Dynamic Range Optimizer question


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android17

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Sep 27, 2009
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Hi guys,

Got a newbie question...

Ive read up about DRO, my understanding is that it means that the camera will auto determine contrast in different parts of the picture and adjust accordingly to increase/decrease the exposure of that specific part. Is this correct?

And when should we use DRO? All the time? Or is there any situations that we should or should not use?
 

Hi guys,

Got a newbie question...

Ive read up about DRO, my understanding is that it means that the camera will auto determine contrast in different parts of the picture and adjust accordingly to increase/decrease the exposure of that specific part. Is this correct?

And when should we use DRO? All the time? Or is there any situations that we should or should not use?


DRO actually brightens up the shadow area while not overexposing the highlights.

If you talking about the 5levels of DRO in A700/850/900 and new A5xx, then you should not use DRO level 2 or higher when ISO is higher than 400, if not you will create more chroma noise.

For outdoors, as long as ISO is 400 and below, DRO is very nice at level5 but looks a bit artificial sometimes, that's why I normally set to level3 for outdoor and level1 for indoor.
 

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so basically the higher the ISO, the lesser DRO level to be used.

Is there any situation to turn DRO off?

I would assume that if im doing protraits, DRO should be off?
 

Up to you really... If you think a picture looks better with DRO, use DRO. If not, then not...

For portraiture I usually shoot RAW, so there's no DRO.
 

so basically the higher the ISO, the lesser DRO level to be used.

Is there any situation to turn DRO off?

I would assume that if im doing protraits, DRO should be off?

Try out all the different DRO levels and see which one suit your taste. There's even Auto HDR mode on A5xx which will makes it more fun.

That's what digital is for right? Try out all settings until you are happy with it...
 

If you're going to shoot studio, or predominantly low-key shots, turn DRO off, otherwise the camera will try to compensate for the dark areas and your shot will turn out murky. Same deal when you're trying to shoot silhouettes.

Otherwise, I'd leave it on most of the time. (The effect is very subtle, though)
 

i usually leave DRO alone, because i shoot RAW most of the time. at times i do shoot jpeg, i keep it at DRO+. lvl5 if the stuff i am shooting has a little too much contrast. however beware, shooting stuff that has extreme contrast with DRO5, you are going to get pretty artificial results.
 

personally i do feel DRO is a life saver for landscape shots. saves you lots of time in PP for recovering details.
 

personally i do feel DRO is a life saver for landscape shots. saves you lots of time in PP for recovering details.

Yupe totally agree... I usually shoot with DRO Advanced Level 3... at mid-day with strong contrast, it's pretty amazing.
 

So can I say if taking portraits or when zooming in to take a close up shot, dro should be off?
 

So can I say if taking portraits or when zooming in to take a close up shot, dro should be off?

It's entirely up to you... if want to shoot those artsy type where half the face is in the shadows then DRO would spoil the effect... generally I would think that for close-up portrait (like face only), you won't need DRO since you would get the lighting to be even all over the face...
 

Yupe totally agree... I usually shoot with DRO Advanced Level 3... at mid-day with strong contrast, it's pretty amazing.

with CPL mounted the effect is pretty awesome. but must remember to do a -1EV since DRO is overly eager to compensate for light loss.
 

so can we say if we shoot in raw the DRO is alway in the off mode even thougn the DRO sign is still there?

DRO effect is applied only on JPEGs... so the RAW is not affected. Apparently it's a bug that the DRO settings can be adjusted even in RAW mode...
 

DRO effect is applied only on JPEGs... so the RAW is not affected. Apparently it's a bug that the DRO settings can be adjusted even in RAW mode...

No, it's not a bug. What you see is the embedded preview JPEG. When you open the RAW file, there is no DRO. If you open it in the Sony IDC tool, it tries to apply the DRO to the previewonly. RAW is still RAW.
 

DRO effect is applied only on JPEGs... so the RAW is not affected. Apparently it's a bug that the DRO settings can be adjusted even in RAW mode...

If DRO affect RAW, then RAW is no longer RAW! I will sue Sony for lying to us!!! :bsmilie: (Just joking)

I normally keep my DRO setting even though I shoot RAW. I know DRO has no effect, but it save me the trouble to update the settings when I switch to JPEG.
 

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