Some people claim that Digital Photography Review’s thorough characterization of the signal response behaviour of cameras borders on the obsessive. I grant that the number of graphs in any given camera review you may find there which detail light fall-off, chroma noise, luminace noise &c., broken down by camera ISO and colour channel, do remind me of presentations from the NASA Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer calibration team. But I recommend eschewing airy-fairy discussions of “user-friendliness” and “image beauty” for the soulless clarity of hard numbers, whether comparing digital cameras or in everyday life. As such, DPReview is my digital camera site of choice. If you can make it through 18-odd pages of resolution charts and gretag-macbeth rollover graphics, you know have learned something about the camera at hand.

There has only been one nagging hole in dpreview’s reviews, and that is dynamic range. This bugs me, because it’s one of the most important things I’ll be looking for when it comes time to replace my camera: in that photo where fold after fold of mountain range fades off into the hazy blueness likes waves on the ocean, how many ranges do you get before the camera clips out out to white (or blue)?

I will no longer have to stay awake nights wondering. I notice that in the review of Sony’s DSC-R1, dpreview has introduced a new method specifically for quantifying comparitive dynamic range, with an accompanying 9 new tables, charts and graphs. In this instance, we learn that the dynamic range of the Sony is comparable to the competive Rebel 350 at low ISO’s (7.8 EV stops versus 8.1 at ISO100), but can’t stand up at faster speeds (5.2 v 7.6 @ ISO1600).

Now my knowledge of all the cameras I will never afford to buy is complete.

Incidentally, I’m interested that Digital Camera Info is actually beating dpreview on it’s coverage of colour response: check out these fancy looking charts.