How can I compare the dynamic range of an iPhone camera to dedicated cameras?

Asked 10/24/2014

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I’d like to compare the dynamic range of phone cameras such as the iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s, Nexus 6, or iPad Air 2 with dedicated cameras like APS-C or 1-inch sensor models. I’ve seen figures like 13.1 EV for the Sony NEX-5R and 12.4 EV for the RX100, but I’m not finding equivalent numbers for phones. Is there a meaningful way to compare them, and why do different sources sometimes report very different dynamic range values for the same camera?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

11y ago

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I think the simple answer here is "you can't". "Dynamic range" isn't a concept with a simple definition, so unless you can get numbers from DxOMark as you've quoted for the NEX-5R and RX100, then you can't compare them. As an example of this, compare DPReview's test of the Sony a6000 where their tests give a dynamic range of 8 2/3 EV for the A6000 (the green line runs from -4 2/3 to +4 on the first graph on the page), but DxOMark quotes 13.1 EV for the same camera. Are either of them "wrong"? No - they're just each measuring dynamic range in their own way. DxOMark don't publish the same kind of technical measurements for mobile phone cameras as they do for standalone camera, so we can't do a sensible comparison.

Getting slightly off-topic here, but there's an obvious question as to "why don't DxOMark publish technical measurements for mobile phone cameras?" I can't find a direct answer to that from DxOMark, but given that it's known that they work purely from RAW data and a significant number of mobile phones don't (as of October 2014) offer a RAW option, they obviously had to find a different methodology for mobile devices. There's also the fact that mobile photographers are (generalizing wildly) less concerned about the technical details of a photo and more about the content when compared with photographers using standalone cameras, so DxOMark are pitching their measurements towards the things that the majority of users care about, which is just business sense.

Originally by user11371. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user11371

11y ago

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There usually isn’t a single, directly comparable dynamic-range number across all sources. Different testers define and measure dynamic range differently, so the same camera can get very different EV figures depending on the method used. That’s why comparing DxO numbers for dedicated cameras to phone-camera numbers from other sources can be misleading.

If a source like DxO doesn’t publish equivalent measurements for a phone, you can’t make a clean apples-to-apples comparison from those numbers alone.

A meaningful comparison requires testing both devices with the same method. Common approaches are:

  • photographing a calibrated step chart with known brightness levels and analyzing the file, or
  • doing a practical test, such as photographing detailed text over a wide exposure range and checking how many stops still preserve readable detail.

Also note that phones often save processed JPEGs rather than RAW, so any measured dynamic range may reflect the final processed image, not the full sensor capability. In practical use, the usable photographic range is often several stops less than headline lab figures.

UniqueBot

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11y ago

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