[axl]

I disagree.

DPR never understood the difference between input and output DR and as a result, their DR measurements are entirely meaningless. Entirely to be ignored. Period. And this includes JPG shooters, of course.

It became worse over time as more and more options for in-camera processing emerged and DPR cannot even use the most aggressive settings as results would be as arbitrary as they are now. AFAIK, NEX cameras now even have a dynamic option to always tone map all available input dynamic range into the JPG output.

The single best DR measurement you can find on DPR is the base ISO black noise measurement for RAW (use the graph view and scale number for resolution).


DxO OTOH is an entirely different story. It measures input dynamic range. No reason for any discussion (after they made PRINT the default), it's just the correctly measured value. You can cite it just like weight incl. batteries. Of course, they don't care to measure output dynamic range as this is determined by the image file format and color profile (for sRGB, it is 11.5 EV).

If I'm reading you correctly, does it meen that any picture saved/viewed in sRGB can't display more than 11.5EV? So no matter if the sensor can deliver more, the viewer will not really percieve a difference?

[K-9]

A 24MP $700 camera? That's going to catch a lot of newbies eyes who "knows =P" MP is everything... This will bring back the times where only the smart and clever newbies who've done their research, like most Pentaxians in the past are today, will find out that the 16MP K-30 will still boast better high ISO noise levels for better image quality over that 24MP... And for $150 more they get built-in SR, weather-sealing, lens fine-tuning, twin dials, and more. Sadly these smart and clever newbies are hard to come by nowadays, poor Pentax.

The K30 has no HDMI output. Unacceptable for a camera of this cost. I would never buy it for that factor alone. The D3200 is $159 less, with 24mp, HDMI out, and wifi capability -- it is already making the K30 look dated and it just came out.

[JinDesu]

If I'm reading you correctly, does it meen that any picture saved/viewed in sRGB can't display more than 11.5EV? So no matter if the sensor can deliver more, the viewer will not really percieve a difference?

The viewer cannot see the difference, except when attempting to edit the image.

The K30 has no HDMI output. Unacceptable for a camera of this cost. I would never buy it for that factor alone. The D3200 is $159 less, with 24mp, HDMI out, and wifi capability -- it is already making the K30 look dated and it just came out.

Gosh.. I'm gonna weigh WR, twin dials, 100% OVF, and a better sensor vs 24MP, HDMI out, and wifi. Two of which I don't use.

I guess it's a good thing there are people in this world who want different things.

[Alizarine]

The K30 has no HDMI output. Unacceptable for a camera of this cost. I would never buy it for that factor alone. The D3200 is $159 less, with 24mp, HDMI out, and wifi capability -- it is already making the K30 look dated and it just came out.

Pretty bold statements there, sir. Hmm but HDMI out... means plugging the camera onto a high-definition widescreen display/TV for viewing, right? Or for video?

I would agree if it were for video but, otherwise, HDMI-out is pretty overrated for still cams. Mic-in is a bigger issue for me, but then again, the K-30 is an adventure-type camera that would probably have its WR capabilities compromised if taken out on a jungle trip with a mic plugged into it. BTW, the D3200's WiFi requires the optional dongle... unlike Samsung's built-in WiFi.

Otherwise, the D3200's lack of auto-bracketing, lack of AF screw-drive motor, smaller and dimmer VF, lack of WR, single power option among others, will make me lean towards the K-30 still. If it were D3200 vs. K-r, I'd probably be torn.

But of course a lot of people will still want the D3200 for its 24mp sensor, oh, the great 24mp camera..Nikon magic...Nikon VR awesomeness... Nikon swag... (real things I hear from some kids with DSLRs these days)

[jimr-pdx]

It just seems silly to have this sensor in an entry level camera. Folks that are shooting with a kit lens and maybe an entry level telephoto will seldom see significant improvement over a 16 megapixel sensor, maybe a little bit at iso 100 and 200, but otherwise minimal benefit.

It's nice to see DPR gently calling Nikon out for the pairing of a basic kit lens and 24Mpx sensor. All cameras are full of potential waiting to be discovered, but this might create a wave of hard feelings, whether reeking of bait/switch or just profiteering. A curious call indeed.

[TomTextura]

If I'm reading you correctly, does it meen that any picture saved/viewed in sRGB can't display more than 11.5EV? So no matter if the sensor can deliver more, the viewer will not really percieve a difference?

I'm trying to understand this myself. I'll let you know if I figure anything out.

So far my limited, and quite possibly mistaken, understanding is that sRGB and AdobeRGB are just the color space and have a given bit depth not an EV for dynamic range. I'm not sure how DR comes into play with the color space format. I'm trying to imagine the impact of the two color spaces on B&W. I can imagine the fineness of the gradations being affected by the color space but not the extremes of the blacks and whites in the exposure that would be apparent with lesser or greater DR. What I do know about sRGB and AdobeRGB is that they affect the JPEG only. If you shoot RAW, you don't need to worry about which color space you have selected. sRGB is more universal for displaying on monitors. I'm not sure what all should be considered with printing but read that RAW can have an even greater color space than AdobeRGB and that some printers can reproduce that greater color space if they can print from RAW. There is software that will automatically detect what color space your JPEG file was recorded in and work with it accordingly. I'd expect that all Adobe products work this way and would hope that the SilkyPix PDCU does as well.

I'll need to do more reading to wrap my hear around all this. The main thing I'll be looking to figure out is the relationship between color space and dynamic range. I'm not doing my own printing yet, at least not in a serious way, but once I am I will have to tackle the color profile issue head on.

[K-9]

Pretty bold statements there, sir. Hmm but HDMI out... means plugging the camera onto a high-definition widescreen display/TV for viewing, right? Or for video?

I would agree if it were for video but, otherwise, HDMI-out is pretty overrated for still cams.

Combine the no HDMI out for video with no focus peaking when shooting video, non-tiltable rear LCD, and no external mic, and you've got one extremely undermanned tool for video.

[Verglace]

That's what I find weird with DPR! The K-m, K-x and K-r are successive models; they're all the entry-level cameras by Pentax at their time of release. Why did DPR classify them differently? Because of that, I couldn't compare the K-x and K-r to the D3200, even though they are all basically entry-level models

it seems to me like some sort of bias...

Actually when the K-r was released the K-x was still being sold and not discontinued, so many reviewers considered the K-r as a level above the K-x, sitting in between the K-x and the K-r, which is why you will see some reviews place the K-x as entry level and the K-r as mid level.