I shoot with a Canon Powershot G10, which I love for the most part. I am trying to determine the limits of the camera, so I can find out what I would want from a DSLR. One thing I notice is that in nature shots some leaves and some kinds of bark seem to be blown out, as in this picture if you look closely. This happens even in diffused lighting and/or when I am using exposure compensation. Could this be because of the small sensor? Maybe I'm being too picky about this issue.
This happens because cameras cannot 'see' like we can. We can see more 'exposures' simultaneously, so we can see the detail in a bright sky as well as in a dark landscape. So yes, it's your sensor, but this happens in D-SLRs too. That's why we use gradient filters to keep the sky dark so we can maintain the detail in both.
Do you shoot in RAW? In RAW, you can combine exposures in post-processing, helping to retain the detail in the various dark and light details in your pictures.
The dynamic range of a compact camera is less than that of a DSLR with a cropped sensor, which is less than that of a full frame DSLR.
In short, the bigger your sensor, the greater your dynamic range will be.
Dynamic range represents the range of tones a sensor can capture. If you compare many images between a compact camera and a DSLR, you may start to see a trend of contrasty images produced by the compact camera. Shades of white will seem to drop to true white quicker and likewise for shades of black.
This is because compact cameras try to compensate for the smaller dynamic range. The histogram is stretched, producing a posterizing effect of sorts where subtler tonal variations are lost, for the sake of achieving truer white and black tones in the image.
FWIW Andrea I pretty much always have my compact set to -1/3 stop under exposure. I did that with my old Canons and I do it now with my Lumix TZ6.
It just helps to preserve a bit of the highlight detial and avoid blown highlights. It also gives me a slightly quicker shutter speed if the light is getting a bit low. I then just use Photoshop curves to bring up the mid-tones if required.
Just a thought...although if you're shooting RAW you may not need this. Certainly on my Canon EOS 350D DSLR I just leave it with no exp. compensation and just generate JPG to suit after tweaking levels in RAW processing (Canon DPP).
@nodecaff - Even on my Nikon D300s DSLR I frequently shoot at -0.3 to -0.7 under daylight conditions for the same reason. I find that with this camera at least, getting detail from darks is still more effective than getting it from lights. As you say, the quicker shutter speed doesn't hurt either :P
@nodecaff yeah, I just recently figured that out and have been setting it to negative more. Somehow I notice clipped highlights more than clipped (blown out) low ones. I do shoot in raw, but I find trying to adjust exposure in post-processing doesn't help the lightlights all that much. I use Lightroom curves, but I often forget about the midtones-- that's a good tip. Thank you! @bink thanks again, that's good to know. I may get an entry level Nikon soon...then I can try everything and have no excuses.
@moonpig honestly... entry level DSRL camera do not have great DR.... it will be better... but for nature shots you will find bracketing helps, and you can do that with the P&S and you don't need to shoot RAW to do it...
The filters (which fewer people seem to use now) are going to be key... this morning I am hoping to see sundogs in about an hour when the sun comes up.... i could never capture a sundog without a filter... or my ground would look all dark...
Also you will have a great excuss when you first get the new camera... it is a new camera and it may not do everything right off the bat!
no sundogs today... and I forgot a pol filter... so I need to re-shoot my water ones... but here is what I mean with a grad filter... see how I still have a sky... and you can see the detail in the valley across they way...
@icywarm This is so gorgeous, and I see what you mean. It's nice too that you can shoot into the sun and not have the sun rays take over. Fabulous winter shot!
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here is the photo!
Do you shoot in RAW? In RAW, you can combine exposures in post-processing, helping to retain the detail in the various dark and light details in your pictures.
right exposure retains the details.... and yes it's your sensor... @moonpig
In short, the bigger your sensor, the greater your dynamic range will be.
Dynamic range represents the range of tones a sensor can capture. If you compare many images between a compact camera and a DSLR, you may start to see a trend of contrasty images produced by the compact camera. Shades of white will seem to drop to true white quicker and likewise for shades of black.
This is because compact cameras try to compensate for the smaller dynamic range. The histogram is stretched, producing a posterizing effect of sorts where subtler tonal variations are lost, for the sake of achieving truer white and black tones in the image.
It just helps to preserve a bit of the highlight detial and avoid blown highlights. It also gives me a slightly quicker shutter speed if the light is getting a bit low. I then just use Photoshop curves to bring up the mid-tones if required.
Just a thought...although if you're shooting RAW you may not need this. Certainly on my Canon EOS 350D DSLR I just leave it with no exp. compensation and just generate JPG to suit after tweaking levels in RAW processing (Canon DPP).
The filters (which fewer people seem to use now) are going to be key... this morning I am hoping to see sundogs in about an hour when the sun comes up.... i could never capture a sundog without a filter... or my ground would look all dark...
Also you will have a great excuss when you first get the new camera... it is a new camera and it may not do everything right off the bat!