A fresh ‘early bird edition’ or sometimes called ‘unstable version’ of RawTherapee just dropped – v5.12, officially released on May 28, 2025. It’s packed with new tools, visual enhancements, and important compatibility improvements that make it even more versatile for creative and technical workflows. Whether you’re into taming color explosions or removing fisheye distortion, there’s something here for you.
Before diving into the new features, here’s what I think
First things first — I’ve been running the new 5.12 release on my Linux 20.04, today 22.04 Kubuntu setup, and it’s smooth, stable, and bug-free enough to call it my new default. Yep, for me 5.11 is out, and 5.12 is in.
As for the new features — while there aren’t a ton (and let’s be honest, sometimes expectations run a bit too high), what’s here is genuinely useful. Personally, I really appreciate the new frame option in resize and frame — that little outline around the photo is a nice touch. And the fish-eye correction? Very welcome.
🎨 Image Processing & Tools
Dehaze via Raw Black Points
This new option sets the black points to the minimum values found in the image, which often clears up haze effectively — without overcooking the image.
Fisheye Correction (De-fish)
The Distortion Correction module now features a de-fish function. Perfect for equidistant fisheye lenses, it transforms warped views into straight-laced rectilinear ones. Bonus: a new manual scale adjuster helps dial in the result when auto-fill gets it wrong.
Gamut Compression Tool (ACES-Based)
High-saturation colors pushing outside display boundaries? The new Gamut Compression tool, based on the ACES Reference Gamut Compression operator, brings them safely back inside your chosen color space — before other color tools even touch them.
Resize Becomes Resize & Framing
Add a classy border around your images with this reworked tool. It lets you define frame thickness and overall image size before export. It’s simple, but powerful.
Contrast Enhancement in Abstract Profile
Lost local contrast after applying an abstract color profile? There’s now a straightforward slider to bring that contrast back.
Selective Editing Gets a Boost
- Color Appearance Tool: New tone mapping operators (including a sigmoid-based curve) offer more flexibility and subtle control.
- Shadows/Highlights Tool: This one gets a new name – Shadows/Highlights, Equalizer & GHS – thanks to the inclusion of the Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (GHS) tone mapper. Think of it as a power-up for global tone mapping.
📸 Format & Camera Support
Canon RAW Burst Files
RawTherapee now unlocks all images in Canon burst-mode RAW files, instead of just the first six. Canon shooters rejoice.
Demosaiced Floating-Point DNGs
These are now supported — making RawTherapee a solid candidate for workflows involving HDR merging or scientific imaging.
Better Lens & Camera Support
Improvements include:
- Canon EOS R8 (electronic shutter black level fix)
- Fujifilm X-E4 (correct raw crop in e-shutter mode)
- Sony ILCE-7CR (pixel shift)
- Sony ILCE-7M3 (black level)
- Sony ILME-FX3 (LibRaw-free black level fix)
- Better Sony lens recognition for more accurate metadata and auto corrections
🧰 Developer & Packager Notes
- New Home on GitHub: The codebase now lives at github.com/RawTherapee/RawTherapee. Update your bookmarks – it’s no longer under Beep6581.
- JPEG XL Support: Optional, enabled with
-DWITH_JXL. Depends onlibjxl. - Build Tweaks:
- GTK+ ≥ 3.24.3 required.
- Avoid
-ffast-math(can cause artifacts). - Use
-O3for best performance. - GCC 4.9+ or Clang recommended.
Full changelog: GitHub Commits
🔗 Useful Links
- RawPedia – Getting Started
- Keyboard Shortcuts in RawTherapee
- Bug Reporting Guide
- RawTherapee Forum on Pixls.us
Want to stay up to date with RawTherapee and more open-source photo tools? Keep an eye on Open Source Photography – or better yet, bookmark it.
Let’s keep creating.
Marc
This article was written by Marc R.
While I primarily speak Dutch and have some knowledge of English and a little French, ChatGPT helps ensure my writing is grammatically correct. I often mix Dutch and English in my drafts, and ChatGPT steps in to translate and correct.
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Looks like an interesting update, the new de-fish module will be a real test, I know it would be something I would use often in RT!
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Hey Mark,
It’s not a stable release yet, so things might still go wrong here and there. Still, I think a lot of people will end up using it. I’m also curious to see how—and if—it all works out in practice.
I really like the border around the photos too; that could definitely come in handy.
Thanks, Mark. Much appreciated!
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