Continuing with the list of major updates…
Abstract Profiles
Not sure how to describe this one. Allows color profiles to be used artistically rather than for typical color management. Never mind, Jacques posted before I could.
Wavelet Levels
explained by Jacques above
Fix for Disappearing Window
Several users have reported an annoying bug where RawTherapee would start, but the window would not appear. It actually appeared off the screen. This has been fixed.
Camera Support
As usual, support for several cameras or file formats have been added or improved (ProRaw, EOS R5, EOS R6, EOS RP, GFX 100, Z 5, Z 50, etc.)
Miscellaneous Bug-fixes and Performance Improvements
Self-explanatory.
In addition to all the updates that will be part of 5.9, there has been a lot of work done which are expected to be completed and included in the following release. This is an important point because it shows development is on-going.
Contributors
5.9 has been over 2 years in the making, so I’ll try my best to remember as many contributors. Please help me out if I miss anyone or their associated contributions.
Code Contributors
Beep6581 / @ Morgan_Hardwood (Maciek Dworak) : Maintainer. Camera support. Adding translations from translators.
Benitoite / @HIRAM (Richard Barber) : Maintaining and improving RawTherapee for MacOS. Side note: Name is not in the credits yet.
Bezierr : Resizing by long or short edge of the image. Bugfixes. Side note: Is name in the credits?
Desmis / @jdc (Jacques Desmis) : Primary developer of Local Adjustments. Abstract Profiles. Improvements to Wavelets. Color correlation Automatic White Balance. Bugfixes.
Floessie / @floessie : Many bugfixes. Code review. Many small but important code contributions.
Hombre57 / @Hombre (Jean-Christophe Frisch) : Spot Removal.
heckflosse / @heckflosse (Ingo Weyrich) : Bilinear dual-demosaic options. Camera support. Bugfixes. Performance improvements. Haze Removal saturation blending. Square crop guide.
jonathanBieler / @jonathanBieler (Jonathan Bieler) : Reducing issues with the rendering of the parametric curves. Adding default size for Spot Removal. Side note: Name is not in the credits yet.
Lawrence37 / Me (Lawrence Lee): Camera-based perspective correction. Waveform and vectorscopes. Bugfixes. Automated Windows and AppImage builds on GitHub.
Pandagrapher / @Pandagrapher (Pierre Cabrera): Local Adjustments, with major contributions to the UI. Fix for disappearing window.
SimonSegerblomRex (Simon Segerblom Rex) : Fixes for image decoding.
sgotti / @sgotti (Simone Gotti) : Improvements to DNG decoding. Side note: Name is not in the credits yet.
stwunsch (Stefan Wunsch) : Improvements to the CMake build. Side note: Name is not in the credits yet.
Thanatomanic / @Thanatomanic (Roel Baars) : Camera support. Bugfixes. UI theme updates. Code review. Unofficial co-maintainer.
ThorNielsen (Thor Nielsen) : Camera white balance for certain CR3 files. Side note: Name is not in the credits yet.
rfranke (Rüdiger Franke) : Full-screen/detached inspector.
rom9 / @rom9 (Alberto Romei) : Improved Film Negative.
I’ll finish this list with non-code contributors another time and maybe elaborate on the Local Adjustment tools and the things I’ve added, if that’s desirable.