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Active D-Lighting

I’ve continued to experiment with my Nikon Z’s ‘Active D-Lighting’ contrast reduction feature.

In this example, I photographed an Indiana & Ohio C40-8CW in the New England Central yard at Palmer, Mass.

This was a perfect opportunity to see how the Active D-Lighting feature would accommodate high-contrast midday sun.

Since the ADL feature only affects the in-camera JPG, I opted to craft a comparison image working from a PureRaw converted RAW file that I manually adjusted using Adobe Lightroom.

The Jpg is right out of the camera and scaled for internet; the converted RAW file required a host of manually implemented color, contrast, and exposure corrections to make the most of the image.

Any thoughts?

In-Camera JPG with Active D-Lighting feature. Other than size scaling, this is free from adjustment.
Nikon NEF RAW file adjusted manually. Consider the difference in truck detail between this photo and the In-camera JPG.

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