Free Lightroom Alternatives

In this multi-chapter episode I show free software to use in place of Lightroom using RAW files from Sony, Canon, and Nikon cameras. The programs I cover are 100% free, no trial, no catch, including RawTherapee, Darktable, and OEM software for the various cameras. I review each program with comparisons in RAW decoding and basic editing compared to Lightroom, as well as other features like presets, and the ability to work with problem photos. Below are links mentioned in this video and chapters you can jump to in this video as well as:
Mastering Color in Photography:
amzn.to/3djiOpW
My real estate photography series:
amzn.to/31veTnz
Video on "Free Flambient":
• Free Flambient
Video on treatment profiles for Lightroom:
• Treatment Profiles, cr...
Darktable:
www.darktable.org
RawTherapee:
rawtherapee.com
Nikon's NX Studio:
www.nikonusa.com/en/nikon-pro...
Canon's DPP:
en.canon-cna.com/support/cons...
Sony's Imaging-Edge:
imagingedge.sony.net/en-us/ie...
Contents of this video:
0:00 - Intro
1:46 - Programs covered
4:48 - Extent of editing
7:59 - RAWs Clarified
10:05 - Brief comparison
18:03 - RAW decode comparisons
22:07 - Edit comparisons
26:04 - Editing example

[@JakubVacek42]

This way of comparing was very helpful, thanks!

[@huwevans4452]

Thanks Nathan, really interesting and something I hadn't given much thought to before.

[@actorjay]

This is a fantastic resource. Thank you for putting in the time and thought to show us the free options and possibilities. Fabulous.

[@bruceacphoto5240]

Thank you Nathan. I very much appreciate your superb delivery & insightful content. Glad I came across you here. Will continue to seek your wisdom🤓

[@NathanCoolPhoto]

You're very welcome Bruce.

[@triplewinlin5576]

Thanks for this video, Nathan!

[@JoeCastellon]

Thank you for this. My Adobe photography plan is about to expire and I recently learned that Adobe automatically renews for the whole year, and I don't use the software enough to justify the monthly cost. From your video, I see that RAWTherapee is the way to go. Thanks again!

[@tonymazza8305]

Many thanks for a great comparison video!

[@NathanCoolPhoto]

My pleasure!

[@williamaungleyraud]

This video inspired me to give it a second shot to RawTherapy. 😎👍👍

[@brendamilstein1062]

Very interesting and thanks 👍

[@lltskylife]

Thanks got it for Fujifilm, thank you Sir! 🛣

[@drpentecost]

Hi Nathan, thanks for this info. I think one of the main reasons that Lightroom will still win with many photographers at the end of the day, is because of it's batch processing capabilities. At the click of a single button Lightroom can Autotone 100's if not 1000's of images and do a relatively good job with maybe some minor tweaking.

[@NathanCoolPhoto]

Thanks! Note that many OEM applications can do the same thing, and there are automation tools and/or scripts in other apps as well. I touch on that a bit when talking about copy-pasting settings for batch processing in this video, but perhaps I should elaborate on that in a future video.

[@drpentecost]

@@NathanCoolPhoto That would be great if you could show how other softwares can batch process with auto toning or equivalent. Thanks.

[@ronjenkins4257]

Very good survey. Question: Lightroom has lens profiles to automatically detect lens information where available, and to apply barrel/pincushion and vignette corrections. Newer mirrorless lenses rely heavily on lens correction. I'm using a Canon camera, so I expect DPP will do the job at least for Canon lenses. But exporting TIFFs from DPP is super slow and files get huge. Will Raw Therapee make lens corrections? Or, does Raw Therapee use the embedded jpg in a Canon RAW file to carry lens corrections from the camera to editing? I'll have to play with Raw Therapee for other things but are masking tools available? They're important to me. At the moment my path from Lightroom/Photoshop looks like a combination of DPP, Raw Therapee, and maybe GIMP, possibly also using XnView MP for triaging large numbers of images before editing. Alternatively drop some money on Affinity, if it has the capabilities I want mostly in one place.

[@cmillerx41]

Any chance you will do another video on virtual tours? Maybe in the commercial space setting? I started a business creating virtual tours for businesses and I follow all of your recommendations for real estate photography (and I have several of your books). But sometimes I shoot businesses with dark floors, dark ceilings, and they are very large rooms. I want the pictures to come out with the highest quality so I use flash, but I’m having problems lighting them sometimes and I end up creating a lot of extra work for myself. I would love to see more videos about those kind of difficult lighting situations and how to handle it. As always thank you for all you share with us!

[@NathanCoolPhoto]

Hi Christina, I do have videos on the subjects you mentioned (do a search on my KZbin channel...quite a few videos on virtual tours). My lighting guide book will help you with the dark rooms, and I have a book on virtual tours as well. Here's a link to all of my books if you want to see them all: amzn.to/3s6RGmG

[@Luckyrider1958]

As to how Dark Table initially renders an imported Raw picture. IIRC.. you can make your own presets. A "preset" tuned to what Raw Therapee does should even up the playing field wouldn't it? Hypothetically ?

[@TheMarcfont]

Hey Nathan. How do you deal with the windows reflections when the exterior is not bright enough to do the window pull with flash?

[@NathanCoolPhoto]

Search my KZbin channel for "reverse window pull"

[@TheMarcfont]

@@NathanCoolPhoto thank you!

[@averymcdaniel423]

I shoot Nikon. With the free software, will I be able to tether?

[@Lepewhi]

Have you tried GIMP? If so, what do you think? Thanks

[@NathanCoolPhoto]

Yep, here's a video I did on that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l2LGm36jr5Vsaqs

[@Lepewhi]

@@NathanCoolPhoto Thanks, I'll watch it immediately. I just downloaded the software.

[@PradyutChowdhury3DVFXartist]

Hope RAW therapy or Darktable will support  M1 I am waiting for so long..

[@reinhardgrossmann8054]

Well, Canon‘s DPP is missing!

[@NathanCoolPhoto]

Go to: en.canon-cna.com/support/consumer_products/software/digital-photo-professional.html?os=windows%2010%20(64-bit)&language=

[@reinhardgrossmann8054]

@@NathanCoolPhoto I'm using DPP in the first place. Only if I had to do some fine adjustments I'd go for additional processors, e.g. Affinity Photo. Anyway, to my understanding it would have been only logic if you had included DPPP in your presentation.

[@NathanCoolPhoto]

@@reinhardgrossmann8054 I did include DPP, perhaps you didn't watch the whole video, see kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHWzmKCtjLyVabs

[@dandanita1692]

darktable makes everything dark