Nikon D300 Picture control

I shoot raw, so I don't use any of the picture settings.

Sometimes I think about shooting jpg and using them, but one 'important' picture with a badly judged white-balance in a jpg can be very disappointing.

Since I'm strictly amateur, I don't make lots of prints, and it's only the good shots that I decide to print for myself.

Maybe one day I'll re-investigate JPG and the custom controls. For now they are installed on the camera, but I don't use them.

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Everything I write is a personal opinion. Even when I quote facts, they are the facts I personally choose to accept.
http://www.pbase.com/mariog

f2000sa said:

the picture control should not be relevant if you shoot raw. It is
used for in camera JPEG processing. However, NX2 maybe able to
interpret some picture control setting. Can anyone confirm this?

Click to expand...

You are correct, you can even use a D200 file and apply those pictures control on NX2.

Miguel

Greg Pond said:

Hi - I already have the D2X 1, 2, and 3 picture controls installed in
my D300, and I just downloaded the Landscape and Portrait controls.
So I installed the Landscape control no problem, but when trying to
install the Portrait control it's apparent that there's no available
place to put it, unless I want to write it over one of the D2X
controls. Apparently Nikon states on their site that there's only
room for 4 extra picture controls. Does anyone know if there's any
way around this?
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Greg7

Click to expand...

What most people have done is to get rid of D2X mode 2, so you can use portrait.

Miguel

Thanks Miguel, I'll try that.
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Greg7

Two things. First, I loved your website, second, many thanks for your terrific research. Can you please tell me when you would use D2XMODE 111? All the best, and thanks in adavance. --
Michael

Thanks for links

radddad said:

I use mainly D2X mode 1 , with a bit of tweaking , as this , IMHO ,
produces very good skin tones .
Also , I use D2X mode 2 for Wildlife shots . The D2X mode 3 seems too
much like the VIVID mode on the D300 , and would be better suited for
landscapes with abundant colors ..

You can find the downloads here , with instructions on the lower half
of page ..

http://support.nikontech.com/cgi-bin/nikonusa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=14459&p_created=1196449158&p_sid=R_K1Dzaj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTcsMTcmcF9wcm9kcz0xOSw0NTMmcF9jYXRzPTE4NSZwX3B2PTIuNDUzJnBfY3Y9MS4xODUmcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PWQyeCBwaWN0dXJlIGNvbnRyb2w*&p_li=&p_topview=1

I hope this helps ..

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http://wildwally.smugmug.com/

Click to expand...

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Michael

Doesn't do a thing in ACR, as it doesn't read the tags associated with the file. All it will read is white balance.

"I shoot raw, so I don't use any of the picture settings. "

What do you mean you don't use them? One of them MUST be selected for the camera to function. You might go to NX and switch it everytime (seems crazy to me), but I'm pretty sure you're camera is using one of them!

Why not figure out the one you like the best for a couple of situations and save yourself some PP work?

I shoot only RAW, so before I download them, do these D2X modes apply to RAW shooting as well?

I thought I read in these forums also that Actice D lighting does not effect RAW file shooters and since the manual is cluesless on anything but the bascis (and a jungle of vagueness even then)...most of us find help in these forums.

thnx!
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http://pbase.com/baldrich

Nikon D300, Nikon D200, Nikon F801s

Nikon AF-S DX 24-70mm f/2.8G IF-ED, Nikon AFD 80-200 f/2.8 zoom, Nikon AFD 20mm f/2.8, Nikon AFD 50mm f/1.8, Tokina ATX Pro 12-24 zoom f/2.8 , Sigma 150 mm f/2.8 APO Macro DG HSM

Read this on photo.net forums: " "D-lighting" can be duplicated more or less, by using the Fill Light function in LR or ACR."

I also read you can do pretty much the same thing with Shadow/Highlight in PS
and that picture controls in general do nothing when shooting RAW.

Moving on...
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http://pbase.com/baldrich

Nikon D300, Nikon D200, Nikon F801s

Nikon AF-S DX 24-70mm f/2.8G IF-ED, Nikon AFD 80-200 f/2.8 zoom, Nikon AFD 20mm f/2.8, Nikon AFD 50mm f/1.8, Tokina ATX Pro 12-24 zoom f/2.8 , Sigma 150 mm f/2.8 APO Macro DG HSM

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MATT in NE_FL'

Well said Mario - I've been thinking with all these threads that I should spend more time with Picture Controls and save a lot of PP time by shooting jpgs. Then I realised with your post that I shoot the same way - just concentrate on one or two keepers and only process those photos.

Coming from a D70, I starting using raw files because the jpgs were pretty bad, even with the "curves" from this site applied. Maybe if I shoot 600 pictures some day at an event (it does happen) I will want nice jpgs again, but frankly I would rather spend my time shooting than fiddling with the menus on the camera. There are a couple of excellent threads here where people post their settings (this one included), and I will probably try a couple (as I did with the D70), but I would rather just take pictures.

Cheers.

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Duff24
http://www.pbase.com/duff24/

does and initial accurate decode of the raw files and displays them for you. Nikon transfer also free, will do several things for you as you import to the folder of your choice. Additionally, you can set NKV so that if your looking at an image and you press the shift key, the image will instantly blow to 100, or 200%. Excellent for really checking focus. Next by just touching a number key you can label the image. Keep it simple, say 3 not bad, 5 great develop it. Then if you use NX, it honors and displays the ranking tags from NV, or just initially put say the 5s in a new folder and work through all them. The Nikon software is not the perfect browsing/DAM software, but it is quite handy.

Failing all that, Capture One either pro or v4, has a very good handle on decoding and showing NEFS. You can rank with it, it is extremely quick and it can be set to make say jpegs at for instance 100dpi, and 1000x800 digital size. When you batch that out, you will find small jpeg file sizes, excellent quality and very well suited to posting on web gallery as viewing proofs. When someone selects the proof then you can edit it thoroughly. If never selected, well, you have the original nef and a small economical jpeg for video viewing.

I am not promoting any particular software, just relating a method of handling several hundred images quickly. I often shoot several hundred at an event and use this workflow to great advantage.
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MATT in NE_FL'

Thanks Matt. I generally like Nikon software but admit that I haven't taken the time to optimize my work flow and usually end up slogging through one by one, then cropping and optimizing each one. I've printed your message and will try the shortcuts on the next batch.

Cheers.

duff24
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Duff24
http://www.pbase.com/duff24

opusone said:

and that picture controls in general do nothing when shooting RAW.

Click to expand...

Do nothing unless you view your NEFs in View NX or Capture NX. Far as I know, third party software does not recognize pictures control settings except for defaults. Am I wrong anyone? Also, I prefer shadow/highlights to D lighting. D lighting and Noise reduction bogs my PC down. Using shadow/highlights don’t.

Mark

opusone said:

Moving on...
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http://pbase.com/baldrich

Nikon D300, Nikon D200, Nikon F801s
Nikon AF-S DX 24-70mm f/2.8G IF-ED, Nikon AFD 80-200 f/2.8 zoom,
Nikon AFD 20mm f/2.8, Nikon AFD 50mm f/1.8, Tokina ATX Pro 12-24 zoom
f/2.8 , Sigma 150 mm f/2.8 APO Macro DG HSM

Click to expand...

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This is me Post Processing. If only I can get it right the first time!

Full time auto tech, part time photographer. Mark Thompson/MTT
Louisville, KY. USA

Why do you have to 'put your two cents in'.. but it's only a 'penny for your thoughts'? Where's that extra penny going to?

http://markthompsonphotos.com

DeannaD said:

"I shoot raw, so I don't use any of the picture settings. "

What do you mean you don't use them? One of them MUST be selected
for the camera to function. You might go to NX and switch it
everytime (seems crazy to me), but I'm pretty sure you're camera is
using one of them!

Why not figure out the one you like the best for a couple of
situations and save yourself some PP work?

Click to expand...

One of them must be selected, true. But since I use Bibble to read the NEF files (not NX), all those settings like Hue, Contrast, Saturation, etc, are all ignored.

So my workflow is even crazier to you now: I don't switch custom settings in NX. Instead, I adjust saturation, contrast, etc, individually.

But it's only a hobby, and I only process images I intend to print.

--

Everything I write is a personal opinion. Even when I quote facts, they are the facts I personally choose to accept.
http://www.pbase.com/mariog

Ok so i have installed on my D300 velvia Astia and Afga Optima.

I dont see a very big difference but i may not use it corectly.

When you install these thay dont install at the same place that picture control does (like D2X do)

Why are they different? Anyone?
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http://www.photocreasim.com
To make a living I shoot people!

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MATT in NE_FL'

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