Been outside playing around with the Macbeth Color Chart and Photoshop CS5 trying to fine-tune my “Picture Control” settings in the D7000. They are set here: Camera> Set Picture Control> and the 6 types below. Do not make the mistake of trying to do the settings in the “Manage Picture Control” menu which did not allow me to over-write the Nikon defaults, but wanted them saved as something else like Portrait-02.
I found - so far - my exposure settings I can leave at zero correction. I've made adjustments in the “Picture Controls” Brightness and Contrast though. Shooting on the “Auto” mode and just view the JPEG image for the RGB values in CS5 and trying for a 245-250 range on the white Macbeth square I got close, and then with their Black (which isn't true black) at around RGB 55 values. I'm surprised the camera seems so picky with exposure too and I had been using 1/2 stop as the default value but moved back to 1/3 stop settings for exposure.
The “Picture Control” settings I have so far gotten in “Manual” mode are these:
Standard:
Sharpening 6
Contrast +1
Brightness -1
Saturation 0
Hue 0
Neutral:
Sharpening 6
Contrast +2
Brightness -1
Saturation 0
Hue 0
Vivid:
Sharpening 6
Contrast -1
Brightness -1
Saturation 0
Hue 0
Monochrome:
Sharpening 6
Contrast +1
Brightness 0
Filter Effects OFF
Toning B/W
Portrait:
Sharpening 5
Contrast +2
Brightness -1
Saturation -1
Hue 0
Landscape:
Sharpening 7
Contrast -1
Brightness -1
Saturation 0
Hue 0
Also, I've noticed less of the magenta skin color cast in the “Portrait” mode, fwiw, and “Neutral” being a close second for that color cast.
I seem to get a bit more overexposure in “Programmed” than in “Auto” too (1/3 stop) for some reason. That may be an internal adjustment too. Dunno.