Active D lighting

I was told by a guy to turn off my Active D Lighting when shooting in Raw. Is this true?

If you're shooting in RAW then Active D is meaningless to your RAW file. So on or off, it doesn't matter either way.

I would leave it off unless you have a specific need for it to be on.

I wonder if Active-D affects the JPEG preview that you see when you look at it on your LCD? Hmmm....

I was just reading up on active-d lighting myself. The word is that active-d does affect the raw file. They say it slightly underexposes the shot, then brings up the shadows after exposure.

So I looked in the manual, the only thing I could find was a comparison of active-d lighting with the simple 'd-lighting' function in the photo retouch menu. From page 140 of the downloaded d7000 manual:

“Active D-Lighting” Versus “D-Lighting”
The Active D-Lighting option in the shooting menu adjusts exposure before shooting to optimize the dynamic range, while the D-Lighting option in the retouch menu optimizes dynamic range in images after shooting.

So this seems to confirm that active-d lighting does alter the exposure. From what I understand, Nikon ViewNX2 will show the desired effect of active d-lighting function in your raw file. Lightroom will show the raw file as slightly underexposed (as shot) because it does not apply the changes the camera makes after exposure.

Do a google search for "active-d lighting underexposes" and you will see some of the discussions on this topic.

Um...awesome post, Nickt! I was wondering this for a long time. I was just too lazy to do my research lol.

That's good to know, Nickt. I didn't realize it affected the exposure, I thought it was more of a post processing thing. Guess you learn something new every day.

I'm glad I could offer up something useful rather than just lurking. I enjoy digging in and trying to understanding every little setting on this camera. ....but I still can't compose a decent picture. I haven't found that menu setting yet.

active D good for black faces

nickt said:

So this seems to confirm that active-d lighting does alter the exposure. From what I understand, Nikon ViewNX2 will show the desired effect of active d-lighting function in your raw file. Lightroom will show the raw file as slightly underexposed (as shot) because it does not apply the changes the camera makes after exposure.

Click to expand...

A few months back I posted something in regards to this issue in lightroom. I noticed that when I viewed my photos in ViewNX, they would appear as I shot them and as they look on my LCD. On the other hand, in lightroom, they would be underexposed and darker. This still continues to happen with each photo. I normally do have active d lighting on. I am going to try to take a few photos with it off and see if it makes a difference in how they appear in lightroom. I hope this is the problem because it seems like an easy fix. Great and informative post. This is exactly why I love this forum.

Claudia! said:

A few months back I posted something in regards to this issue in lightroom. I noticed that when I viewed my photos in ViewNX, they would appear as I shot them and as they look on my LCD. On the other hand, in lightroom, they would be underexposed and darker. This still continues to happen with each photo. I normally do have active d lighting on. I am going to try to take a few photos with it off and see if it makes a difference in how they appear in lightroom. I hope this is the problem because it seems like an easy fix. Great and informative post. This is exactly why I love this forum.

Click to expand...

The underexposure from active-d lighting is slight. Maybe a 1/2 stop, maybe no exposure change under some conditions. But I think Lightroom ignores all in camera picture settings. That will cause an even greater disparity between raw files viewed in NX vs viewed in Lightroom. So in View NX, the raw will look just like the jpg if you are shooting raw+jpg. In Lightroom, the raw will most likely not look like the separate jpg depending what in-camera picture controls are applied to the jpg. To add to this confusion, some picture viewers might be showing you the embedded jpg thumnail in the raw file. Lightroom uses the embedded jpg when you first import files and sometimes you can catch the change as it renders the raw file. This made me crazy at first as sometimes I would catch my RAW file darkening up before my eyes. I think this was more noticeable on a large import batch where the computer was slow to catch up. To see this in a dramatic way, shoot some raw+jpg shots with B&W applied in camera. In View NX, both RAW and jpg will be black and white. In Lightroom, the RAW will be color and the jpg as b&w, but you will see the raw as b&w on the import screen and maybe for an instant the first time you view it.