Not exactly what I'm looking for, but we'll see about its “normal” RAW development chops.Īnother highly regarded developer with rather traditional tools. Allegedly extremely high image quality, but no local adjustments whatsoever.Ī rather new developer, with fancy AI features such as automatic sky replacements. Allegedly the best default color rendition, particularly for Fuji cameras.įree, works on Linux. Capture One 20.0.4 ( $29/month or $350)Įnormously expensive, even with the educational discount.Currently only available at a subscription price, but there is a “free” version available through my university. Adobe Lightroom Classic CC 7.5 ( $10/month).Allegedly, not particularly fast, with a confusing user interface. That said, I will leave all other adjustments on their default settings, to still get an impression of the general look of the programs.įree, works on Linux, very familiar to me. By limiting myself to these edits, I hope to get an unbiased idea of the various RAW developer's implementations, without needing to ask the endless “what if” of what else I could have done. But for this test, I'm explicitly not doing anything particularly artistic merely some highlight recovery, shadow recovery, and local white balance adjustments. Obviously, I am a lot more proficient in my current tool, Darktable, than in any of the others. I would prefer a file-based workflow with edits stored alongside the RAW files 2, and I would prefer a perpetual license instead of a rental contract, but I'm willing to compromize on both if it's worth it 3.

I have yet to see a photograph that was ruined by them, and most RAW developers seem to do a sufficient job at them. In contrast to most other comparisons on the 'net 1, I won't concern myself too much with sharpness and noise reduction and demosaicing. Must support my past and present cameras (Fuji X-E3, Ricoh GR, Pentax Q7, Nikon D7000).Must run acceptably with files on a network share.Must run acceptably on my Surface tablet.And they all have rabid fan bases, and apparently unique rendering. There are so many RAW developers out there.

Is darktable safe