However, on the third-party monitor attached to our Mac Pro, the low contrast between some of the gray tones meant that viewing angles didn't have to move too far off optimal for aspects of the interface to blend together imperceptibly.īoosting the brightness to full and not slouching did help to address the issue and this is probably not something that will affect most users, but it could be relevant to some users with imperfect vision.

Dark themes are especially popular with most contemporary image editing applications and on our iMac, the overall effect of Darktable is subtle and sophisticated. While there isn't quite the same gulf nowadays between the two platforms, we still generally find working on OS X a more aesthetically pleasing experience.Īt first look, Darktable seems to offer a slick and good-looking user experience, but we have some concerns that form and function aren't as well balanced as they could be. However, we'll take a closer look at Darktable and hopefully give you an idea as to whether it's an application that may be worth you trying out for your own digital photo processing.įor many years OS X and the apps running on it have dished up a level of style to their users that was sorely lacking on Windows. This, though, is a relatively specialist application that will probably only be of interest to a minority of users, so it's not a feature that we will concentrate on. Interestingly, Darktable also supports tethered shooting so you can connect a compatible camera and see a live view on screen as well as review your images immediately after shooting them on a large screen. Windows users can use Lightroom and Corel Aftershot, as well as a slew of others. Linux users also have the option of Lightzone and Photivo. OS X users have a few options for processing their RAW files, including commercial applications in the form of Adobe Lightroom and Apple's own Aperture, and some other free applications, such as Lightzone and Photivo. Its name is formed from it serving the dual features of being a virtual light table for viewing images in bulk and a virtual darkroom for processing your RAW files, like NEF, CR2, or ARW. Darktable is a free and open-source RAW converter for Apple Mac OS X, Linux, and now Windows users.

Darktable photo editor review