But final users do not have control about when to apply a model in darktable, do we?
As long as I know the pipeline has a fixed order and that not depends in the order you make things or apply corrections, the module fixes when it is apply. Am I wrong?
Exposure is one of the first modules applied, i guess, just after transforming from camera RGB to your working space.
If modules do transform the pipeline back and forth to their internal expected working space, then results should be similar using exposure module in an AdobeRGB space or a linear Rec709.
But they are not.
As long as I know, in current version, selecting a linear working space would be a good option in order to get results with no halos or strange artifacts when making some adjustments.
Is lineal ProPhoto a good bet (I am more used to ProPhoto in LR and PS).
Why there is a Rec709 lineal and it seems to be the default? Is it better to let that default space?
Is it wide enough to contain all colors generated by most cameras?
When making color corrections in an appealing mode, LAB or a human vision related space seems more appropiate.
A suppose that modules like contrast/brightness/saturation should work in that space.
But darktable hides that details to the normal user.
It is a bit confusing (at least for people that is begining with darktable).
Interface should be more clear about which space a module is working on and at which step is it applied (which 4 steps process that aurelienpierre defines is it designed for).
I will try to dig in all that and select the correct modules that work in linear space as adviced.
But some times you need other things like simply saturating your image or dasaturating it.