How best to see very high dynamic range images

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ronviers@gmail.com - 05 Aug 2006 13:39 GMT

How do display devices like CRT, LCD and Plasma monitors, that use
transmitted light with additive color, compare to other devices like
projectors, that use transmitted light with subtractive color, to paper
that uses incident ambient light (that could be very bright) with
subtractive color, in terms of dynamic range? I am guessing that the
transmitted light devices will always have an advantage over ambient
devices but I am not at all sure about that. Is there an inherent
advantage to an additive vs. subtractive color model?
Much of the relationship must be temporal because the brain, it seems
to me, would perceive greater dynamic range by looking at a looking at
a very bright image after looking at a long series of dark ones
-probably because the brain is constantly moving its black point
around.
Is money better spent on a high end device like a plasma monitor, a
projector or a viewing room with controlled lighting, for displaying
still images with very high dynamic range?

Thanks,
Ron

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stauffer@usfamily.net - 05 Aug 2006 14:40 GMT

> How do display devices like CRT, LCD and Plasma monitors, that use
> transmitted light with additive color, compare to other devices like
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
>
> Thanks,

You bring up a good point. Virtually NO display device, including
prints, can show the whole range of a 16 bit per color image. This is
nothing new- prints never could show the whole range of film negatives.
Viewing the old transparencies in a completely dark room with a good
projector was the only way to even approach the range on films.

There is a lot of specsmanship going on in display advertising these
days. I do not believe at all the dynamic ranges they say they are
getting.

The reason for using RAW or things like that is that you can select
yourself what parts of the available tonal scale to print, not be a
slave to a computerized determination of which tones to save during
compression (yes, jpeg compresses tonal range).

To really get full tonal range of ANY display, wear dark clothing and
work in a completely dark room. Have no large white or light colored
objects between you and display, or anywhere near the display. Any
ambient light bounces off screens raising black level, and light from
light areas of screen can bounce off of you and white colored objects,
bouncing back at screen, where it is re-reflected.

> Ron

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ronviers@gmail.com - 05 Aug 2006 16:02 GMT

I thought of connecting two 8.5" Schmidt-Cassegrains to my Veiwmaster
and pointing it at the sun but that seems a little unwieldy.

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Unclaimed Mysteries - 05 Aug 2006 16:21 GMT

> I thought of connecting two 8.5" Schmidt-Cassegrains to my Veiwmaster
> and pointing it at the sun but that seems a little unwieldy.

Don't cross the streams.

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It Came From Corry Lee Smith's Unclaimed Mysteries.
http://www.unclaimedmysteries.net

"And now, They have even got a machine that can tell if you're thinking.
It's called a TV. If it's off, you're guilty." - Rev. Ivan Stang

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Frank ess - 05 Aug 2006 16:42 GMT

>> How do display devices like CRT, LCD and Plasma monitors, that use
>> transmitted light with additive color, compare to other devices
[quoted text clipped - 45 lines]
> objects,
> bouncing back at screen, where it is re-reflected.

Makes sense to me.

The most glorious display of a color image in my experience was a
Kodachrome slide viewed in a Kodak hand-held viewer with a strong
white source shining through and a bit of that light on the near
surface. I reckon it will be a while before the currents yield up a
comparable digital view.

Signature

Frank ess

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Newshound - 05 Aug 2006 23:08 GMT

> Makes sense to me.
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> reckon it will be a while before the currents yield up a comparable
> digital view.

Absolutely. Kodachrome II for preference.

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ronviers@gmail.com - 05 Aug 2006 17:48 GMT

> The reason for using RAW or things like that is that you can select
> yourself what parts of the available tonal scale to print, not be a
> slave to a computerized determination of which tones to save during
> compression (yes, jpeg compresses tonal range).

Maybe there could be something like virtual dynamic range where
software could morph saturation with its compliment according to the
depletion rate of your cones and morph out of bound brightness
according to the depletion rate of your rods. It would be like drinking
out of a fire hose with your eyes.

Thanks,
Ron

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