Auto D lighting?

dachshund

Senior Member
On my D5600 auto D lighting is enabled by default, I have chosen not to have turned it on, it can be utilized in the retouch menu if desired. What are some opinions on this?
 

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Contributor
On my D5600 auto D lighting is enabled by default, I have chosen not to have turned it on, it can be utilized in the retouch menu if desired. What are some opinions on this?
[MENTION=13090]Horoscope Fish[/MENTION] any idea on this?
 

TwistedThrottle

Senior Member
@dachshund
Do you shoot RAW or JPG? I shoot RAW+JPG and usually keep D lighting turned on. D lighting does not(*) have an affect on your RAW image, just JPG's. What it does do is give you a better looking image on the back of the camera when the scene has a large dynamic range and better looking JPG's, so if you're only utilizing the JPG's it means less post processing.
* D lighting does affect the metering and so the effect will be slightly darker RAW images compared to not using D lighting. I much prefer darker RAW images to bright ones, I find it easier to pull the shadows up than pull down the highlights. It's very useful in a situation with a large dynamic range, less so with less tho.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
[MENTION=13090]Horoscope Fish[/MENTION] any idea on this?
We're discussing the "Auto" setting in the "Active D-Lighting" menu, yes? I'm going to assume we are... Well at the risk of stating the obvious, Active D-Lighting reduces exposure to help prevent Highlight clipping but also lifts Shadows and Midtones to help achieve a more balanced, more pleasing overall exposure. So... If I shot JPG exclusively I would enable AD-L, set it to "Auto" and get on with life because AD-L seems to do a pretty decent job overall based on my experience with it which, admittedly, is not what I would call all that extensive.

However, since AD-L affects how the camera meters, even when shooting raw, and because I shoot in raw 99% of the time, I have AD-L turned off.
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
If you're shooting RAW, turn it off.

Nikon likes to tell us that using RAW mode eliminates all camera processing, but that's not exactly true. Active-D will affect your exposure by 1/2 - 2/3 of a stop.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
If you're shooting RAW, turn it off.

Nikon likes to tell us that using RAW mode eliminates all camera processing, but that's not exactly true. Active-D will affect your exposure by 1/2 - 2/3 of a stop.

All JPEG functions are applied to the preview image and that means unneeded processing - turn them all off.
 
Top