Nikonians Tell me about D-lighting

[wenrob]

I am really struggling with this. When I leave it in Auto my pictures seem way too contrasty. For instance, my sons hair is a light brown but when I use the auto D-lighting setting it looks almost black. However, when I turn it off I get deep shadows or people get blown out as I think my camera is trying to make up for the dimness of the room. So what do set yours on for people mostly inside? Or do you? Any help would be appreciated.
(Just a note, I am taking a break from shooting RAW so atm that's not an option. I want to get comfortable with the camera first. Once that happens, I will try, try again)

 

[Geoff_M]

I normally use "normal" if I'm in a situation where I need it... otherwise it's "off". I don't use "Auto" for most anything except for WB. I've found that "auto" in most features will work great 85% of the time, but really cost you the other 15%.

 

[rossb]

I assume you are using a D90?

ADL should be used when shooting images with a big difference in contrast across the frame. It is not needed when shooting images that are balanced (contrast wise).

 

[NostalgicDad]

Active D-Lighting stays off in my D300. I shoot RAW exclusively and use a custom Picture Control setting that does no in-camera sharpening, saturation, etc. In other words, the NEF is "flat" when it comes out of the camera and I'll apply the necessary adjustments during the batch conversion in Capture NX2. The ADL is a nice in-camera feature but I've yet to have a real need to use it and sacrifice performance (ie. FPS, etc.).

Can you post a couple of examples when you have ADL turned off?

 

[YesDear]

While I know you were not asking about Capture NX2, here is a good link to a lesson on their site about D-lighting. It might help you understand what the function is about.

http://www.capturenx.com/en/lessons/selection/index.html