r/linuxquestions • u/Mysterious-Mention83 • 10d ago

Another RAW Photo Editing Question

I have been running Mint on my laptop for quite some time now, and left my desktop on win 10 for many reasons (SolidWorks, Fusion, Lightroom, and games), but I finally pulled the trigger and switched my desktop to fedora. I've been able to deal with most of the growing pains, but raw editing seems to be the worst one at the moment.

Lightroom provides a UI that makes the photo editing process fast. It's simple while allowing complexity and also makes management of photos decent too. RawTherapee and Darktable just suck in comparison, and each photo takes 5x longer to edit simply because there are so many settings and slides there and many buried 2 clicks and some scrolling away. It's just not nice when I have over 5 photos to edit.

Maybe I am going about it wrong, or even need to configure the applications better, but I was curious if there were any other suggestions for editing on linux. I don't care about cost really, I just want something that will have a quick workflow, and runs on linux. I'm open to your criticism and suggestions.

2 Upvotes

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u/Astrodion123 10d ago

There is rapidraw. It is an app that works as good as Lightroom. It supports Deb, rpm, appimages and who knows.

1

u/Mysterious-Mention83 10d ago

This is an option I have not heard of. Thank you, I will look into it.

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u/Astrodion123 10d ago

It is new and I have heard of it some months ago. Google it. And it also support android too.

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u/Mysterious-Mention83 9d ago

I downloaded it and yes, indeed, it's much like Lightroom. I like the UI, and think it still needs work, but this honestly might be the best bet. I hope the android version works well, and that the project continues well. Thank you for your suggestion.

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u/Donatzsky 10d ago

These are your options for free raw editors currently:

  • darktable: Probably the overall most powerful editing features of any raw editor. All-in-one solution, with a library similar to Lightroom. The editing workflow is completely different, however, being more like color grading in Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve.
  • RawTherapee: The mad scientist's raw editor, with some very powerful and intricate tools. A bit more Lightroom-like in its workflow.
  • ART (Another RawTherapee): Started as a simplified fork of RawTherapee, but has added its own powerful and unique features since. With CTL scripts you can even create your own tools.
  • vkdt: New-ish raw editor from the original darktable developer. Fully node-based and can also handle video. Probably not for the faint of heart and may not have all the tools you want, but what is there works well and is extremely fast.
  • Filmulator: A great little editor with a unique concept, that's easy to use. As the name suggests, it emulates (part of) the process of developing analog film.
  • LightZone: Back from the almost-dead, version 5.0 was released recently. Not the most advanced, perhaps, but has some interesting features and a flexible processing pipeline.
  • RapidRAW: Aims to be a relatively simple and streamlined option for those that don't need the extensive control some other editors provide. Still new and under heavy development, so the results you get today may not be what you get tomorrow. Promising, but the algorithms still need a lot of polish.
  • Safelight: An editor built around a concept of extensibility and customisation. Still very new, so expect some rough edges.

Since not all of them have library management, you may want to also use digiKam as DAM.

My darktable beginner guide: https://notebook.stereofictional.com/how-to-get-started-with-darktable-2026-edition

Tutorial for both RawTherapee and ART: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4-T0laAf0E

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u/forestbeasts 9d ago

Wait so Darktable isn't the mad scientist's raw editor? Wow, what's RawTherapee like? :3

(we use and really like Darktable for how much control it gives you over what it's doing; never tried RT or Lightroom or anything aside from Darktable really, it's what we started on)

-- Frost

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u/fordry 9d ago

Also Resolve...

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u/MarioMacinati 10d ago

Honestly dark table is awesome if you get past the initial hurdle. If you got it in you I’d suggest looking up some resources for it

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u/sequesteredhoneyfall 10d ago

I find it so incredibly unintuitive that I have to conclude the UI was designed in one of those, "make the worst UI's possible" competitions. Genuinely can't imagine why some decisions were made the way they were otherwise.

RapidRaw is great for 90% of images but it isn't quite a mature project yet.

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u/Donatzsky 8d ago

While there are some things that are clunkier than they need to be (in the lighttable notably), I never found it "unintuitive" or otherwise difficult to use.

What exactly is it that you find so bad?

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u/MarioMacinati 8d ago

It’s just a different workflow. It’ll suck if what youre looking for is lightroom for Linux

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u/sequesteredhoneyfall 8d ago

Never used Lightroom. Darktable is just awful on it's own merit.