![]() took 1.025 secs (2.687 CPU) processed `demosaic' on CPU, blended on CPU took 0.016 secs (0.023 CPU) processed `highlight reconstruction' on CPU, blended on CPU took 0.019 secs (0.027 CPU) processed `white balance' on CPU, blended on CPU took 0.018 secs (0.019 CPU) processed `raw black/white point' on CPU, blended on CPU took 0.023 secs (0.041 CPU) initing base buffer Here’s a sample output from the ultrabook: creating pixelpipe took 0.112 secs (0.240 CPU) darkable has a built-in performance debugging mode which can be enabled by running darktable -d perf in a terminal. Since I had never worked with the darktable codebase before, I decided to use other existing means for profiling the application first. Exporting to JPEG was much faster, taking less than two seconds on the PC and about eight on the ultrabook. I wouldn’t expect my old Intel Core i5-5300U ultrabook to do well in this benchmark, but it processed the same image in about 18 seconds. I had checked that both strategies were actually working, but exporting one of my Nikon D750 RAW images at full 24 megapixel resolution with the usual processing modules applied took up to twelve seconds. I’ve always had the impression that the PNG export might be slower than it has to be, but it had become a real issue since I’ve upgraded my desktop PC to a six-core Ryzen 7 1600X CPU and an NVIDIA GTX 950 GPU.ĭarktable uses OpenMP for multithreading, and OpenCL to offload most image processing routines to the GPU. My workflow is centered around darktable, but instead of exporting to JPEG format I export 16-bit PNGs so I can pass the images through some additional scripts and move the lossy compression step to the very last moment. ![]() However, if you want a bit more guidance, the following information might help.I do a lot of photo editing nowadays, mostly for my travel blog over at One Man, One Map. The best person to answer that question is you, and since Darktable is free for anyone to download, I recommend you give it a shot and see what you think. While this is true of any image editing program, the relatively small Darktable user base means that there just aren’t as many resources available to aspiring users compared to Lightroom and others. It takes a great deal of experimentation, trial and error, and online searching to figure out all the tools at your disposal. The sheer level of complexity can also be a significant detriment. Here, the Lighttable interface is unusable until all the thumbnails can be properly re-loaded by the program. Glitches like this show up far more than I’d prefer. And while there is no doubt that Darktable can handle any image editing tasks you throw at it, including more advanced options such as tethered shooting, slideshows, and printing, there are a host of drawbacks, as well. This article is not meant to be a review of Darktable, but rather a tool to help you decide if this program is right for you. Proceed with cautionĪt this point, you might be ready to cancel all your editing software subscriptions and jump on the Darktable bandwagon.īut before you take the leap, I need to offer a few words of caution. ![]() There is also no mobile support, meaning photographers who rely on tablets or phones as essential components of their editing workflow will be left out in the cold. Drawing a mask, moving a slider, or even cropping an image often involves precious seconds of wait time, which can really add up when going through hundreds of images. ![]() Performing many of the editing maneuvers is an exercise in patience, even on a newer computer. You can create masks of all shapes and sizes in Darktable, which are useful for applying edits in specific image locations.Īgain, I need to temper expectations. For frugal photographers, it would be difficult not to recommend Darktable, and for everyone else, it just helps to have some patience. I am still kind of amazed that all these features are in a free program that continues to be actively developed. While speed is important, it’s not everything, and many quibbles with Darktable are mitigated by its price.Īfter all, despite my issues with Darktable’s user interface and lack of polish, it’s impossible to overlook the cost. That’s not necessarily the only peg to hang your editing hat on, though. The latter will get the job done, but the former will do it way faster. Not that Lightroom and Capture One are speed demons – but comparing them to Darktable is like comparing a Ferrari to a Toyota Corolla. Scrolling through images, selecting pictures, editing metadata information, and other simple operations take far longer than other programs. My biggest issue with Darktable is evident just from using the Lighttable module: overall responsiveness is not great. While things seem great up to this point, I do need to temper your expectations a bit. You can customize many different elements of the export process.
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