Questions about NEF and Camera raw

jefftabb

Hello, I'm new to this forum and new to Nikon. I was a canon user (Canon 50D) for about 3 yrs and recently purchased a Nikon D4 and several lenses. I have always shot raw and never had an issue with adobe camera raw and CR2 Raw files however, Since switching to Nikon the NEF files in Camera raw look WAYYYY underexposed! I'll post a sample later. When the same raw files are viewed in Capture NX2 they look as how I shot them. I tried searching online to no avail. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

sevencrossing

the latest version of Camera raw is 7.1
is your version uptodate ?

MikeGunter

Hi,

NX2 uses all the Active D-lighting and picture control profiles for creating the images from RAW, Adobe doesn't.

My best,

Mike

jefftabb

Thank you everyone for your help. @ MikeGunter dude! You are 110% spot on thank you so much I turned off the active D- lighting and set the profile to standard and bam pictures look just like I shot them in camera raw.

MikeGunter

:-)

spraynpray

Go buy a lotto ticket quick Mike!

MikeGunter

@jefftabb

One more thing...

A technique, now that you have that knowledge, is to use the both Active D-Lighting and Picture Controls and NX2 (I assume you have it) and Adobe Camera Raw as tools and shoot jpgs and RAW at highest quality jpgs and RAW (at 14-bit highest quality) and pass the jpgs to you customer, if so inclined, as proofs, for instant gratification.

You can also use them in Photoshop or Lightroom as guides for what you can pull from those applications as a baseline from levels and curves - at a minimum.

While there is a 5-stop (either way) leeway in ACR, I find that somewhat optimistic. There are bits and pieces that are within that 5-stop range, but wholly planning to pull five stops from any image is asking St. Christopher to come and do some magic.

My best,

Mike