

The last panel on the right is for geotagging and in some ways, this is a really clever feature for users whose cameras don't record GPS data. You can specify new tags on the fly that you can reuse on other images. You've also got a couple of panels on the right for editing image metadata and applying tags to photos. You also have the option to export and import styles so that you can share them with other users. The Styles panel allows you to manage your saved styles – these are basically presets for processing images in a single click that you create by saving the History Stack of an image you've worked on. In the right-hand column, there are a few interesting features available.

Combined with the keywords tagging feature, this can make navigating your way through your photo library very easy with lots of flexibility in how you search files. Below that is the collect images panel and this is a rather neat way to search for images based on a variety of parameters, such as the camera used, the lens attached and other settings such as ISO. To the left, you can import individual image files, complete folders or navigate attached devices. On either side of the main panel are collapsible columns, each of which contains a number of features. The center part of the window allows you to preview the photos within a selected folder, with a handy zoom control to adjust the thumbnail size. The Lighttable window has a range of features that will help you to manage your photo library within Darktable.

In a similar vein, the font size in some aspects of the interface, such as when browsing for files, is somewhat on the small size and may make for uncomfortable reading for some users.
#DARKTABLE LINUX FULL#
However, on the third-party monitor attached to our Mac Pro, the low contrast between some of the gray tones meant that viewing angles didn't have to move too far off optimal for aspects of the interface to blend together imperceptibly.īoosting the brightness to full and not slouching did help to address the issue and this is probably not something that will affect most users, but it could be relevant to some users with imperfect vision. Dark themes are especially popular with most contemporary image editing applications and on our iMac, the overall effect of Darktable is subtle and sophisticated. While there isn't quite the same gulf nowadays between the two platforms, we still generally find working on OS X a more aesthetically pleasing experience.Īt first look, Darktable seems to offer a slick and good-looking user experience, but we have some concerns that form and function aren't as well balanced as they could be. However, we'll take a closer look at Darktable and hopefully give you an idea as to whether it's an application that may be worth you trying out for your own digital photo processing.įor many years OS X and the apps running on it have dished up a level of style to their users that was sorely lacking on Windows. This, though, is a relatively specialist application that will probably only be of interest to a minority of users, so it's not a feature that we will concentrate on. Interestingly, Darktable also supports tethered shooting so you can connect a compatible camera and see a live view on screen as well as review your images immediately after shooting them on a large screen.
#DARKTABLE LINUX WINDOWS#
Windows users can use Lightroom and Corel Aftershot, as well as a slew of others. Linux users also have the option of Lightzone and Photivo.
#DARKTABLE LINUX FREE#
OS X users have a few options for processing their RAW files, including commercial applications in the form of Adobe Lightroom and Apple's own Aperture, and some other free applications, such as Lightzone and Photivo. Its name is formed from it serving the dual features of being a virtual light table for viewing images in bulk and a virtual darkroom for processing your RAW files, like NEF, CR2, or ARW.
#DARKTABLE LINUX MAC OS#
Darktable is a free and open-source RAW converter for Apple Mac OS X, Linux, and now Windows users.
