Hello
I have worked with DT 3.0 for a long time.
Mostly only exposure and black level pulled up until it fits, sometimes lightened the shadows, sharpened, denoised, done. I got high-contrast, bright images with it.
Now after the update to 3.6 everything is completely different and I can’t get anything right, everything is much too pale. (I work with low contrast vintage lenses, post processing is urgently needed).
The standard modules like exposure, contrast, haze removal, I have of course already tried. The black level should not be changed much, but even if it is, it doesn’t give the desired result.
The English manual is not very helpful, extremely theoretical, no concrete working instructions.
It would help me a lot if you could describe a concrete workflow to improve a pale, low-contrast image.
My camera is a Pentax K3 (DNG Raw files), are there any special basic settings needed in Darktable for this?
One thing the current manual probably misses is that in 3.6, the default saturation setting in filmic is now 0, which will make everything look a bit pale. The best way to address this is to use the “add basic colorfulness” preset in the new color balance rgb module – you can set up to auto-apply if you want it to be enabled by default.
Thanks for the many tips, I will have a look at everything.
I forgot to mention, I am a German native speaker, my English is limited, especially the technical terms.
My Darktable version is German, all functions have German names, but there is no German manual. Some terms I can match, others I can’t.
Sorry, I the option I mentioned before was actually in relation to a different post. As to your question, the preset you need is in the new moduleFarbbalance RGB, and it is called Grundeinstellung Farbigkeit. The Filmic parameter that has a new default is on the Aussehen tab, and is called Sättigung der Mitten – it is now 0 by default, because the preferred method is to use the color balance rgb to to the color grading.
To the right of the name Farbbalance RGB, you’ll see a little symbol consisting of 3 horitontal lines – this is the preset menu. Click on it, and you’ll find the Grundeinstellung Farbigkeit preset.
The Sättigung der Mitten is an option in the Filmic RGB module, which was a way to add colour saturation to the image (the Filmic RGB module has multiple tabs, you need to select the Aussehen tab to find this slider). It is now not the preferred method, so I suggest you just leave it at ‘0’ and use the Farbbalance RGB module instead.
Thanks for your help, but it is completely useless.
The video above in the first answer, apparently provides the desired result, but without sound or written description, nothing is comprehensible to me.
Most modules and functions have different names in the German version, too much I can not even assign. It is absolutely impossible for me, to learn this in a foreign language.
The English manual is too theoretical, without examples suitable for my problem, the German translation will not change anything.
You have wasted time, I have wasted time, maybe even the development of 3.6 was a big waste of time. I will install 3.0 again.
Thanks!
I can understand your situation very well. That was the reason for me to switch to English for the Darktable-GUI. Almost all fruitful / actual information you can get is in English currently. All videos, all documentation all discussions in the forum. Nevertheless using Darktable in English is not so difficult. At the beginning, probably one needs to get familiar with the new names for the modules and for some technical expressions but I was able to adapt quite fast. Probably this is a way you can try, too.
