I went out for the first time to use my new toy.... I have noticed something when I was copying over the files. I am shooting in Jpeg (fine) mode.... the photo look good on the display on the back but when I copy them over they are darker. Is there a setting on the camera that I am missing. Why are they lighter on the camera than they are when I copy them over?
Posted by Bill Chambers on August 29, 2007 at 11:14 PM
Perhaps the LCD brightness is just turned a little high. Forget the LCD image, look at the histogram for judging exposure; it's much more accurate.
Here are a couple of links on reading and understanding histograms:
Posted by Hans Hibbard on August 30, 2007 at 12:35 AM
Kevin, I have the D80 and became frustrated with the same problem. Although I do use the histogram and "highlights" reviews, I also like to view the overall luminosity of the image. My solution was to decrease the lcd brightness to -2. That has made the camera fairly comparable to what I view on my monitor. Once you get these little kinks worked out you're going to love your camera! The other thing that I feel is necessary with my D80 is using Capture NX to convert and process the NEF files. Anything else I've tried (ACR, lightroom) doesn't seem to interpet the colors as well and, most importantly, produces significantly more noise in the images.
Thanks for the input.... right now Im just shooting Jpeg. Once I learn the camera then I will worry about learning RAW. I am brand new at the DSLR world so one thing at a time. The lcd brightness has been changed.
Posted by Basil Greber on August 30, 2007 at 2:54 AM
Nikon's LCDs tend to be a bit bright at the normal settings. I'm always setting mine to the lowest brightness. As Bill said, try to use the histogram to judge exposure. It's very accurate, and as long as you don't have any clipped channels, you can always use photoshop to fine-tune the image.
Basil
Posted by Kah Kit Yoong on August 30, 2007 at 7:37 AM
RAW files tend to look more dull & darker than the JPEG thumbnail you see on the LCD. This seems more pronounced on my Nikons than Canon. I have not found this to be a problem when processing the RAW files though. You should check the histogram in any case if you're not sure about the exposure.
I use the LCD image only for quick glimpses while the action is hot. Give me half a second for a closer view, and it's straight to the histograms. Even so, that glimpse of the image can lead you astray if you don't understand what's going on, especially if you're using manual settings.
I adjust the brightness as I must, but go one step further. I learn what a good exposure looks like in very broad terms. Remember, I'm only glancing at the LCD. For my approach simply use manual settings to bracket a scene, then look at the results on your computer to determine which is best before erasing the card. Now put the card back in your camera and dial up that same exposure and study it, comparing it with the look of over- and under-exposed images while you're at it. It's pretty empirical, but you'll quickly learn what a "proper" exposure should look like on your LCD. It's likely to look too bright but that's okay, so long as you know what a proper exposure looks like.
This is not an alternative to the much better info you will get from the histogram, but it can save your bacon when the action is hot and there's no time for histograms.
Posted by Steve Foss on August 30, 2007 at 11:55 AM
I'm also in situations quite often when things are too fast and furious (performance photography, sports, certain wedding situations) to use the histogram, and in those cases I've done what Hank does. I do have a mode on the back of my Canon bodies that displays a smaller image file and the histogram in the same window, along with the "blinkies" going off if any highlights are blown. Sometimes I leave it in that mode during display because I can tell at a glimpse if all is well.
That's what we do with the camera on the tripod when test shooting our lighting setups, Steve. But on Nikon at least the image displayed along with the three histograms is simply too small for my eyes without reading glasses. My wife wears seamless trifocals (darned, she'll kill me for spilling the beans if she reads this!), so it's not an issue for her. Consequently she leaves her LCD display on that setting all the time. But I only wear reading glasses, and dealing with them while shooting on the fly is an impossible hassle for me.
Posted by Kent Staubus on August 31, 2007 at 7:51 PM
I never pay any attention to the LCD on my D80, except to read the histogram or blinking highlights of course. The problem is you are out there and if you get distracted by dicking around with your camera instead of paying attention to your surroundings, you are going to miss fast shots. I've seen that happen to others over and over.
Discussion
9 repliesHere are a couple of links on reading and understanding histograms:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml
http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/guides/digital/histogram_101/index.html
Basil
I adjust the brightness as I must, but go one step further. I learn what a good exposure looks like in very broad terms. Remember, I'm only glancing at the LCD. For my approach simply use manual settings to bracket a scene, then look at the results on your computer to determine which is best before erasing the card. Now put the card back in your camera and dial up that same exposure and study it, comparing it with the look of over- and under-exposed images while you're at it. It's pretty empirical, but you'll quickly learn what a "proper" exposure should look like on your LCD. It's likely to look too bright but that's okay, so long as you know what a proper exposure looks like.
This is not an alternative to the much better info you will get from the histogram, but it can save your bacon when the action is hot and there's no time for histograms.
Kent in Sd