digiKam 8.6.0 released

[Michmill (Michael Miller)]

Introducing digiKam 8.6.0

The latest release of digiKam, version 8.6.0, brings several enhancements to help you manage your photos with ease. The update features completely rewritten AI-powered face detection and recognition, offering improved speed, precision, and fewer false positives, while also optimizing performance with GPU support.

Additionally, the update refines key tools like auto-tagging, red-eye correction, and image quality management to make photo organization and editing more efficient. Bug fixes and updates to internal components ensure a smoother, more reliable experience.

Discover the updates in digiKam 8.6.0 and see how they can streamline your photo management workflow. Learn more in the official announcement.

[gumpygord (Gord)]

Great! I will give it a try soon.

Thanks for letting us know.

[kaha (Karl)]

When updating, are there any files I need to save? Like for keeping the settings?

[Michmill (Michael Miller)]

Hi Karl,
If you are upgrading from a previous version on the same computer, then there is nothing you need to save. digiKam will perform an in-place upgrade and will upgrade the necessary files.

If you are moving to a new computer, then there are a few steps you should take to save your settings and metadata.

Cheers,
Mike

[kaha (Karl)]

Thank you Mike, I’m upgrading on the same computer.

[luator (Felix Kloss)]

Thanks for all the work! Nice to see that good old support vector machines still have some use cases .

[Popanz (Uli)]

The face detection now is fantastic. Before it wasn’t bad. But many faces were not recognized. But now, I have to say it really really reliable!

Great work thankx!

[mikae1]

@Popanz

The face detection now is fantastic. Before it wasn’t bad. But many faces were not recognized. But now, I have to say it really really reliable!

Promising! Makes me want to give digiKam a spin!

@Macchiato17 gave some useful tips on handling darktable and digiKam metadata exchange:

@Macchiato17

Interchanging tags and ratings works fine for me (using R&Darktable 4, digiKam 7.7.0). I’m using the following settings:

darktable: preferences for storage / xmp

• “write sidecar file for each image”: on import
• look for updated xmp files on startup: active

digiKam: settings / configure digiKam / Metadata => tab “Sidecars”

• Read from sidecar files: active
• Write to sidecar files: active
• Sidecar file names are compatible with commercial programs: inactive
  This third option might be the “problem”: if activated, digiKam will look for “pictureName.xmp” (e.g. DSC1234.xmp) like PS stores the files. If deactivated, it looks for “pictureName.EXT.xmp” (e.g. DSC1234.NEF.xmp). The latter is what darktable needs.

If you also want to exchange color labels, you need to map between darktable’s colorLabel and digiKam’s pickLabel, e.g. using a LUA script. But that’s another topic

In digiKam I use “refresh” from the context menu on the Album level. This usually updates any changes that I applied in darktable. If not, I use the same option (reread meta data…" as @Till80 explained.

[Michmill (Michael Miller)]

@Popanz

The face detection now is fantastic. Before it wasn’t bad. But many faces were not recognized. But now, I have to say it really really reliable!

Great work thankx!

Thank you for the kind words. We worked hard to make facial recognition even better.

@mikae1

@Macchiato17 gave some useful tips on handling darktable and digiKam metadata exchange:

To make integration with Darktable even better, I’m working on a Darktable Lua script that embeds the thumbnail in the .xmp so digiKam will display the edited Darktable image thumbnail in the digiKam icon/thumbnail views.

Cheers,
Mike

[Popanz (Uli)]

@Michmill

I’m working on a Darktable Lua script that embeds the thumbnail in the .xmp so digiKam will display the edited Darktable image thumbnail in the digiKam icon/thumbnail views.

WOW!!! I’m impressed, that would be simply great!

[mikae1]

@Michmill

I’m working on a Darktable Lua script that embeds the thumbnail in the .xmp so digiKam will display the edited Darktable image thumbnail in the digiKam icon/thumbnail views.

Just wow. Would make me consider making the switch (or rather, using them in tandem). Facial recognition would be really helpful.

[Michmill (Michael Miller)]

Here’s a link to my post about the digiKam/Darktable thumbnail script.

HOWTO: digiKam display Darktable thumbnails

Yes! It’s true, you can now see your Darktable edits in the digiKam thumbnail/icon views. If you’re like me, you love the power of digiKam’s asset management features like advanced search, AI face tagging, heirarchical tagging, geolocation, metadata templates, Lighttable culling, and more (yes, I know Darktable has many of these features, but not to the level of digiKam). Personally, I think digiKam is the best open-source DAM, and one of the best overall (I’ll admit I’m biased). I also think …