dynamic range & why you should shoot RAW

[molsen]

Original blog post

The Nikon D90 has very impressive dynamic range!

This before and after comparison of a very contrasty scene shows the amount of information the D90’s sensor was able to capture and keep in its RAW files. Check out all of the detail and color that I was able to recover in both the highlights and shadows that weren’t at all visible in the original, using Photoshop’s Shadows/Highlights adjustment tool. I could have easily pushed this image more. This is why I shoot RAW; this would not have been remotely possible with a JPEG out of the camera.

 

[shaunly]

Original blog post

The Nikon D90 has very impressive dynamic range!

This before and after comparison of a very contrasty scene shows the amount of information the D90’s sensor was able to capture and keep in its RAW files. Check out all of the detail and color that I was able to recover in both the highlights and shadows that weren’t at all visible in the original, using Photoshop’s Shadows/Highlights adjustment tool. I could have easily pushed this image more. This is why I shoot RAW; this would not have been remotely possible with a JPEG out of the camera.

yep, it's pretty awesome. If your setting are correct, JPEG can be great as well. I usually shoot Jpeg+RAW, that way I can fine tune the pics that I'm not satisfied with jpeg output.

 

[Overread]

Neat result and shows what is possible with a RAW shot - I often use this method:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...93693-tricks-using-raw-dont-burn-results.html

for both when I have slight highlight clipping and also when I have colour channels clip - though I mostly try to keep any clipping at all at a bare minimum to preserve the best possible quality

 

[oldmacman]

Yep, couldn't agree more. I accidently had my ISO pumped up to 1600 from yesterday's shots and got this pic:

It was shot as a RAW file and didn't get deleted. I was able to get it to this:

Not an incredible image, by any means, but certainly shows the benefits of RAW and shooting to the right of the histogram.

 

[shaunly]

Yep, couldn't agree more. I accidently had my ISO pumped up to 1600 from yesterday's shots and got this pic:

It was shot as a RAW file and didn't get deleted. I was able to get it to this:

Not an incredible image, by any means, but certainly shows the benefits of RAW and shooting to the right of the histogram.

good example:thumbup:. I was able to save quite a few pictures that I originally thought I'd trash. 14-bit RAW is the BEST!