I’m wanting to divest myself from Adobe. And my biggest investment is Lightroom. Anyone here have any thoughts on Darktable? I have over 300k photos in my catalogue and need to be able to import them and all their data/metadata.
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@NunavutBirder hi
To start with Draktable, I'd do the last 2 points on this: https://darktable.info/en/getting-started/quick-start/preferences/ (AgX as default workflow and activate OpenCL)
Then there is their quickstart: https://darktable.info/en/getting-started/quick-start/darktable-first-steps/ (to learn the interface)
And the standard workflow: https://darktable.info/en/getting-started/quick-start/darktable-first-steps/understand/standard-workflow-2/
That's important: their workflow is up to date and technically correct. A lot of videos / tutorials are outdated or missing some important knowledge about how darktable works.
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@NunavutBirder I use dt for editing and digikam for cataloging. not ideal with two different, but i'm happy to have ditched lightroom. Getting the hang of dt after a month or two, like that there are more options (too many atm, but still learning).
ON1 Photo Raw might be an option also. And it’s on sale right now.
@NunavutBirder
Switched to Capture One some years ago and like it a lot.
@NunavutBirder It always is. ;)
They swamp you with their newsletters and offerings & stuff, but yes, it’s a nice alternative. Bit slow at times IMHO, and a quasi-sub as there’s a yearly update if you want it.
I found that all competitors lack 1 or several LR features I sorely miss. There’s always sth. Many don’t allow4 my beloved geo tagging, for example. For darktable I had to purchase an external HDR / pano app. LR is near perfect for my workflow. But as a non-pro I could afford the switch.
@NunavutBirder Made the switch a few months ago 2get away from Adobe, subscriptions & gain some more digital independence (yeah, on a Mac, I know). How much time do you have b4 the next sub hits? dt has a steep learning curve, you have2 take your time b4 the real switch, prep the LR catalogue 2preserve & transfer as much data as possible via XMP, get into the workflow. I’m happy now and as fast as with LR but it wasn’t easy. Under water these days, but over the weekend I might add some details.
@TeachrDigital it’s monthly. So as much time as I need I guess.
@NunavutBirder Does Darktable have organization features like the LR catalog? Heard mixed reviews on it as an editor but many great editors don't have those kinds of catalogue features. I think Capture One might though.
@michaelrussell Still reading about options. But it does have photo management. Some of the things it doesn’t have, like photo stacking, aren’t features I use.
@NunavutBirder @michaelrussell I think it does have photo stacking. When importing Raw + jpeg, it automatically groups them, and allows to alter groups of photos.
@NunavutBirder Are these 300k edited photo and if so, do your edits transfer over?
@NunavutBirder there’s a dt fork called “Ansel” that I know nothing about (other than its existence) but I liked the description.
@NunavutBirder I've tried it (admittedly briefly) and found the editing performance too slow, eg it doesn't update exposure in real time as you drag the slider
@NunavutBirder I tried switching from Lightroom to Darktable and found it baffling. I ended up switching to Exposure X7. I don't use it heavily, but it does easily handle my ~150k photos. Startup is a little slow.
@NunavutBirder If you can save your edits to XML you can try to see what edits transfer to darktable automatically and make a workflow for what is missing. Darktable needs time to learn but it has a lot of options. You can also customize the sidebar to only have modules you use and rearrange the order. I also separate non essential photo edits to darktable and essential to lightroom while making the transistion.
@NunavutBirder darktable is absolutely great, has been my photo developer for years. However one important thing to keep in mind coming from Lightroom in particular, it's not just a different app doing the same thing. It has its own philosophy, its own approaches and a lot of legacy as well. Thankfully, it also has good docs explaining things in depth, and a good community producing tutorials and answering questions on https://discuss.pixls.us/. But it's going to be a learning curve.
@NunavutBirder I have nothing like 300,000 photos so I can't speak confidently about volume, but I find I use https://rawtherapee.com/ more than I use Darktable.
@NunavutBirder I tried Darktable a little and it looks good. But the effort to migrate also feels huge - have about 100k pic. Also it feels way more ‘fiddly’ 5 of 6 actions to do things that are 2/3 in lightroom for me. I hit a few UI issues which put me off. I want to badly get off lightroom but am feeling too daunted by switching to darktable, unless I could find a month to do it carefully and learn all the new ways of doing things
@NunavutBirder tried it, hated it. I’m happily using Dx0 PhotoLab.
