Active D Lighting
[1] What it is: Active D Lighting stands for Active ‘Dynamic’ Lighting and is found in the Photo Shooting Menu. It’s used when you have a high-contrast scene and want the camera to try to balance the exposure between the shadows and highlights. [2] Options: You will either have an option for just ‘On’ or ‘Off’, or some cameras have a range of settings such as Auto, Low, Normal, High and Extra High. When activated, it tries to lift shadows and recover highlights in the exposure. [3] Variations: Using the High or Extra High settings will result in a much bigger exposure change to your image, as long as you are shooting a high-contrast scene. In some images this can almost have the effect of using a graduated ND filter to help retain highlights in the sky.