D3 raw file recoverability... (and a few pics to show it)

[methd]

I shot a wedding on the weekend and there was a set that was about two stops over with plenty of blown highlights. We only had 15 min for the shoot and on the LCD I could see the shot was blown out, but I also knew that it could easily be recovered in PS/LR, so I didn't ask to pose for the shot again, and moved on to the next series. It was raining on and off so it was very difficult conditions to work with, especially when setting up remote flashes.

I've taken a screeny to show what the originals looked like.






Here's a photo that I took that I particularly liked.



And again, how good D3 Raws are in bringing it back with no loss of details at all...

[aim54x]

That is awesome!!! I have heard lots about the recoverability of the 14-bit raw of hte D3/300 but have never really had to use it on my D300 but these results will let me rest assured that I can when I need it. BTW have you used Capture NX at all for your raw processing? I find that Capture does a better job than LR/PS, but then again I dont do a lot of raw processing and probably dont have LR/PS calibrated properly for my camera.

[Oz_Beachside]

very impressive, and thanks for sharing Hien!

[mickey]

I think if you use a whibal the benefits of using capture nx diminish considerably as that is the main issue with PS/LR is the poor colour handling.

Workflow is a lot easier with LR than capture NX, you may as well shoot JPG sometimes.

[Murray Foote]

I bet the clients were happy with that!

I saw an article about this somewhere. The view that you get from the LCD or the default RAW is probably deliberately conservative. It raises the question of whether you should deliberately shoot apparently overexposed so you can get it back and then maximise the tonal range. Of course you'd then be sunk if you made a mistake like this.