Active D-Lighting yes or no?

GhostInTheRuins

(and other manufacturers equivalent) What's the general consensus on this? I can't make up my mind on it, I could go for weeks with it off, then set it to low or normal for another week and then to auto the week after. Then sometimes I'll regret not turning it off after shooting using high ISOs and other times I'll regret not having it on. It can sometimes make shots look a bit bland with it on and sometimes shots can look too dark without it.

What do you do? Really I'm on the fence here and just can't make my mind up if I like it or not.

soccerc

Don't use it for sport but have found it interesting for PR shots and shooting in raw.

Can help with exposure under flash indoors but ave also found unusual results using fill flash outdoors.

Mycroft H

Is it like a dynamic range function.

GhostInTheRuins

landyman wrote: »

Is it like a dynamic range function.

Yes

quilmore

yes!
on newer Nikons you gain 1-3 steps of latitude without losing detail
can't live without it (on "low" anyway)

Mycroft H

GhostInTheRuins wrote: »

Yes

Oh right its called 'dro' on sony slrs. I'd usually leave it on advanced, you gain a lot of detail in the shadows.

pete4130

I shoot with it on LOW the whole time, its not that noticeable and I compensate by underexposing by 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop so I don't blow highlights so easily. Also if its OFF, you can't turn it on in PP...whereas if it is on LOW you can choose to turn it off.
Basically for me having it on LOW gives me the option to use it or not....so I say YES having it set to LOW.

GhostInTheRuins

pete4130 wrote: »

I shoot with it on LOW the whole time, its not that noticeable and I compensate by underexposing by 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop so I don't blow highlights so easily. Also if its OFF, you can't turn it on in PP...whereas if it is on LOW you can choose to turn it off.
Basically for me having it on LOW gives me the option to use it or not....so I say YES having it set to LOW.

That sounds like a good idea to me, I think I'll give that a go for a while and see how it turns out.

eas

I've tried low and off. Not sure I've noticed any difference.

My feelings is that it applies a custom curve in camera to do what it does, and thus would have an impact on noise at higher ISO. I could be well off base though., but it seems logical to me.

Also if its OFF, you can't turn it on in PP...whereas if it is on LOW you can choose to turn it off.

I believe you can turn it on / off and fiddle around with it on RAW files in NX. I think I'll run some tests.

GhostInTheRuins

eas wrote: »

I've tried low and off. Not sure I've noticed any difference.

My feelings is that it applies a custom curve in camera to do what it does, and thus would have an impact on noise at higher ISO. I could be well off base though., but it seems logical to me.



I believe you can turn it on / off and fiddle around with it on RAW files in NX. I think I'll run some tests.

Yeah it's fairly bad at high ISOs, it makes images a whole lot nosier because it's basically boosting already noisy black areas making the noise a lot more noticeable.

quilmore

eas wrote: »

I believe you can turn it on / off and fiddle around with it on RAW files in NX. I think I'll run some tests.

yes you do
NEF+capture NX only