Sony Alpha and DRO

Sony alpha users have a little known about extra in their cameras, it's called DRO (dynamic range optimiser). It's a chip from another company (maybe why they don't advertise is much) that keeps detail in the shadows and highlights. It only works in JPEG mode though, but if you shoot raw then review the image on the camera you are viewing a JPEG that will show the DRO image if it is on. To get a proper histogram reading in RAW you must have DRO switched off. As you can see from my sample images DRO can make a big difference and this is only in mid level power.
You can shoot RAW+JPEG with DRO switched on but if you review the image in camera you only see DRO results and your Raw image could be very different.

There is more in-depth information available on the web and I would recommend any Sony users do a bit of research on how to best set up their camera to stop any possible false histo

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