ABSTRACT
Brightness range, dynamic range, and luminance range are terms for the same concept: how much variation there is in the luminance levels of a scene and then how accurately the imaging system is able to reproduce those levels. Film and video have dynamic ranges that are limited by technology. Color scientist Charles Poynton states “dynamic range according to the definition used by sensor designers, is the ratio of exposure at sensor saturation down to exposure where noise fills the entire lowest stop. Simply put, since the brightness range of many scenes exceeds what cameras and displays are capable of, a purely linear response puts some areas of the scene off the scale at the extremes. Camera companies employ log curves extensively in recording image data; each manufacturer has designed one or more log encoding schemes which are part of their “secret sauce” in the quest for a better camera.
