Opening D850 images with Photoshop

John O · Aug 25, 2021

Images on the camera look brilliant, but when I open them in Photoshop (CS5) they appear to be one stop underexposed. Is there some setting that does a magic fix? I adjust the levels and that helps, but the image never reaches what I expected. I didn't have this problem with my old D90. Any suggestions?

Pieter12 · Aug 25, 2021

1.Your camera LCD is set too bright.
2. Your monitor isn't calibrated.
3. Take RAW images and adjust.

John O · Aug 25, 2021

Thanks for the suggestions. I set my camera LCD on -1 already, based on experience with my D90. What do you set your camera LCD on? The monitor is calibrated with a SpyderPro. The RAWs converted through Adobe's DNG program look dark too.
Anyone have an opinion about whether CS5 can't handle files from the D850? What are you using to process your files?

Andrew O'Neill · Aug 25, 2021

cs5 on my MacBook won't open my d850 raw files, so I have to use my school laptop, which has the latest version is PS.

Pieter12 · Aug 25, 2021

I don't have the 85o, I have an 800. Try shooting a grey card and comparing it with your LCD image. It is a simple matter to make adjustments to a DNG as you open it to adjust it to your liking. I can also open .mos files from a Leaf back in Photoshop CC with no problem (the color is much better than the Nikon) but I prefer Capture One for that.

John O · Aug 25, 2021

Just to make this more confusing, I just realized that I didn't have this gross underexposure problem when I shot JPEG-Fine only. This only came up when I switched to RAW-JPGfine. Previously, when I shot only on the JPGfine setting, the images opened in CS5 to look just like the images displayed on the LCD (set at -1). Is there some trick here? What settings do you use?

shutterfinger · Aug 25, 2021

I too have a D800 and PSCS5. I use Nikon's Capture NX-D to convert the Raw files and have to adjust levels in PS to get the tones correct. I do not like the conversion that PS Camera Raw does.
I'm use a Dell Precision M3800 Windows laptop.
I'm not a high volume shooter.

ced · Aug 27, 2021

Have you tried all of the Camera sets/dates offered when opening the files in PS?

Make a custom setting that suits your taste?

RalphLambrecht · Aug 27, 2021

John O said:
Images on the camera look brilliant, but when I open them in Photoshop (CS5) they appear to be one stop underexposed. Is there some setting that does a magic fix? I adjust the levels and that helps, but the image never reaches what I expected. I didn't have this problem with my old D90. Any suggestions?

John, You need Photoshop and "Camera Raw' updated to the latest level to get full advantage to your D850 files.

John O · Aug 27, 2021

ced said:
Have you tried all of the Camera sets/dates offered when opening the files in PS?
View attachment 283714 Make a custom setting that suits your taste?

Thank you. I had never explored these settings. My D90 opened fine on the default Adobe setting. I tried "Camera Standard" for my D850 and it made a huge difference in one step, replacing a whole series of levels and contrast steps that never seemed quite satisfactory.
Here's an example:

John O · Aug 27, 2021

RalphLambrecht said:
John, You need Photoshop and "Camera Raw' updated to the latest level to get full advantage to your D850 files.

You're probably right. I may have to buy the newer version.

ced · Aug 27, 2021

So was that a big improvement anyhow?
The result of the bike looks near perfect on my screen.

John O · Aug 27, 2021

ced said:
So was that a big improvement anyhow?
The result of the bike looks near perfect on my screen.

Yes, the previous starting point upon opening was very dark. After a lot of level changes and shadow lightening it got better but the overall contrast was lacking in punch, even after running it through Lightroom for more work. The image above took about two steps and has much better contrast in the highlights. This is much more like I saw on the camera's LCD.

RDW · Aug 29, 2021

John O said:
You're probably right. I may have to buy the newer version.

Which package are you usually doing the raw conversions in? You mention Photoshop CS5, the DNG converter, and Lightroom. Unfortunately you can't use CS5 directly even if you upgrade Adobe Camera Raw, because D850 NEFs require ACR 9.12.1 or greater, and the last ACR version that works with CS5 is ACR 6.7. For Lightroom, you need at least LR 6.13 to open D850 NEFs directly.

Personally, I like Nikon NX Studio, which I think actually does a better job with NEFs than ACR does, and is a free download. It's worth doing some comparative tests if you don't like the results from Adobe's converters. See:

https://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/software/nx_studio/
https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-nx-studio-review

NX Studio also honours some in-camera settings that ACR probably ignores, like Picture Controls, and uses profiles that should match the in-camera jpegs quite closely.

Opening D850 images with Photoshop

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