Hi peeps! RAW experts, I need your help RE deliberate underexpposure :)

I've been doing this lately in order to gain extra shutter speeds in not so favorable lighting conditions because the D7000 really needs a bit of cranking up in order to get fairly acceptable sharp images. Not a fan of high ISO shots, I want to keep it as low as possible.

Is it always a good thing to do this given the fact that I can always recover or restore the lost detail in post? What are the disadvantages of this trick if there are any? Can I just bump the exposure compensation instead? and which one will give me a better latitude in preserving details? Thanks!

underexposing then pushing exposure (even in raw) will result to more noise, especially in the shadows… shooting a tad to the right without clipping your main subject, even at higher ISO, will yield better & surprisingly cleaner results.

effects of exposure compensation depends on which mode you are in; A affects shutter, S affects aperture, ISO also if you have it on auto. shooting at the lowest possible ISO is always best for preserving details but i assume you are shooting in low light & shutter speed limited where the only solution would be faster glass.

im no expert, but personally, in lowlight, i just expose for the main subject, keep my shaky hands in check and be done with it… until such time dynamic range matches the human eye, there's no point trying to preserve every detail in the scene (unless you're using a tripod and doing HDR, which i assume you are not).

hth :)

I shoot 80% half to about one and half under most of the time. Just don't shoot too much blacks else, there's none to process.

specifically for D7000 and under exposure questions, take a look at this long discussion:

D7000: an ISO less camera (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1034&thread=36887819&page=1)

specifically for D7000 and under exposure questions, take a look at this long discussion:

D7000: an ISO less camera (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1034&thread=36887819&page=1)


I read the thread cover to cover… mind blowing!!! :Shock::Scared:

underexposing then pushing exposure (even in raw) will result to more noise, especially in the shadows… shooting a tad to the right without clipping your main subject, even at higher ISO, will yield better & surprisingly cleaner results.

effects of exposure compensation depends on which mode you are in; A affects shutter, S affects aperture, ISO also if you have it on auto. shooting at the lowest possible ISO is always best for preserving details but i assume you are shooting in low light & shutter speed limited where the only solution would be faster glass.

im no expert, but personally, in lowlight, i just expose for the main subject, keep my shaky hands in check and be done with it… until such time dynamic range matches the human eye, there's no point trying to preserve every detail in the scene (unless you're using a tripod and doing HDR, which i assume you are not).

hth :)

Thanks! that helped a lot!

specifically for D7000 and under exposure questions, take a look at this long discussion:

D7000: an ISO less camera (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1034&thread=36887819&page=1)

Cool article :) TFS

hmm... I'm not really aware of any trick about deliberately underexposing a shot when using RAW, but I find it OK for me. I find it a little amusing when I adjust the fill light slider in ACR, the dark background for example, eventually becomes lit! haha! Basta, when using RAW i'm not afraid if my shots are a little underexposed.

It's not really something I see as advantageous since most of my shoots are usually on low ISO anyway (that is, if doing that deliberate underexposed shot is to compensate noise quality of the shot). Although RAW is more sensitive to noise than JPEGs. Well, I'm sure you know that already. hehehe

:Grin:

Although RAW is more sensitive to noise than JPEGs. Well, I'm sure you know that already. hehehe

:Grin:


RAW files are unprocessed while jpegs have undergone some in cam processing hence you see more noise in the RAW files.

someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

RAW files are unprocessed while jpegs have undergone some in cam processing hence you see more noise in the RAW files.

someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

that's how i've understood it. If you shoot jpeg, you're just letting the in-cam software do the raw to jpeg conversion, which i suppose includes some noise reduction?

RAW files are unprocessed while jpegs have undergone some in cam processing hence you see more noise in the RAW files.

someone please correct me if i'm wrong.

yep, that's right. this is my understanding too. i believe this is regardless if the NR function is On or not.

The noise increases as you have less data captured on the sensor, so underexposing a shot then bringing it up in post will cause more noise than increasing (exposing to the right, just before clipping) exposure then reducing the exposure in post.

You might find this useful - http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/digital.sensor.performance.summary/ and scroll down to the Signal-to-Noise ratio section.

I never underexpose my shots just for headroom's sake. If DR is the main consideration, then I'll bracket or use appropriate filters, but I'll still capture as much mid and shadow data as I can during capture.

BTW, don't forget we're talking about RAW... shooting JPEG offers less headroom so your exposure tolerance is lower.

Dave, there might be what we call a "paradigm shift" in how we view digital exposure, ETTR, and post-processing.

The new sensor in the Nikon D7000 and Pentax K-5 is in someway turning upside down our thinking about taking under-exposed digital images. Although the OP was asking specifically about "deliberate" underexposure which I also think is not a good idea due to noise issues, he was also asking it in the context of D7000 which has a sensor that is very interesting regarding in terms of how the D7000 sensor react to underexposure specifically.

Anyway, for those who might be interested... keep in mind, both K-5 and D7000 sensors are similar:

For Pentax K-5: How to recover a 10 stop underexposed K-5 image. (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&thread=36806297&page=1)

and the link I posted earlier: D7000: an ISO less camera (http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1034&thread=36887819&page=1)

Of course, the above links are more of an academic exercise or exploratory discussions and not necessarily how we should meter and post-process. I think part of being a photographer is knowing when to underexpose, overexpose, or expose "correctly" depending on how you visualize your shot.