Canon eos5d manual Auto Lighting Optimizer

IV. PERFORMANCE AND RELIABILITY 28

When PIC is enabled and data is contained within the camera for the lens in use, the right amount of correction is applied automatically to JPEG images at all apertures and focal length settings. This correction is of the same nature as the correction available under the Lens Aberration Correction control panel in the DPP software. However, camera-applied vignetting correction isn’t as powerful (roughly 70% of the correction possible in DPP).

With RAW files, images are automatically tagged with the correction needed, if a compatible lens is used and PIC is turned on. Processing these images in Canon’s DPP software will allow automated vignetting correction, tailored specifically to that lens. If shooting in RAW+JPEG mode, PIC will be applied to the JPEG files, allowing you to increase or decrease the correction later on the RAW file using the DPP software.

Please note that if RAW files are processed using a third-party software application, in most cases any such in-camera tags are ignored, and you’ll need to use the software’s own tools (if available) manually for any such correction.

Auto Lighting Optimizer

Another powerful image correction feature found in both new DSLRs is the Auto Lighting Optimizer (ALO). This feature can be used to greatly improve the impact and quality of underexposed, muddy JPEG images, including backlit portraits that accidentally underexposed the subject, and portraits where the subject was slightly out of range of the flash (the camera’s ability to detect faces plays a part in this correction). Flat, low contrast scenes can also be given extra snap when using this function. More sophisticated and more powerful than the Auto Brightness and Contrast Correction found in the EOS 40D’s Basic Zone Mode, ALO can be accessed via the custom menu (C.Fn II -4), and has three settings in addition to disabled: Standard, Low, and Strong. In addition, ALO can now be activated in RAW and RAW+JPEG instead of being limited to JPEG.

Highlight Tone Priority

Found previously in the EOS 40D, but completely new to the full-frame EOS 5D Mark II, Highlight Tone Priority greatly improves the image quality of high contrast and high key scenes. It effectively increases dynamic range and detail in highlight areas, minimizing blown out details in a white fabric (such as a wedding dress) or high contrast scenes such as snow-covered landscapes. Only brightness values between 18% middle gray and the maximum-recorded brightness are affected, while shadow and midtone areas of a scene remain untouched. In both the EOS 50D and the EOS 5D Mark II, a new Highlight Tone Priority status indicator (D+) now appears on the 3.0-inch LCD and in the viewfinder. ISO range is a bit more limited when Highlight Tone Priority is active: when used in the EOS 50D, the selectable ISO range decreases to ISO 200–3200, and on the EOS 5D Mark II (C.Fn II -3), the ISO range is limited to ISO 200-6400.