Dynamic range of a camera’s sensor varies per model. Some manufacturers are better than others. The chart below shows scientific, but real world results of testing a camera sensor’s dynamic range. The tests were done by DXOmark.

Bigger is better when it comes to Dynamic Range of a sensor. It means you can capture more shadow detail and more highlights in a single shot. If you shoot architecture or landscapes you already appreciate the challenge of capturing a high contrast scene that has a massive dynamic range.

For HDR captures, this is incredibly relevant because an HDR file is only as good/clean as the RAW data you feed into the merge.

You can see below that Fuji was WAY ahead of it’s time with the S3 & S5 (fuji’s S3/S5 results apply when using the extended dynamic range feature which is controlled by a camera setting). It is no wonder that so many wedding shooters swore by that camera for shooting beach weddings and other high contrast scenes. As of now only the D3x can better the dynamic range of a S3 or S5 in one single shot.

The relevance to High Dynamic Range Imaging is the following. Lets say you capture a bracketed sequence with only 3 shots. Which of those cameras above do you think will give you the best data to work with when merged to HDR? Remember, an HDR file is only as good/clean as the RAW data you feed into the merge. If each RAW shot you feed into a merge to HDR has by itself a large dynamic range, then you increase the quality of the HDR file.

This is why I groan when I see someone shooting with a Nikon D3x or Fuji S5 Pro say you only need to take X shots to get X results.  Each camera is completely different in terms of its ability to capture dynamic range so when you limit your bracket to only 3 shots, the dynamic range of your sensor becomes incredibly relevant. As you fill in the gaps and take more shots with tighter EV steps it fills in data gaps and provides cleaner RAW data for the entire range.

I first touched on the subject of dynamic range of camera sensors about six months ago and there is a little more insight in that post which is linked HERE.  Other articles surrounding dynamic range, auto bracketing and FPS capture are linked as follows:

Autobracketing for HDR – Camera Specs

Fastest DSLRs for HDR Capture (wide AEB range only)

When I see someone say their HDR files and tonemapped images have noise issues, my first question is? How many shots did you take and what EV step between?  Because I can tell you I have ZERO, NONE, NADDA, ZILCH, GOOSE EGG issues with noise in my files.

Why?  Because I bracket big and tight.  Sometimes I’ll bracket a scene with 13 images at .7EV between steps or even more shots with only .3EV steps between.  And yes, it takes a lot longer to merge to HDR, but it also means the averaging that occurs in software from darks to lights between the RAW data you feed it will result in BOTH cleaner data (less noise) and milder hue/saturation shifts (better color reproduction).

I get asked weekly how my images look so free of noise, natural and how I control saturation levels.  That last paragraph is HALF the battle folks.  It took me about 2000 HDRs to finally figure that out and even though I recently crossed 13,000 commercially delivered images tonemapped from HDRs, I’m still learning and tweaking.  I’m far from satisfied with my own results.  It is a constant challenge for myself even to fight “overcooking” images to the point that a client comments “it looks fake”.

It is critical that you understand my goal is to get to the point that someone can’t tell I’ve employed a High Dynamic Range Imaging workflow / pipeline. I’m not there yet.  If your goal is to create colorful and possibly more saturated images than I am gearing for then you might not want to bracket tighter like I do because when luminance ranges get stretched in software using only 3 shots from an AEB sequence it by default will create hue shifts and saturation issues that you might actually want for your images (particularly if you are going for artistic and/or grunge looks).

Even if you don’t shoot for HDR I hope the chart at least enlightens you to the abilities of those camera models.  I’ve purposely eliminated the medium format cameras that DXOmark has on their site.  If you go to their site and want to check these stats out yourself then look for the following tab on their site (image below). When you do, that data will populate the field on the right so you can see the various cameras and how they stack up.  The X axis shows time so you can see when each was released in comparison to others.