Nikon D200 User Manual

Page 22

Tone Compensation (Contrast): Nikon meant to say Contrast. I always leave mine set to
AUTO. In AUTO the D200 automatically applies the

Zone System

and adjusts contrast to

match your subject, for each and every shot! The D200 automatically lowers contrast and
increases dynamic range for very contrasty subjects, and cranks it up for dull subjects.

Saturation also varies with this setting. If you crank it to + it looks vivid and bold for flatter
subjects, but when you have a contrasty subject it's too much and blows out. Leave it in
AUTO and you won't have to piddle with it.

Avoid Custom tone compensation. Most people call this a custom curve. I've never used
it. To use it you have to buy Nikon Capture and create a curve. You then use Nikon
capture to load it into the D200. Once you've done that you select it here. If you haven't
loaded your own custom curve and select this you get the default Normal curve. Custom
curves are way beyond anything with which I want to bother. The curves in the camera are
the best ones anyway. Real photographers pay more attention to their subject's lighting.

Color Mode has three settings:

Color Mode I (one) is default. It's normal.

Color Mode II (two) give duller colors. It only works if you've selected AdobeRGB.

Color Mode III (three) gives bolder colors. I use it all the time.

I have no idea how Nikon cooked up these numeric designations.

Saturation is the vividness of colors.

A Auto: I don't use this. I suspect it cranks up the color for dull scenes and puts it back
to normal for scenes that are colorful. I prefer always to have my saturation cranked up.

0 Normal: For normal people shots you're probably better off with 0. This is the default.

- Moderate: tones down the colors, which I've never liked. Moderate sounds like British
understatement. In America we call this "dull and boring." Personally I want colors so
bright you have to put on sunglasses, or I go directly to B/W.

+ Enhanced: I prefer violent color, so I crank it up to +. I'd use ++ or +++ if my D200
had it.

Hue Adjustment: Don't touch this! This rotates all your colors to different spots around the
color wheel. If you use this to fix one color it screws up all the other colors.

Color Space

Don't touch this unless you really know what you're doing and print your own work.

sRGB is default. It's the world standard for digital images, printing and the Internet. Use it
and you'll get great, accurate colors everywhere all the time.

sRGB is specified in IEC 61966-2.1, which you may also see when examining color
profiles. That gobbledygook means the same thing as sRGB.