Found this video posted the other day while checking up on some Youtube channels I watch.
Not ultra technical in any way but I found it very useful to understanding how the Demosaicing can effect a final image. I like Andy because he is pretty good at explaining technical things in a way that an average photographer can understand. Maybe some other people here may find it interesting to watch. Make sure you have time it is around 45 min long…
Video is mainly Rawtherapee but concepts carry over anywhere really.
He has a lot of good videos. Although I’ve recently switched from RawTherapee to Darktable, the variety and controls of their demosaicing algorithms is to me RT’s greatest selling point. Would love to see DT incorporate a double demosaicing algorithm.
Is ‘color smoothing’ in DT the same as ‘false color suppression’ in RT?
And is ‘sharpen’ the same as ‘capture sharpening’? With masking auto applied.
Color smoothing I am not sure if that is the same or not. I know little about the technicalities of Demosaicing but to my understanding False Color Suppression is a tweak that is considered only by certain Demosaicing algorithms. My guess is it alters the interpolation of the Beyer matrix in some way. This is a question best left answered by the experts that develop these fine open source tools.
Capture sharpening is very different from sharpening with a mask. It is a form of Deconvolution sharpening that focus’ only on high frequency details which has a huge benefit in preventing halos which normal sharpening with a mask can create. Currently darktable does not have a deconvolution method of sharpening at the current moment that I know of.
Both darktable and RawTherapee are good tools you can’t go wrong choosing either. RT does some things better and dt does other things better. The more time that passes those differences are starting to fade especially now that dt has a linear workflow like RT. Props to both teams for all the hard work.
Personally I chose RT because it fits my workflow. I don’t like catalogs I organize on my file system. I find the catalog systems kind of clunky so I just use Adobe Bridge(this is free if you use windows or mac) due to being confused by digikam and struggling with the documentation trying to figure it out. I don’t really need local adjustments in the raw editor either outside of a graduated filter. I usually do all those in Photoshop if I need them (I personally find Photoshop worth it when other software can do what I need as efficiently I will gladly move along)
No, sharpen is unsharp masking (USM). Capture sharpening is Richardson-Lucy deconvolution early in the processing pipe with a few enhancements. darktable doesn’t have it.
Yes. Don’t remember if the method is exactly the same.
False colour suppression in RT can be applied on top of all demosaicers because it’s applied after demosaic. Personally I never use it, though for xtrans it may be beneficial.
Thanks for the info. I find it useful in those occasions where you get high frequency details against low frequency details in a high contrast manner. Think leaves/branches against a blue sky. Not always required but I find in the particular example I mention often times you get some green false color that defringe and chromatic aberration correction can’t fix. I always try the other tools first if I see something like that come up.
Edit: Then again often times when something like that comes up you can’t see it unless at 200%+ zoom so does it really matter One of those case by case things like many tools I guess the real point is that FOSS tools let us fix these issues with demosaicing. Where I have yet to find a “pro tool” that can handle those special cases when it does matter.
Just here to say that Andy makes the best RT tutorials out there. I used RT in the past but his videos are great for bringing you up to speed and making you more productive.
One of those case by case things like many tools 
I guess the real point is that FOSS tools let us fix these issues with demosaicing. Where I have yet to find a “pro tool” that can handle those special cases when it does matter.