On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 5:02 AM, Aahz Maruch <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 04, 2013, Ciprian Dorin Craciun wrote:
>> On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 6:14 PM, Aahz Maruch <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Anyone have other suggestions for a Linux RAW editor/manager?
>>
>> Although I've looked through all the replies, I didn't see some of
>> the Linux solutions out there. Thus I'll try to list them here (in
>> order of my preference):
>>
>> * http://www.rawtherapee.com/ -- Raw Therapee; (I've only used this
>> one;)
>> * http://www.darktable.org/ -- darktable; (second runner,
>> although not that many knobs and switches;)
>>
>> * http://geeqie.sourceforge.net/ -- Geeqie; (I use it to browse
>> through all my photos, and to pre-select them; is able to read RAW;)
>
> Thanks! I've been poking at the various options, originally I tried and
> discarded Geeqie but gave it a second chance when someone else
> recommended it (on the Darktable list, actually). I like that it's fast
> and provides a nice histogram overlay. I wish it did some really really
> basic photo editing (mostly just exposure compensation) to get a rough
> sense for how much detail is present before switching to a real editor.
The fact that Geeqie doesn't have (built-in) any way to "retouch"
my photos is a big plus for me, because I'm certain not alter my
photos by mistake. :) Although I suspect that DigiKam, Shotwell and
the rest don't actually "touch" the JPEG's, but instead store the
"updates" in separate files somewhere, and only upon request they
actually update the files. However for RAW I find this useless.
About the histogram in case of RAW photos, I think it's the
embedded JPEG (or the converted JPEG maybe?) histogram, and not the
actual raw one... And because I "try" to practice ETTR this would
have been very useful to me...
However on the bright side, I've recently discovered that it's
capable of color management (ICC), and has a very nice feature to
display multiple photos side-by-side, which could help me decide
between multiple almost identical copies.
> I haven't decided between Darktable and RawTherapee -- my impression is
> that RawTherapee is easier to use, but Darktable is faster and has more
> features. I'm curious why you claimed that Darktable has fewer knobs and
> switches, when was the last time you tried it?
>
> http://cks.mef.org/space/rtblog/photography/DarktableVsRawtherapee
>
> I should probably sit down and really try to process about a hundred
> images with each.
Yes, I've read that comparison between them, and as said I haven't
tried Darktable not even for one photo. I've made my decision a
couple of months ago simply based on a "first" impression of the UI
layout and behaviour (and I still stand by that decision).
Today I've reopened Darktable again and here are the first
differences I found:
* indeed Darktable seems to have more "knobs" although they aren't
enabled by default, and you have to go through "modules" to get them;
however even in Rawtherapee I find myself using only color profiles,
white balance, crop & resize, noise reduction, sharpness, exposure
compensation, black point, and LAB curves (in this order); thus more
knobs or not doesn't make a big difference now;
* a plus on Darktable's side is the fact that I can filter and see
only those "modules" actually used; or that I can "star" the modules
I use the most;
* both have long menus of knobs and you need to scroll through
them; if you use a scroll wheel (or equivalent on laptop pad), in
Darktable you must scroll on the scroll bar itself or you'll change
the settings if you are over a knob; in Rawtherapee you can scroll
anywhere in the side bar and you'll only move the menu up or down, and
not touch the values; almost a tie breaker for me;
* because I'm a developer I don't use the mouse too often, and I
prefer the keyboard; in Rawtherapee I can move with tab between the
various knobs and I can type in my value; in Darktable the keyboard
is almost useless; moreover in Rawtherapee a lot of things have
key-bindings;
* in Rawtherapee there is a "reset" button next to each knob to
put it in default state (very useful when you play around with knobs);
Darktable doesn't seem to have one for each individual knob, but only
for the overall module; on the other side Rawtherapee is missing the
overall "module" reset button; thus a tie :)
* in Darktable I didn't find a way to display the actual raw
histogram; (linear is not the actual raw one;) I find this essential
especially when toying with ETTR;
* Rawtherapee's interface seems to be more conservative about
space (it has tighter margins for sidebars, etc.) however it has more
space between the various sliders; Darktable is the reverse: crammed
sliders (now combine that with the scroll frenzy)... :) for example
in Darktable almost 10-15% of my screen height is eaten just by the
logo and the overall menu and the photos strip at the bottom which I
would care less when focusing on a single picture...
(So far Rawtherapee is a clear winner just from the usability
point of view, regardless any other features...)
* Darktable seems to try to also be a photo manager (which I have
Geeqie for); however I think Rawtherapee succeeds better at this; :)
for example both have "star" ratings (which I don't use at all),
however Rawtherapee also has "color" labels which I use as: "red" for
completely un-touched yet, "yellow" for in-progress, "green" for done;
thus I can easily filter based on this status; (the stars should
have been for the "quality" of the composure, etc.) (now I see that
Darktable also has color labels, but I can't filter based on them...)
* Darktable uses XMP (XML based) for profiles (standard?),
meanwhile Rawtherapee uses it's (own?) (INI based) PP3 file format;
on the other side if I want to "poke" inside those files I would
prefer Rawtherapee's one; :)
* I don't know for Darktable, but Rawtherapee continuously crashes
on me... (I'm on 32 bit;) however on OSX it doesn't seem to crash;
odd...
* how do I actually tell Darktable to process and "export" the RAW
file? (I didn't find anywhere on the interface a button for this...
Probably it's buried in the "lighttable" view...) :)
* I can't say about "speed" because I didn't manage to actually
"process" the RAW file in Darktable (see above); however I don't
think there is a large difference;
Thus I guess it's more a mater of taste. And in the end like many
people say on this list, what matters is making and looking at photos.
(Although the techie in me doesn't let me part easily from all those
knobs...) :)
I hope once you make up your mind between the two, you'll
contribute back your feedback.
Ciprian.
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