D7000 Day 5 Printing at 17 x 22 inches

[Edalongthepacific]

Today I shot in bright sunlight against a partly cloudy sky with the D7000. D-lighting was set to Auto which may have helped with contrast (see attached). However, I processed the RAW file in Photoshop including lens corrections. My settings were 16-bit, Pro Photo color space and I adjusted the output file size to match the print and set the PPI to 360 for my Epsom 3800. My only sharpening for the 207.1 megabyte file was: Amount 141, Radius 3.6 and Threshold 1. I watched the image carefully at 100% when adjusting sharpening. I did a small amount of retouching post-RAW in Levels. The image was printed on 17 x 22 inch semigloss using, of course, the Epson ICC for the paper. Photoshop managed colors, also of course. My lens, the Nikon 17-55mm DX is also very sharp for a 2.8 zoom. Photo was taken at: ISO 100, F/9 1/320 at 55mm handheld.

The print was truly beyond my expectations and beautiful. The blue sky was flawless. For a lightweight camera and medium weight lens (acceptable given its versatility) I just may have to take the combination along on a few long day-hikes.

[Electromen]

Of all the lenses I've owned, the 17-55 f/2.8 DX was one of the sharpest.
Good job.

[happyman]

If you develop the NEF Raw with anything other than Capture NX the advantage of ACTIVE D-Lighting is gone.
That is the one you can set to auto.

D-Lighting (not active) is a post process inside the camera only but it results in a JPG copy of the file you choose.

So what you have done is auto-underexpose the raw what safed the clouds - good job ;-)

[Robert-Peter Westphal]

If you develop the NEF Raw with anything other than Capture NX the advantage of ACTIVE D-Lighting is gone.
That is the one you can set to auto.

D-Lighting (not active) is a post process inside the camera only but it results in a JPG copy of the file you choose.

So what you have done is auto-underexpose the raw what safed the clouds - good job ;-)

To my honored opinion, this is not completly true.
When setting the camera to active d-lightning, it exposes more for the highlights, a little bit like ETTR in the camera.

Surely the explication as an HDR is gone when not using Capture NX2 or View NX2.

Robert

Ehen USK

[happyman]

To my honored opinion, this is not completly true.
When setting the camera to active d-lightning, it exposes more for the highlights, a little bit like ETTR in the camera.

Surely the explication as an HDR is gone when not using Capture NX2 or View NX2.

Robert

Ehen USK

ETTR is a linear shift only. You have to recover the highlights in post.
What happens with active D-Lighting is it pulls the highlights, push the shadows and squeeze the midtones. It is some sort of curve that is using the full dynamic range of the chip (whatever that really is). You can see this easily in Capture NX2 where you can re-adjust the active D-Lighting setting in post. This curve seems to be embedded in the NEF file. Funny that no other RAW converter can make use of these informations.

If you open such a file in Capture One for example it IS underexposed for about 1/2 to 1 1/2 stop, depending on the camera active D-Lighting settings. The highlights are save. The shadows are gone.

[Robert-Peter Westphal]

...
If you open such a file in Capture One for example it IS underexposed for about 1/2 to 1 1/2 stop, depending on the camera active D-Lighting settings. The highlights are save. The shadows are gone.

I'm sorry, but this is nealry what I wrote.


The cmpete D-lightning part is done in post-processing of Nikon-software, but the expose is set up for the highlights to be at the right border of the histogram.

Where is the mistake ?

Robert