# Best Open Source or Free Photo Editing Software?



## gryffinwings (Nov 17, 2018)

So I'm used to Adobe Lightroom 5.7, I have installed on my 2015 Macbook Pro, love that it's pretty easy for me to get used to it's layout, been using it for a while, haven't needed to update it. However I have been wanting to use my Dell Precision T3500 to edit photos on a much larger screen and I don't like the idea of buying subscription or pay for a newer copy of Lightroom. So I was thinking about going Open Source/Free software and would like to figure out which one I should go with, having some input on what you think is good would be great. Thanks in advance.


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## dxqcanada (Nov 17, 2018)

I played around with Darktable before I went with LR CC ... you should check it out. Here is a review: https://ryannigelphotography.com/review-darktable-alternative-lightroom/
I ran it on Linux, MacOS, and Windows ... general impression coming from an old LR version, pretty good substitute ... that was over a year ago, so I expect it to be improved.


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## Orrin (Nov 17, 2018)

The Gimp is full features but has a steep learning curve. I have been using it for years.
GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program


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## Ysarex (Nov 17, 2018)

gryffinwings said:


> So I'm used to Adobe Lightroom 5.7, I have installed on my 2015 Macbook Pro, love that it's pretty easy for me to get used to it's layout, been using it for a while, haven't needed to update it. However I have been wanting to use my Dell Precision T3500 to edit photos on a much larger screen and I don't like the idea of buying subscription or pay for a newer copy of Lightroom. So I was thinking about going Open Source/Free software and would like to figure out which one I should go with, having some input on what you think is good would be great. Thanks in advance.



If you want open source then I agree with Dennis -- 2nd for Draktable. Assuming in LR you processed raw files and will continue.

Joe


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## n614cd (Nov 17, 2018)

Here is a short list, of the "bigger" players. 

Darktable is the closest to Lr in terms of capabilities.  However it has a steep learning curve. The current dev branch has an active discussion going on about usability. So I would expect some good improvements over the next year or two. In many ways if you want complex image editing dt will surpass Lr by a mile. 

Digikam works well, has descent organization tools, but like Photoshop and Gimp is a destructive editor. (Did not like it for this reason).

Raw Therapee works great to do basic image import,  meta data and simple editing.

Lightzone, does not seem active anymore.

Gimp, is not an organization tool, it is a pure image editor, like Photoshop.

I have looked at many more. If there is one you have a question on, I can probably give a quick summary, and what feature was missing for me.

I have gone through most of then looking for something to match Lr. Until one does, I will likely just pay Adobe....

Tim

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## AlanKlein (Nov 17, 2018)

How does Darktable handle RAW formats?


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## gryffinwings (Nov 18, 2018)

AlanKlein said:


> How does Darktable handle RAW formats?


It does seem to support RAW formats from many cameras, I'll look at trying my hand with it tomorrow.


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## n614cd (Nov 18, 2018)

AlanKlein said:


> How does Darktable handle RAW formats?


It works with most of the cameras just fine. 

Tim

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## AlanKlein (Nov 18, 2018)

n614cd said:


> AlanKlein said:
> 
> 
> > How does Darktable handle RAW formats?
> ...



But it would be prudent to check to see if it handles his current camera or the one he may be buying soon.  Does Darktable regularly update their programs to handle the newest cameras?


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## AlanKlein (Nov 18, 2018)

It's a problem with LR as the purchased LR6 no longer updates their RAWs.


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## n614cd (Nov 18, 2018)

darktable has had a fairly steady set of releases for the past two years that I have been watching it and occasionally trying it to see if I can make the jump to it.

In terms of camera support, that is provided by another open source project that dt  depends on. Since I do not have a new camera I have not paid attention to how fast they are added. Based on the user questions I see new cameras are added on a regular basis. 

Lr 6. Has been end of life. It is no longer supported. Therefore new cameras will not be supported. The only patch I would expect Adobe to consider would be a critical security flaw which causes bad PR. You can download and use the Adobe DNG converter which is free. Use this to convert raw to dng. Then manage dng in Lr.

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## n614cd (Nov 18, 2018)

FYI, here is a list from dt:
camera support

Here is the library which dt depends on for raw conversions:
Camera Support — RawSpeed  documentation

Tim


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## nychaimages (Nov 20, 2018)

I used photoshop and Lightroom for a while, but I recently started to use Affinity Pro and I love it. It has everything I need without extra features that I will never use. It’s very simple and easy to learn. 


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## Ysarex (Nov 20, 2018)

nychaimages said:


> I used photoshop and Lightroom for a while, but I recently started to use Affinity Pro and I love it. It has everything I need without extra features that I will never use. It’s very simple and easy to learn.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app



Affinity is an very reasonably priced Photoshop clone and very capable as a pixel-level editor. One caveat: there's an issue with raw files. Affinity's raw file processing is forced destructive and any work you do with the Develop module in Affinity is discarded as soon as you convert the image to RGB. As such would not recommend it for use with raw files.

Joe


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## Designer (Nov 20, 2018)

Ysarex said:


> Affinity is an very reasonably priced Photoshop clone and very capable as a pixel-level editor. One caveat: there's an issue with raw files. Affinity's raw file processing is forced destructive and any work you do with the Develop module in Affinity is discarded as soon as you convert the image to RGB. As such would not recommend it for use with raw files.
> 
> Joe


What if we made a copy first, and worked on that?


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## Ysarex (Nov 20, 2018)

Designer said:


> Ysarex said:
> 
> 
> > Affinity is an very reasonably priced Photoshop clone and very capable as a pixel-level editor. One caveat: there's an issue with raw files. Affinity's raw file processing is forced destructive and any work you do with the Develop module in Affinity is discarded as soon as you convert the image to RGB. As such would not recommend it for use with raw files.
> ...



No matter. Affinity doesn't hurt the raw file. What it does unfortunately is fail to save any of the work you do in the raw conversion module. It's destructive in that it destroys the work you do. If you return to the image later and decide you want to tweak something like WB you're screwed and have to do all of your work over. Every time you open a raw file in Affinity you start from scratch.

Joe


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## Designer (Nov 20, 2018)

Thank you!  I've seen mixed reviews on this, so that helps!


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