Linux software for working with Monochrom DNG files

[Nick_S]

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As my query is specifically about Monochrom camera support by photography software I have placed my query here (which I hope is okay with the moderators).

I moved my daily computer tasks to Manjaro Linux which is based on the ARCH distribution of Linux, and it has proved to be a very smooth experience. I would like to ask about the Dark Table or Lightzone software and their processing of M9 Monochrom DNG files.  Both of these software are available from the Arch User Repository (and so would be convenient for me to install) and I was wondering about experiences of either package from Monochrom users.

From a post in 2016 I read that Lightzone, at that time, supported the M9, but not the Monochrom as the developer wrote: "I am not sure that Imaging Resource has a test for this camera (which we need to complete the profile)". So it is not clear to me whether support for the Monochrom was ever added to Lightzone, which would be a pity as I find the idea of working directly with the Zone system on its DNG files to be appealing.

Nick

 

 

 

 

[fotomas]

I'm at MacOS here. But at least an older Version of Darktable shows up an M 246 RAW here. It complains that the colorindex is missing and the picture appeared with a pink tint first. After reseting all color-settings it shows up in BW. Hope this works under Linux too.

Since I use C1 I didn't explore this further.

Frank

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[Nick_S]

Thanks for the information. I went ahead and installed the latest versions of both software packages which were available on the Arch User Repository.

Darktable v2.0.6-1 works fine with M9 Monochrom DNG files and I have started experimenting with the presets and manual adjustments of the tonal curves.

LightZone v4.1.9-1 could import JPEGs and Canon CR2 raw files, but it generated a prompt with  'Error reading the file. 3' when tried with Monochrom DNG files. This is a pity as it provided an interesting posterised view alongside the main image to facilitate visualising the Zone system.

I will proceed with Darktable and see how it goes .

Nick

 

 

Edited February 14, 2019 by Nick_S

[frame-it]

raw therapee?

 

and http://rawpedia.rawtherapee.com/Adding_Support_for_New_Raw_Formats

 

 

[Nick_S]

Great, that is helpful. I've now installed RawTherapee v1.5.5-1 which processes M9 Monochrom DNG files fine.

I noticed that there are a large amount of colour tools presented which are no longer relevant: " RawTherapee supports monochrome cameras, but the user interface is not adapted for it so when you load a monochrome file all color tools will still be enabled (they won't do anything meaningful of course). You will have to live with that, monochrome cameras are rare so we won't put any major effort into making the user interface morph into reduced monochrome-only version." Quoted from https://rawpedia.rawtherapee.com/Demosaicing

I shall use both Darktable and RawTherapee side-by-side for a while and see how I get on.

Nick