lightcraft/docs/gaps.md

# Gaps: where LightCraft falls short of Lightroom

> **Last reviewed:** 2026-10-11 · **Last updated:** 2026-10-15 · **Change:** minor (gap 15: Print Page Options — page numbers, page info, crop marks)

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](parity-checklist.md), and the numbers in [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md)
and [ROADMAP.md](../ROADMAP.md) if they move.

Hours are Opus 5.5 agent wall-clock hours (see [target-app-parity.md](target-app-parity.md#how-hours-are-calibrated)).
`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, 5 bundled profiles or 52 spectral matrices (plus same-sensor bodies, e.g. the X-T30 through the X-T3); 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](raw-parity.md#colour) |
| 2 B | **CR3 variants no public file uses** (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. All 110 CC0 CR3s on raw.pixls.us (31 folders) decode from sensor data, so none of these variants has a public sample; 26 CR3 bodies are verified (M50 / R100 / R8 exact, R5 Mark II pinned, 22 more pinned on one CC0 file each and checked against the camera JPEG, [cr3.md](cr3.md#further-bodies-one-cc0-file-each)). HEIF stills are `.HIF` files, not CR3; no CR3 sRAW / mRAW sample exists | measured: Canon's share whose camera fully works 73% → 94% (raw-parity.md); 18 of 22 popular Canon bodies write CR3, all 18 now verified | +0.3 points of photographers; the variants surface only as user files that open as a preview | 10–25 | [raw-parity](raw-parity.md#remaining-work-ranked-by-photographers-unlocked-per-hour) |
| 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](raw-parity.md), [process-versions](process-versions.md) |
| 4 | ~~Original-pixel detail at 100%~~ (LR-VIEW-ZOOM): closed 2026-10-12, see Closed recently | checklist row ✅ | — | 0 | [ui-parity](ui-parity.md) |
| 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](target-app-parity.md#ai) |
| 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](raw-parity.md#compressed-orf-a-clean-room-starting-point) (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](raw-parity.md) |
| 8 B | **No lens profile database** (LR-EDIT-OPTICS-PROFILE): only DNG opcodes, RW2 in-file distortion, Sony ILCE-7RM4A and ILCE-7RM6 distortion (`docs/sony-ilce7rm6-lens-corrections.md`) and Nikon Z 6II / Z 8 / Z f distortion (`docs/nikon-lens-corrections.md`) | 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](raw-parity.md#lens-profiles) |
| 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](target-app-parity.md#by-dimension) |
| 10 B | **Per-model verification thin, plus cheap per-body decode fixes**: 545 of 1,446 Adobe models verified (38%), ~85% of photographers on a verified body; Nikon 5 bodies verified, Canon 34, 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](raw/coverage.tsv) | per-body bugs (levels, crops, WB) surface only from users | 25–45 | [raw-parity](raw-parity.md#by-maker-measured) |
| 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](raw-parity.md#demosaic-levels-crops-and-lens-metadata) |
| 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](target-app-parity.md#ai) |
| 13 | **Lightroom catalog migration is one-way and approximate**: unsupported Adobe profiles / AI settings archived, history kept as data; main-file pages read on demand up to 16 GiB, with dense-table and WAL bounds retained (#798); offline record counts and destination are now shown in a lasting import result | lightroom-catalog-import.md | switching users lose some looks | 8–12 | [file-format-parity](file-format-parity.md) |
| 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](hardware-parity.md) |
| 15 | **Print module**: identity plate / watermark / photo info overlays, Cut Guides for the packages, Custom Package Auto Layout, printer-driver Page Setup and direct printing, JPEG file output (the Print dialog writes a colour-managed PDF) | LRC-PRINT rows | Classic users who print | 15–25 | [target-app-parity](target-app-parity.md#features) |
| 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](target-app-parity.md#features) |
| 17 | **Tethered capture** | ⬜ | studio photographers | 25–45 + cameras | [hardware-parity](hardware-parity.md) |
| 18 | **Video**: playback, trim, global edits, export | VID rows 0% | users who mix stills and clips | 25–45 | [target-app-parity](target-app-parity.md#features) |
| 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](target-app-parity.md#by-dimension) |
| 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](raw-parity.md) |
| 21 | **Localization**: 9 of 15 shipped languages partial (de, es, fr, ja, uk now 97–99% of catalog messages, awaiting native review; pt-BR, ru, zh-hans, zh-hant 74–92%), lower-layer errors English; Hindi, Arabic, Indonesian, Korean, Vietnamese absent; no RTL or complex shaping | measured from catalogs | non-English users see mixed English | 40–70 (shipped to full); 145–255 (five new) | [localization-parity](localization-parity.md) |
| 23 | **Accessibility**: AccessKit tree audited by a test; canvas handles, spots and mask pins by keyboard; left: brush and red-eye by keyboard, a session with a real screen reader | LR-BEHAV-ACCESS 🟡 | blind and low-vision users | 2–4 | [ui-parity](ui-parity.md) |
| 22 | **Pen pressure on macOS / Linux tablets** (brush size and flow follow pressure where winit reports a pen force), 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](hardware-parity.md) |
| 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](ui-parity.md) |
| 25 | **File writes**: AVIF import; Render to DNG as a catalog command (lossy DNG and the Render to DNG export format landed) (PSD export landed with Edit in PhotoCraft, #953) | file-format-parity.md | interchange edge cases | 19–34 | [file-format-parity](file-format-parity.md) |
| 26 | **Performance at scale**: 85k-photo library opens in 1.7–4.7 s; 100k grid test pending; colour NR at half resolution; at 100k photos stack and album lookups are indexed (an "In a Stack" or "Album" smart album counts in ~14 ms, was 0.6–2.7 s) | ROADMAP log, gpu-pipeline.md | large-catalog users | 15–30 | [target-app-parity](target-app-parity.md#by-dimension) |
| 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](hardware-parity.md) |
| 29 | **HDR merge leftovers** (LR-MERGE-HDR): AI Denoise doesn't run on merged (linear) DNGs; JPEG brackets are treated as linear (no camera response curve); every frame is held as 32-bit float, ~0.86 GB per 67 MP frame (half-float frames would halve it) | tested on Sony A7R VI brackets 2026-10-14 ([merge.md](merge.md)); Lightroom's Denoise supports HDR DNGs | HDR shooters who denoise their merges, merge JPEGs, or merge 7+ frames of high-resolution raws on 16 GB machines | 10–20 (+ denoise linear-RGB contract, gap 11) | [merge](merge.md) |
| 28 | **Small Classic shortcuts and keys**: rating `[` `]`, flag cycling, filter-bar keys, F1 help, panel keys (Tab, F5, F8; F6 and F7 toggle the filmstrip and the left panel) | [ui-parity](ui-parity.md#shortcuts) | Classic muscle memory | 4–8 | [ui-parity](ui-parity.md) |

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](target-app-parity.md#stage)).

## Gaps by kind

- **Feature:** 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 29
- **UI / UX:** 4, 23, 24, 28
- **File format:** 2, 6, 7, 10, 13, 20, 25 (raw ones in [raw-parity.md](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)

- 2026-10-12: original-pixel detail at 100% (gap 4, LR-VIEW-ZOOM, #323): soft proofing gets zoom windows like
  Detail, Before/After, Compare, Reference and mask overlays; 1:1 tested equal to the full-size export.
- 2026-10-11: Sony ILCA-99M2 profile.
- 2026-10-11: Nikon edge bars on bodies without CropArea (#976, #914): 36 model / size / depth groups measured.
- 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](../ROADMAP.md#progress-log).

## Revision history

| Date | Change | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-18 | patch | Gap 1: six X-Trans CMOS 4 Fujifilm bodies (X-T30 …) take the X-T3's spectral matrices instead of the neutral matrix |
| 2026-10-15 | minor | Gap 15 shrinks: the Page panel's Page Options (Page Numbers, Page Info, Crop Marks) print on Single Image and Contact Sheet pages; identity plate, watermark, photo info, Cut Guides, direct printing and JPEG output remain |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 26: at 100k photos stack and album lookups are indexed, so an "In a Stack" or "Album" smart album counts in ~14 ms (was 0.6–2.7 s); open time unchanged |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 10: Camera-coverage sweep (#1327): 30 models verified on 40 CC0 files (coverage.py 515 → 545 verified); sensor verification does not establish colour parity (#1277) |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 21: de, es, fr, ja and uk catalogs filled (97–99%); 55–90 h → 40–70 h |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 10: 17 uncompressed Olympus and Samsung models verified on one CC0 file each (254 models) |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 29 added: the HDR merge, tested on real 67 MP brackets, keeps moving clipped highlights and merges in batches now; AI Denoise on merged DNGs, JPEG response curves and per-frame memory remain |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 4 closed: soft proofing at 1:1 renders a window (mask overlays already did); 1:1 pixels tested equal to export; only diagnostic overlays (Visualize Spots, Point Color range, HDR range) stay whole-frame |
| 2026-10-13 | patch | Gaps 10, 22 and 23 each had two rows (two branches edited them; the merges kept both): the older copies are removed, and `cargo xtask parity` (in `ci`) now fails when a gap number is listed twice |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Closed recently: Sony ILCA-99M2 profile |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 10: 21 Sony and Leica models verified on one CC0 file each (258 models) |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 20 shrinks: Mamiya MEF decodes (`vendor/mef.rs`) and is imported; gap 10 count 240 → 241 |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 20 shrinks: Epson ERF decodes (`vendor/erf.rs`), 3 bodies verified; gap 10 count 237 → 240 |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Gap 28: F6 (filmstrip) and F7 (left panel) are bound, so the entry no longer lists them as missing; hours unchanged |
| 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): crop handles, spots, gradient handles and mask pins by keyboard; 4–8 h → 2–4 h; gap not closed |
| 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 |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 15: printer colour management lands (printer / paper ICC profiles or Managed by Printer, intent, black point compensation, print adjustment, print sharpening, 16-bit ICC-tagged PDF with an output intent); page overlays and direct printing remain |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 15 shrinks: File → Print… is a Print dialog with the four layout styles, cell editing, image settings, guides, page setup and templates; printer colour management, page overlays and direct printing remain |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 15: the Print module's layout styles, cells, image settings, templates and PDF are `print.*` commands (CLI, control, MCP); the Print view, printer colour management and page overlays remain |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 15: print pages compose in the engine (fit / Zoom to Fill, Rotate to Fit, border, stroke, background) with an interim PDF writer; commands and UI still to land |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 15: the Print layout model (paper sizes, margins, grid, package cells, Auto Layout packer, snapping) is in the engine; commands, composition and UI still to land |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 25: lossy DNG export (DNG compression 34892) lands; AVIF import and Render to DNG as a catalog command remain |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 22: pen pressure scales brush size and flow (Brush ▸ Pen Pressure) where winit reports a pen force |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gaps 2 and 10 shrink: 22 more CR3 bodies verified on one CC0 file each (every CC0 CR3 on raw.pixls.us decodes), EOS R6 Mark III white balance read; Canon 34 verified, 259 models, ~59% on a verified body; CR3 gain +6.2 → +0.3 points |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Gap 10 shrinks: 117 Nikon and Fujifilm bodies verified on one CC0 file each (354 models, ~58% on a verified body); COOLPIX 5700 / 8400 / 8800 decode wrongly; #702 is fixed |
| 2026-10-11 | minor | Nikon edge bars on bodies without CropArea fixed for 36 model / size / depth groups (#976, #914; survey in #1053); gap 10 notes the survey and the pending bodies; gap not closed |
| 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 |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Gap 8 narrows: Nikon Z 6II / Z 8 / Z f NEFs use the camera's in-file distortion correction (`docs/nikon-lens-corrections.md`) |
| 2026-10-12 | minor | Catalog migration reports offline records as additions, keeps the destination/result readable, skips missing-original probes and stages only masters needed for virtual copies. Approximate rendering and database/table limits remain. |
| 2026-10-13 | minor | Catalog import review: offline Local records join All Photos, redundant operation/settings copies removed, and result invalidation across library switches covered. Approximate rendering and database/table limits remain. |
| 2026-10-14 | patch | LRC-LIB-CATALOG-IMPORT: reconciled with upstream phased progress, cancellation kinds, WAL-only import, translations and current progress tracking. Status and summary counts unchanged. |
| 2026-10-10 | minor | Gap 8: Sony ILCE-7RM6 in-file distortion added next to the ILCE-7RM4A's, its lateral CA parsed but off by default (docs/sony-ilce7rm6-lens-corrections.md); the gap stays open (no lens database), hours unchanged |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 10 shrinks: 97 Canon CR2, Pentax and Ricoh models verified on one CC0 file each (334 models, ~50% on a verified body) |
| 2026-10-14 | minor | Gap 10: 515 of 1,446 models verified (36%), ~84% of photographers on a verified body (integration batch 36) |