Tone mapping can be pretty useful. While you're figuring it out and experimenting, keep Gamma Correction turned OFF.

Here we have, from top left and working right and down:

No GC, no TM

No GC, TM HSV Exp 1.6

No GC, TM Exp 1.6

GC on (2.2), no TM

GC on, TM Exp 2.4

GC on, TM HSV Exp 3.6

(Sorry about the render artifacts, render settings are designed for speed).

The only time I use Tone Mapping in conjunction with GC is for this type of scene, where I want to lift the overall light levels without increasing light intensity, which could blow out highlight details near each light. In this scene all lights have their falloff set to inverse square, and I've made no adjustments to light settings whatsoever between renders.

As for filtering, I'd use Sinc=2 for this scene; when I'm doing close-ups on figures I normally choose Gaussian = 3 as the results aren't as harsh.

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Windows 10 x64 Pro - Intel Xeon E5450 @ 3.00GHz (x2)

PoserPro 11 - Units: Metres

Adobe CC 2017