to RawTherapee, due to reliable reproduction of colors and white balance, with very similar results to Nikon CaptureDX/Studio software.

[Johnny_Bit]

Maybe no mention of RT because the thread is centered around darktable? That'd be my guess.

Good thing though it looks like RT 5.9 is just around the corner seeing all the progress they've made RT 5.9 will be very nice release

[MadeUpName]

Shrugs, not one mention of using RawTherapee/RT?

I've tried DarkTable awhile ago, still haven't had a chance to retry since the previous two releases, but still suspect a similar experience as in the past.

For me, if I every get time to take and edit raw images, I have always resorted to RawTherapee, due to reliable reproduction of colors and white balance, with very similar results to Nikon CaptureDX/Studio software.

I had looked at it a few times in the past but always passed because it it was a PITA to install with my distro. Now that they have an AppImage I thought I would give it another look and OMG,OMG,OMG I have CR3 support. Thanks for speaking up.

[rogerx]

I had looked at it a few times in the past but always passed because it it was a PITA to install with my distro. Now that they have an AppImage I thought I would give it another look and OMG,OMG,OMG I have CR3 support. Thanks for speaking up.

Yup. RawTherapee results are far better here. However, configuring RawTherapee for good results takes a little time and study work. Once done, the RawTherapee interface allows saving the configurations and lens profiles for on-the-fly processing. So the good results become as easy as DarkTable, but with far better results depending on your camera make/model's support within RawTherapee.

I look at DarkTable for users with needs of an easier click & play use scenario. But viewing and comparing your results to other raw image renders may show some undesirable fluctuations. (eg. Zooming in on my camera's wide lens photos, I noticed DarkTable was likely applying a bad/old lens profile to an image, creating lens distortion. DarkTable also uses Adobe's color profiles, similar to Adobe LightTable, and colors seemed to have more dark contrasts versus natural color contrasts. RawTherapee's camera DCP profiles along with CIE color seem to provide far better natural color, versus the harsher/darker color contrasts.

Bottom line, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and some say raw image rendering is a work of art, with supposed unique results upon each rendering.

My opinion, I try to shoot for a raw image end result, something similar to the manufacturer's raw image editor. (eg. Nikon's Capture NX-D/Studio). If somebody is curious and wants to know how I acquire similar results with Nikon cameras using RawTherapee, just perform a web search for those terms using Nikon D5600. (I'm not much of a fan of advertising on other sites.)

[Paradigm Shifter]

I find the debate over whether software is "suitable for professional use" (or not) quite an amusing one generally for open source applications.

What constitutes a professional? The dictionary definition is of "a person engaged in a specified activity, especially a sport, as a main paid occupation rather than as a pastime". Well, while I dislike that throwaway bit in the middle "especially a sport" (because the same holds for musicians, artists, scientists, and everyone on down) at various times I could have legitimately described myself as a "professional" photographer and a professional musician - at those times they were my primary source of income - despite neither of those being anything to do with any of my academic qualifications.

I've never used an Adobe product beyond Acrobat Reader in my life (and I only use Acrobat Reader as an absolute last resort).

The primary question I ask when evaluating a piece of software is: "can I do what I want to do with this?" Note I don't say "easily" or "quickly" or "simply" because I am aware that often the first two come with experience of the software and the latter is often an indicator that soon I will feel the software does not give me enough control. Of course, what is "simple" for one person can be devilishly complex for another.

It's been a long time since I tried out DarkTable (2.6 I think! ) so I'll have a look the next time I need to adjust a photo. For my needs recently, though, the JPEG output from my camera is sufficient.

[Danielsan]

I think we should stop doing those comparisons... Darktable is a well established Raw Photo Manager/Editor, it just deserves to be mentioned for its own values and anything else!

[Johnny_Bit]

Just a head's up: nVidia drivers 470 series breaks OpenCL compilation. If you want snappy processing - stick to pre 470 till nvidia fixes the issue.