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Old 03-08-2015, 08:03 AM
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Atmos (Colin)
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Melbourne
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Garbz View Post
And yet there's an application that I use it for on a daily basis. Not everything requires the max dynamic range, specifically:

-Previewing: 2x binning + gain of around 40 allows me in 10 seconds to see if I have a faint outline of a nebula and I'm pointed in the right direction at the expense of horrendously clipped stars which are bleeding and drawing lines all over my picture.

-Focusing: doing a partial sensor download with the gain at almost as high as it will go makes short work of Bahtinov masks when focusing, even on a 1 second exposure.

Also lowest gain is not necessarily the highest dynamic range point on a sensor and binning has a big effect on gain and dynamic range so to maximise your dynamic range you want to run at a different gain when binning.
I do totally agree with you, same thing I do on my DSLR. ISO up at Hi2 (~26,000) for focusing. It does have its uses, I was more referring to using it in capturing lights. You make a good point though, especially with the binning which is something that does need to be considered with cameras that allow you to set the values.
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