Jim, How do you define DR?
For me pushing shadows 2.5 to 3 stops from a single ISO or pulling down highlights all from a single file is use of DR. And the ability to do this means I want a lot of DR. I assume DR means Dynamic Range?
How much more DR are you looking for from a single file as for me 2.5 to 3 stops is needing a lot DR. That always has been my goal since the D800e.
I may have a different definition or understanding or need.
Paul C
Hi Paul,
I would say that the definition of DR is a ratio of signal strength at saturation over some acceptable noise ratio. Engineering DR uses SNR=1.
What I think Jim says that the banding is caused by the camera firmware compensating for the reduced sensitivity of the DR pixels. On that, I think that Jim is right. My understanding is that Jim wants his raw images raw and feels that almost any post processing is better done in the computer than in camera firmware.
The reason you probably don't see that banding is that your darkest parts of the image are kept near black, where they belong.
Any way, darks in images will always be noisy. Good sensors can keep the noise coming from the sensor low, but they can do nothing about shot noise.
My take on the issue is that Fuji should allow the user to select the level of in camera signal processing. Jim's earlier research on Nikon indicates that the cure is worse than the disease and he finds that Fujifilm has done something similar.
If it doesn't affect your shooting, just be happy!
I wouldn't say that you don't need DR, BTW, just that it may be that you employ DR in a way that the issue Jim is discussing is not visible.
Best regards
Erik