Open source Lightroom alternative Darktable is now available for Windows
Dec 27, 2017
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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To use their own words, “Hell froze over”. Yes, that’s right, the open source raw processor Darktable has finally been ported over to Windows. And they intend to support it fully in the future. There are still a few features missing, like lack of printing support, and you need special drivers for tethering, but it’s here and it’s usable.
The announcement comes as part of a massive 2.4.0 version update. And if you’re an existing Darktable user, you’ll probably want to update.
The port to Windows is largely thanks to contributor Peter Budai. He was the one who finally convinced the team to agree to a Windows port and did most of the work to make it happen. Darktable has been a pretty popular option for Linux and Mac users for a while now, and with Adobe’s decision to end standalone Lightroom, a welcome treat for Windows users.
Darktable supports most of the popular DSLR and mirrorless cameras, except for some of the very latest (there’s no mention of the Nikon D850, Sony A7RIII or Panasonic Lumix G9 in the compatibility chart). There’s a complete user manual on the Darktable website, along with many in-depth video tutorials going into specific features.
If you want to check it out, head on over to the download page on the Darktable website.
[via MirrorlessRumors]
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Here is a comprehensive introduction to Darktable – a completely free alternative to Lightroom
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Free Lightroom alternative: Importing images into Darktable (quick start guide)
Free Lightroom alternative: Processing and editing images in Darktable
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6 responses to “Open source Lightroom alternative Darktable is now available for Windows”
Nimrod Fisher
Just in time for Adobe to stop publishing stand-alone, non-subscription copies of Lightroom! Coincidence or fortuitous timing?
wtf? I can’t even guess how you can relate both events.
It crashed on my mac after 20 seconds… even before I could import any photos…
Does it work with midi2lr?
For me, using Lr5 and CS2 and thinking about a sub for Lr classic the timing could not be better, I have tried a few shots with it and although its a big learning curve I am going to hold on to my cash for a few months and see how I get on.