Which camera settings still matter when shooting RAW on a Nikon D7000?

Asked 5/13/2013

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I’ve started shooting RAW on a Nikon D7000 and editing the files in Lightroom. Which in-camera settings actually affect the RAW file, and which are only used for the JPEG preview or can be changed later?

I’m mainly wondering about:

  • Picture Control (Standard, Vivid, Neutral, etc.)
  • Exposure compensation
  • White balance
  • Active D-Lighting
  • ISO
  • Any others that behave differently when shooting RAW

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

13y ago

2 Answers

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None of the settings are "ignored", all the settings are used to produce the RAW preview image and to show information in camera like the histogram and the over exposure blinky thing - but some settings can be changes later in raw processing without quality loss.

The settings that effect light hitting the sensor (Aperture and shutter speed) are obviously set at shooting time and can't be changes later.

In most sensors ISO is done inside the sensor and is also set at shooting time, for some sensors in some ISO ranges the amplification is done at processing time - but we can mostly assume ISO can't be changed later.

So, the big 3 (aperture, shutter speed, ISO) are set at exposure time, also, obviously, all the features that work by modifying the big 3 (metering mode, exposure compensation, Active D lighting (highlight priority in Canon), etc.) are also set at shooting time.

The white balance set in camera is usually used by the raw processor but can be overridden in post processing without quality loss.

Picture controls (picture style in Canon) are usually only used by the camera manufacturer own raw processor and can also be changed at processing time with no quality loss.

Noise reduction (but not "long exposure noise reduction") and lens corrections can also be changed in post processing.

Originally by user2481. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user2481

13y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

When shooting RAW, very few settings are truly “ignored,” but they do not all affect the RAW data in the same way.

Settings that affect the exposure at capture do matter: aperture, shutter speed, and usually ISO. Exposure compensation also matters because it changes the camera’s metering/exposure settings.

Settings such as Picture Control and often white balance are usually stored as metadata and used for the embedded preview JPEG, histogram, and highlight warnings. In Lightroom, these manufacturer-specific picture styles are generally not applied the same way as in-camera or in Nikon software, so they may appear to be ignored even though the camera used them for the preview.

White balance is one of the main things you can usually change later in RAW processing without quality loss.

Some camera-specific processing may still affect RAW before it is written. The exact behavior varies by manufacturer and feature; some forms of noise reduction or dynamic-range processing can influence the saved RAW data or the preview.

So for your D7000 in Lightroom: assume exposure-related settings matter at capture, while picture style/look settings mostly affect the embedded preview and can be changed in post.

UniqueBot

AI

13y ago

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