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Darktable 3.8.0 is now available. The latest version of the open-source photography workflow application and RAW developer adds new features, UI improvements, editing tools, improved file support and more. The list of additions and changes is lengthy, so we’ll only be discussing the highlights in this news article. If you’d like more information about the latest Github release, click here.
The keyboard shortcut system has been reworked in version 3.8.0. You can now control darktable with external devices, such as MIDI devices and game controllers. Standard keyboard/mouse shortcuts can also now recognize mouse movements and multiple button/key presses and long presses/clicks. Any shortcuts users created before version 3.8.0 will need to be redefined after updating.
There’s a new diffuse or sharpen module. You can simulate or revert diffusion processes to reconstruct images from lens blur, hazing, sensor low-pass filter, or noise. You can also use the module to simulate watercolor smudges, increase local contrast or perform surface blurring. You can define specific rules for applying diffusion across edges, too.
The perspective correction module has been renamed to ‘rotate and perspective’ and now lets the user manually define correction settings by drawing lines or rectangles over the image. This replicates the old keystone correction functionality from the old ‘crop and rotate’ module. A new LMMSE demosaic algorithm has been added. It’s well-suited to high ISO and noisy images.
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| darktable user interface (version 3.1.0) |
Darktable 3.8.0 adds support for the Canon .CR3 RAW format. The support is provided by LibRaw, so users will need to have at least exiv2 version 0.27.4 with BMFF support activated. Speaking of camera support, compared to darktable 3.6, there’s a lot of new support, including for the Canon EOS R-series of cameras, numerous Canon DSLR cameras, a few Leica cameras and three Sony cameras, including the A7 IV. White. Balance presets and noise profiles have been added for numerous cameras as well. For the full list of newly-supported cameras, click here.
Darktable 3.8.0 is available for Windows, macOS and Linux. It’s worth noting that this version will be the last that supports macOS 10.7 and building with Xcode 11. The next major release will require at least macOS 10.14 to run and Xcode 12 to build.
To download darktable 3.8.0, head over to the darktable website. For the full list of new features, changes and bug fixes, read the full release notes.