For those doubting the Fuji SR sensor dynamic range...

[Raist3d]

Someone posted this at dpreview. He overexposed the shot by accident but having shot in RAW + JPEG, he was able to recover pretty much all of it:

I can't believe !!: Fujifilm SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

I have been able to see a recovery similar on my e-410 once but it was a specific situation that just so happened to have details on the edge of the limit of the over exposure... the shot of the Fuji seems more like a "typical overexposed shot" and I haven't seen any DSLR that has that kind of DR.

- Raist

[badpickev]

ahhh for the non beleivers

[Sidebyte]

I just perused the dynamic range charts for the Fuji and several other cameras on DPR.
They are lauding the new Canon 40D's dynamic range over it's competition. It registered a 9.1 ev at ISO 100, the Fuji is at 11.8 at ISO 100. In fact the Fuji registered a greater ev at 3200 ISO than the new 40D at 100 ISO.
Try that for size?

[badpickev]

i know its really hard for some people to understand. i can not tell you the times i here from non fuji folk stating the added dr is a myth because they never see it. yet when i post a dusk or night shot i get asked if its hdr.

[Raist3d]

Originally Posted by badpickev

i know its really hard for some people to understand. i can not tell you the times i here from non fuji folk stating the added dr is a myth because they never see it. yet when i post a dusk or night shot i get asked if its hdr.

I think part of the problem is that people think that because even most common DSLR's have a dynamic range usually bigger than the printer or screen, that the Fuji's DR is wasted. While the first part is usually true, the conclusion doesn't follow.

The issue is not to get the RAW DR and print it or see it on screen (it won't), but that the Fuji algorithms (for jpegs) will cram the data into the visible space for prints, and the screen, giving a very rich jpeg that is - if required- very malleable for contrast/level/etc tweaks. And for RAW- that you have a lot of data to begin with and get the options if you zone/ burn/dodge (digitally of course) to get those areas you want, with more leeway of what you wanted, if you are into RAW shooting. YOu can even do HDR out of a single RAW with a quality that other camera's can't (from a single raw).

This is what a lot fail to understand. Likewise a lot in the Fuji camp think their camera should always be set to the highest DR, and that is not the case. It depends on the photograph and what someone wants to communicate with the photograph. And DR is not the same as say Tonal range (for ex- I found the tonal range of the e-410 to be pretty decent for skin, but it certainly doesn't have the DR of the Fuji).

That's why Fuji very wisely allows the photographer to control how much of the DR mix is wanted. I wish the F700/F710 had those controls.

- Raist

[sean_buerger]

Often ppl complain, that highlights are blown, after having seen a photo on the web. I read that comment many times, especially with wedding photos taken with Canon EOS 5D. Yet, when you go and download the picture, open it in Photoshop and use 'shadow / highlight', you can clearly see, that the only thing blown out, is the LCD monitor, as the JPG contains plenty of highlight information.

I used to notice the following years ago on my laptop computer, when looking at Photo CDs from my film image: Often the sky would look white, while on the print I could see clouds. Although LCD screens did improve over the years, they're not perfect yet. Many cameras actually capture more than we see on the LCD.

One has to be careful stating blown out highlights, from seeing an image on an LCD. If you look into your LCD from the side (45 degrees) you will be able to see more high light information on most laptop computers. CRT monitors are still superior when it comes to displaying gradation.

I think it's fair to say that printers blow out less easily.

I'm sure the Fuji cameras do a fantastic job with their sensor technology, but often the camera is not the real problem.

Just my opinion. S.