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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Dragon Dynamic Range

Daniel Soderberg

Daniel Soderberg

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If there are already posts of this, please link them for me.


As far as dynamic range comparisons between MX and Dragon goes, there have been some great charts and graphs showing the difference, but I feel like I still haven't seen a real scenario with a side by side image test with some real highlights and shadows to show that the Dragon sees more detail. Anyone have some tests they've done that they wouldn't mind sharing?


Thanks!
 
yes, MX needed f22 to get tight exposure, so you see Dragon has more dynamic here

in the other shot you see more dynamic in the highlights + shadows too - tests on limits of course
 
On a MX vs Dragon side by side I was expecting and anticipating for much improved DR. In that test it is not as night and day. Other more scientific test show 14 stops of dynamic range . I think If RED wanted to been taken seriously in the future They need to update the specifications and advertisements about the 16.5+ stops of dynamic range as more people is receiving or renting the cameras and showing real results.
 
There are so many threads on this subject already but I will give my only post on this. Post a clip side by side with a dragon and MX is never going to blow your socks off. It's what happens in post that will make dragon shine. I'll even use my Nikon D800 for an example. I still bracket my shots, but I can pull amazing pictures from the underexposed ones. Dragon captures more data without a doubt, and the roll off is much improved. I'm not going to get into the 16+ claims but having it the same as the Alexa and perhaps more is more than enough for me. If you're looking for a magic bullet with what dragon can offer, the magic is there but you need to dig for it. Plus the colour and added resolution for me is equally important. Over and out... :smile:
 
Bob is right and i said it before in another thread, ... MX is still an great sensor (House of cards (!!!)) and Dragon is the improved one - a lot of "little" steps of improvement make Dragon in the sum a big step forward: smooth roll off, improved colors and details in underexposed areas, more resolution, a clearer image in general, significant more dynamic in the highlights ... honestly i don´t know what some people expected -
 
Thanks a lot Jan, for those images. I'm not sure what others expected, but I expected 3 more stops as claimed. I definitely see an improvement in DR in your images, but I'm not sure I see a full 3 stops worth.
And Bob, thanks for you're input as well, but shouldn't an extra 3 stops be seen in the initial image and not just in post? Obviously it depends on how much contrast is in the scene though.


Anyone else have some side by sides they can share?
 
Daniel Soderberg said:
Thanks a lot Jan, for those images. I'm not sure what others expected, but I expected 3 more stops as claimed. I definitely see an improvement in DR in your images, but I'm not sure I see a full 3 stops worth.
And Bob, thanks for you're input as well, but shouldn't an extra 3 stops be seen in the initial image and not just in post? Obviously it depends on how much contrast is in the scene though.


Anyone else have some side by sides they can share?
Click to expand...

Those images are misleading because they are not exposed at the same stop. So of course you will not see a big difference (MX is closed down more to match Dragon). I believe Epic was closed a stop more than Dragon in Jan's images. Just going by that it means Dragon has at least 1 stop above and judging by the darks one stop below. That is before we even do any pushing/pulling in post... So there could be more info there as well.
 
I only played with old OLPF and no dragon debayer or color science but I would simply say that the range of the dragon is 3 times as wide as the MX.

Basically the dragon has enough range to shoot a good enough quality image all bellow the noise floor of the MX, same goes for the highlights, where the MX hits the roof the dragon has enough range to capture something that would eqal MX quality / good looking image, all above the top limit of the MX.

Simply explained, if the MX goalposts for the histogram are about 3 cm apart from each other on the touch screen the dragons goal posts should / would be about 9 cm apart to show the true difference in range... Now, they both have the same size histogram on the screen, but thats about the range differences I see in the two cameras... and that was not with the latest and greatest olpf or color math. So I'm pretty sure I'm not exaggerating as the new olpf and color science will prove even better DR. Also ADD makes huge difference for what is possible to dig out in the low end.

Our dragon has been at red, waiting in line for the Olpf swap for the last month and a half, so I have not tested the latest color science etc.
 
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