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As an Ubuntu user and a beginner photographer, which of these programs (RAWtherapee or darktable) would give me the best head start and has the most user friendly interface?

The emphasis in this question is on ease of use, for someone that has never encountered RAW editing software before, which I have not.

Switchkick
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    The question, as posed is highly subjective and that increases the chances it will be closed here. You may want to consider rewording it such it solicites a plus/minus response versus "my favorite blah-blah rocks and the other sucks" answer. – Joanne C Jun 19 '12 at 14:22
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    look at What tools are available for RAW image processing in Linux? and Is there something similar to Adobe Lightroom for Linux? – K'' Jun 19 '12 at 15:13
  • @AkramMellice while they are very informative answers, I found them to be lacking regarding "ease of use" information – Switchkick Jun 19 '12 at 21:28
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    @Switchkick - Ease of use is personal. I find vi easy to use, my mother? Not so much. I realize that this is a bit more of an extreme, but it demonstrated that the question is still subjective and opinion oriented. – Joanne C Jun 20 '12 at 08:07
  • JoanneC: Wrong. I refuse to debate this any further as I have received my answer and a helpful one at that. – Switchkick Jun 20 '12 at 09:38
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    See Good Subjective, Bad Subjective. Joanne isn't trying to be a jerk or argue. It's the charter/mission of the Stack Exchange group of sites to to stay away from comparisons like this. You've gotten one answer, but you might actually get more and more helpful answers by making some tweaks to the question. I see you've been on other SE sites so I'm sure you know how this works. Please drop into the chat room to discuss — you're right that comments aren't for debates. – mattdm Jun 20 '12 at 11:35
  • @Switchkick: Watch the tone of your responses. Hostility is not necessary, especially as JoanneC was in no way trying to be argumentative or combative. The answer provided is ok, however it is lacking reference to back up the claims, and is ultimately subjective...which one would expect when it comes to ease-of-use questions. Its a highly subjective thing. Ultimately you'll need to give the tools a try yourself and decide on your own which serves your needs. – jrista Jun 23 '12 at 19:05
  • Given the core of this question is based on an entirely subjective and personal matter...ease of use...and the lack of willingness of the asker to respond to community members to formulate a better question that fits well on our forum, I'm going to close this question. Both tools in question are free, and regardless of which one turns out to be easier to use, trying BOTH yourself is the only sure way to determine which one works best for your needs. – jrista Jun 23 '12 at 19:10

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I have tried both programs but have more experience with RAWTherapee as I've only recently become aware of Darktable. If you're main aim is to find something that helps you work with RAW files as a relative beginner I would suggest Darktable, primarily because the GUI is just more user friendly. One slight snag I found in RAWTherapee was expanded windows would often not respond to me trying to minimize again, although this may have been a snag in my view settings rather than a general software bug. I think Darktable has developed some positive critical praise from the Linux community and trying both will provide you with the best evaluation i.e. your own.

Luther Blissett
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If you don't mind spending money, Corel's AfterShot Pro (formerly Bibble) is a great piece of easy-to-use software. I find it as easy to use as Darktable (which is my favourite F/OSS raw tool), but also somewhat prefer it's rendering.

There are a few other reasons that I use ASP as well. There are several good/useful plugins available, and the big one: Adjustment layers.

Darktable is coming along nicely, and they have some VERY intelligent contributors. Lots of good help on freenode's #darktable IRC channel too.

Edit:

It's also worth noting that you can try ASP for 30 days, so you don't have to commit just to try it. Also, look around for deals, I don't think I would have purchased ASP at the MSRP, but I got mine for under 50 bucks, which I think is reasonable.

Instantkamera
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