@anon41087856 Funny is, that Google just fixed the camera app to do first blur and then the tone mapping.
Yes indeed-y! After all my investigation and angst these past few years, I’ve come to this perspective: First, do all the conversions and corrections to get a RGB image that still has the original light measurement relationships (this “linear” thing), and then decide what sort of departures from linear express my desires for the final rendition.
Depending on the scene and how I expose it, I have occasionally ended up with a satisfying rendition that came straight from the linear RGB. Not often, but it happens.
As of today, my default proof processing past this “linear RGB” uses only a filmic curve that does a small midrange lift, but keeps the toe flat. This seems to work for both cameras (D7000 and Z6) for the majority of the images, but there’s always additional work as the situations in which I shoot have a lot of variance in the light, both in single-shot DR and shot-to-shot. I’ve had recent cases where I needed to replace the filmic curve with a control point curve so I could pull the shadows down; filmic (at least my implementation) doesn’t accommodate transfers below the diagonal anywhere on the curve.
If I were to abandon my hack software for one of the “real” applications, right now it’d be a tossup between darktable and PhotoFlow. Thing is, RawTherapee has better demosaic and denoise algorithms, so it still has a space in my consideration. With any of them, it’s the specific control over the process “soup-to-nuts” that would be foremost in my priorities.
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So maybe I’m not a complete idiot…
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Looking at your contribution I doubt it.
I like the article you wrote. I’m surprised that the vignetting can be fixed with exposure + color balance (I use vignetting often but I don’t like the transition. It’s not natural, hard and too intrusive). I will be back to this article I guess to get most of it. Google translate did a fairly good job.
However I have 2 tricks that I need to rediscover now: channel mixer in soft light - I really like the effect it can produce on skin tones (starting with Kodak Tri-X 400, then blend with softlight and decrease opacity). Second is the tone curve with softlight for portrait. It produces nice warm effect (sometimes and with opacity rather low of course).
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I just fought my way through the article with the help of deepl. It is to be translated into other languages and nailed to the door of every photographer who uses darktable!
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I don’t think you need to abandon them, just make sire those modules come at the end of the pipeline, which by default they do.
Aurélien,
I have just finished reading your article (translated) spending more than an hour.
Time unbelievably well spent.
Thank you very, very much for all your efforts, which includes this “illuminating” article.
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I too want to thank you for a very informative article - answered a number of questions I had. I used Google translate - did fairly well, and saved it to doc/pdf and included your links to your website. Happy to share a link to it if that’s OK, unless you were planning an english version on the darktable blog.
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Thanks ! Sure, you can share, or better copy/paste it on https://hackmd.io/ so people can improve the translation and I can proof-read.
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Yes, hackmd was what I was going to do… I’d be super happy to copy edit the English version.
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Thanks Mica - I’m at work and just heading into meetings. Here are the links - would you mind grabbing and posting to hackmd? I haven’t used that site before. And apologies my version is in .doc format and didn’t use opensource!
Fully translated version: darktable 3: RGB or Lab? Which modules? Help! - HackMD
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Here is the article translated to English: darktable 3: RGB or Lab? Which modules? Help! - HackMD
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I did not yet read the text very carefully but what do you suggest using instead of contrast brightness saturation in order to increase saturation?
Colorbalance, 2nd slider 
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I could help proofread if there is any need. Not sure how much time I have though.
ew the Google translation is wonky
I was able to read it, but I don’t talk English so good… 
In the spirit of a quote from “Tongue and Quill”, the U.S.Air Force guide to speaking and writing: " ‘Write as you speak’ doesn’t work well if you talk funny… "
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Not surprised. It was wonky back when it translated @David_Tschumperle’s material, esp. the more technical parts.
I will redo it with deepL tonight
While checking the pipeline order I opened a new photo ( with no sidecar file ) and i found that channel mixer is not at the end of the pipeline.it Is also before Filmic RGB. How the default pipeline should be?