Cameras with good DR

[SufiBlade]

I'm looking to purchase my first digital camera in about a budget of US$1000. My primary need is landscapes, and with the borrowed compacts and superzooms I've used in the past, I had the problem of horrible dynamic range. So my question is:

How do I get better DR in my landscapes? I am currently looking at the 450D with Tamron lenses and polarizers. Or maybe LX3 or G10. Or should I just wait and see what Red is about to announce and if it will really affect the future?

[drg]

HDR and other compositing techniques are often the best way to get wider Dynamic Range in a digital photograph. Remember though that printing is going to have a much narrower range of output!

Landscapes require as much color fidelity and proper exposure to work well.

I'm not understanding your ' Red ' reference??

[SmartWombat]

Red http://www.red.com/cameras are announcing interesting cameras that seem to be coming from the digital movie side.
Weird looking things, and at 10lbs nothing like a G10 or LX3.
Oh and $17500 body only, it's way out of reach. http://www.red.com/store
Red One makes the Canon 5DmkII look cheap !
The Scarlet is being redesigned, it seems, and I think that you won't get your hands on one until 2010.

Definitely you want RAW mode, but you will probably end up with something that is wider dynamic range and more colours than you can print.
I would also say DSLR will be better than the G10 or LX3, because you have more choice of lenses.

[AgingEyes]

I'm looking to purchase my first digital camera in about a budget of US$1000. My primary need is landscapes, and with the borrowed compacts and superzooms I've used in the past, I had the problem of horrible dynamic range. So my question is:

How do I get better DR in my landscapes? I am currently looking at the 450D with Tamron lenses and polarizers. Or maybe LX3 or G10. Or should I just wait and see what Red is about to announce and if it will really affect the future?

Get a FujiFilm S5 Pro if you want digital camera with good dynamic range if not the best out there. Yes, it is a digital single lens reflex camera.

I know, nobody has heard about Fujifilm S5 Pro :blush2: That's why its price is dropping...also because there is not going to be another Fujifilm dslr anymore.

[EOSThree]

Most of the digital SLRs out there have close to the same dynamic range, with the exception of the Fuji. The dynamic range of a DSLR is already above that of color transparency film, and rivals that of most films anymore. The only thing it doesn't rival is our eyes which can seen 10-14 stops in a single take and up to 24 stops when our iris expands or contracts.

With that said there are a few ways of increasing the DR with your digital camera:

One way is to bracket your shots and combine the shots with an HDR program such as Photomatix, or Photoshop.

Another way is to take a couple of exposure and combine them with masks to form one image.

And finally you can do it in camera by getting a set of Graduated Neutral Density filters and a Cokin P holder. The rectangular filters are best because you can place them in the holder and adjust where the graduation occurs. A variation of this would be to use LightRoom's new graduated filter on a singe exposure.

Your 450D is perfectly capable of producing landscapes with great DR with any of these techniques.

[SufiBlade]

Ah I simply despise HDR photography......the ethereal look is just not for me. It's interesting what you all mention about printing......I always figured that can be seen on screen can be printed as it is. :-/

And with the red announcement just a few days away, let's see what will happen. I expect it to be shockingly cheap.

Fuji S5? Something to think about. Choices ..... choices! But I just checked and it seems very expensive (already at my budget limit without a lens).

Thanks a lot, I didn't know DR was nearly the same in all the mainstream brands. Would a 450D give significantly better DR over a G10? I know it's not right to compare a compact with SLR, but I am required to import the camera next month and I was playing it 'safe' with a G10 for now and seeing what Red is going all loud about (in which case I'll wait 10 months before getting a DSLR).

[brownargus]

DR is an issue with most digital cameras but many of the newer DSLRs claim to have dynamic range enhancement. The biggest issue between DSLRs and compacts is noise. The noise in DSLRs is always better than that from a compact, principally because of the larger sensor, with the FF sensors generally producing least noise. Compacts are capable of producing very good results at up to 400 ISO but beyond that noise becomes an issue, whereas noise rarely becomes an issue on DSLRs up to 1600, depending on the model and age. Despite having a Pentax which is excellent for my use, I would also tend to favour the latest Nikon range, but that's my own personal choice. However, the most annoying thing about digital cameras is that they are out of date almost before you get used to using them!

Regards

John

[SufiBlade]

Yes, this seems like a particularly tricky time to get a DSLR. I remember not long ago, live-view wasn't a 'required' feature but now a DSLR without one is looked down upon. Same will happen with those that wont have HD Video a few months from now. This is my main concern and reason for tilting to the compacts for now (and ISO200 is all I'll need for landscapes).

[SufiBlade]

Sorry to be igniting this thread once again, but I wanted some further understanding on this topic. Another option that just occurred to me was the Olympus 420 DSLR. How would it compare with the Canon G10 in terms of image quality at low ISO? And by image quality, my main concern is again Dynamic Range.