Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/08/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]animal writes: > I have the following question: > Does a CCD have less or more capability in recording different light levels > then black and white film. > To refrase,was wondering I know that in resolving power film is still more > then an order of magnitude ahead of digital but wondered if the same was > true regarding the number of stops it can span in a single frame. > Thanks for the help > simon jessurun > p.s. only use the Leica and the Sinar,have no use anymore for the Nikon,s > so traded them Honest!. You have to be very careful when you're asking this type of question, the answer depends a lot on which digital technology you're comparing too. Stephen Johnson (http://www.sjphoto.com) shoots with a Better Light (http://www.betterlight.com) scanning back in a Sinar 4x5 body. I've seen subsections of images shot back to back w/ film (100asa color print, scanned on a drum scanner) and the digital back. The grain in the film gets in the way of making out detail in the image *way* before the ccd's image breaks down. Likewise, the camera has an extraordinary brightness range. The old saw about not bothering to go out shooting at noon on a sunny day doesn't apply. Steve even complains that he never gets any down time, because the light's always "good". If you're willing to restrict yourself to grayscale, he has a modified back/software that lets you map the three rows of ccd's in the scanning array to three different brightness ranges, one's tuned to highlights, one to mids, one to darks. I think that I said that he covers 22 stops of brightness (but I may be misquoting). It's tricky to put the data back together, but interesting nonetheless. Of course, cheap digital cameras (like the D[36]0 and the D1[hx]) are another story... ;) g. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html