On Mon, 03 Feb 2003 17:58:52 -0800, bob@bluescreeen.com wrote:

>mitchgross@aol.com (MitchGross) wrote:

>>The negative of -3db (sound like a double-neg.?) is that it also limits your

>>dynamic range, meaning that you don't get as much room in underexposure and

>>overexposure.

>I have heard this before, but after some thought there is no technical

>explanation I can think of which would make this statement true.

>

>The various electronic amplification stages in a well built camera all have

>**MUCH** greater dynamic range than the pickup devices, so why would reducing

>the gain in any of them by 3db have any different effect on the overall

>dynamic range than putting a light ND in front of the lens? All you're doing

>is moving the dynamic range up or down a larger scale.

>

>Unless someone can provide a believable technical explanation for why -3db

>should limit dynamic range in any way, I have to say that it sounds like an

>urban legend to me.

I agree, at least in terms of my experience with the

VX1000 - the "-3db" setting only affected the resultant

exposure settings, not the appearance of the image

when the light was sufficient to not run the gain high...