rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I hardly look at blinkies. When I do look, usually in testing, if I don't see them, I'm way underexposed. If I do see them things are just about right.
--Bob

srt101fan

John, I've been trying to get a better understanding of my Nikon D5300 histograms and the warning "blinkies" and how they relate to the RAW files.

Some UHH posters have said the histogram and blinkies are of little use to RAW shooters because they are based on the JPEGs created by the camera and not on the RAW data. Others have stated the histogram IS based on and represents the RAW file.

Can you, or anyone else here, help me get to a bottom line on this issue?

olddutch Loc: Beloit, Wisconsin

Would someone please tell me what Blinkies are??? Or what you are referring to. Thank You.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

The histogram is derived from the camera created jpg.

In order to see the RAW histogram, one needs to rely on third-party software.
--Bob

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Take a look at Nikon's Blinkies and ETTR and Nikon's Blinkies and ETTR - Followup where I cover the relationship between blinkies and the raw file.

In a nutshell, if you see blinkies on your camera's LCD, some JPEG highlights are blown but the raw highlights might not be. You may not know if the raw highlights are blown until you attempt to recover those highlights during the raw conversion on your computer.

If you see a smattering of very small blinkies you might be OK. If you see large solid areas of blinkies it is very likely that your raw highlights are blown.

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

It's a nickname for highlight warnings.

photoman022 Loc: Manchester CT USA

I normally don't have the blinkies on because I always expose for the highlights and draw out shadow details in post processing, where I will blend the photos together and either do a faux hdr or a layer mask.

John Gerlach Loc: Island Park, Idaho

This is what I have been doing for the past few years. Since I shoot only RAW, I go with the blinkies to get me close to ETTR. I know the first blinkies to appear are never overexposed, and feel my Canon cameras can go about one stop more once I see the first blinkies, but I don't push it that much. Usually I stop when the first blinkies appear in an area of the image where detail is present and I plan to keep it in the image. If my main subject is really dark - bison for example - then I add 1/3 stop more light after seeing the first blinkies appear. I call it the "second blinkies." and that helps me get better color and detail in the dark bison. With my vision problems - soon to be corrected with surgery - I can't see a little histogram data on the far right that well, so blinkies are much easier to me to detect. As I use manual exposure most of the time, I find having my exposure scale with plus on the right side, and turning either the aperture dial or shutter dial to the right to add light all works together. Most exposure adjustments I make by touch without looking at the dials and simply count 1/3-stop clicks as I go. I have watched way to many use manual exposure and for most they are just as likely to turn the dial the wrong way as they are the right away, so I feel the default camera setup for dials isn't beneficial for most. It wasn't for me either, to turn dials left to make histogram data go right, but switching the dial direction made in incredibly simple and fast for me. Whatever ways works for you is fine, but are you sure it is really working?

It would be fun to run a test and test a group of shooters with dials in normal position and another group who reverse their dials to see how fast and the percentage of time they turn the dials the correct way and in the right amount of stops. I wonder what group would win. Heck, this could be a new Olympic sport!

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

For a good illustration of the how far one can push the exposure, at least with the camera I use, here's a post covering that technique, with an example.
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-574841-1.html
--Bob

srt101fan

Thanks for your input Bob. I'm a great admirer of your work, so I value your comments. I'm just trying to work my way through conflicting information re the value of the in-camera histogram and what it is based on.

srt101fan

Thanks selmslie....Very helpful comment. I have the blinkies turned on on my camera and this helps with the interpretation of what it's showing me.

srt101fan

Thanks Bob!

glennk

I thought I recognized the s-wind creek into the bobbie sox trees in Yellowstone! I captured a similar one when I was there last week. Nice image.

And I also change the dial direction...