Honestly I think that lightroom is still unbeatable compared to open source raw editors for problematic raws, noise reduction should be included in the list.
Paradoxically opensource raw editors are better most of the time for normal raw
Somewhat on the contrary, I recently had a case where Capture One tended to shift a very bright blue jacket into cyan in a way that was hard to get rid of. Lightroom faired better, but instead desaturated the blue. Filmic RGB in Darktable had at least one normalization option that actually kept the jacket blue (and five that turned it radiant white). The SOOC jpeg was correctly blue as well.
I find difficult files such as this one somewhat regularly, especially with brightly colored highlights that shift towards secondaries (cyan, magenta). I often find these hard to deal with in C1/LR, but usually fairly straight forward in Darktable.
A recurring theme there is that C1/LR miss fine-grained masking control for their HDR controls (blacks, shadows, highlights, whites), which is rather trivial in DT in a number of ways. Same for the (to me) too-coarse Clarity in C1, and too-fine Structure, where the Contrast EQ is just so much easier and more versatile to control. (E.g. increase contrast on flower stems but not petals)
But on the other hand, I find easy files with little masking quicker to process in C1/LR. And simple drawn raster masks. I miss simple drawn masks on Darktable. (Draw with low flow, like you draw with color)
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Having never used LR I really donât have an opinion on the program, although I know lots of people who use it and come away with great results.
Professionals may feel they can be more productive with LR, but I do this as a serious hobby, so quality is what matters to me. I donât think that Iâve ever seen a serious review that said that LR will produce better results than darktable or Rawtherapee and I believe thereâs reason to believe the FOSS programs can do as well or better.
What does bother me is the condescending attitude by some LR fan boys, particularly certain internet celebrities who I wouldnât trust to recommend a decent monopod. Iâm not exaggerating.
That and the subscription model. I hate subscription models.
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Can you explain the path to this setting ? Please. Perhaps with a picture !
Hi,
If you have examples to share, they would be welcome as benchmarks Iâm sure (or at least I would be happy to have some 
Thanks!
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Who have likely never even looked at a FOSS program.
Thatâs the main reason why I switched from LR. I would rather spend time learning new software than give $20 a month for the privilege.
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Editing with Lightroom is utterly frustrating when you know what you are doing and you know what you want. I havenât used it a lot, but itâs basically like using a cellphone flight simulator when you are used to the commercial airliner dashboard. Even my wife, who barely knows what she is doing (but surely knows what she wants), prefers darktable over Lightroom for the precise color control she can get in it. Lightroom is nice for people afraid of their computer, who want a use path drawn for them. Plus the color science is dated and puts ease of use before accuracy.
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Quick video demonstration:
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I guess you have to pay to rent it and also pay to unrent it as well.
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Only the rich, powerful and self-righteous are morally correct. 
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I think this is exactly why Lightroom is so popular. Most users donât know what they are doing and donât know what they want 
Although Iâm being somewhat facetious, there is some truth to it. Lightroom is very good for getting decent results when youâre starting out and just want to adjust some sliders, but not think too much about the ins and outs of raw processing. I was that person once. I just wanted my photos to âpopâ and other vague ideas like that. darktable, ART and RT have taught me a lot, and especially that I still only know the tip of the iceberg. But that can only be a good thing.
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Caveat emptor.
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Iâm not denying that, but this fashion of calibrating everything for the lowest common denominator/clueless beginner is really getting in the way of getting stuff done properly and itâs annoying. Sure, the bulk of the market is the clueless beginner and people are willing to pay to avoid the burden of learning, so market dictates business. But companies always looking through you if you belong to the 2-10% of statistical outliers is kind of depressing. Everyone deserves their needs to be covered, no matter if they are a profitable market or not.
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I fully agree, and thatâs why we should all be very thankful for darktable and open source software. I can see why a publicly traded company would target the mass market, but itâs sad that the pursuit of profit always seems to win out and dictate trends / peopleâs expectations. But this is obviously not just an issue with digital photographyâŚ
Yet it doesnât seem to be such an issue with digital painting or 3D rendering, which are fields not-so-far-away (still images, still creative, still sitting between art and technics). So there is something about photography that sets peopleâs expectations, and Iâm guessing 120 years of Kodak marketing (âyou press the button, we do the restâ) has something to do with that.
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Lightroom is not the only raw editor, thankfully. There are plenty of choices that go a bit âdeeperâ than Lightroom.
ON1 and Silkypix come to mind, with a greater diversity of tools. Although I find their basic tools worse than Lightroomâs, some of the advanced filters in ON1, or the fancier options in Silkypix are rather neat. Silkypix is rather impressive anyway, and feels similar to Darktable in spirit somehow. They even have more-than-skin-deep documentation.
The other direction exists, too, of course, chiefly with Luminar and Photo Ninja, which seem to aim at an even less technical audience than Lightroom.
Capture One feels very similar to Lightroom. ACDSee, too. Zoner Photo and DxO and Iridient exist as well, but I have no experience with them. So, plenty of commercial options.
I think this will happen with any subscription you use - you subscribe with a monthly fee that is based on a agreed time frame. If you get out that means the remaining ârentâ needs to be recalculated. So it sounds very normal to me.
I try to avoid software subscriptions though. Have only one annual one for a Wordpress theme. But not paying means no support, I can still use it though.
What is Lightroom ?
Tried to find it in my Fedora Linux distribution, but can not find a package that matches that name :
dnf search lightroom
Last metadata expiration check: 5:02:34 ago on Fri Apr 16 08:49:10 2021.
No matches found.
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Ouch. I dislike subscription model because of that.
Neo-liberal BS straight from the US. Customer getting out of the renting deal does not incur costs for the provider. I could maybe understand it for an hardware rent, where the hardware still needs to be insured and maintained (perhaps even heated and watched), whether used or not. But there, itâs just blatant abuse of power. Same shit as ending your phone, internet or insurance contract will be charged some fees in the US/CA, but prevented by EU laws.
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