privatebydesign said:
The DR (my dick is bigger than yours) discussion is a dead horse, much to Rishi's dismay. He might write in earnest tones about how important it is but when you look at simple facts, like the actual numbers, the D850, the A7RIII and the older 5D MkIV are all within 0.8 of a stop of DR. The 5D MkIV and A7RIII are 0.5 stops of difference at maximum DR.
Is that really something to get out shape over?
http://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm#Canon%20EOS%205D%20Mark%20IV,Nikon%20D850,Sony%20ILCE-7RM3
When the 5D MkIII was trailing the competition by nearly three stops there was a point to be made, now, not so much........
http://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm#Canon%20EOS%205D%20Mark%20III,Nikon%20D810,Sony%20ILCE-7RM2
The 5D4 does have the banding issue.
Although, in my testing I was able to reproduce it - it was under insanely stupid levels of under exposure.
Literally, +4 or +5 stops increase and/or combined with +100 shadow increase (Lightroom).
The weakest underexposure I could do before this would occur required adjustments of +3 stops and ~80-100+ on shadows.
Anything exposed brighter than that, which still was for the most part - an almost completely dark image with some bright things to the left - did not exhibit this issue.
Anyway, my point is -- the +5 shadow and exposure lifting crowd scoffs at the 5D4's DR. Not only is it not as a good as Sony/Nikon, but it has issues with extreme adjustments causing banding not seen in the Sony/Nikon. This is Canon's first generation of on-chip ADC and high DR sensors...so they might be working out the bugs.
Personally, I think images like that, even lifted very well because of a great sensor - are still garbage and such "photography" isn't photography. We're talking in the realm of +5 stop HDR. I know I know...Sony can give you an HDR image in a moving scene where you can't do bracketing with Canon by lifting +5. Ok, they got that one. Enjoy it.
By moving subject, I will assume human beings in an a super high DR scene -- I will use strobes or flash. In the end, it will just look better anyway.
As I said before, these Sony people are like a new generation of photographers that significantly dispense with the use of artificial lighting even in extreme situations. They rely on sliders in post. They are very much more dependent on post processing and while I have nothing to back this up, it is my experience that on average, their images have more processing done to them. To their credit, in a world where most people are satisfied with cell phone picture quality - they can get away with it.
Too bad they don't realize there's no free lunch. There's no substitute in post for a large octabox powered with a strobe and the very high-end, beautiful portraiture look you get. No shadow lifting and tweaking in any program can recreate that.
Let's not forget that the DR issue was the main topic for years because that was the ONLY area they could beat up on Canon about. Now that Canon has caught up in that area for all practical purposes - they are now shifting to offering better speed and buffer in midrange bodies. And also in number of AF points (and bells and whistles)....