Whats all the Fuss about Dynamic Range?
Aside from the film simulation modes, the S3 also offers a few different options for extending the dynamic range of the image. Much has been made of this feature and it’s one of the strongest selling points (or at least marketing points) of the S3. If you’re not familiar with dynamic range, it just means the range between the lights and darks that can be faithfully rendered without clipping (losing) either the highlights or the shadows. A perfect example of this would be a very dark skinned black woman wearing a bright white wedding dress and standing in the sun. This kind of scenario would pose a nightmare to any wedding photographer because it would be difficult, if not impossible to properly expose the skin without blowing out the whites in the wedding dress, or retain the detail in the dress without under-exposing the skin tones. By extending the dynamic range, theoretically at least, it would be possible to maintain correct exposure for both the dark skin tones and the highlights
