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D800E Exposure

D&A

Well-known member
Re: Minority Report on Active D

Maybe a wider variety of testing conditions would show it as being more clever but so far, my camera's tendency to overexpose is precisely in situations where it should be metering to protect the (non-specular) highlights.

I use exposure comp ALL THE TIME to avoid this happening. I'd like to know what 60,000 scenes they programmed into the matrix brain, because my guess is that none of them had sky in them...
Tim, I'm still laughing from that last line you wrote cause that's exactly what I was thinking many months ago when shooting with a D7000 in bright lighting where expanse of the sky was a prominent part of the image...and that particular body would severely overexpose.

Active-D on low does work fairly well in certain situations but not some others and although I tried to nail it down, so that I knew when it had to be turned off, at times it was unpredictable. That's why I tend to keep it off and simply use exposure compensation along with a invention that came long before Nikon started preprograming cameras for evaluating exposure values.....namely my brain ( although some would say mine in particular could use some improvement...LOL).

Maybe it could be argued, but Nikon's evaluative process for their variety of AF-C modes for predictive autofocusing is to be commended, but I've never been too impressed with their evaluative metering (exposure) system as a whole.

Dave (D&A)
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
Re: Minority Report on Active D

Always glad to raise a smile:D

I tried it on Active D auto this evening and it's a bit better but the main improvement came from a Doh! moment: I have the camera set to CF: RAW and SD:JPEG and at some point of experimentation I'd switched the JPEG mode to Vivid. Turning it back to Neutral makes the highlight warning a lot more accurate...




Tim, I'm still laughing from that last line you wrote cause that's exactly what I was thinking many months ago when shooting with a D7000 in bright lighting where expanse of the sky was a prominent part of the image...and that particular body would severely overexpose.

Active-D on low does work fairly well in certain situations but not some others and although I tried to nail it down, so that I knew when it had to be turned off, at times it was unpredictable. That's why I tend to keep it off and simply use exposure compensation along with a invention that came long before Nikon started preprograming cameras for evaluating exposure values.....namely my brain ( although some would say mine in particular could use some improvement...LOL).

Maybe it could be argued, but Nikon's evaluative process for their variety of AF-C modes for predictive autofocusing is to be commended, but I've never been too impressed with their evaluative metering (exposure) system as a whole.

Dave (D&A)
 

tashley

Subscriber Member
On that note: for years, all smart RAW shooters have used the Expose to the Right mantra. With the d800 shadow magic, it's waaaay better to shoot further to the left and save the highlights. I think I'm going to give in and dial a global -1/3rd in, but always remember that it's there.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
>>at some point of experimentation I'd switched the JPEG mode to Vivid<<

Now that IS funny! No wonder the D low didn't work for you! :ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

I always use the standard jpeg AND sRGB for this very reason -- both tend to preserve highlights. Global -1/3 and all the automation turned off is probably as good as anything though. But for now I stand by liking the semi-automatic protection the D low is providing. So until it frogs one of my exposures -- and it hasn't yet -- I will leave it on ;)
 

D&A

Well-known member
On that note: for years, all smart RAW shooters have used the Expose to the Right mantra. With the d800 shadow magic, it's waaaay better to shoot further to the left and save the highlights. I think I'm going to give in and dial a global -1/3rd in, but always remember that it's there.
Couldn't agree more with that senario. Guy and I posted briefly about dialing in the same global -1/3 setting with Active-D off. Of course watch, months from now, Jack will have Guy convinced to turn auto everything on...including the the D800's ability to have the cappuccino ready in the morning....with highlights (creamer) preserved of course.....LOL!

Dave (D&A)
 
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