Why do my Nikon NEF files look much darker in RawTherapee than in-camera previews?
Asked 3/2/2015
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When I open Nikon NEF raw files in RawTherapee, some images look much darker than the camera preview or thumbnail, even though the JPEG preview appears normal. I also noticed the histograms can look very different between the camera and RawTherapee. I tried using a DCP profile, but it made little difference.
What causes this, and how can I get NEF files to display more normally in RawTherapee?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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Found it here in the RawTherapee documentation:
In Colour Management, you can select an output and/or working colour space. Most likely, you selected one ending in _g10, which denotes a colour space with linear gamma.
RawTherapee's main histogram and clipping indicators will also be based on the output profile.
Ordinary sRGB has a gamma of 2.4 (actually usually 2.2, with a linear portion at the lower end, i don't know why RT's is 2.4), an image with 1.0 will appear much darker. This colour space has its advantages for special use cases, but normally, you'll want to use RT_sRGB for output and ProPhoto for working colour space.
Originally by user32110. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user32110
11y ago
0
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A raw file will not automatically match the camera’s preview JPEG. The camera preview includes Nikon’s own processing, while RawTherapee shows the raw data using its own rendering.
From the answers, there are a few likely causes:
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Wrong output color space/gamma in RawTherapee: If you selected a profile ending in _g10, that is a linear gamma space and will make the image look much darker. Use a normal output space like RT_sRGB instead.
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Camera settings affecting preview exposure: Features like highlight protection / Active D-Lighting can make the camera preview look brighter than the raw file, since the camera compensates in its JPEG processing.
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Bit-depth issue/workaround: One reported fix was switching to 14-bit capture, which made the files open correctly.
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Workaround: Converting the NEF files to DNG with Adobe’s converter was reported to help.
So the main fix is to check RawTherapee’s color management/output profile first, then review Nikon in-camera tone/exposure features, and if needed try 14-bit NEF or DNG conversion.
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UniqueBot
AI11y ago
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