I am using Nikon entry level D40 for nearly 10 months. It is a good camera, for the performance and money I paid, there is no reason to be unhappy although I always feel that it would be good if the dynamic range is higher or the camera has bracketing feature to allow me to produce HDR photo.
I always wonder whether my D40 is inferior in sensor dynamic range so I went to DXOmark.com to check the parameters.
This is what I found
D40 11 EV or 11 f-stop at ISO 200
I was surprised many more expensive cameras' dynamic range is only slightly better (example 11.5) and some even show lower DR. For example Pentax K7, a camera I admire has a DR of 10.6 EV.
Pentax K7 is ranked higher in DXOMark sensor scale but the dynamic range is lower. So this leads me to the conclusion, dyanmic range is not that important.
I shoot landscape and when I have to blow out the highlight for the shallow or underexpose to keep the highlight, I told myself maybe I should go for an upgrade but data shows that unless I spend much money, I will not get one with higher dynamic range.
Am I too hung up with dynamic range?
I always wonder whether my D40 is inferior in sensor dynamic range so I went to DXOmark.com to check the parameters.
This is what I found
D40 11 EV or 11 f-stop at ISO 200
I was surprised many more expensive cameras' dynamic range is only slightly better (example 11.5) and some even show lower DR. For example Pentax K7, a camera I admire has a DR of 10.6 EV.
Pentax K7 is ranked higher in DXOMark sensor scale but the dynamic range is lower. So this leads me to the conclusion, dyanmic range is not that important.
I shoot landscape and when I have to blow out the highlight for the shallow or underexpose to keep the highlight, I told myself maybe I should go for an upgrade but data shows that unless I spend much money, I will not get one with higher dynamic range.
Am I too hung up with dynamic range?
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