HDR

It was a while before I understood this term. I now realise that far from trying to produce images with high dynamic range, it is trying to produce images with compressed dynamic range as the best approximation to what the eye sees.

That said, I see no logical reason why sensors and/or their software could not be developed to do this within the camera. I have no idea how far off the technology might be, but I'm sure that with a will it could be done. So that a camera would produce from a scene with high light intensity contrast an image that presented the scene much as the eye would have seen it - in those circumstances we generally don't just see brilliantly bright areas with the rest being virtually black as a moving video camera might portray, but we are usually able to compensate and adjust so that we see the entire image. Just like HDR in fact.

So what do you think? Might we see "HDR" cameras in a while?

Yes, I think we will, and not too far off either. One obvious advantage, as well as being able to accommodate wide ranges of light, is that exposure accuracy will not be a worry, as you'll be much less likely to have lost shadows or blown highlights.

Who do you think will lead the race? Noink appear to be ahead in the clever stuff at the moment. Or perhaps Sony.

Do you think we'll see it first on high-end DSLRs or on up-market compacts?