Comparison: dlRaw and UFRaw

When looking at the concept of dlRaw the most comparable open source software is UFRaw. They are both raw converter without management function, both rely on dcraw and lensfun, both are open source and both work well with gimp. But of course these two are still very different projects, and therefore they'll address different users. Let me just point out, where I see the differences, and what I think each of them can do better. This is NOT objecitve it's my personal opinion. If you think, I'm wrong or I have forgotten something please contact me.

With dlRaw you could process your RAW images completely, with creative filters, denoising and sharpening. So finishing steps in gimp are optional (but possible with the gimp export). The benefit, you could try the filters quite fast on a reduced preview of the image and get the fullsized version afterwards. When working with gimp, you have to work with all filters on the full image which takes a lot longer and it is only in 8 bit. Pros dlRaw:

• Chroma (wavelet) and luminance (GreyCStoration) denoising separately on 16 bit.
• USM, inverse diffusion, refocus and highpass sharpening on 16 bit.
• Many enhancement and creative filters, which save a lot of work and time afterwards.
• More flexible highlight rebuilding, RAW headroom handling.

UFRaw serves only as a starting point for your RAW workflow, finishing steps in gimp (or any similar tool) are mandatory, because UFRaw has a very basic set of features. Pros UFRaw:

• Faster.
• "More mature". It has just been around longer so teething troubles are gone.
• More flexible lensfun support (manual controls are possible).

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