tintedpane.com

Wow, three posts in one day. This must be a record. Before you go on, be warned this is a rather nerdy post.

I was reading from the fred miranda forums about people’s wish list for the next Canon DSLR. A poster suggested per pixel ISO adjustments. I was pretty blown away by this idea. Most digital cameras can only capture around 6 stops worth of dynamic range. As it turns out, our environment can span 10 stops worth of dynamic range. This guy’s proposition could preclude the need to bracket shots and the use of digital blending. Very interesting.

Here’s an excerpt:

bq. Now moving a bit out of the box….
How about the ability to alter ISO pixel by pixel?
ISO set to 100. The sky is too bright, the ground is too dark. Exposure is correct to the highlights and, based on a pixel by pixel histogram, the system alters the ISO of the dark areas to achieve correct exposure. I get to set a limit of 1 or 2 stops for this action.
This is over simplified. A reasonably good algorithm would be necessary to prevent very flat images.
Call it an electronic neutral density filter.

Source.