14 DAY TRIAL // The developers of the darktable open-source and cross-platform RAW image editing software for GNU/Linux and macOS operating systems kicked off the development of the next major release, darktable 2.4.
The biggest new features of the upcoming darktable 2.4 release is support for Microsoft Windows operating systems. That's right, you can now finally install darktable on Windows OSes, though some features are still missing, such as printing support, and there are a few limitations like the need for special drivers for tethering support.
"We finally ported darktable to Windows and intend to support it in the future," said the devs in the release announcement for first Release Candidate of darktable 2.4. "At the moment it's still lacking a few features (for example there is not printing support), has a few limitations (tethering requires special drivers to be installed) and comes with its own set of bugs."
Of course, the Windows port is big news and all that, but we bet darktable users are more interested in the major new features incorporated in the upcoming release, and we can tell them that darktable 2.4 will finally let Fujifilm fans load compressed RAF files, and there's also support for loading floating point HDR DNGs.
Other major additions include a new module for removing haze, undo support for masks, more intelligent grouping of undo steps, channel-specific blend modes for RGB and Lab color spaces, more control over the exposure fusion feature in the base curve module, and auto RGB color adjustment in the tonecurve module.
New X-Trans demosaicing algorithm, new noise profiles
darktable 2.4 also comes with new X-Trans demosaicing algorithm called Frequency Domain Chroma, and new noise and white balance profiles for numerous digital cameras from Panasonic, Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax. Camera support has been improved as well as with lots of new models.
Most specifically, darktable 2.4 will support compressed RAFs from Fujifilm GFX 50S, Fujifilm X-E3, Fujifilm X-Pro2, Fujifilm X-T2, Fujifilm X-T20, and Fujifilm X100F, as well as Fujifilm X-A3 and Fujifilm X-E2S. Check out the release notes for a complete list of all the newly supported digital camera models.
The first Release Candidate (RC) of darktable 2.4 is now available for download, which means that we can get an early taste of all the features enumerated above. You can download it right now for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows through our website, but please note that it's an early development release.