Saturation question

[Storker]

That's right. OTOH, nudibranco claims that it does affect the raw file as well.

Not having done any experimenting myself (still a few euros short of full budget coverage, so I don't have the gear to check that. Yet...), I'm not participating in that discussion. However, assuming that it affects the raw file and based on other comments in that thread, it's most probably some kind of hidden exposure bias similar to Nikon's Active D-lighting.

 

[nudibranco]

Actually it all relates to the SW imaging program you are using (!). I use ACDSEE Pro and Lightroom. Both will produce ORF images that are quite different not only in exposures but in highlights and shadows. Gradation pretty much flattens the curve a bit in some cases (AUTO setting) or steepens it and moves it right or left (HIGH or LOW) compared to NORMAL setting.

I found myself happier using LOW as it seems to recover better noise (if I pixel peep 100% images) and also because underwater I am looking for increased darkness in the shadows and more details/contrast in the highlights (due to the strobe). However RAW is RAW especially for Olympus VIEWER2 which opens the image always in NORMAL setting even if you had it set in LOW for example. So VIEWER does recover for you the plain image recorded while LR and ACDSEE did not.

I am concerned less about the questions I had regarding RAW handling for SHADOW adj, NOISEFILTER for high ISO which they also seem to affect RAW (and I turn them off anyway in real shooting). I did not try these settings but I read that they might. SHADOW adj. is not so important UW so it is a non issue. High ISO filtering might be worthwhile trying for some type of shots that require high ISO even underwater or for VIDEO.