lightcraft/docs/gaps.md

Gaps: where LightCraft falls short of Lightroom

Last reviewed: 2026-10-11 · Last updated: 2026-10-11 · Change: minor (gap 10: Leica Q3 verified, 236 models; CR3 entry names the EOS R7 C-RAW fix and the refused CRX variants; CI and Windows / Linux entries note the 0.6.0 riscv64 build; camera colour: tone curve from black-and-white camera JPEGs; Compare and Reference get sharp zoom windows; gap 4 shrinks; gap 14: the HDR switch is read from crs XMP; gaps 2 and 10: EOS R5 Mark II CR3 verified) · Target: Adobe Lightroom Classic 15.5 / Lightroom 9.6

Every known shortfall, one entry each, ranked by user impact (how many Lightroom users hit it, and how hard it blocks them), then by effort. Agents pick work from the top (the first entry nobody is working on). When you close a gap, delete or shrink its entry, update its rows in parity-checklist.md, and the numbers in target-app-parity.md and ROADMAP.md if they move.

Hours are Opus 5.5 agent wall-clock hours (see target-app-parity.md). B marks a gap that blocks beta.

Ranked

#	Gap	Evidence	User impact	Hours	Doc
1 B	Camera colour is estimated, not measured (LR-PROF-CAMERACOLOR). Raws start from a per-file fit to the camera JPEG, 4 bundled profiles or 52 spectral matrices; others use a neutral matrix (a black-and-white camera JPEG gives its tone curve only, #577; dark JPEG tones also guide the toe, #1307)	ΔE vs camera JPEG 2.9–10 after fitting (raw-parity.md); 0 chart-calibrated models vs 1,500 Adobe Standard profiles	every raw shooter sees colour that is close but not Lightroom's; some get neutral-matrix colour	50–90	raw-parity
2 B	CR3 beyond four verified bodies (LR-IMP-FORMATS): crx.rs refuses vertical-tile C-RAW, partial-subband and other plane coding, multi-tile 0x200 and adaptive low-frequency gains, and those files fall back to the preview; CR3 sRAW / mRAW and HEIF CR3 too. Verified: M50 / R100 / R8 / R5 Mark II. EOS R7 C-RAW (odd-height QP map) decodes since a45c2b66 and R6 Mark II C-RAW is reported working on 0.6.0, but neither is verified yet (no corpus test or recorded check)	measured: Canon is the largest bucket (33% of photographers) and its share whose camera fully works is the lowest of the big four, 73%; 18 of 22 popular Canon bodies write CR3, 4 verified (raw-parity.md); R7 rule checked only on paired RAW / C-RAW captures (cr3.md)	+6.2 points of photographers whose camera works, the biggest single raw gain	25–45	raw-parity
3 B	Render fidelity unmeasured (LR-BEHAV-RENDER-FIDELITY): tone, highlights, texture / clarity / dehaze, NR and sharpening are tuned by eye	no side-by-side suite; a retune needs a new process version (only V1 exists)	edits imported from Lightroom look different; the look "isn't Lightroom's"	30–60	raw-parity, process-versions
4 B	Original-pixel detail at 100% (LR-VIEW-ZOOM, P0): Detail, Before/After, Compare and Reference are sharp at 1:1–8:1 (zoom windows, #323). Mask overlays and soft proofing still render the whole frame at the drawn size instead of a window: sharp up to the GPU texture side, but a full-size render per edit at 1:1	checklist row 🟡	editing with a mask overlay or soft proof on at 1:1 is slow on large files, and blurry past the texture side	4–8	ui-parity
5 B	AI masks: Subject, Sky, People, Background, Landscape are heuristics; Object / Describe run SAM 3 but its download has no mirror configured	crates/segment; ai-masks.md; MASK rows 67%	masking is how most Lightroom users edit today	40–70 + model decision	target-app-parity
6 B	Compressed ORF (every Olympus / OM body since ~2008)	measured: 66 of 78 Olympus / OM models preview-only; orf.rs refuses; OM bucket 3% of photographers, 3% of them fully work	+2.6 points; best gain per hour of any raw gap (~0.2)	8–15	raw-parity (the two Olympus patents that describe the method)
7	Nikon High Efficiency NEF (HE / HE★ on Z 8, Z 9, Z 6III, Z f, Z50II, Z5II when set to HE)	named and preview only (#193); needs a pure-Rust JPEG XS decoder	+1.1 points (only shots taken in HE; lossless works on the same bodies); low gain per hour (~0.04), so not a beta blocker	20–40	raw-parity
8 B	No lens profile database (LR-EDIT-OPTICS-PROFILE): only DNG opcodes, RW2 in-file distortion and Sony ILCE-7RM4A distortion	Adobe ships 3,635 lens profiles; we never use them	distortion / vignetting correction is a default step for many	40–80 + calibration shots	raw-parity
9 B	Tests don't run in CI on macOS, Windows or Linux x64: only FreeBSD runs cargo test; the others build packages	.github/workflows/ (freebsd, packaging-lint, release, windows-arm64); the linux-riscv64 release job added in 0.6.0 (#844) runs only lightcraft-cli --version under QEMU	regressions reach users on the main platforms; cargo xtask ci runs only locally	6–12	target-app-parity
10 B	Per-model verification thin, plus cheap per-body decode fixes: 236 of 1,446 Adobe models verified (16%), ~42% of photographers on a verified body; Nikon 5 bodies verified, Canon 12, Leica 14 (the Q3 by a recorded check of 38 private DNGs). Cheap fixes: Z 6II packed 14-bit NEF (#769, PR #671), Sony A100 / F828 regression (#702), DSLR-A200…A390 / A850 12-bit ARW (#535)	measured: raw/coverage.tsv	per-body bugs (levels, crops, WB) surface only from users	25–45	raw-parity
10 B	Per-model verification thin, plus cheap per-body decode fixes: 236 of 1,446 Adobe models verified (16%), ~42% of photographers on a verified body; Nikon 5 bodies verified, Canon 12. Cheap fixes: Z 6II packed 14-bit NEF (#769, PR #671), Sony A100 / F828 regression (#702), DSLR-A200…A390 / A850 12-bit ARW (#535)	measured: raw/coverage.tsv	per-body bugs (levels, crops, WB) surface only from users	25–45	raw-parity
11	Enhance: Raw Details, Super Resolution; AI denoise without shippable weights or X-Trans	ENH rows 0%; denoise Bayer only, RawNIND weights GPL and opt-in	Fujifilm users get no AI denoise; nobody gets it out of the box	30–60 + model decision	raw-parity
12	Content-aware / generative remove, detect distractions, reflections removal	REM rows 75%; patch synthesis missing	cleanup work goes back to Photoshop	25–45 (+ generative model)	target-app-parity
13	Lightroom catalog migration is one-way and approximate: unsupported Adobe profiles / AI settings archived, history kept as data	lightroom-catalog-import.md	switching users lose some looks	8–12	file-format-parity
14	HDR display (EDR / Windows HDR); the headroom limit and SDR rendition from crs XMP (the HDR switch, HDREditMode, is read). HLG AVIF export done; the display's SDR/HDR decision is tested, blocked on eframe's 8-bit surface	HDR rows 70%; LR-VIEW-HDR-DISPLAY ⬜	HDR editing works blind on HDR monitors	12–25	hardware-parity
15	Print module: custom packages, printer colour management (contact-sheet PDF only)	LRC-PRINT rows	Classic users who print	25–40	target-app-parity
16	Map view, Book, Slideshow module, publish services	LRC-MAP / BOOK / SS rows ⬜	Classic users; publish services matter for Flickr / SmugMug workflows	60–100	target-app-parity
17	Tethered capture	⬜	studio photographers	25–45 + cameras	hardware-parity
18	Video: playback, trim, global edits, export	VID rows 0%	users who mix stills and clips	25–45	target-app-parity
19	Plug-in ecosystem: no Lightroom SDK equivalent (export / publish plug-ins, metadata plug-ins)	⬜	pro workflows built on plug-ins (LR/Enfuse, Jeffrey's exporters, Negative Lab Pro)	40–80 + owner decision	target-app-parity
20	Long-tail raw formats: compressed SRW, ARQ pixel shift, IIQ, Hasselblad compression, X3F, CRW, MRW, ERF, KDC, DCR, MEF, GPR, old FinePix	raw-parity.md	small user share each	45–85	raw-parity
21	Localization: 9 of 15 shipped languages partial (74–99% of catalog messages), lower-layer errors English; Hindi, Arabic, Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese absent; no RTL or complex shaping	measured from catalogs	non-English users see mixed English	55–90 (shipped to full); 145–255 (five new)	localization-parity
22	Pen pressure, OS monitor profiles, follow-window colour	hardware-parity.md	brush users with tablets; multi-monitor setups	11–22	hardware-parity
23	Accessibility: AccessKit tree audited by a test (every control named, sliders with range); left: canvas handles, spot and mask placement by keyboard, a session with a real screen reader	LR-BEHAV-ACCESS 🟡	blind and low-vision users	4–8	ui-parity
22	Pen pressure, OS monitor profiles on Windows (Linux reads colord's, macOS the screen's), follow-window colour on Linux / Windows	hardware-parity.md	brush users with tablets; multi-monitor setups	11–22	hardware-parity
23	Accessibility audit with screen readers; canvas tools keyboard-reachable	LR-BEHAV-ACCESS 🟡	blind and low-vision users	10–20	ui-parity
24	Brush live preview and masking feel (#517, #518); Feather / Edge mask refinement (15.5)	issues	masking feels slower than Lightroom	8–12	ui-parity
25	File writes: lossy DNG; AVIF import; Render to DNG as a catalog command (the export format landed) (PSD export landed with Edit in PhotoCraft, #953)	file-format-parity.md	interchange edge cases	19–34	file-format-parity
26	Performance at scale: 85k-photo library opens in 1.7–4.7 s; 100k grid test pending; colour NR at half resolution	ROADMAP log, gpu-pipeline.md	large-catalog users	15–30	target-app-parity
27	Windows / Linux runtime coverage: Windows installer UI unverified on Windows (#79); GPU path proven on Apple and on one AMD GPU on Linux (Radeon 8060S, Vulkan); NVIDIA, Intel and DX12 unverified; the Linux riscv64 tarball (new in 0.6.0, #844) is cross-compiled and never run beyond a QEMU smoke test	ROADMAP, issues, release.yml	non-Mac users find bugs first	13–27	hardware-parity
28	Small Classic shortcuts and keys: rating [ ], flag cycling, filter-bar keys, F1 help, panel keys (Tab, F5–F8)	ui-parity	Classic muscle memory	4–8	ui-parity

Beta-blocking gaps (B) total ~230–430 h; with the stability and platform work they need around them, ~340–600 h to beta (incl. 40–80 h for the ~92 open core-path user issues) (see target-app-parity.md).

Gaps by kind

• Feature: 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19
• UI / UX: 4, 23, 24, 28
• File format: 2, 6, 7, 10, 13, 20, 25 (raw ones in raw-parity.md)
• Hardware: 14, 17, 22, 27
• Localization: 21
• Quality / fidelity: 1, 3
• Stability and platforms: 9, 26, 27

Closed recently (kept for calibration)

• 2026-10-10: Nikon lossy-after-split NEF (#633), ORF 12.8 bpp (#651), HDR gain map / PQ AVIF / float TIFF export (#646), activity stack (#345), JPEG XL export (#247).
• 2026-10-09: EOS R7 C-RAW with an odd-height QP map (a45c2b66; part of gap 2), HEIC in release builds (#609), Samsung uncompressed SRW (#459), contact-sheet PDF (#563), Ukrainian UI (#564), Sony ILCE-7CR profile.
• 2026-10-08: CR3 CRX lossless and C-RAW (#279), Fujifilm compressed RAF (#282), AI RAW denoise (#384), Lightroom catalog import (#218), German, Spanish, Russian UI.
• 2026-10-07: RW2 every format (#215), faces recognition in pure Rust (#174).
• 2026-10-05: compressed NEF (#86). The older history is in ROADMAP.md.

Revision history

Date	Change	Summary
2026-10-11	minor	Gap 10 shrinks: Leica Q3 verified by a recorded check of 38 private DNGs (236 models verified; Leica 14); gap not closed
2026-10-12	minor	Camera-look deep shadows follow the JPEG toe (#1307); camera calibration remains partial
2026-10-12	minor	Gap 23 (accessibility): the AccessKit tree audit and its fixes landed; what is left is canvas placement by keyboard and a real screen-reader session; 10–20 h → 4–8 h; gap not closed
2026-10-12	minor	Gap 22: Linux previews use the display profile from colord
2026-10-12	minor	Gap 27: the CPU ↔ GPU equivalence suite passes on an AMD Radeon 8060S (Vulkan, Linux), the first non-Apple GPU verified; 15–30 h → 13–27 h; gap not closed
2026-10-12	minor	Gap 25: Render to DNG lands as an export format; lossy DNG and AVIF import remain
2026-10-12	minor	Gap 10 shrinks: the Hasselblad Lunar (a Sony NEX-7 ARW under its own Make) decodes and is verified, 236 models (#1275)
2026-10-12	minor	Gap 14: HLG AVIF export (hdrTransfer) and a tested SDR/HDR display decision
2026-10-11	minor	Reviewed against main after 0.6.0: CR3 entry names the CRX variants crx.rs still refuses and the R7 / R6 Mark II C-RAW state (decoding, not verified, so the measured numbers don't move); CI and Windows / Linux entries note the riscv64 release build (#844); R7 fix added to Closed recently. Panel docking (UI.9, #869) closes no listed gap
2026-10-11	minor	Camera colour entry: raws with a black-and-white camera JPEG take its tone curve (#577); gap not closed
2026-10-11	minor	Gap 4: Compare and Reference views get zoom windows per pane (1:1 was a 2,560 px render magnified); overlays and soft proofing remain, 8–15 h → 4–8 h
2026-10-10	minor	Compressed ORF entry links the two Olympus patents that describe the method
2026-10-11	minor	Gap 14: crs:HDREditMode is read from XMP (#663); the headroom limit and SDR rendition still aren't
2026-10-11	minor	Gaps 2 and 10 shrink: EOS R5 Mark II CR3 decodes and is verified (fourth CR3 body, Canon 12 verified, 235 models, ~42% on a verified body); CR3 gain +6.5 → +6.2 points
2026-10-10	minor	RAW gaps re-measured model by model (raw-parity.md): CR3, compressed ORF and verification entries carry measured shares; HE NEF no longer a beta blocker (+1.1 points for 20–40 h); verification entry absorbs the cheap per-body fixes (#769, #702, A200 series)
2026-10-10	minor	Beta total raised to 340–600 h to include the ~92 open core-path user issues
2026-10-10	major	Created from the checklist's Top gaps (whose items 1–2 had been duplicated by a merge) and ROADMAP's Where we stand; re-ranked; added evidence, impact, hours and beta flags; added platform-CI, lens-database, HE NEF and localization gaps