selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Nikon Z7 facing the sun with a 50mm lens.

1/6400 f/8 ISO 400 = LV 16.67, two stops darker than Sunny 16

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About 3300 blown highlight pixels out of 45.7 MP, less than 0.05%

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Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

It's a great program to confirm that you are getting the most out of your raw exposures.

tcthome Loc: NJ

Wy ISO 400?

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

Why not? It keeps the shutter speed high at ISO 400. The DR of that scene does not need a lower ISO.

Below is an indoor example. Much more DR in the scene and a lower ISO would have cut the shutter speeds to 1/20s and 1/60s. Together they might make good candidates for an HDR merge but then a tripod might be necessary.

If you just want a single shot you would need to recover shadows either way but then it's a choice between blown highlights or dark shadows. At normal viewing distance there is almost no difference in the shadow noise if you want to recover them.

Multi Segment A7 III, 1/80s f/2.8 ISO 100 - 76k blown highlights

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Highlight A7 III, 1/250s f/2.8 ISO 100 - 35 blown highlights

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Here is a comparison of the noise levels at 100% for the A7 III from ISO 100 to 25600. Pretty good up to ISO 1600

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But without pixel peeping you can't see the noise at ISO 25600

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EJMcD

Since the people were so far off (and the only things that appear backlit), I really wouldn't see this composition as a backlit "scene".

selmslie Loc: Fernandina Beach, FL, USA

To the extent that the sun was on the wrong side of the lens, it is backlit and the shadows are coming toward the camera.

It took a little shadow recovery to reveal the details of the people.

Full size version

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EJMcD

You read my mind...I thought a panoramic cropping would better demonstrate "backlight". Since the wide view of the beach and ocean do not appear to show shadows, I didn't see it as a backlit "scene". Only my opinion.