Nikon Coolpix 5000 Firmware 1.7- RAW Update 3 - 3-NOV-2002

The thumnails below are crops at 100% out of the original image.
When you click on them you will see 300% enlargements.
The histograms are RGB histgrams of the complete image.

The camera captures a larger dynamic range than what you end up seeing in the final jpeg image. So while the JPEG shot at 0EV may have blown highlights, the camera may actually have captured highlight detail. It just got thrown away by the "characteristic curve" defined by Nikon and your settings. So the RAW image shot at 0EV can still be converted to -0.3 EV afterwards on your computer, creating the equivalent of JPEG shot at -0.3 EV at the scene. The histogram is actually better and there is less noise and no JPEG artifacts (the JPEG artifacts you see on the crops are due to the fact that I converted them to JPEG so you can see them in your browser).

JPEG at 0 EV Histogram shows clipped highlights
JPEG at -0.3 EV Clipped highlights are nearly gone.
RAW at 0EV, converted to -0.3 EV No more clipped highlights, also note cleaner sky.
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