Experience for a Photographer on Linux

[beefcurry]

Currently, Linux provides very poor color management and GIMP doesn't work all too well without CMYK. Tools such as Digikam are improving fast and is now awesome, but It still lacks some good features that f-spot has (such as importing just the thumbnails) it certainly has alot more features then my standard windows photo manager.

Major companies have really paid attention to mac users (despite them being a small minority like us), most of the software they provide (Canon's Ex broswer, Sigma's Photo Pro etc.) has both Apple Mac and Microsoft Windows versions. I can now work without these as UFRAW and Digikam really could process most of the RAW images I take. Old versions of the EX Browser can work in Wine but the newest ones are far from working, and I have yet to try Sigma's software but from an Email they claim they do not support Linux or through Wine, which probably means no. Newer Sigma cameras are coming out with the *true* image engine which needs their software to process the raw images, I do wonder how long it will take for them to port their programs to Linux. Faster or slower then hardware manufacturers with their drivers?

Now whats your experience with Photography on Linux like?

[slimdog360]

Im guessing someone else is going to jump in with this but hay, Im going to do it first.
http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/?page_id=12
pixel supports cymk and all that jazz

[beefcurry]

seen it tried it, It dosnt support raw processing all that well, UFRAW with gimp has a plus on that one. its like Photoshop without all the community and plugin/brush database, and dont forget:

"Pixel is not free software" <- said on the main page :P.

Well I've been complaining quite alot. It is the best (if not only) option for HDR in Linux, never tried its HDR so won't know how good it is but I don't really process HDR photos.

[cowlip]

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[beefcurry]

You know, you can post links to software (not saying its wrong). But this is to talk about your experience with them. I've used all those programs and not looking for more, This thread is for people to share what they think about a photographer using Linux.

[igknighted]

I don't do really high end stuff, but I have always found Krita to be a nicer app than GIMP. Then again, being a KDE guy I would :). Its a little less mature overall compared to GIMP, but it does have a few features that sounded all greek to me that GIMP doesn't have. I can't really compare either to Photoshop (never used it really).

[saulgoode]

CMYK is fairly meaningless without color management. The different Linux graphics programs are indeed working together on producing a system-wide solution to the problem of color management, rather than each application hacking its own implementation. Of course, the fact that these developers are scattered across the planet and each project has its own priorities and opinions on the best approach makes such a coordinated effort more time-consuming; but the end result of such a combined effort is a more consistent interface for users and, even more importantly, the developers of other projects.

The second annual Libre Graphics Meeting (http://www.libregraphicsmeeting.org/) is only a month away and it should prove interesting to see what comes out of it.