dt 3.2.1 workflow suggestions needed

Hi all, I am sure this will be a repeat post, as this topic has been discussed over a number of threads earlier. I just thought of making a new post to keep everything about dt 3.2.1 and filmic v4 in one place.
I took my camera out yesterday after a few months, for my daughter’s birthday. Need a quick brushup on dt. The sequence I used to follow earlier in 3.0 (3.1?) was thus -

  1. Crop image and adjust aspect ratio. I can never get this right in camera.
  2. Adjust exposure (and blackpoint if I feel like it)
  3. Turn on filmic, set it to 18.45. Adjust white and black. In the next tab increase saturation.
  4. Color balance - Increase saturation to 120-130. Increase contrast. Make the highlights and mids a bit warmer. Reduce highlights and shadows and increase mids.
  5. Color zones - I use this on portraits, to shift yellows towards red. Makes the skin tones “rosy”.
  6. Local contrast and contrast equaliser
  7. Turn on denoise profiled.

This is more or less all that I do. Now, is my method correct? What should I change when using dt 3.2.1 and filmic v4?

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Please have a look at darktable's filmic FAQ.

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Looks like you want a fairly quick and easily repeatable process. If you haven’t already, you should make presets for your preferred options, and save it as a style.

I would add in Lens Correction module. If your lens/camera is on the list, all you have to do is turn it on and hit reset.

In v4 mid tones saturation is by default set to 10%, and in most cases you don’t really have to change it for good results. I personally turn it to 0% and adjust color balance saturation, but to each their own.

I’ve not looked into styles or presets yet. What I do for a similar batch of photos is just copy paste the history. Then I usually only need to adjust the crop.

Basic Adjustments sets 18.45 automatically. Works very well. Can also do exposure and saturation.