Can't import any images, none at all [solved]

[Battery (Steve Westwood)]

@lphilpot

That’s a common reaction when first meeting darktable, certainly was for me (if I’m honest, still is to a degree). A simple but important point is that there’s a lot of subtle – and sometimes not-so-subtle – overlap between many modules. You certainly don’t, and won’t, need to use every one on every image. As the old saying goes, there’s more than one way to de-dermatize a feline.

@priort has listed some really good resources, particularly IMO for new users, Bruce Williams’ YT channel (then Boris’ superb videos). Be aware that darktable evolves over time so details may vary from older videos to the latest version. But as long as the tutorial references v3+ it’ll be close.

Thanks Len. I did watch a few videos before I installed, now I’ll prob have to watch them again. There’s certainly some learning to be done!

[lphilpot (Len Philpot)]

@Battery

I’d never heard of Darktable before, no-one has ever mentioned it to me (UK). If I can get my head around it it should be perfect for me. Amazed that such a feature rich bit of kit is free. Most of the expensive ones are the opposite, go figure. I don’t even recall seeing anywhere on the website where you can donate, which I would happily do.

There are several very capable free raw editors, they’re featured here on PIXLS.US.

If you wish to contribute:
PIXLS.US support page
darktable contributors page

[paperdigits (Mica)]

@Battery

I don’t even recall seeing anywhere on the website where you can donate, which I would happily do

None of the current darktabke developers accept donations, nor does the project itself. Its pure passion and the will to share work with others.

@Battery

If I can get my head around it it should be perfect for me. Amazed that such a feature rich bit of kit is free

We are here to help you get your head around it. Read the manual, watch some videos, ask questions, use the play raw category here to see what others are doing.

People says its difficult, but it is t really. Don’t feel like you need to twiddle every knob, figure out the useful ones for you, and you’ll be on your way.

[123sg (Steven)]

This page in the manual is a good starting point. darktable 4.2 user manual - process
One point that hasn’t been updated in this guide is that the new Sigmoid module, which can be more user friendly, if a bit less flexible, can be used in place of filmic.
To do that, you can simply turn off filmic with the ‘power button’ find sigmoid by typing it into the search box and turn it on.

But this is just one small point that I thought might be helpful. I recommend the YT videos that the others have mentioned too!

[Terry (Terry Pinfold)]

I really like filmic. At first when I tried to learn it I tried using nearly every slider available to achieve the desired result. Now I tend to set the exposure module if required and then I hit auto tune levels in filmic. For most images if I have set the exposure right the auto tune levels then work great. However, if exposure is set wrong I get a poor result from auto tune levels. Excessive contrast from auto tune levels often results from too dark a setting in the exposure module. But auto tune levels presumes that there are pixels approaching both extremes of lightness and darkness and tone maps the image accordingly. So if there is nothing approaching white in the image auto tune levels will over shoot the white relative exposure slider to the left.

Give auto tune levels in filmic a try and also take time to learn how and what each slider does, but realize you don’t have to touch every slider with every image. Also, I am not saying auto tune levels will work on every image, but it does work on a surprisingly high percentage of my images.

[Battery (Steve Westwood)]

@123sg

This page in the manual is a good starting point. darktable 4.2 user manual - process
One point that hasn’t been updated in this guide is that the new Sigmoid module, which can be more user friendly, if a bit less flexible, can be used in place of filmic.
To do that, you can simply turn off filmic with the ‘power button’ find sigmoid by typing it into the search box and turn it on.

But this is just one small point that I thought might be helpful. I recommend the YT videos that the others have mentioned too!

Thanks for the tips

The filmic module does look interesting and I look fwd to familiarizing myself with it. I;m going to need to get used to the very basic modules first which shouldn’t take too long

[Terry (Terry Pinfold)]

Some important modules to use in my opinion. I use the denoise (profile module) on all my images. For initial sharpening of RAW files I use the sharpen demosaicing preset in the diffuse or sharpen module (most cameras have an AA filter so I use that one). Additional sharpening can also be done later using other modules. I also use the basic colorfullness preset found in the color balance RGB module as I find filmics color saturation a little bit low compared to what I want, but that is personal taste. I have created a preset which applies all this with a single click. Presets are very efficient way of working repeated tasks in DT or any program.

[rvietor]

@Battery

The filmic module does look interesting and I look fwd to familiarizing myself with it. I;m going to need to get used to the very basic modules first which shouldn’t take too long

Filmic (or sigmoid, or basecurve, I use filmic because I’m used to it) is a very basic module, in that you usually need it (or one of the other two). One of their tasks is the scene-display transform, which you want in most cases.

My absolute minimal set of modules would consist of “exposure”, “colour calibration” and “filmic”, in that order (and of course the automatically activated modules, which I don’t have to touch).

And only a few sliders on those three modules:

• “exposure” : only the exposure slider;
• “color calibration” : CAT tab only;
• “filmic” : scene tab: “white relative exposure” and “black relative exposure”, look tab: “contrast”.

Again, that’s (for me) the absolute minimum to get a usable image. But in simple cases it can be enough: well lighted scene with no extreme contrasts, and of course correct camera settings.
I usually crop a bit, add one or two presets from “diffuse or sharpen”, and add some saturation/chroma with the “colour balance” module (*). And if needed, tone equaliser, and so on.

Of those, tone equaliser might take some practice, but it’s a very useful module. I start with the mask tab, display the mask and set the “mask exposure compensation” so that the mask is not clipped for the area I want to correct (usually the brighest or darkest areas). For simple cases (the majority) there’s no need to have the mask perfectly placed to cover the whole tonal range of the image. Then I switch off the mask display and make the corrections.

Depending on your camera/lens and subject, you may want to use lens correction and profiled denoise, those I just switch on, with no adjustments needed.

Any other modules are on an “as needed” basis, and I try to have a clear idea of where I want to go before using them. By that time, masking is becoming important as well, to apply further changes only at specific areas of the image.

(*: Btw, you should use “perceptual brilliance grading” very carefully, more than ~20% combined can give artifacts and is probably a sign you are abusing it to increase exposure)

[Battery (Steve Westwood)]

Thanks for the good advice. I am trying to keep things as simple as possible at the moment and this will help me.
After a couple of days I am still very much a newbie but am starting to develop a rough workflow that I can build on. I’ll get there eventually