ART. Darktable, and Raw Therapee- Share Notes Open-Source Image Processing Software.

[Sonnar Brian]

I installed "ART", Another Raw Therapee" fork on my HP Tower yesterday. I bought a Nikon Z5 this week, and needed new software to process the .NEF files from the Z5. As Adobe no longer sells Stand-Alone licenses for Lightroom, I am done with them. I've used Adobe Photoshop for 30 years, starting with Photoshop 3.0. I still have Photoshop CS2 installed, and still use it.

Some items in ART are not as easy or intuitive to use. "Syncing" corrections- figured that out. Resizing on output- Figured that out. How the parameter files work for each image... Text files, easy to read, understand, and manipulate. I see a Fortran project for applying my favorite parameters.

ANYWAY! Vignetting corrections on the Z5 used with the Canon 50/0.95, first test successful.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

ART and the M9. Select an Image from the Thumbnails on the top, open it, set to the desired profile, Right click on a Thumbnail image at top of screen, choose "Profile Processing Operations". You can now COPY the profile and paste it into those selected. I'm still learning, but that worked.

 

[x-ray]

I’m in a similar situation. I’ve used my Df and D800 since they were introduced and processed all my raw files in Lightroom 6.14. I do most of my work in Lightroom and export 16 bit files then finish any other work in Photoshop 4. Recently I bought a Fuji XT-3 and the raw files aren’t recognized by LR 6 or PS4.

I’m running my software on my 2009 Mac Pro desktop and thanks to Apple I can’t upgrade my OS so can not run the current LR & PS on the cloud. Despite that I don’t want to get into paying a fee monthly and don’t have any interest in buying another new computer that would soon be outdated again. I get tired of chasing software and hardware especially now that I’m retired.

I had Darktable on my laptop for a few years but only used it as a viewer when on a shoot. My 2012 MacBook Pro was in the situation that I couldn’t update the OS enough to be compatible with current Nikon software. I recently tried to upgrade Darktable and corrupted it and need to remove and reinstall it. Fortunately I kept the original installer which is no longer on the Darktable website.

Raw Therapee is something I recently ran across and downloaded it to a Mac Mini I have Catalina on but haven’t done much with it. What I have seen is that it seems to have potential but I need to do some serious testing.

What I did find that I really like is Iridient X Transformer. What Iridient is is a DNG converter that runs on my older OS and does a better job wit Fuji RAF files than Lightroom or Adobe Raw. The demosaicing in Adobe software creates issues and Iridientdoes a much better job. Iridient gives a number of options in the conversion and I’m able to convert to a linear DNG file with no preset corrections that most software including Adobe apply to the file. I like a totally linear file so I can do the adjustments the way I want. The only issue with Iridient is it’s a little slow in the conversion.

How I handle my files, my Adobe Bridge will not open the RAF for viewing so I shoot a small JPG and direct the camera to put them on a second SD card. I use those to select in Bridge then pull my RAF files and convert to a DNG in Iridient then process in LR and finish in PS. I basically do that with my Nikon files but with the Nikon the NEF are converted to DNG in LR when I import them.

the results are excellent with Iridient and I can process my files in software I’m familiar with rather than trying yo learn something new.

Iridient makes a Nikon compatible converter. These converters are specific to that brand. You buy the converter for Fuji, Nikon or Canon. No other raw files will work with the software. The good news is it runs in older operating systems, it’s very straight forward and under $50.

If you can process DNG files you might try Iridient. They have a trial that watermarks your converted image and I don’t believe there’s a time limit on it.

The attached files were converted in Iridient X and the DNG were processed in LR 6.14 and finished in PS4.

 

[Out to Lunch]

After upgrading laptops, I'm going back to ACDSee Pro: stand-alone; one-time payment; intuitive software, and excellent file management. Cheers, OtL

 

[MarkWalberg]

Brian, I got a Z6 and am having a blast using my screw mount lenses on it. I've been thinking about getting the Canon 0.95 onto the Z. I guess that the smartest way is to get an M mount on the Canon lens. However, I've been thinking about modifying a Fotasy screw mount to Z adapter to fit the existing 0.95 lens mount. How did you do it ? Sorry for the off topic, but I am also very interested in these software issues and I'll be watching this.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I bought a Canon 7 to Z-Mount adapter.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234621039868

$35. I bought this 6 weeks before buying the camera.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

After upgrading laptops, I'm going back to ACDSee Pro: stand-alone; one-time payment; intuitive software, and excellent file management. Cheers, OtL

I had looked at that software several years ago- it could not work with the Linear DNG files from the M Monochrom. I will check out the free trial version.

What I really like about the ART software: it uses an easy to read file for each photo that contains all of the processing instructions. You do not need to use the software to generate them, could do your own. It would not be difficult to run a simple program to generate files with the processing steps and to just use ART to generate jpegs. As many of my lenses are not in the database, is something to look at.

 

[titrisol]

I have been using Rawtherappe and Darktable for a while, and Darktable is way better
The processing txt files are simple and easy to use.
Plus the NEGADOCTOR module is a blessing for camera-scanning of old negatives

However in Rawtherapee a group of geeks maintain an excellent set of profiles for the Pentax cameras.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums...l-mafias-new-improved-rawtherapee-thread.html

 

[Sonnar Brian]

I just installed the latest Raw Therapee- released in Nov 2022. Most of my lenses are not in the profiles and need manual corrections, such as for the Vignetting on the Canon 50/0.95. ART and Raw Therapee- Easy to find and apply manual corrections, then "Sync" up with many selected photos.

I still have not discovered how to do the same in Darktable.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The color Profile in the new Raw Therapee for the Z5 is awful. ART- nailed the colors, great noise reduction, corrected the vignetting for the Canon 50/0.95.
Raw Therapee- completely missed the colors, same settings.

So far- ART has an easier to navigate interface, allows manual lens corrections, and nailed the color profile without me doing anything special. Compared with the in-camera JPEGs- nailed it.
RT- Nothing like the colors should be.

 

[shawn]

I’m running my software on my 2009 Mac Pro desktop and thanks to Apple I can’t upgrade my OS so can not run the current LR & PS on the cloud. Despite that I don’t want to get into paying a fee monthly and don’t have any interest in buying another new computer that would soon be outdated again. I get tired of chasing software and hardware especially now that I’m retired.

Iridient is really good. On the Mac you should also try RPP64. Interface is a little funky but their film looks have some of the best colors I have seen.

Latest version here:
https://groups.google.com/g/raw-photo-processor/c/khgAEJcgIQA


This book has a couple of chapters about using RPP64.
https://blog.dehancer.com/lifelike-book/

Shawn

 

[x-ray]

Iridient is really good. On the Mac you should also try RPP64. Interface is a little funky but their film looks have some of the best colors I have seen.

Latest version here:
https://groups.google.com/g/raw-photo-processor/c/khgAEJcgIQA


This book has a couple of chapters about using RPP64.
https://blog.dehancer.com/lifelike-book/

Shawn

Thanks! I’ll take a look tomorrow when I get on my computer.

This afternoon I decided to stick with Iridient and Lightroom 6. I’m getting results I like so no reason to switch. Between LR and PS I can do everything I want to.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The new release of Raw Therapee does not have a .dcp file for the Nikon Z5, but ART does. The color problem was solved by copying the Nikon Z5.dcp file from ART to RT.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

It turns out that the ".DCP" file format is open, and that .DCP files used by Lightroom also work in ART and Raw Therapee. You can copy the files into the profile directories of ART and RT, or use them as custom profiles and "Browse" to them.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Lightroom has the .DCP files for the Leica cameras. What you do is to rename the file to whatever camera name is displayed by ART or RT.

SO- for the M9 the filename must be "Leica Camera AG M9 Digital Camera.dcp". ART and RT use the camera name stored in the DNG file to allow the "Auto-Match" option.

 

[mike rosenlof]

I'm a darktable user of several years. My needs are pretty basic. I'm mostly a film user and scans are kind of like my contact sheets, my "real" work happens in the darkroom. But I use it for photos that end up online or in email to friends. Not sure what to say about it. I'm 100% black and while from film. Crop, Tone Curve, Retouch, Rotate and Perspective cover close to 100% of my use. Then export as .jpg, done.

 

[titrisol]

It turns out that the ".DCP" file format is open, and that .DCP files used by Lightroom also work in ART and Raw Therapee. You can copy the files into the profile directories of ART and RT, or use them as custom profiles and "Browse" to them.

to which folder do you copy?

 

[Sonnar Brian]

to which folder do you copy?

Both ART at RT have a folder named "dcpprofiles". I copied the files for auto-match there. You must rename the file to be exactly what ART and RT display as the camera name.

SO- for the M9 the filename must be "Leica Camera AG M9 Digital Camera.dcp". ART and RT use the camera name stored in the DNG file to allow the "Auto-Match" option.

I also use the "Browse" feature to specify a .dcp.

I've been Hacking all day. LR4.4 - which came with my M Monochrom will install on multiple computers, now on my new Tower. LR6- that feature was removed.
SO I copied the LR6 profiles into LR4.4. For my Nikon Df, I have to change the "f" to a "4", location '0183'x in the .nef file. That foold LR4.4 into thinking I have a D4 file, which is identical to the Df- EXCEPT that one byte.

I might run my code that "worms" through all files in an installation and Patches anything I want. Change all "Nikon D4" to "Nikon Df". But- I wrote the code to patch each .nef, and it took 4 seconds to change thousands of files. I open them as a Fortran Direct Access file and read/modify/write 512 bytes of the file.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

LR4.4 Hacked with LR6 .DCP files, and the Df .NEF hacked for LR to think it is a D4.





And ART with the LR6 .DCP files.

 

[Out to Lunch]

Brian, have you also looked at GIMP?