Nikon D7100 Picture Control

<p>In the Set Picture Control under each of options (Standard, Neutral, Vivid, etc.) I have an options: Sharpening, Contrast, Brightness, Saturation, Hue). What is <strong>Brightness</strong> doing? How it works? What is your suggestions for Brightness settings for each category?<br>

Thanks.</p>

<p>Hi Sam. P.108 of the manual suggests that "brightness" will adjust the overall image exposure just as doing the same in a raw converter would, without actually altering the camera's exposure settings. If so, it's very similar to shifting the camera's ISO (for the purposes of the JPEG file). It may be adjusting the mid-tones without adjusting the brighter and darker levels, but that seems unlikely from the description.<br />

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Exactly what it does is probably down to Nikon's proprietary conversion to JPEG, but I suspect that's the right ball park.<br />

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I suspect the default values that Nikon chooses have been selected to produce sensible interpretations of the named picture controls (e.g. if you want your photo to look more vivid than reality, pick the default vivid settings). They're able to be changed because people have their own preferences - it's an artistic judgement. I suggest playing with them and seeing what gets you the look you want.<br />

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And if you really care, I'd suggest shooting in raw, which will effectively ignore all of these settings. Then use the raw converter software to produce the image that you really want on a case-by-case basis (like developing slides individually). Good luck!</p>

<p>I work with the D7000 picture control set to Neutral because I want as much information it the JPG file as possible for use in Photoshop. When I use my D70 or D300 on a mall Santa Clause kiosk, I set it to Vivid because the JPG is not manipulated later. </p>

<p>I suspect it alters the gamma. In one of their publications Nikon give settings for picture controls to match settings on the old cameras. To match the D40 and several others they say set the brightness to -1. I think I read (Thom Hogan perhaps?) that Nikon had indeed increased the gamma setting on recent cameras.</p>