50d DR - What am I missing?

I was reading the d300s review and I found the following:

The best we could achieve was just over 10 stops (10.1 EV) of total dynamic range

then I remembered having seen better value for the 50d (taken from dpreview review as well):

The best we could achieve was 11.6 EV of total dynamic range

Then I began to search other camera reviews...
5d mark II:
The best we were able to get out of the file was 11.1 EV total range

d300:

he best we could achieve was just under ten stops (10 EV) of total dynamic range

40d:

The best we could achieve was nearly eleven stops (11 EV) of total dynamic range

d700:
The best result we could achieve was 11.6 EV

k20d:

The best we could achieve (with some pretty extreme ACR settings) was just over 10 stops total dynamic range

the 'magnificient' 7d:

The best we could achieve was just under 10 stops (9.8 EV) of total dynamic range

Having read sooooo many posts about the limited DR of the 50d, what am I missing? is there any difference in the quality of the DR? If not, why has it been argued so many times? Is 50d really a step up in canon camera line previous to 7d?

I have always thought that the FF cameras delivered more dr, but it doesn't happen everytime (d3 is 12 EV + -) as we all can see on the different reviews.

One of the things I have noticed when switching from a cheap nikon d50 to the 50d is the possibility of recovering much more information from highlights and shades.

Regards,
Carlos

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlosp1981

I would use DXOMark, rather than DPR, for evaluations of a camera's DR.

DPR looks at JPGs, so it's really measuring the tone curve applied by the camera's default settings, not the limitations of the sensor.

All the sentences I've pasted are taken from the RAW Headroom section, so I guess it has nothing to be with jpg

HotspurJr said:

I would use DXOMark, rather than DPR, for evaluations of a camera's DR.

DPR looks at JPGs, so it's really measuring the tone curve applied by the camera's default settings, not the limitations of the sensor.

Click to expand...

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/carlosp1981

Dpreview even contradicts their own findings in the summary .... "Considering the disadvantages that come with higher pixel densities such as ... reduced dynamic range, ..."

--
Regards,
Roger

charlie81 said:

is there any difference in the quality of the DR?

Click to expand...

depends on how you measure DR and what it means to your photos. DPR have this fascination to measure everything for a pixel, and that is what they do with DR too. It is questionable on what it means for your images. What is sure is that the per-pixel measurements from DPR don't remain very meaningful as time passes (like putting all DPR reviews side by side for cameras released 5 years apart)

--
PicPocket
http://photography.ashish-pragya.com