Auto Saturation, Tone and Sharpness

Shooting JPEG, I generally leave my D40 set to "normal - N" for "Optimize Image"

which means that saturation, tone (contrast) and sharpness are all set to "auto".

 

When I look at the EXIF data I can sometimes see that the contrast has been

reduced for contrasty subjects and increased for flat ones which is what I'd expect.

 

However in the case of saturation and sharpness I've not seen anything other

than "normal" in the EXIF data, though I must admit I've not checked every

single photograph I've taken.

 

Does anyone know what auto saturation and sharpness are supposed to do? Has

anyone ever seen anything other than "normal" in the EXIF data on a D40 or

indeed any other Nikon?

 

I suppose it's just possible that the camera could detect subjects with low or

high saturation and adjust accordingly which I don't think I'd like, but what on

earth could auto sharpness do?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Richard

With my D70 when I switch to Landscape mode both the sharpness and saturation are

increased, and the color profile changes to IIIA.

Sorry Howard I should have said that I'm only talking about the A, P, S and M modes - I don't usually use the "scene" modes.

After much fooling around with these various auto settings on several different Nikons I

always come back to "normal" and do any needed fixing later in Photoshop.