This is a quick comparision of DR in the shadows and in the highlights between the new Sony A900 and the reference in DR: the Fuji S5 Pro with Super CCD sensor. Both shots were not taken exactly from the same point but represent the same scene:
The combination of S and R Fuji sensor seems to capture all the dynamic range in the highlights, since not even the sky portions across the leaves get saturation. On the other side the G and B channels get clipped in nearly 1% of the surface of the image in the Sony:
Below we can see that in the highlights the Fuji image preserved the colour of the sky while in the Sony the RAW developer (DCRAW) forced neutral highlights due to the partial saturation.
In the shadows the Fuji wins again, showing more detail thanks to less noise presence. The most interesting area is the upper right part of the tree, where Fuji captured texture while noise almost eliminated all detail.
I guess the apparent higher colour saturation of the Sony version is due to the strong presence of colour noise since all RAW developments where completely neutral in DCRAW:
I reescaled both images to fit the same size on screen. This was necessary because the huge gap in resolution between both sensors. That is why in 100% crops, the Sony would even display more noise with respect to the Fuji. Of course this means nothing, the Sony is just a higher resolution camera and that has great advantages.
Hope you find it interesting.
BR
