DPP allows you to set the numerical limits at which the warning colors are displayed (like PS), i.e., red for blown highlights and blue for clipped blacks. I find the defaults of the software to be odd, with black warning at 0 and white warning at 192. I have set these to 5 for black and 250 for white. Do these numbers make sense, or would you suggest more conservative headroom, like 10 for blacks and 240 for whites? I'm not sure how this is implemented in CS4.
Kerry, I have been wondering about this same thing also. I use DPP as my raw converter of choice. Maybe some of the more experienced DPP users will come to our rescue, and inform us of the proper numerical settings to use and tell us why................................does anybody know for sure ???
Apparently I asked the wrong question. This is not a DPP-specific issue. What I am really looking for is a discussion of dynamic range versus headroom. If my image contains values between 1 and 254, will Photoshop not show any warnings and will my image contain sufficient detail in both highlights and blacks, or should my goal be to constrain the dynamic range further? Since sharpening (at least USM) works by adding local contrast to edges, should I be allowing some space in the luminance values for that?
Regarding the Clip options, I do use them but I have not been able so far to make it a default action has anyone else. I find it a bit of a pain having to do Alt+M Alt+N for each image, perhaps I have to mark all images and then select?
Also the clipping is different in RAW as opposed to the RGB Histogram and then there is the Luminance setting, I am not really sure which is best practice to use, I have recently begun to use RGB and Luminance - any views on this please?
I find values to be around the same as your's Kerry, 9 for blacks and 242 for whites. I usually check in camera raw before converting for those values that I think are at either end range using the colour picker tool.