Comparing dynamic range?

[Grajan]

I'm about to upgrade my P&S to a newer model. The biggest irritations I have with my current camera are slow focus and highlight clipping.

It is easy to find data on the speed but none of the reviews seem to address the dynamic range limitations (presumably the source of the clipping). Is there anywhere I can get that data?

Thanks

 

[mjh]

Try this site...

http://www.dpreview.com

 

[ssra30]

Hi light clipping especially on digital camera remains a big problem, even for dSLR. Fuji S3 may be the best in that regard.
PnS is even worse as you are stuck with usually F8 or less.
For sunball shot, high end dSLR like D2X are coping better but still not quite as good as film. Personally I don't know any PnS that can do a great great sunball shot easily.

 

[Grajan]

I don't know about sunballs. The problem in the attached image is what bothers me.

I really do not want to go to an SLR so I plan to:

Get the best P&S I can (probably the Canon S80)
Turn down the contrast
Turn down the sharpening
Turn down the exposure
Fix the results in Photoshop
See how that works

Trouble is once it is clipped there is no data so nowhere to go.

Hi light clipping especially on digital camera remains a big problem, even for dSLR. Fuji S3 may be the best in that regard.
PnS is even worse as you are stuck with usually F8 or less.
For sunball shot, high end dSLR like D2X are coping better but still not quite as good as film. Personally I don't know any PnS that can do a great great sunball shot easily.

 

[ssra30]

I don't know about sunballs. The problem in the attached image is what bothers me.

I really do not want to go to an SLR so I plan to:

Get the best P&S I can (probably the Canon S80)
Turn down the contrast
Turn down the sharpening
Turn down the exposure
Fix the results in Photoshop
See how that works

Trouble is once it is clipped there is no data so nowhere to go.

Your plan will work some, but I find turing down contrast generally make the picture a lot more flat.
Are you using external strobe? External strobe with at least 4-8 steps probably will give you a bit more flexibility also.
If you use PS, highlight/shadow function will also help quite a bit especially when you underexpose a picture a bit to avoid blown highlight.