[filmscanners] Re: Blown highlights (was traffic)

["Arthur Entlich" <artistic@telus.net>]

Although I haven't yet done hands-on tests, Fuji has recognized this
blowout problem with diminished dynamic range with digicam sensors, and
came up with their newest sensor (Super CCD SR, 4th generation) where
each pixel location contains two sensors, one standard size, a squat
hexagonal with a smaller oval one above it, which, being small, is less
sensitive to light.  When the large sensor is blown out, the small one
is looked to to determine intensity level and chroma info.

Fuji claims this double sensors technique improves dynamic and contrast
ratios to near that of film.  Some people seem to agree.

I have been offered a test unit to see how well the camera responds, but
I've been too busy to do so yet.

Art

Paul D. DeRocco wrote:

>>Julian Vrieslander wrote:
>>
>>But this digicam does not, in my opinion, compete with a good
>>film SLR.  We
>>have quite a few vacation shots that were taken at the same spot using
>>Cindy's 4500 and my F100.  The differences are not huge, but
>>the scans from
>>my F100 shots look better.  What is most noticeable to me, is that the
>>highlights on the digicam shots tend to blow out more often.  The tonal
>>variations look natural as you go from shadow into brighter
>>areas, but then
>>suddenly there is a featureless blotch that looks like someone spilled
>>whiteout on the image.  I've read explanations that attribute
>>this effect to
>>the linear transfer function of the digital sensors.  They saturate
>>suddenly, whereas with film you have an s-shaped transfer function that
>>saturates more gracefully.
>
>
> Exactly so. You have to learn how to shoot with a digicam. If you're setting
> up your shots carefully, you can afford to look at the histogram after the
> shot, and reshoot if it bumps up against the right side. If you're in more
> of a hurry, and you've got a DSLR with a nice quiet sensor, you can afford
> to dial in -1 stop of exposure compensation, and then fix the darkness
> afterwards with a curve. That's what I do with the Canon 10D.
>
> --
>
> Ciao,               Paul D. DeRocco
> Paul                mailto:pderocco@ix.netcom.com
>
>

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