New RT user. Why does the image look blurry when editing?

Hi folks,

First post here. I used to do a bit of photography and editing back when LR was a one time purchase. Now I’ve got back into photography and seen that LR is using a subscription module I’ve decided to try some free software, namely Darktable and Rawtherapee.

Anyway I’ve been using DT for a couple of days now and it’s been a steep learning curve. I wanted to try RT too so just downloaded it and opened up a RAW DNG file from my Pixel 3 phone. For some reason it’s very blurry… If I open the same file in DT it looks perfectly sharp. I assume there’s an option in RT to display at higher resolution, but where is it?

Thanks.

Hi and welcome! Hope that you find what you’re looking for in RawTherapee or darktable.

As for the ‘blurry’ preview, it has been talked about in the past. See here for some background info: RAW preview in Editor window is blurry
If you think something else is going on, please feel free to provide a comparison screenshot.

I think your seeing the embedded preview then. By default pixel 3 raws are pretty blurry. You can get a decent image but it takes some crafting… I would love to be proven wrong if you care to share an example

Both RT and DT are really excellent programs. RT seems more intuitive to use with its GUI layout, however, what really won me over to DT was the ability to use masks to localise adjustments. I often use drawn path mask with feathering and blurring to get invisible transitions. I hope one of these great programs work out for you. The user manuals are very important reading.

Thanks for the replies. Having tried RT for a day or two I’ve decided to stick with DT. DT feels a little more polished and surprisingly more intuitive once you understand how to use the filmic module and scene-referred vs display referred.