Hi there!
I was just wondering if there is a mode in lighttable to show me the histogram of my images? I recognized that it would be very handy especially in culling mode while looking through many images (for example long time exposure shots with different settings). At the moment when in doubt I go to darkroom to check which one might have the better exposure which is a bit tedious. It would be awesome if i could have the possibility to blend in this information in lighttable when needed. Maybe i just didnât find out how to do it?
I personally donât know of any way to achieve that in darktable, and I donât think itâs possible. Iâd personally like to know how to do that, it would be pretty coolâŚ
I know a possible workaround in other software, but not sure if youâre interested.
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I donât think even the current histogram in the darkroom will show what you are looking for.
I think we would need a histogram that shows the data only from the sensor using the raw black/white point. This would then show the graph of the data relative to the camera sensor capability. I think raw digger does this.
A feature request to at least show it in that module or to show it in the histogram view when the module is active would be nice. Of course, to show it in the light table will be harder since we will need to process the data (aka not use the embedded jpg).
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yeah 
I thought that would be the problemâŚ
I would rather like to stay in darktable for sorting out, viewing and managing the photo collection. I had digicam once parallel, but didnât liked to work with two softwares for managing. My first sweep after importing it to my desktop is with Geeqie, where I delete all images which are just crap. After that I rename them and import them to darktable where I do my tagging, rejecting and rating and everything elseâŚ
You can set it up to show a histogram, but I donât know what parameters it is using.
Its the jpeg histogram
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thank you
yes, I know, but it is much better to view it in darktable with all the options you have to pick any 4 images for example to compare them side by side and then the zoom possibility 
I love these features so much as it makes it so much easier to decide.
I use âflatâ contrast in the camera settings for the jpg settings. Does that make it better for being able to judge the picture while viewing the raw in lighttable? A tiny bit more accurate?
I do that as well, it helps a little I find
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I use âneutralâ, some sort of medium processing. Iâll consider using flat though, sounds like a pretty good idea.
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I would appreciate it, @paperdigits, if you could elaborate a little in what way you find that it âhelpsâ.
Sure. The in camera histogram is based on the jpeg rendering that is showing up on your screen. No camera maker has a raw histogram (except CHDK, the hacked canon firmware; Iâd drop Nikon in a heartbeat for a manufacturer supported raw histogram), so by choosing a jpeg profile that is flatter, e.g. less contrast, youâll be closer, bit still not exactly, to what the raw data is, and you can make a much better ETTR exposure.
This obviously does not work well if you use the SooC jpeg, or shoot raw+jpeg. But if you shoot raw only, then Iâve found the flat profile helpful across multiple camera brands: Nikon, fuji, Ricoh.
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That is the truth, and nothing I can set in camera is flat enough. However, I prefer putting the Nikon picture settings on monochrome with a filter and the contrast turned all the way up, where I get the best impression of tonality in the frame, even when I intend to process the image in color. The downside being with matrix metering, I might get up to two stops (+2EV) over the histogram before I start clipping highlights.
There is a technique which simulates a raw histogram on the camera by messing with the WB parameters. It is called âUniWBâ
http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/uniwb/index_en.htm
It is not simple - perhaps only interesting for those who are REALLY bothered by camera JPEG-based histograms.
That technique would cancel the influence of the white balance settings. It does not cancel any tone curve the camera applies to the raw data (and some of those are quite steep).
And as you said, itâs not simple.
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The technique, AFIK, is to frame the scene and to set the camera exposure based on the displayed UniWEB ârawâ histogram, then select the desired scene WB then shoot.
I never said that it did.
Personally, I do not need an in-camera histogram.
My two cents worth that can be ignored if it doesnât suit your workflow. I personally sort and cull my images in the darkroom view of darktable. I donât refer to the histogram and often just have that disabled. However, what I do look at is the raw overexposure indicator. I shoot mainly bracketed images and find that I generally prefer to keep and process the brightest image without clipping of highlights. This is because my Canonâs give best results for noise using the ETTR approach. I appreciate not all cameras need to ETTR to get best noise, but my Canons sure do.
If I want to compare two or more images I use the screenshot function. In DT 5.1 I can also do a side by side comparison of the screenshot which is nice. I can also use the space key and the backspace key to move conveniently back or forth through my images. This system works well for me.