Dynamic range
Looking over my images, it is clear that the DP2 Merrill is capable of capturing a wide range of tones, and holds its own against the competition. Detail in some highlights is not always retained, such as the shine on skin in a portrait or sunlit white clouds in a landscape, but this is not unusual for a camera at this level. In fact, the camera’s evaluative metering looks to maintain highlight detail anyway, so this is less of an issue.
The main concern, however, is that detail in shadow areas is noisy in any setting above ISO 200, so there is less scope to bring back underexposed images and keep them looking ‘clean’. The camera does not feature an HDR mode, but auto bracketing over three frames is possible, although a tripod is necessary to use this shooting mode effectively.
