25
RapidRAW – The Lightroom (non-Classic) killer as Darktable is to LrC? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/photography@lemmy.world
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/34104202

Guys, I just learned about this new FOSS editor called "RapidRAW" on GitHub, and this might well be the Lightroom (non-Classic) killer as Darktable is to Lightroom Classic. See, as much as I love Darktable for its power and feature set, most of my non-tech photographer friends have mentioned how its power comes at the cost of complexity even beyond LrC. Yes, I love DT, but I do have to agree – It can be overwhelming to a newer user not as familiar with LrC or wanting to learn a whole new program just for quick edits.

...and then I found RapidRAW! This looks like it could be it: A sleek, lightweight, elegant, comprehensive (enough) editor that seems to finally strike the balance between power and beginner-friendliness! Even better, like Darktable, it too appears to be FOSS, breaking away from the money-hungry Adobe corporate software! Now, I've only just started looking into it, but what do you think? Could this be the next piece in the essential toolkit for Ex-dobe users switching from Lightroom but not quite wanting a full LrC replacement? Check it out!

https://github.com/CyberTimon/RapidRAW

all 6 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 1 point 1 year ago* (3 children)

I took a shot at this since it has Linux support. Generally I'm having to either use Darktable or dual boot into windows to use LR Classic (especially if I need to denoise the photos)

For the controls themselves it had most of what I use from LR Classic (probably a good time to mention I never used LR so I can't compare that) but I had 3 major issues. Both may be because I'm on openSUSE which is not officially supported, although an RPM is provided

  1. The UI is extremely slow to use. Slower than LR classic even.

  2. I can't figure out how to show my photos at full 60MP resolution. It seems to show only proxies that completely fall apart when you try to zoom. I could only imagine performance being even worse however with full resolution.

  3. Editing highlights down completely falls apart as if I was editing a jpg and not RAW. I was willing to work past the other 2 issues but not that.

I am still interested in the software as it gets updates though, and its very possible my issues are because I'm running it in opensuse.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    That’s definitely odd. I mean, it is still definitely WIP (even core-functionality wise), but at least on macOS (via M4 MBA with 16 GB RAM) and Windows 11 (via VMware Fusion with 8 GB RAM and 3D Acceleration on the same ARM Mac, mind you), RapidRAW ran well with my test 48 MP shot and some quick edits.

    1. I think you have to release (or hold the mouse still) on an adjustment to see it rather than instant live previews, but aside from that, things generally worked pretty well in my testing. That might be the “issue” with it being “slow,” but if you mean just general scrolling around, that might be an actual bug or lack of Linux optimization yet.
    2. The proxy resolution cap is definitely understandable, at least while the program’s still heavily WIP and probably not fully optimized for Linux (hence not being available as a Flatpak or AppImage which would be universal).
    3. The highlights “falling apart” sounds like a bug. I know there was one bug where the slider directions for two things (possibly highlights and shadows) were accidentally reversed, so it might be worth looking into that, and if this is another issue, report it to the developer’s GitHub.

    I’m with you though – Darktable’s an excellent piece of software, but I’d love a “Lightroom-esque” program and this looks promising!

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago* (1 child)

    I ended up trying it out on windows. My performance was fine, and I can get past the low resolution editing, but adjusting exposure and especially highlights is still very bad. Instead of recovering highlights it just.. Makes it less bright. Like editing a JPG.

    I wonder if its actually an issue of how the program is reading ARW files? Maybe its only reading the embedded jpeg from the ARW (ARW is sony's RAW file format - I'm shooting on an A7R V for reference)

    Edit: on second though it definitely isn't using embedded jpeg since those are way lower resolution, but still maybe it isn't handling the file correctly

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago*

    Could be. Full file format support is hit-or-miss with newer programs – even if it can read and write the data, it may not be able to fully interpret it. Try running through *Adobe DNG Converter or converting it to a TIFF, then see if that works any better, perhaps? Also check if there’s already a “full resolution editing” suggestion on the GitHub, and if not, make one! I’m away from my computer right now, but if you find/make one, please link it here so I can also share it.

    *Adobe DNG Converter is the one Adobe tool I do use since it’s 100% free and offline. It JUST converts images to “standard” DNG files or JPEGs, and I do this for iPhone ProRAWs or other unsupported images when trying to edit in Darktable. I had to make some “iPhone DNG presets” and all since ADC removes the Apple DNG-specific data, but it works well beyond that.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This looks like ripoff off DarkTable.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    You’re entitled to your opinion about the interface (I personally think it’s quite sleek, especially for a user coming from Lr or other simpler editors but not wanting to get into Dt-levels of complexity), but it’s not intended to compete against Darktable in the first place. I would argue that it looks more like Adobe Lightroom (its actual competitor, as stated even in the developer’s ReadMe) than anything.

    Keep in mind:

    • Adobe Lightroom is the lighter, more streamlined editor with more of the ease-of-use. This is closer to what RapidRAW is trying to achieve. This is shown in the more lightweight interface with fewer options and controls.
    • Adobe Lightroom Classic is the heavier, more powerful editor that tries to have all the features. That’s more of Darktable’s area. This is shown in the more detailed interface with more options and settings.

    ↑ LrC vs Lr interface

    Not everyone needs both programs – most people would probably be fine with just Lightroom and don’t need the power/want to deal with the initial complexity of LrC. For people who want those programs without the Adobe, however, that’s where RapidRAW and Darktable come in.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • 14 comments in c/photography@lemmy.ml view that post
    [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Okay, i testet this and its one thing not, rapid, because the interface lags like hell under linux while maxing out my poor AMD 7640u, sure, a laptop CPU but neither darktable not rawtherapee do that. Hard pass for me, an interface that runs with 2fps is just not useable at all.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago

    Okay. You’re now the second person I’ve seen to have Linux issues. It sounds like it’s much more optimized for macOS and Windows for now, as everything worked well with macOS and Windows 11 (the latter in a virtual machine via VMware Fusion) on a 16 GB M4 MacBook Air. You might just want to submit an issue for optimized Linux support. The developer’s still focusing on building out core functionality, but optimization is definitely key.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [+] -10 points 1 year ago (11 children)

    I don't know, I'd stay clear of this one. The author seems to be all about LLM-all-the-things and it's possible this was largely vibe-coded. I use Lightroom (non-Classic) because it'll sync instantly between Mac, iPhone, & iPad. I'd love to use a FOSS solution if it were available, but this doesn't seem to be the answer.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 11 child comments
    •
  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    First you accuse the software author of writing heretical software, provide no evidence, then you recommend Adobe of all things, and then you say an Open Source alternative does not exist when that is in fact what this is.

    You people run circles around yourself to feel good about not using some neural networks you don't even know how works.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 4 points 1 year ago

    In all fairness, RapidRAW still wouldn't solve this person's needs (a mobile editor with desktop sync) even if it didn't flag their suspicion, and vibe-coded programs rightfully should warrant a bit more investigation. They are still a relatively new phenomenon and malicious programs DO exist. From my (admittedly somewhat brief) research, RapidRAW's developer seems to be credible, though I understand caution.

    On iOS and iPadOS, I usually resort to Snapseed, though that is also where one of Adobe's few free editors exist in the form of Lightroom mobile. I'd love it if Darktable or RapidRAW got a mobile port, but at least here in the US where sideloading is still not the most accessible and the alternative is a paid developer account to be available in the App Store, I can understand where they're coming from.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    It was vibe coded in two weeks. It doesn't have color managed. Its missing a lot of things.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Most WIP projects are missing things that might prevent some people from making the full switch just yet. That’s why they’re works-in-progress. Catch bugs, implement placeholders, flesh things out, and improve the product (and your knowledge along with it).

    Again, something being vibe coded doesn’t have to mean a bad thing – no one else built it, so they did. You’re 100% allowed to question their means of getting there, and you don’t have to use it in the end, but the fact of the matter is… some things DO work and the basis has been laid out, it’s FOSS so anyone can take a look at things themselves, and the program exists when it did not before.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Its going to be rough getting the things that are fairly necessary for a photo editor: color management, calibraiton, etc etc. God speed to the dev, but I'm not sure I see this getting to the point of replacing darktable for me.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Understandable – and that’s not what this is trying to be. Just as Lightroom ≠ Lightroom Classic, RapidRAW ≠ Darktable. Dt is much more suited to be a LrC competitor, and RR is much more of a Lr competitor in terms of features and usability.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    darktable should not be an LR anything. ;)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    Oh yeah, I literally just mean in terms of power and use case. I’m 100% for Darktable and have been loving it since version 3.0. I recognize Lightroom and LrC’s purposes though, and (at least for the tech support and recommendations I do for others) believe it important to keep these things in mind for anyone else looking to switch.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Fair point on the AI caution. The author actually shares a similarity to myself with my own "LaunchBack" Launchpad revival app which was also a good amount vibe-coded in the initial version. To quote the developer's ReadMe,

    I developed this project as a personal challenge at the age of 18. My goal was to create a high-performance tool for my own photography workflow while deepening my understanding of both React and Rust, with the support from Google Gemini.

    The thing is, "vibe-coded" doesn't always have to mean some terrible project stealing data with a million backdoors. From the looks of his GitHub page, he's made a fair share of programs and contributions already, and he's done a good amount of improvement and updates since the first release. Utilizing AI in development isn't necessarily a bad thing. Now, as far as programs that sync between mobile AND desktop in this category, I'm afraid those are more sparse outside of Adobe's offerings, and credit where due – Adobe does a good job of that.

    I only dislike Adobe because it can be SO inaccessible for people just wanting to learn some photography, forcing them to think "I have to dedicate ##% of my salary to this program, even if I'm just learning things as a beginner." That's the primary reason I stand with FOSS and all, as any option that allows people to work without needing to subscribe to closed-source companies (that are most likely using your data ALSO to train AI models and whatnot) is a win, and you seem to understand that. I'm just suggesting that this app being largely vibe-coded doesn't have to be a bad thing, y'know?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    The thing is, "vibe-coded" doesn't always have to mean some terrible project stealing data with a million backdoors.

    It doesn't have to mean that... but that's what it means.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • 3 comments in c/darktable@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This is amazing!

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 year ago

    I know, right? I’m excited to see it progress, especially if it can truly become THE “FOSS Lightroom killer” as Darktable is to Lightroom Classic. Having used all four programs, with the exception of Lightroom’s AI quick masking, Darktable’s already become one of my favorite programs IN GENERAL. I’d love it if this could be the simpler, more accessible equivalent to LR for everyone else, though.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 1 point 6 months ago*

    Lots of potential and ease of use at the expense of tweakability and advanced features.

    Also, having AI refill/retouch packaged in an easy to use package for Linux is nice.

    It won't replace darktable in my case but it is a great addition to the toolbox.

    Main challenge I see now is that it has basically a single developer. That is a big challenge mid-term and huge challenge long-term for any FOSS project

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •