Selecting step 0 in History, what do I actually see?

Software darktable
1

This might be a stupid question. When you open a RAW file, Darktable adds step to make the image useable…
When I select step “0 original”, no processing have been done, but I still can see an image. So what do I actually see?

2

From just walking up the history stack, I’d say the result of the five non-removable modules. Which stands to reason, as those steps are the minimum necessary to turn a raw data set into a displayable image.
A raw data set is not a displayable image, as the data is not in the form of rgb triplets: each “pixel” has only one colour value, and data can be packed to save space (2 or 4 bits/value add up when you have 50M pixels)

Looking at the image at the first (lowest) white balance item also doesn’t show a change, but that’s normal (for me), as it’s set to “camera reference”.

3

This is mainly demosaic module, just needed to start displaying the RAW.

4

Yes, at step zero, I should only get some (binary) garbage, no image, because it’s even before demosaicing. But as there is still an image…

Thanks

5

ok, so even at step 0, the demosaic module is still used, however without white balance (step 1) I guess.

Thanks

6

I think at step 0 original you get these modules:

Bildschirmfoto vom 2022-04-18 11-02-38

White balance can be additionally disabled at this point in the modules tab. So “original” is somewhat misleading.