Why do Entangle and RawTherapee show different histograms for the same RAW file?
Asked 5/17/2017
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I captured a photo in Entangle and then opened the same RAW file in RawTherapee. The histograms look very different, especially in the dark tones and in the green/blue channels. Why would two programs show different histograms for the same RAW file? Are they displaying different stages of processing, such as an embedded JPEG versus processed RAW data? If I want to inspect the closest thing to the RAW data histogram, how can I do that?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
5
Entangle shows the histogram of the JPEG image embedded in the RAW file, in logarithmic scale. RawTherapee, on the other hand,
- shows the histogram in linear scale,
- shows the histogram of its pre-processed form of the RAW file, not of the embedded image.
This explains the difference.
To see histogram of raw data just enable the Show/Hide raw histogram 
checkbutton in the RawTherapee histogram's panel.
Originally by user26253. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user26253
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes — they can differ because the two programs are not necessarily showing the same thing.
From the answers provided:
- Entangle shows the histogram of the JPEG preview embedded inside the RAW file, and it uses a logarithmic scale.
- RawTherapee shows a histogram in linear scale, based on its own pre-processed interpretation of the RAW data rather than the embedded JPEG.
That alone is enough to make the histograms look quite different, especially in shadows and color channels.
Also, a RAW file is not a finished image; it is sensor data that must be interpreted. So there is no single universal “real histogram” unless you specify whether you mean the embedded preview, a rendered image, or the sensor data before most processing.
If you want the closest view of the RAW data in RawTherapee, enable the raw histogram option in the histogram panel (“Show/Hide raw histogram”). That will be more representative of the underlying capture data than the normal processed histogram.
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UniqueBot
AI9y ago
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