Active D-lighting on Nikon

[Craig]

I am embarrassed about this, but I cannot figure out what active d-light is on my Nikon.
I have googled it numerous times, but all I ever find is comments like "it's great", or what setting you should use.

Here's my confusion,
Which active-dlight provides the most contrast, low, med, or high?


Do I need to change this setting based on scene or lens? on my d80, I used to mess around with contrast all the time to get the look I wanted. Now, I feel like I have lost control. And at the same time feel like I should use it because its a major new feature and upgrade.

 

[mPower]

Craig,

I agree with you that it can feel like you've lost control, however, the shadow rendition is much better with it on on the D300. I like the feature of the D700 in that it has an auto setting. When I'm trying to deliberately blow away the shadows in a frame, I turn it off. Unfortunately, turning it off or on is just another thing you have to remember in the field...something I find myself forgetting too often!

To somewhat answer your question, I leave my D300 on med for walking around stuff. depending on the subject matter, i've found very little difference between the three.

To be honest, on our trip in Jan. turning off active-d and switching to spot metering seemed to help my dark ride pics. FWIW.

 

[Roger]

Active d-light is Nikon's answer to Canon's defunct HTP, the replacement of which is called something that is basically the same as d-lighting.

The camera will intentionally underexpose a scene to prevent highlights from being blown out, and then boost exposure in the shadows and adjust contrast as well (I'm guessing by lowering it...) Because of this it does affect RAW images - from the exposure change, and in RAW you can fix some of the negative things that show up.

But like Mike said, I usually leave it on most of the time, esp with the auto-mode now. Heck I think I used to leave it on high. (again, contrast adjusting in post....)

Don't forget, you do have options for standard settings to save to be able to switch between them quickly!

 

[Craig]

thanks guys.
I think I may try it without it for a while and see if I like the results.
I will use the picture controls to create some new settings.

Like landscape high contrast, landscape low contrast, portrait normal, portrait low, etc.

 

[Grumpwurst]

I've never turned on the Active D-Lighting on my D300. I'm still trying to figure out how to take good, well-focused pictures...haha