Nikon D5300 review – Dynamic range
Image: Using Wi-Fi, I was able to send shots directly to a tablet and edit in Adobe Photoshop Touch. I got the most from the dynamic range by boosting the shadows.
For general shooting, the D5300’s DX-format sensor, coupled with the very accurate metering, achieves a great dynamic range. At ISO 100, the camera produced a dynamic range of 12.35 stops of light. Used in ‘normal’ conditions, I found that the D5300 rarely lost detail in either the highlight or shadow areas. However, when shooting in more challenging situations where the dynamic range would be expected to struggle – such as very bright conditions – detail does start to be lost.
As the metering tends to cause highlight detail to be lost before shadow detail, I shot at -1EV when faced with challenging scenes. I noticed in both raw and JPEG files that a large amount of tonal detail is retained in shadows and highlights. Using Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop, I was able to lighten the shadows and darken the highlight areas down to a achieve a more tonally rich image. Also, an in-camera retouch menu allows users to brighten shadow areas by adjusting the active D-lighting.
