D850 image very dark in lightroom

ne0123

New member
Hi All, I use both jpg and raw when taking pictures. The JPG is just right, but when I import into lightroom, the image gets very dark so I feel like I am missing something.

(I put the images in a diff site so that I could link to the images but seems like I can't even share one link in my post! ) Please remove space from below to see the link

http :// sajha.com/d850/issue.html
 
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pforsell

Senior Member
I tried to download the NEF from your site but the file isn't there. Both of the JPG files are there, but it is the NEF I am interested in.

EDIT: scratch that, problem solved

You have Active D-Lighting set to Extra High which causes much lower exposure than baseline. The camera adds brightness to the JPEG but Lightroom does not honor manufacturer-specific EXIF tags, hence the raw file appears as it really is.

Short version: All is working properly. How about turning off the ADL unti you need it?
 
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ne0123

New member
Sorry, I have zipped the NEF file now cos the server doesn't seem to be configured for NEF files.

Please access the above link again. And thanks so much for taking time to do this.
 

pforsell

Senior Member
Sorry, I have zipped the NEF file now cos the server doesn't seem to be configured for NEF files.

Please access the above link again. And thanks so much for taking time to do this.

Thanks. The explanation is Active D-Lighting at Extra High, which causes about 1.33 stops of underexposure. Lightroom doesn't care about ADL, so it displays the raw file as it is. Bottom line: the camera and the software work just fine. Turn ADL off until you really need it. If you shoot raw, you don't need it ever, if you shoot JPG you'll need it in high-contrast situations (your photo is low contrast).
 

ne0123

New member
Thank you! That's good to know. I have used the same active d-lighting setting in earlier D800 and D810 and I did notice the darkness a bit, but it seemed more pronounced on the d850.

I also noted a little more pronounced color in images keeping it at Neutral picture control, than in D810. Is this normal?
 
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