hot highlights and the *ist D

[Paul Stenquist]

Shel pointed out that a couple photos I've taken with the *ist D had 
burned out highlights. (I would call them hot, not burned out.) But in 
any case, I wanted to point out that the highlight level is a function 
of how I convert the frames, rather than how the camera exposes them. 
With PhotoShop CS you can adjust exposure -- and therefore your 
histogram -- before you convert the RAW image. Even on a near perfect 
exposure, the photographer can choose to move it a bit this way or 
that. In the case of the snowdrop I added a bit of exposure before 
converting it. That exposure is here:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2220242&size=lg

If I had wished, I could have converted it without adding any exposure 
(or I could, in fact, have reduced the exposure). Here is the shot the 
way it came out of the camera, save for a tiny bit of sharpening and a 
slight increase in green saturation:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2221503&size=lg

I still prefer the first image by a small margin, but the taste of 
others may differ. But don't blame the *ist D for the hot highlights. 
Blame the photographer <vbg>.