Darktable 3.8.0 adds support for Canon’s CR3 Raw files, adds support for external controllers, and more: Digital Photography Review

Darktable 3.8.0 is now available. The latest version of the RAW developer and open source photography workflow app adds new features, user interface improvements, editing tools, improved file support, and more. The list Additions and changes are lengthy, so we will only discuss the highlights in this article. If you want more information about the latest Github release, click here.

The 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 now also recognize mouse movements and multiple button/key presses and long presses. Any shortcuts that users created prior to version 3.8.0 will need to be redefined after the update.

There is a new diffuse or sharpen module. You can simulate or revert diffusion processes to reconstruct an image from lens blur, ghosting, sensor low-pass filter, or noise. You can also use the module to simulate watercolor stains, increase local contrast, or perform surface blurs. You can also define specific rules for applying diffusion across edges.

The perspective correction module has been renamed to ‘rotate and perspective’ and now allows the user to define editing settings manually by drawing lines or rectangles onto the image. This copies the old keystone fix functionality from the old ‘crop and rotate’ module. A new LMMSE demosaic algorithm has been added. It is well suited for high ISO and noisy images.

darktable UI (version 3.1.0)

Darktable 3.8.0 additionally supports Canon .CR3 RAW format. Support is provided by LibRaw, so users will need to activate at least exiv2 version 0.27.4 with BMFF support. 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, multiple Canon DSLRs, a few Leica cameras, and three Sony cameras, including the A7 IV. White. Balance presets and noise profiles have also been added for many cameras. For a complete list of supported new cameras, click here.

Darktable 3.8.0 is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It should be noted that this will be the last to support macOS 10.7 and build 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, go to darktable website. For a full list of new features, changes, and bug fixes, read on Full release notes.