Active D-Lighting: Has any of the Nikon users used Active D-Lighting? I've never used it and was wondering if it was any good.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Has any of the Nikon users used Active D-Lighting? I've never used it and was wondering if it was any good.

Bigdaver

Do you use Fill Light/Recovery in Photoshop? It has a similar effect. I only shoot RAW and prefer Photoshop, but it works well on JPEG.

MtnMan Loc: ID

I use it all the time. I think it is great. I usually leave it on auto.

It effectively increases the dynamic range of your camera. Why not use it all the time?

I find it much better than the HDR on my D5100 and it doesn't require two shots.

FilmFanatic Loc: Waikato, New Zealand

The problem with Active D-lighting, the reason I will never use it, is the way my D90 works is to underexpose and then lighten the shadow. The problem is that it increases the noise in the shadows, and in RAW mode when using a 3rd party RAW converter all you get is an underexposed image as Lightroom can't read the settings for this function in the RAW file. Neat.

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Mac wrote:

Has any of the Nikon users used Active D-Lighting? I've never used it and was wondering if it was any good.

I shoot RAW so I can make these adjustments after the fact, non destructively, but yes, absolutely I use it - in high contrast situations - your in-camera picture review (histogram) is helpful and can help guide you with your exposure choices.

MtnMan Loc: ID

nikonshooter wrote:

I shoot RAW so I can make these adjustments after the fact, non destructively, but yes, absolutely I use it - in high contrast situations - your in-camera picture review (histogram) is helpful and can help guide you with your exposure choices.

The D5100 has both Active D-Lighting, which it applies while processing the shot, and D-Lighting, which you apply as a filter after taking the shot. Whenever you apply the in-camera filters it makes a copy so you don't lose the original.

You can have your cake and eat it too by auto-bracketing on Active D-Lighting on and off. See p. 88 of your D5100 manual.

BboH Loc: s of 2/21, Ellicott City, MD

Active D brings out detail in both shadow and bright areas. It is on rare occasion that I turned it OFF in the D300 or D3 when I had them. Now, with the D800, I'll have to see. I also use CaptureNX2 and it has that feature as an adjustment. I alway test it on both settings - "Fasster" and "Better Quality". Sometimes it does good, some,times not. I don't think I have ever done any in-camera PP

DCHigley Loc: Ashtabula, OH originally

I use it almost constantly. I have it bracketed with the ADL. That way I get "normal" and ADL.

Jorge

I Have a Nikon D-700 and once I used de "D-lighting" to take some raw photos. The outcome was really awful. I asked a friend and he told me that to process the raw files you need the "Nikon Capture" software.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Mac wrote:

Has any of the Nikon users used Active D-Lighting? I've never used it and was wondering if it was any good.

I leave it turned on in the Menu. I think that's default.

JoeB Loc: Mohawk Valley, NY

Mac wrote:

Has any of the Nikon users used Active D-Lighting? I've never used it and was wondering if it was any good.

I have a D300S and I was using D-lighting in automatic mode for a while but I found that it seemed to lighten the dark colors in my photos when it was not necessary, not real high contrast. I shoot in RAW and I like to under expose by about 1/3 stop, I find it gives me a little better color saturation.

dar_clicks Loc: Utah

Mac wrote:

Has any of the Nikon users used Active D-Lighting? I've never used it and was wondering if it was any good.

Yes, I use it on my D700 and it does what it is supposed to. It works quite well.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

:-D
Thank you to everyone who responded. Your information and insights have been a big help.
:thumbup:

raden Loc: Nettleton MS

I don't know if this is a D90 thing or what but I have the exact same problem that you have described here. I freaked at first when Picasa darkened all my photos beyond recognition but I remembered that I was just testing Picasa and it was not my main converter. I still use Nikon ViewNX2 for a few things and then lightroom 3 as long as I import unedited raw files into lightroom or it does the same thing. Lightroom 3 will always revert the edited raw file back to the original. I am weaning myself off of Nikon ViewNX2 gradually but I do like some of the features.

ed

FilmFanatic wrote:

The problem with Active D-lighting, the reason I will never use it, is the way my D90 works is to underexpose and then lighten the shadow. The problem is that it increases the noise in the shadows, and in RAW mode when using a 3rd party RAW converter all you get is an underexposed image as Lightroom can't read the settings for this function in the RAW file. Neat.

MtnMan Loc: ID

MtnMan wrote:

The D5100 has both Active D-Lighting, which it applies while processing the shot, and D-Lighting, which you apply as a filter after taking the shot. Whenever you apply the in-camera filters it makes a copy so you don't lose the original.

You can have your cake and eat it too by auto-bracketing on Active D-Lighting on and off. See p. 88 of your D5100 manual.

Wow, how time flies. I had a D5100 when this started.

I went through it (my wife has the hand-me-down) and a D7000 (not so hot IMHO) and now have a D800 (very excellent IMHO, but heavy and lacks some D5100 features that I still crave).

I still leave active D-lighting on auto all the time.

Why not?