Lightroom vs darktable
This keeps ALL of my photos in a very specific and easy to understand directory. To get images to my computer, I use a program called Rapid Photo Downloader that copies everything from my memory card and automatically puts the files into my Master_Files directory in a structure like YEAR/MONTH/DAY/ and renames the file with YYYY-MM-DD So I have an exact copy between my laptop and local NAS and I also do periodic backups to a pair of external HDD's, one of which is stored off-site. The complete backup JPG library is in another directory called "Processed_Library" and is about 280GB in size. My darktable files are stored in a directory I call "Master_Files" and is about 950GB in size currently. I will note that the tagging hierarchy I use in darktable exports well into JPG files and is picked up by Digikam nicely. It works well enough, I just like how the tagging, filtering, etc work in darktable better. This also gives me another complete backup of all of my images, on my laptop SSD and the NAS. A bit bleak, but I like to plan for contingencies. This way, if something should ever happen to me, my wife and family doesn't have to worry about the intricacies of processing/exporting raw files to a usable format. This is done so that I have a complete backup in a standard format with the tags/processing baked in for ease of use and more importantly, future proofed for anyone to use. It also contains every image, but all are high quality JPG's. I'm using Digikam as my jpeg only library. From this, I can view every image, edit, search and export. All images are stored on an internal 2TB SSD in my laptop (apart from the operating system) and also mirrored in a dual NAS set up to duplicate the drives (RAID 1). Every one of my images is in the catalog. The map module works pretty well and lets you GPS tag images. Even with 48k images, I can search almost instantly based on tags, camera data, lens data, etc. darktable isn't billed as a primary digital asset management catalog, but it performs very well at it. I transitioned to darktable a few years ago (full linux only setup) and am very happy with it. I have images that date back to the early 1900's (scanned in glass negatives!). I'm running darktable 3.6.1 as my primary photo catalog solution and have about 48,000 images (mostly raw files) in the library. I have an interesting use case as to why I use both. I'll chime in as I use both darktable and Digikam.
Lightroom vs darktable software#
There is no perfect software for everyone as needs vary. The catalogs in COP are not great but I use Sessions which is a similar concept but is more directory based. The LR catalog is slightly faster than Digikam. I have 160k+ images catalogued via Lightroom and Digikam catalogs. IMHO better than LR but it is about how it works for you!
Lightroom vs darktable pro#
I use Capture One Pro (COP) (perpetual license not subscription, I dontdo subscriptions) for my editing as it is excellent.
Lightroom vs darktable free#
Lightzone also free works well for me and is my preferred free software. RAWTherapee is also good and is a very powerful editor. I dont like the lack of a visual folder based browser in Darktable but everything else works for me. I personally prefer LR catalogs but I hate having to fiddle with getting the latest LR version.ĭarktable also works and being free is great if you want to do more editing. So you can continue to work with LR and its Catalog. Develop, Maps, but the Library still works. As soon as you cancel the subscription then some of the LR modules cease to work i.e. If you want a catalog that supports all images beyond 2016 you need a newer copy of LR which means starting a new subscription to get the installation then cancelling the subscription. However the new cameras' RAW files are not supported by this old version. I have a Lightroom v6.14 catalog which can manage all my old files up to 2016. It is all about your preferred edit process.