The main focus lies on user interaction, both in terms of smooth interface design as well as processing speed. The user interface is built around efficient caching of image metadata and mipmaps, all stored in a database. The internal architecture of Darktable allows users to easily add modules for all sorts of image processing, from the very simple (crop, exposure, spot removal) to the most advanced (simulation of human night vision). It's also one of the very few FOSS projects able to do tethered shooting. It focuses on the workflow to make it easier for the photographer to quickly handle the thousands of images a day of shooting can produce. ufraw, rawstudio, f-spot, digikam, shotwell). There are multiple alternatives in the open-source world for raw development (ufraw, dcraw, rawtherapee) but Darktable tries to fill the gap between the excellent existing free raw converters and image management tools (such as e.g. Raw is the unprocessed capture straight from the camera's sensor to the memory card, nothing has been altered. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables you to develop raw images and enhance them. A virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. Probably that's why, even though I do not personally use RT, I still have a soft spot for it and for the community around it.Darktable for PC is an open source photography workflow application and RAW developer. I suppose I was one of the first to receive his permission (when it was still closed source) to include RawTherapee in my PCLinuxOS Digital Photography Edition remaster back in 2007 and I exchanged many an email with Gabor in those days. RT is a solid piece of work which came a long, long way since Gabor Horvath opened the sourcecode, after having understood it was the only way to attract an international development team who would take the code to new places. It definitely IS a matter of taste though, not saying an "everything but the kitchen sink" approach is wrong, far from it! Just never been one of my favorite ways of working. Editing of that image file is then best left to one of the other rather specialized tools in my kit: digiKam and Gimp (both 16-bit) or even something entirely different such as ImageMagick or GMIC for some really interesting manipulations and mathematical functions designed to either improve an image or apply some sort of effect to it. I really need a raw converter to be just thàt: a tool to convert raw sensor data into an editable image file with only the bare minimum of manipulations: demosaicing, white balance setting, a color curve - I possibly forget one or two little bitty things but that's the gist of it. This is also the background to what Udi Fuchs, the developer of Ufraw wrote on his website. I bought into the basic Linux program philosophy: an executable should do one thing only, but do it exceptionally well. It's open source, and gives me all the sliders and dials I need.I kind of like both RT as well as Darktable but the abundance of sliders and dials is exactly what I tend to stay away from. I'd also probably switch over to Linux so I could use Darktable and try it out. If I quit the programs I've paid for, I'd probably use LightZone and RawTherapee, both. It may be best, however, if you aren't paying for anything. RAWTherapee is of a similar design to the typical RAW software, so it rarely helps me out. When I am struggling with an image, it can be a nice change. I am not a huge fan of LightZone, but I like that its workflow is unique. I still remember when the program cost $200, so registration is a low-cost relative to that. Never used LightZone, but any group which requires me to register to download their program annoys me.The registration seems to have been a result of a hacking incident at their website, but hey, I can see it being annoying. The Squirrel Mafia has created camera profiles for many of the mainstream Pentax cameras here. It's open source, and gives me all the sliders and dials I need.
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