Underexposed RAW files, not a good idea?

Started Dec 4, 2022 | Discussions thread
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Rambow
Rambow Senior Member • Posts: 3,010
Underexposed RAW files, not a good idea?
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=40tes65Ljco

On DPR we are tought to underexpose RAW files so that we achieve perfect exposure in the editing phase, but does that always work out?

Modern sensors allow us to get away with underexposure, but should we do this on purpose? And by how much?

One situation i would not underexpose in is the one shown above. Undexposing in low light situations- not a good ideea!

If you want to eliminate noise from the picture it is usually sufficient to crank up the in camera NR filter, although i personally prefer keeping it at it's lowest setting because by eliminating noise you also eliminate fine details.

Another trick would be to get the shutter speed right for your particular scene, because there is little advantage to using 1/1000 when 1/600 would do the trick just as well.

What's with the noise obsession anyway, noise or grain has always been part of photography and completely eliminating it would actually take away something from the image rather than improve it.

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