A6700 Dynamic Range?

[jcurtistx]

I have an a6600 and use the DRO Auto and HDR Auto quite often. Being that the a6700 does not offer Auto HDR in particular, how does the dynamic range perform in high contrast situations?

is the dynamic range on the a6700 improved enough to compensate for the lack of an Auto HDR mode?

 

[José B]

I have an a6600 and use the DRO Auto and HDR Auto quite often. Being that the a6700 does not offer Auto HDR in particular, how does the dynamic range perform in high contrast situations?

is the dynamic range on the a6700 improved enough to compensate for the lack of an Auto HDR mode?

I don't shoot HDR images however for my uses I don't see any difference between the DR of the A6700 and A6600 (traded it in for the A6700). The most challenging high contrast situation for me is shooting indoor volleyball at ISO 3200 and higher of volleyball players with white top and black shorts. In both cameras I often had to raise the shadows/blacks to get more details in post either in DXO PL 7 Elite or Adobe RAW then apply the respective denoising software on it.

 

[flint-hill]

From everything, really everything, I've read, a6660 and a6700 are indistinguishable in DR. In fact the a6000 gets within 1 stop of the a6600 and 6700 for the ISO range that it covers.

I have a6000 and a6700, and that's also what I see IRL.

https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm#Sony ILCE-6000,Sony ILCE-6600,Sony ILCE-6700

 

[Dave981]

from a results perspective, how does dro bracketing compare to autohdr? I understand autohdr is taking three shots with varying EV. I'm less clear as to what's going on with different dro levels and whether you're supposed to merge the bracket in post or just pick the one that looks best.

 

[José B]

from a results perspective, how does dro bracketing compare to autohdr? I understand autohdr is taking three shots with varying EV. I'm less clear as to what's going on with different dro levels and whether you're supposed to merge the bracket in post or just pick the one that looks best.

Hi Dave,

I'll let others reply as I'm allergic to tripods unless I am taking a selfie Seriously I haven't used the bracketing feature. Whenever I shoot landscapes or architecture I just shoot handheld with IBIS (which is permanently turned on on my A6700).

 

[Dave981]

from a results perspective, how does dro bracketing compare to autohdr? I understand autohdr is taking three shots with varying EV. I'm less clear as to what's going on with different dro levels and whether you're supposed to merge the bracket in post or just pick the one that looks best.

Hi Dave,

I'll let others reply as I'm allergic to tripods unless I am taking a selfie Seriously I haven't used the bracketing feature. Whenever I shoot landscapes or architecture I just shoot handheld with IBIS (which is permanently turned on on my A6700).

I haven't used dro w or w/o bracketing, or hdr (at least not intentionally, I think dro default isn't quite off). But Capture 1 and raw gives me so much range in the shadows (across the a6[0/4/7]00) that I haven't taken the time to figure those settings out. And now there are hlog stills in heif, but I'm on a pc.

 

[piticoto]

I use HDR only in static and dim light conditions. I get more exposure and less noise in the jpgs out of camera pictures. I don't PP because of time constrain and I don't want to go through the doubts of adjusting the image in PP, do I need more of this, or that. As Justin put it 8 months ago about loss of HDR in A6700, I'm also a little bit disappointed, as the sensor in A6700 is not better, or is slightly superior than the one in A6600 regarding DR.

 

[Ed at Ridersite]

The premium you pay for the A-6700 over the A-6600 is essentially for the much improved auto-focus (well worth it IMO), a better menu system and an extra dial. Beyond that, there appears to be little difference practical. As for video, I really don't know because I never use it.

 

[GaryW]

I have an a6600 and use the DRO Auto and HDR Auto quite often. Being that the a6700 does not offer Auto HDR in particular, how does the dynamic range perform in high contrast situations?

is the dynamic range on the a6700 improved enough to compensate for the lack of an Auto HDR mode?

Years ago, with my Nex-6, I took 3 bracketed photos (with varying exposure) of a particularly high-dynamic-range scene. This was one of those dark-inside-with-bright-window-looking-outside kind of scenes. I figured this was the optimal need for HDR. At home, I used software with an HDR feature that stacked the 3 images and blended the results to make an HDR photo, and it was fine, except I had some movement between frames -- I wasn't carrying a tripod at that time. Then, I took just one of the photos and processed the RAW file, where the software has a mode to adjust the lighting in different areas -- they don't call it HDR, but something like Smart Lighting -- but it has that effect. I got as good results out of just using that one file.

So, these days, I just try to always use RAW, and rely on RAW processing software to extract the most out of it, as needed. YMMV.

 

[Bender79ita]

I have an a6600 and use the DRO Auto and HDR Auto quite often. Being that the a6700 does not offer Auto HDR in particular, how does the dynamic range perform in high contrast situations?

is the dynamic range on the a6700 improved enough to compensate for the lack of an Auto HDR mode?

They probably removed it out of embarassment, and might put it back on future cameras as they figure out how it should really work, anyhow... just like on the a7iv, you can adjust shadows and highlights directly in the picture profile, if you really can't live without shooting jpeg.

https://helpguide.sony.net/ilc/2320/v1/en/contents/0411B_creative_look.html

There's (probably) also the option to shoot HEIF with HLG profile, same as there is on the A7IV.