Lossless image inversion of RAF files for film scanning? (C1, SilkyPix...)

FTOG wrote:

There've been a few more options I've looked into:

• darktable: The GUI does not appeal to me at all and I'd rather not have to import each batch of "scans" into a catalogue.

What I am looking for

Ideally I'd like a light program that can apply the following steps to a batch of files:

1. Import & demosaic RAF file
   • Ideally with side car files or other means that do not involve import into a catalogue
2. Invert image
3. Optional: horizontal flip (to correct negative orientation in scanning process)
4. Export as DNG or TIFF

I'd suggest actually trying out darktable, for at least these few reasons:

• You can completely ignore the catalog/library. I organize my photos in folders, so I just need to add/import the whole folder into darktable. darktable doesn't create copy of the photo files, it simply tracks their names, locations, and the metadata for quick search (in a SQLite DB, just like Lightroom). My library is a mess because I drag-and-drop the photos into darktable most of the times. Occasionally I'd even empty out the whole library as it doesn't delete the actual photo files. darktable does save to sidecar .xmp files beside the DB, I back up those XMP files together with my RAFs.
• darktable has a negadoctor module that specifically deals with scanned film negatives.
  https://docs.darktable.org/usermanual/3.8/en/module-reference/processing-modules/negadoctor/
• you can copy the operations/edits from one image to others very quickly. Thus you only need to edit one image and apply the same to the whole batch. You can even save those edits into a preset/style and have them automatically applied on import/export.

Video tutorial of negadoctor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On3BqhXYJM0

darktable's negadoctor module

history stack allows copying operations/edits from one image to others, as well as loading arbitrary sidecar file