A bit of a comparison between between Darktable and Capture One

[wpferguson (Bill Ferguson)]

@dtorop added contrib/fujifilm_dynamic_range.lua to set the exposure based on the exposure bias.

https://darktable-org.github.io/luadocs/lua.scripts.manual/scripts/contrib/fujifilm_dynamic_range/

[garibaldi (Andrew)]

@priort and @davidvj, thanks for the clarification. I was familiar with how to use auto-presets and it sounds like this is very similar, though with the option to apply a module with adjusted settings but disabled which is a neat trick.

I’ve also been playing with configuring shortcuts for adjusting common sliders using the dynamic shortcut for each slider. This way I can just hold down the corresponding shortcut key and scroll which achieves a similar effect. Do you know if there’s a way to adjust how sensitive scrolling is? Currently, it is very fine-grained so requires a lot of scrolling to make a relatively small adjustment (e.g. +1EV on the exposure module)

[priort (Todd Prior)]

@garibaldi Not sure for dynamic but under regular situation in the modules you do the following

In addition, the precision of mouse-wheel and arrow key-adjustments can be altered:

• hold down the Shift key while adjusting to increase the step size by a factor of 10.
• hold down the Ctrl key while adjusting to decrease the step size by a factor of 10.

Both of these multipliers can be amended in the $HOME/.config/darktablerc file:

darkroom/ui/scale_rough_step_multiplier=10.0
darkroom/ui/scale_precise_step_multiplier=0.1

[DavidOliver]

For what it’s worth, in line with what @davidvj wrote, I tend to live in aperture-priority mode (and in daylight such as that of your shot at lowest ISO) and adjust exposure with the exposure compensation setting, which, at least on my Pentax SLR and I assume on most other cameras, is a quick and easy operation.

[davidvj (David Vincent-Jones)]

I mainly use the exposure-compensation setting on my camera so as to avoid ‘flooding’ the sensor with bright elements. I rely on my in camera histograms and ‘blinkies’ to alert me to potential sensor overload and then adjust accordingly.
For those using filmic-rgb, setting the exposure this way is blindingly simple and saves so much time in the processing.
I see people suggesting a reset/adjustment of black-point and white point during processing and that simply shifts, without control, the camera’s established 18% exposed pivot point of the data.

[DavidOliver]

@davidvj

I mainly use the exposure-compensation setting on my camera so as to avoid ‘flooding’ the sensor with bright elements. I rely on my in camera histograms and ‘blinkies’ to alert me to potential sensor overload and then adjust accordingly.

This is avoiding over-exposure? If so, same here.

I haven’t put time in to learn Filmic yet. I have the blog post open in a tab, ready to read.

[emem (Mikael)]

Hi
You write that as a parent you have very little time to spend on editing photos, and you like Capture One because it lets you edit photos fast. As a parent of a small child that requires lot of care, I know exactly what you mean. That is why I invested quite some time in streamlining my photo editing in Darktable.

I wrote an post about my workflow here: Darktable speedrun: Stylish edits in 40 seconds

As a matter of fact, I’ve gotten so fast at getting acceptable result, that its getting a bit boring. I took this photo an hour ago. It only took me 57 seconds to edit this photo. And without any stress or haste.

[bastibe (Bastian Bechtold)]

Wow, that is fantastic! Thank you for the write-up, and linking to it here. Brilliant job!

[emem (Mikael)]

You’re welcome! Don’t hesitate to get back to me if you have any questions about my workflow.

[bastibe (Bastian Bechtold)]

@bastibe

It occurs to me that I might be able to emulate a similar behavior in Capture One’s Levels, which can move the black/white points out, as well as in.

If true, a similar II might be a great addition to darktable’s Filmic module as well: a histogram with overlayed movable black/white points.

I just tried to recover blown highlights with Levels in Capture One: It does not work. Apparently, levels come after Capture One’s base curve, and can not recover clipped highlights, even though they can be recovered by lowering exposure.

Thus, shadow/highlight recovery à la the Black and White point sliders in Filmic can not be replicated in Capture One. Darktable FTW!

[bastibe (Bastian Bechtold)]

Rereading this almist-five-year-old post of mine is quite funny. Without planning to do so, I have addressed all the issues I mentioned in the post in Darktable:

@bastibe

common tools such as cropping, rotating, and the white balance picker are accessible at all times with highly memorable keyboard shortcuts (C, R, W, respectively). Taken as a whole, this allows me to positively blaze through images like never before. It took a while to appreciate this, and get to know this workflow, but at least in my usage, the difference is quite significant. I now sometimes do a few days’ edits in a spare half hour, which used to be an all-evening affair in my usual darktable workflow.

Thanks to darktable’s fantastic keyboard shortcut system, I have recreated Capture One’s “Speed Edit Keys” in darktable, but also expanded them significantly. Most notably, I not only hold Q+mouse move to change exposure, but I can also double-press Q to reset exposure to its defaults, and shift-hold Q to get fine exposure control.

@bastibe

But even where I struggled with C1’s controls, I could not deny that acceptable results could be had very quickly, and I noticed myself moving on quickly to the next image instead of going the extra mile as I would have done in darktable.

To replace Capture One’s Clarity and Texture, I use an auto-applied contrast equalizer preset that starts out with strength zero, so it does nothing. But I have mapped another shortcut key to adjust the strength, giving me the same effect as if darktable had a “Clarity” slider.

@bastibe

Although I have to add a caveat: Actual highlight recovery of partly-burnt highlights just plainly works better in Capture One than in darktable. More colors are recovered deeper into the corruption, and with much less effort. This is an application that I do prefer Capture One for. Denoising is similarly much faster/easier in Capture One.

With the new highlight recovery of a few versions ago, this is no longer true.

@bastibe

Being a commercial application, however, Capture One has certain benefits: for example built-in support for Fuji’s film simulations. For newer cameras at least. Sadly. Something somewhat similar can be done with darktable’s LUTs, but then that becomes a guessing game about whether the specific LUT “wants” to come before or after or instead of filmic, and whether deep shadows and highlights are recoverable afterwards, and a myriad other opaque parameters. Essentially, I rarely found LUTs worth the effort in darktable, but use Capture One’s film simulation simulations frequently. It is a neat feature.

I have dived into this rabbit hole way too deeply. I wrote programs to compile my own LUTs, I added a Lua extension for reading the Film Simulation from the EXIF metadata and apply the appropriate LUT, I have created another extension that adds Film Simulation buttons. What worked best in the end was a set of presets from darktable-chart, which use the tone curve and color lookup table modules.

@bastibe

So, Capture One. It is faster than darktable. You move a slider, you see the results of that slider immediately. Even on my lowly Surface (7 Pro) tablet.

Ah well, and lastly, speed. I have to confess, I simply solved the problem with money. A few thousand dollars worth of Apple Studio hardware solved my performance troubles. And a new Snapdragon Surface tablet is also fast enough.

Regardless, over the last five years, I have unwittingly addressed all my concerns of Capture One vs Darktable. It is extremely impressive that Darktable is flexible enough software to allow me to that.

At this point, I am no longer slower in Darktable than I was in Capture. Even though, through a bug, I seem to have life-long access to every new version of Capture One in perpetuity, I never open it. There’s no point. Darktable is simply better for me.

[Toast]

Thanks for the update. The comparison is fascinating. Do you know if Capture One has moved on in the intervening time?

[bastibe (Bastian Bechtold)]

As far as I can tell from afar, they have added some pretty nifty workflow improvements for high-volume studio/wedding shooters, added a comprehensive iPad app, and have slowly improved their AI masking. The basic image processing is unchanged, though, still halos on horizon lines, still only mediocre denoising, still crashes highlights to the notorious six.

But take that with a huge grain of salt, I haven’t used Capture One in anger for several years. If someone knows better, please do chime in.

[Tamas_Papp (Tamas K. Papp)]

Thanks for following up! I appreciate when people come back with long-term reviews and retrospective remarks.

Even if I wanted to try Capture One, I cannot since I have been using Linux exclusively since 1999, which they do not plan to support. So hearing about it from experienced Darktable users is informative.

[Silvio_Grosso (Silvio)]

Hello @bastibe

Thanks a lot for this update!

I planned myself to buy a perpetual licence of Capture One especially for its tethering options.
darktable, from what I have gathered, has this option too but it only works, kind of well, on Linux. I am a Windows user instead…

In the end I have never bought it for 2 reasons:
1)
If I understand it correctly this “perpetual” licence never expires BUT you are not eligible to download further updates (even for simple bug-fixing stuff!). In short, they force you to subscribe (the same as Adobe products)
2)
At work we only have Nikon cameras (both reflex and mirrorless).
Luckily, now, it is possible to download for free the software (NX Tether), by Nikon itself, which allows you to tether your cameras bodies.
With the SnapBridge app (also Nikon’s software) I can also tether my cameras through my smartphone.

[bastibe (Bastian Bechtold)]

I think I rented Capture One for one year, and then bought a perpetual license when I was on my way out, to keep access to my old edits. I also have an older license to DxO, and my monitor came with a three-month trial for Lightroom that’s still running.

But except for morbid curiosity, I don’t check them. One raw developer is quite enough for me. But what I learned from all of these programs is that what matters in the end is your own skill with whatever tool you choose, not the tool itself.

[Tamas_Papp (Tamas K. Papp)]

@Silvio_Grosso

it is possible to download for free the software (NX Tether), by Nikon itself, which allows you to tether your cameras bodies

Almost all manufacturers have their own raw editing software, usually for “free” if you own one of their cameras (may ask for serial number), if someone is on windows/OSX I think it is worth checking them out.

[martinus]

@Tamas_Papp

Almost all manufacturers have their own raw editing software, usually for “free” if you own one of their cameras (may ask for serial number), if someone is on windows/OSX I think it is worth checking them out.

But for Nikon, think twice before using it… Darktable may have some rough edges in the ui, but NX Studio is one big rough edge… And it is really slow…

[Photoniker]

Nice to see this old thread resurface, as it covers a lot of familiar territory. I had to go the other way around switching from C1 to dt, since I ditched Windows and switched to Linux earlier this year.

I was quite well accustomed to C1 and struggled a bit with dt in the beginning. While still no expert, I can pretty quickly get to a good looking image in dt by now. But my daughter is in college now, so I’m not pressed for time and I actually like spending time on editing, as it’s a big part of the creative process for me. While my PC is no speed daemon, I have no complaints about the rendering in the darktable view, but the lighttable is sometimes awfully slow loading the preview jpgs (all my images live on a NAS, which is probably the reason for this, but is there a way to speed this up by e.g. have the preview jpgs live in the database?).

Glad, I made the switch to dt, since I feel I can squeeze a bit more more out of my images.