Darktable

[gramps]

Anyone here use Darktable for processing?
Version 5.6 now adds Ricoh dng RAW files, which is useful for my Ricoh GRiv Monochrome files, (though the jpegs are superb).
I've had a brief play with it and it looks good, though anything new obviously has a learning curve.
If you use it, how do you get on with it?
Any tutorials you would recommend?

 

[swanseamale47]

Anyone here use Darktable for processing?
Version 5.6 now adds Ricoh dng RAW files, which is useful for my Ricoh GRiv Monochrome files, (though the jpegs are superb).
I've had a brief play with it and it looks good, though anything new obviously has a learning curve.
If you use it, how do you get on with it?
Any tutorials you would recommend?

I've had a few plays, the latest version apparently has AI noise reduction.
I find the interface a disaster, it's vastly over complicated for my taste.
I saw a video of a slimmed down version that looks better.
My biggest grip is you can't select multi images and edit on the fly like LR.
I know you can apply changes to a batch, but LR is way quicker.

 

[Cluster]

I'm a beginner with Darktable. From a standpoint of only having made global edits to my images (density, contrast etc) it is a bit overwhelming.
As I run Ubuntu Linux on my PC, I don't have many choices, so will work with this.
I found that general tutorials didn't do much for me. Instead, i searched for tutorials on specific aspects such as selective actions, masking etc.

Good luck with it.

 

[gramps]

Thanks Wayne & Dave, if it proves too much hassle or of little benefit I'll just stick with jpegs.

 

[Barney]

I find Darktable highly technical, with, oftentimes, half a dozen ways to achieve the same or similar objectives.

I find that, for me, it has superior results to lightroom but it does take twice as long to generate the image as you require. You tube is full of excellent videos on operation, dark tables own I find very helpful and often produced by the people who actually designed and wrote the modules.

For general use guides I enjoy Nick Long, he is a bit wacky which I like but more importantly I can follow and understand his methods and I get the results I want.

 

[gramps]

I enjoy Nick Long

I'll check him out.

 

[myotis]

Anyone here use Darktable for processing?
Version 5.6 now adds Ricoh dng RAW files, which is useful for my Ricoh GRiv Monochrome files, (though the jpegs are superb).
I've had a brief play with it and it looks good, though anything new obviously has a learning curve.
If you use it, how do you get on with it?
Any tutorials you would recommend?

I posted this earlier

Thread 'Darktable - for those put off by the complexity'

23 Mar 2026

I came across this video today, along with a downloadable PDF of getting-started instructions. The poster explains how he was put off Darktable when he first tried it, but recently tried it again. This is him trying to help users (LR users in particular) wade through the complexity, by setting it up to use only the modules he considers important to get started.

The downloadable PDF looks useful (link under the video)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPW6h4P87I4

• myotis
• Replies: 1
• Forum: Talk Post Processing and Image Editing

• 

Andy Asstbury (link in another post to you) has lots of Darktable tutorials.

The two best know sources of help are:

Bruce Williams Photography

darktable is a FOSS (free and open-source software) alternative to apps like Lightroom and Raw Therapee. Bruce Williams will help you get up to speed on this awesome alternative RAW image editor.

www.youtube.com

Boris Hajdukovic

Share your videos with friends, family and the world

www.youtube.com

But there are also

https://www.youtube.com/@JasonPolakPhotography

Darktable Landscapes

A channel dedicated to processing landscape and nature photographs using the free, open source software, Darktable.

www.youtube.com

I've been playing with it as a Linux alternative to Capture One. Steep learning curve, but capable of very good results.