Solution to see Overexposed Highlights in a Nikon Z EVF

[fcotterill]

This might have been shared here previously, but worth a refresh in any case. Here's a neat solution using a custom Picture Control file, which was shared on dpr close to 2 years ago. It should work on any Zed camera, and obviously will show if a blinky(ies) rears its head when shooting RAW

For some reason I had to import and export the shared Picture Control file in the Nikon PC Utility in order for my Z9 (FW3.01) to recognize the file on the card. [EDIT: launch the Picture Control Utility 2 from within NX Studio; in the File Menu. Import into PC 2 with a control bottom-left, and then 'Save to Card']

To see WYSIWYG exposure in the Z9 EVF, in Custom Menu make sure d9 is set to show Effects of Settings, and d10 must be OFF.

link to the PC file and context is here

 

[bleirer]

That is pretty cool. I've grown accustomed to chimping the blinkies, since my Canon doesn't show it either unless I take a test shot. But it would be interesting to have that feature if I could still have a reasonable looking evf image.

 

[Wes Peterson]

This might have been shared here previously, but worth a refresh in any case. Here's a neat solution using a custom Picture Control file, which was shared on dpr close to 2 years ago. It should work on any Zed camera, and obviously will show if a blinky(ies) rears its head when shooting RAW

For some reason I had to import and export the shared Picture Control file in the Nikon PC Utility in order for my Z9 (FW3.01) to recognize the file on the card. [EDIT: launch the Picture Control Utility 2 from within NX Studio; in the File Menu. Import into PC 2 with a control bottom-left, and then 'Svae to Card']

To see WYSIWYG exposure in the Z9 EVF, in Custom Menu make sure d9 is set to show Effects of Settings, and d10 must be OFF.

link to the PC file and context is here

Ive been using this since day 1 with the Z9. The ONLY issue Ive had with it is when you chimp your photos you will swear you missed focus, everything looks a bit soft when in reality its tack sharp. I adjusted the sharpness values and it seems a bit more realistic. It works great for whats its intended for tho, showing pure white and pure back.

 

[fcotterill]

Ive been using this since day 1 with the Z9. The ONLY issue Ive had with it is when you chimp your photos you will swear you missed focus, everything looks a bit soft when in reality its tack sharp. I adjusted the sharpness values and it seems a bit more realistic. It works great for whats its intended for tho, showing pure white and pure back.

Thanks for update. How much did you tweak Sharpening and Mid-range Sharpening ?

 

[bleirer]

Ive been using this since day 1 with the Z9. The ONLY issue Ive had with it is when you chimp your photos you will swear you missed focus, everything looks a bit soft when in reality its tack sharp. I adjusted the sharpness values and it seems a bit more realistic. It works great for whats its intended for tho, showing pure white and pure back.

What is the general principal for doing it? I ask because Canon also has a picture control editor, it might be worth a try to adapt the idea.

 

[fcotterill]

What is the general principal for doing it? I ask because Canon also has a picture control editor, it might be worth a try to adapt the idea.

Sorry but I've no idea with a Canon PC file. As I understand the explanation given by the dpr member who kindly shared this in that forum (link above), the principal is to leverage on what's depicted in the jpg, particularly at the outer ends of the tone curve. To quote: "The picture control is linear from 0 to 254, and at 255, drops back to 0. The result is that when a pixel saturates, it becomes black in the viewfinder....".

 

[thelordofthelight]

Has anyone noticed drop in AF precision when tweaking picture control? Particularly when trying flat picture controls? I tried a flat profile initially and found the histogram ideal in order to not blow up highlights/ lose black details but I felt subject detection/ AF precision took some hit when there isn't enough contrast on the subject. I do not like Nikon's Standard picture control as it looks too saturated. These days i just use standard pic control by just reducing the saturation, increase contrast and sharpening by 2-3 points.

Problem with blinkies is it's not real time isn't it? One must check the image post facto to see if there are blinkies and adjust accordingly and i find that process a bit too time consuming on the field.

Again, when I tried Sony cameras I tried live blinkies and found it a bit distracting so I ended up turning it off.

 

[bleirer]

Has anyone noticed drop in AF precision when tweaking picture control? Particularly when trying flat picture controls? I tried a flat profile initially and found the histogram ideal in order to not blow up highlights/ lose black details but I felt subject detection/ AF precision took some hit when there isn't enough contrast on the subject. I do not like Nikon's Standard picture control as it looks too saturated. These days i just use standard pic control by just reducing the saturation, increase contrast and sharpening by 2-3 points.

Problem with blinkies is it's not real time isn't it? One must check the image post facto to see if there are blinkies and adjust accordingly and i find that process a bit too time consuming on the field.

Again, when I tried Sony cameras I tried live blinkies and found it a bit distracting so I ended up turning it off.

I think with this method being discussed it would be real time, because the curve of the image showing in the EVF would be modified so that something that was at the brightest end would be set to display zero instead, so the brightest part would be black real time in the viewfinder, telling us it was near being blown out.

 

[bleirer]

This might have been shared here previously, but worth a refresh in any case. Here's a neat solution using a custom Picture Control file, which was shared on dpr close to 2 years ago. It should work on any Zed camera, and obviously will show if a blinky(ies) rears its head when shooting RAW

For some reason I had to import and export the shared Picture Control file in the Nikon PC Utility in order for my Z9 (FW3.01) to recognize the file on the card. [EDIT: launch the Picture Control Utility 2 from within NX Studio; in the File Menu. Import into PC 2 with a control bottom-left, and then 'Save to Card']

To see WYSIWYG exposure in the Z9 EVF, in Custom Menu make sure d9 is set to show Effects of Settings, and d10 must be OFF.

link to the PC file and context is here

Do you have to re-save the picture control file back to the card every time you format the card?

 

[fcotterill]

Do you have to re-save the picture control file back to the card every time you format the card?

You can load it into a Nikon camera via the Settings menu 'Manage Picture Controls: Load/Save: Copy to Camera', and save into one of 9 available custom settings and it can be renamed if one chooses.

 

[bleirer]

You can load it into a Nikon camera via the Settings menu 'Manage Picture Controls: Load/Save: Copy to Camera', and save into one of 9 available custom settings and it can be renamed if one chooses.

So it will still be there after you format the card?

 

[bleirer]

Wondering why it has to be a linear curve? Wouldn't setting 255 to zero on a normal S-curve also work?

 

[Patrick M]

So it will still be there after you format the card?

yes

 

[thelordofthelight]

I think with this method being discussed it would be real time, because the curve of the image showing in the EVF would be modified so that something that was at the brightest end would be set to display zero instead, so the brightest part would be black real time in the viewfinder, telling us it was near being blown out.

By real time you mean the way the EVF adjusts itself to the newly keyed in picture control settings right? So i will need to visually confirm if my blacks and whites are within the tolerances? or do you say the EVF will actually show the blown up highlights or lost black values with blinkies in real time? if it is the latter, then that's amazing and i must try this one.

 

[Wes Peterson]

What is the general principal for doing it? I ask because Canon also has a picture control editor, it might be worth a try to adapt the idea.

Its difficult to determine through the EVF what is blown out and what shadows are crushed. This PC profile inverts the shades at 000 and 255 so that pure white is displayed as black and pure black is displayed as white. While the rest of the colors and shades are as close as possible as to what is displayed by the RAW photo.

 

[aolander]

So it will still be there after you format the card?

Once you save it to the camera, it will reside there. Doesn't need to always be on the card.

 

[fcotterill]

Its difficult to determine through the EVF what is blown out and what shadows are crushed. This PC profile inverts the shades at 000 and 255 so that pure white is displayed as black and pure black is displayed as white. While the rest of the colors and shades are as close as possible as to what is displayed by the RAW photo.

So far in admittedly limited testing, it's working well.

By real time you mean the way the EVF adjusts itself to the newly keyed in picture control settings right?

Yes

So i will need to visually confirm if my blacks and whites are within the tolerances? or do you say the EVF will actually show the blown up highlights or lost black values with blinkies in real time?

Yes. It shows both extremes as "blinkies"

if it is the latter, then that's amazing and i must try this one.

Yes definitely. I sharpened the original slightly.

 

[bleirer]

By real time you mean the way the EVF adjusts itself to the newly keyed in picture control settings right? So i will need to visually confirm if my blacks and whites are within the tolerances? or do you say the EVF will actually show the blown up highlights or lost black values with blinkies in real time? if it is the latter, then that's amazing and i must try this one.

The evf just being a video preview based on the jpeg data which is controlled by the picture control settings, so you would see the jpeg based approximation of the blinkies, but it wouldn't blink, just the highest white would look black in the EVF. At least based on the linked article.

 

[BillW]

This might have been shared here previously, but worth a refresh in any case. Here's a neat solution using a custom Picture Control file, which was shared on dpr close to 2 years ago. It should work on any Zed camera, and obviously will show if a blinky(ies) rears its head when shooting RAW

For some reason I had to import and export the shared Picture Control file in the Nikon PC Utility in order for my Z9 (FW3.01) to recognize the file on the card. [EDIT: launch the Picture Control Utility 2 from within NX Studio; in the File Menu. Import into PC 2 with a control bottom-left, and then 'Save to Card']

To see WYSIWYG exposure in the Z9 EVF, in Custom Menu make sure d9 is set to show Effects of Settings, and d10 must be OFF.

link to the PC file and context is here

Thom Hogan included a version of a similar picture control in one of the versions of his Z9 book (it may be in all of the versions since that version, but I have not checked). It does not blink, but turns blown highlights black. (I do not remember what it does with detail-less shadows.) It sounds like this version also does not blink, which is too bad, as blinking would be useful, but maybe something you can't do in a simple picture control. I wonder if a color for blown highlights other than black would be useful -- say fuscia for blown highlights.

I used Thom PC for some marine mammal shooting last summer. With wet marine mammals, the wet can reflect bright blown highlights. But if they are turned black, they can be hard to see, if the subject is black or dark.

 

[bleirer]

Thom Hogan included a version of a similar picture control in one of the versions of his Z9 book (it may be in all of the versions since that version, but I have not checked). It does not blink, but turns blown highlights black. (I do not remember what it does with detail-less shadows.) It sounds like this version also does not blink, which is too bad, as blinking would be useful, but maybe something you can't do in a simple picture control. I wonder if a color for blown highlights other than black would be useful -- say fuscia for blown highlights.

I used Thom PC for some marine mammal shooting last summer. With wet marine mammals, the wet can reflect bright blown highlights. But if they are turned black, they can be hard to see, if the subject is black or dark.

I guess that is where you would use the real blinkies.

 

[aolander]

Thom Hogan included a version of a similar picture control in one of the versions of his Z9 book (it may be in all of the versions since that version, but I have not checked). It does not blink, but turns blown highlights black. (I do not remember what it does with detail-less shadows.) It sounds like this version also does not blink, which is too bad, as blinking would be useful, but maybe something you can't do in a simple picture control. I wonder if a color for blown highlights other than black would be useful -- say fuscia for blown highlights.

I used Thom PC for some marine mammal shooting last summer. With wet marine mammals, the wet can reflect bright blown highlights. But if they are turned black, they can be hard to see, if the subject is black or dark.

Since it's just using a tone curve to do this, there would be no way to make it blink or give it another color.

 

[fcotterill]

Thom Hogan included a version of a similar picture control in one of the versions of his Z9 book (it may be in all of the versions since that version, but I have not checked). It does not blink, but turns blown highlights black. (I do not remember what it does with detail-less shadows.) It sounds like this version also does not blink, which is too bad, as blinking would be useful, but maybe something you can't do in a simple picture control. I wonder if a color for blown highlights other than black would be useful -- say fuscia for blown highlights.

I used Thom PC for some marine mammal shooting last summer. With wet marine mammals, the wet can reflect bright blown highlights. But if they are turned black, they can be hard to see, if the subject is black or dark.

Thanks Bill for this reminder, as I'd last read the section on PC files last year. The file in question is called 'Black 245 Picture Control' (see pg 1245 in Thom's latest 3.01 edition).

This is a modified Standard PC file, which is why all blowouts in tone 245 and above are shown as black dots & patches in the viewfinder. As with all PC files the black pixels are not saved in RAW files, as they're confined in the jpg pathway feeding the EVF.

 

[RAWky]

Is there somewhere a backup or copy of the file? The original link doesnt work so far…

 

[soundbyte]

@RAWky The link is on this page, it should directly download the FlatClip5.NP3, save the file if given the choice.

 

[EricKlees]

Yep, I've been using this custom PC since March of 2022 or whether he originally posted the workaround on DPReview.

Can't shoot without it anymore and nice that he's based out off of the flat PC as that is the pic that the AF system works it's best.