Nikon D2xs Dynamic Range Question

[glen_t]

<p>I had read in a review somewhere that the dynamic range of the D2x is better than that of the later D2xs. To me, this does not make sense. Does anyone have any information on or experience with this matter? </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>The D2Xs has a couple of very minor changes from the D2X. The electronics should be identical.</p>

<p>The D2X is a DX DSLR, but it has a high-speed crop feature that crops to an even smaller sensor area, similar to the DX crop on today's FX DSLRs. On the D2X, there is only a frame that indicates the crop area, and that frame can be missed easily during shooting. The D2Xs grays out the area outside of the cropped area so that it is hard to miss. There is also a minor change to the back LCD.</p>

[glen_t]

<p>Thanks, Shun...</p>

<p>I will look for that review. Again, I was surprised by the comment on dynmaic range. To my knowledge, what you have indicated above accurately sums up the main differences.</p>

[glen_t]

<p>I found the review. Here is the link:</p>

<p><a href="http://imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D2XS/D2XSIMATEST.HTM">http://imaging-resource.com/PRODS/D2XS/D2XSIMATEST.HTM</a></p>

<p>If you scroll down, you will see the curious words:</p>

<p>"...In the other direction, I was quite surprised to see the Nikon D2x place as low on the listings as it did, given that we found that camera's shadow detail to be little short of amazing. (The D2Xs does well in that area too, but not nearly to the level reached by the original D2x.)"</p>

<p> </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Glen, shouldn't you direct your question to the source of that information? As far as I know, other than focusing screen whose area outside of the D2XS' high-speed-crop mode can be grayed out, the D2X and D2XS have identical electronics and the cameras are almost identical. It certainly makes no sense that the dynamic range has gotten worse in the newer D2XS model.</p>

[glen_t]

<p>Yes, Shun, I have considered contacting the source. I just figured that since there are so many experienced Nikon DSLR users here, that perhaps there may be some that may be able to offer some experiential information or even an actual comparison (i.e. comparison photos).</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

Imaging-resource.com has always had a very through testing regime and it evolves.

 

More to the point: context is everything and in this instance Dave Etchells or whoever was doing the evaluations of the

tests is writing about practical real world usable dynamic range and not just theoretical test bed number crunching. It

could be that Nikon tweaked the firmwareat some point between the D2X and the D2Xs to pull a little more usable

shadow detail out of the hardware used in both cameras.

[ShunCheung]

<p>Ellis, please read Glen's original post again. We are talking about the older D2X has better dynamic range than the later D2Xs. That makes absolutely no sense.</p>