dbeals Loc: Washington State

My D7100 just arrived. My question deals with activating or not to activate D-Lighting in shooting menu? What are the advantage/disadvantage of turning it on or off? I looked at varies you tube sites for setting up the camera but finding different and conflicting suggestions but not with explanations why for D-Lighting

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

Active D-Lighting affects only the JPG image generated by your Nikon camera, not the original raw file. If you use ADL and process from raw, you will not see the same changes visible on your camera's LCD screen, which is a JPG image.

Also, Nikon-based processing programs, such as NX2, will see the ADL sidecar information along with the raw file, but most other programs, such as Lightroom, do not.

Read more here:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/38173368
and here, specific to D7000:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3508898

dbeals Loc: Washington State

Thank you for the link and info

MarkD Loc: NYC

If you shoot JPEG's Active D-Lighting will bring up some detail in shadow areas. It does not make a dramatic difference, but I find it worthwhile. You may not want to use it at very high iso's as when it brings up detail in the shadow areas it also brings up the noise in those areas.

You can experiment with the different levels of D-Lighting. I use N, but that's just a personal preference.

The problem with the internet is that there is so much conflicting information that it can be more confusing than helpful.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

I believe Active D-Lighting DOES affect the RAW file. There was a long discussion of it on flickr several years ago. See http://www.flickr.com/groups/nikondigital/discuss/72157623298578772/#comment72157623325696160 and the accompanying thread.

The SOOC jpg will have the ADL process applied to it. The SOOC NEF will not (although the ADL parameters will be included in the metadata). If you use the Nikon software you can turn on and off the ADL, but if you use Adobe software it will not know how to handle the ADL parameters.

Basically ADL will underexpose the image a bit. Nikon will then apply a transformation to the image to correct the exposure. That transformation is proprietary to Nikon, so ADL is useless if you're shooting RAW and using something other then Nikon software.

Even if you are using Nikon software and are able to utilize the ADL parameters in the NEF file, you should not use ADL for every shot. It's designed to stretch the dynamic range, so it does things to the exposure. If your scene has a large dynamic range, use it. If not, turn it off.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

I actually agree with you completely. I should have clarified that ADL basically underexposes the capture, which can be viewed in the JPG, but not in the raw file. ADL can improve a resulting JPG image, but not the original raw capture.

From your cite "As others in this thread have said, it is very evident in simple tests. Throw the camera on a tripod pointing at a given scene and put it in aperture-priority mode. Turn off ADL and note the shutter speed. Set ADL to "extra high" and note the shutter speed. As you can easily see, the speed WILL BE faster on the "extra high" setting. Thus, an underexposure. Page 166 of the D300 (English) manual confirms this in its description of ADL, saying that "exposure is reduced."

I should have stated "Active D-Lighting IMPROVES only the JPG image generated by your Nikon camera, not the original raw file."

dbeals Loc: Washington State

I appreciate everyone's help in my question with my D7100

MtnMan Loc: ID

It is a simple method equivalent to one-shot HDR giving you a wider dynamic range; i.e. detail in both shadows and highlights. I leave it on auto all the time.

IMHO it is better than the Nikon two-shot HDR and since it only uses one shot you don't need a tripod for best results.

That said I've gone to mostly shooting RAW and it does not affect RAW images.

dbeals Loc: Washington State

Thank you for your advice

topcat Loc: Alameda, CA

Here is Ken Rockwell...

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d300/dynamic-range.htm

dbeals Loc: Washington State

Thanks for the link