Any suggestions for open source photo processing raw files, something along the lines of Lightroom?

Very much a novice but I use RawTherapee - there seem to be quite a few others.

Nine Degrees Below has excellent info: A Review of FLOSS Raw Processors, Part 1

Personally I'm using Photivo, although it's gone a bit quiet on the development, so it might not support the newest cameras.

Darktable is being very actively worked on, but as there isn't a Windows build available I'm not able to try it.

Kevin

Thanks for the suggestions. IS there any way Gimp can work with raw files, or a way to change the files to work with gimp? I know nothing of raw, am asking for a friend who is interested in open source.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_image_format for starters

OK, now I know less than nothing, lol. Good thing I don't use raw, it's a whole new ball of wax.

There are many RAW processors that you can use. With Gimp get at least UFRaw plug-in. It's a better than average processor compared to the other choices at the Nine Degrees link and it's the most seamless. No matter which RAW processor you use the UI might be different but the work flow is almost the same.

Your friend might already have a very good RAW processor on the camera driver DVD. If not check the camera manufacturers web site.

There is some snobbery in using Raw format. Raw is useful if you shoot in very difficult conditions and can't trust your camera JPEG conversion, but this is fairly rare (the camera that can produce raw usually also have a very decent JPGE conversion...). And this implies that getting a good looking picture is going to take time. At that point a hiatus in the workflow between general color processing (de-mosaicing application) and local editing (Gimp) has little impact, so you can use a de-mosaicing application outside of Gimp and make it produce an intermediate file that will be fed to Gimp and used as a backup.

Crash Course: RAW File Format

My post here didn't post so I'm reposting.

I need to get the new version of UFRaw. It works seamlessly with Gimp and has been a major tool in my tool box.

On many camera's only the RAW image will have the full sensor resolution. The JPG images often cut out the edge pixels on all four sides. The amount cut out is really negligible, but if you want it, you need to shoot raw to get it. Nikon in particular is noted for doing this. Also, if you do any special condition shooting, special lighting where the camera can get fooled, etc. shooting RAW is critical. Even the best photographers can have a dial get bumped, or a setting get knocked off and shooting RAW can help with those errors too. Finally any camera or memory card can glitch while compressing/saving the JPG file and if the JPG gets corrupted it's good to have the RAW copy available to save you. When I shot professionally, and when I taught, shooting RAW was never considered optional. (Extra Pixels and Bumped Dials I saw commonly on Nikons and corrupted files were common on all makes especially Olympus, Canon and Nikon). Shooting RAW and JPG was required for all of my students and for myself. It has saved more than one photo shoot. And don't hate me for dissing Nikon's as they are still the best in my professional opinion.

Hmmm. You have a lot more chance to have the 24MB Raw file corrupted than its 5MB JPEG counterpart. And unless you are using a pro-level camera with two memory cards, its all goes to the same card anyway.

I've had my JPGs get trashed and my RAWs on the same card survived.

It's a matter of probability. Your RAW file just got lucky that time, don't make a rule out of it.

PS: I've been shooting with a (highly unprofessional by your standards) Canon camera for the last 5 years, and never got any file trashed on the SD cards

Hi Gimper's - There is a Free Open Source Like LightRoom Called - Digikam

Digikam

I HOPE IS HELP'S

CT-Gimper101

Digikam is a nice program but its primarily an asset manager/viewer that can handle RAW processing. It's missing some key features of a normal RAW processor for example, "Spot" white balancing and more.

For several years I have saved all my photographs as RAW, because it gives the possibility of greater adjustment and correction during the processing on the computer.
I don't always get the white balance or exposure correct at the time I take the photograph and sometimes I have second thoughts at a later date!

david.

Well, whatever your reason for wanting to use RAW files, I recommend UFRaw. It has always worked well for me. I will be installing it later today on Gimp 2.8.14 which I have not yet tried it on. I will be posting back in a few minutes.

I installed UFRaw and had to reinstall Gimp 2.8.14 because UFRaw overwrote a dll file or two. UFRaw interfaces perfectly with Gimp 2.6. I can use UFRaw and adjust the image as a TIF, JPG, PNG or PPM file and then load the file into Gimp. UFRaw allows for correction of lens distortion of different lens types. If using Gimp 2.6, UFRaw launches you right into Gimp.

How well does UFRaw work with Gimp 2.8 once they are installed properly?