bleirer

I saw a Steve Perry video about avoiding overexposure using blinkies. In the video he demonstrated that they only flash when at least two color channels are blown, not when only one is. This is usually not a problem, but for things like red flowers or sunsets, red might be the only important color and if you rely upon blinkies you can get weird results.

Also he showed how the white balance setting impacts blinkies, possibly giving a false reading if shooting raw.

Your experience with this?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Expose to the right as your default approach. Test your camera's RAW and your ability to edit with your specific software. Adjust your technique to your specific equipment. Determine if you have more success and / or less edit effort with blinking highlights or just before.

On the LCD display (or the EVF playback), I only look at the blinkies. I don't check focus. I don't look at the histogram shape / position. I assume my images are in focus (sometimes a false assumption). But, what I care about is the exposure coming out of the camera in the RAW. I want to brightest files possible at the lowest ISO for the situation. Then, the culling and editing.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I turn that feature off. Maybe I should use it, but I don't. If part of a scene is way too bright, I can see that and make adjustments in processing. I'll watch the video, though. Thanks for the tip.

bleirer

It was a technique selmslie wrote about in another topic that got me thinking. He was talking zebras but I think it's the same. He said find the highest no-blinkie point then raise that exposure by some amount, 1 stop for example. My thought was that it is a great idea, unless only one color is blown, as in red flowers or a sunset, then it might not work.

bleirer

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

WB absolutely has an effect on blinkies and the displayed histogram. On my Fuji X-T4 the blinkies seem to kick on when just one channel is clipped (not the raw file). If it's waiting for a second channel to clip before activating blinkies then it's extremely sensitive.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Interesting. I did not know that It required two color channels overexposed to trigger blinkers. Thank you for that info it’s always good to know more about how the Camera works.

But with mirrorless technology is this still a problem? Do people still need blinkies with the EVF?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

It depends on the camera. I push my Canon EOS further right than my Sony. The Sony RAW has been easier to work with when the file has no blinkies.

Take this cabbage butterfly. I know from experience of trying to recover white with the Sony (a7II), that this guy blinking is much harder to correct in post than if I adjust the exposure to the point that is just 0.3-stop below where the white is blinking. Shooting mostly Shutter or Aperture priority on the Sony, I have the EC defaulted to +0.7. The blinkies tell me when I've found a bright detail on a dark background that needs the EC adjustment back to the left.

Scott's point (selmslie) that ETTR just causes more editing work is valid. But, it ignores the artistic intent and possibilities of shooting in RAW as well as the unique characteristics of individual cameras. Each photographer should understand and test the ETTR approach as applied to their own cameras and software tools and editing skills to find the exposure point that best fits their approach and results.

Cabbage white butterfly by Paul Sager, on Flickr

bleirer

On my mirrorless the evf is just a simulation derived from the jpeg. I bet most are like that. So there is still some room to the right if one is interested in that sort of raw shooting.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

A digital sensor is a digital sensor. It doesn't much care that is sits behind a mirror or not. The industry standard for digital cameras remains showing the histogram based on the camera-generated JPEG.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Yes but you can see the blown highlights in the EVF.

Now if you are practicing ETTR then yes EVF or Optical doesn't matter.

There was talk a while back about having an option to display the histogram based on raw. And that being available as a firmware update. I wonder what happened to that idea?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Everyone talks about it and requesting for years. No manufacturer has yet delivered this feature.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

I don't understand the manuf's sometimes. This seems like something they could easily offer as an option in firmware. If they are worried about joe average blowing out shots and blaming it on the camera, then they could offer it as an update to their pro customers, and it would be good for all, the pro's and the company.

a6k Loc: Detroit & Sanibel

Selmslie did write, many times, about the Zebra indications that are available in Sony cameras and perhaps others. Something similar is featured in the "645 Pro" app on my iPhone.

BUT it is not the same thing as blinkies - or probably not. The Zebra is based on the IRE which is an indicator that is reading input voltage. It's well documented on the internet so I won't go into detail here. One difference is that it's voltage, not JPG. Another is that it can be user-selected and even user customized. Zebra indicators come from the world of video and were intended to be used in real time for videographers, especially those that needed to get it right in time for the evening news (example). You can search for Zebra posts on UHH and you might find that.

In experimenting on my camera I found that the Zebra indicator is affected by the "Creative Style" settings but the ability to see those settings in the EVF can be turned off. Since they do not affect the raw image, mine are turned off.

The camera also provides blinkies in shot review and that can be by individual color. Those are histograms. The blinking itself does not show what color or colors. Screen capture from Google attached.


btw, the JPG hits maximum photon capacity at almost the same point as raw. The apparent greater DR of raw is because raw exposures based on the meter have not applied the typical film curve. I can document that separately if there is any interest but it is relevant to this subject.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Ok what is a Zebra indicator and is it visually different from a blinkie? Please explain. Thank you.