Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/08/23

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Subject: DSLR dynamic range (was: Re: [Leica] Canon Introducs 2 new digital SLRs)
From: telyt at earthlink.net (Doug Herr)
Date: Tue Aug 23 19:22:50 2005

FWIW, the dynamic range is an issue for me because of the many subjects I
encounter with both white and black in their plumages.  Woodpeckers and
magpies, for example, not to mention the bright whites of egrets combined
with foliage and shadows of their habitat.

If I were to buy a DSLR body I'd hate to have spent multiple thousands of
dollars on a tool that restricts me to a limited dynamic range.  Wildlife
doesn't hold still long enough to bracket exposures and combine in
Photoshop.  With the R8 and film back, and with the Leicaflexes, changing my
capture medium's dynamic range is a sub-$10 expenditure.

Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com



----------
From: Doug Herr <telyt@earthlink.net>
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 19:16:50 -0700
To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
Subject: Re: [Leica] Canon Introducs 2 new digital SLRs

on 8/23/05 5:27 PM, Adam Bridge at abridge@gmail.com wrote:

> I've been under the impression (possibly dubious) that all current
> cameras do an 8 bit capture of data from the sensor for each color.
> 
> For any pixel, however, being a combination of color sites, you'll
> need more than 8 bits to deal with the full dynamic range which is
> captured in 12 bits. However, there aren't many 12 bit color image
> file  formats so they are converted to 16 bits  -  no data lost but
> nothing gained either except in that initial blending of 8 bit color
> sites to 12 bit pixels.
> 
> Is the DMR different from this?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Adam
> 

>From the sample inages I've seen posted, and from the comments of those who
are using the DMR who are impressed with its dymanic range, it seems to be
capturing at something more than 12 bits.

Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com



Replies: Reply from jdos2 at mindspring.com (Jeff Sumner) (DSLR dynamic range (was: Re: [Leica] Canon Introducs 2 new digital SLRs))
Reply from richard-lists at imagecraft.com (Richard) (DSLR dynamic range (was: Re: [Leica] Canon Introducs 2 new digital SLRs))
In reply to: Message from telyt at earthlink.net (Doug Herr) ([Leica] Canon Introducs 2 new digital SLRs)