Dynamic Range
Dynamic range is the span between the darkest shadow detail and the brightest highlight detail a sensor can capture in a single exposure, usually expressed in stops. A scene with genuinely high contrast — deep shadows alongside bright sky, for example — can exceed a sensor's dynamic range, forcing a choice between losing shadow detail to noise or blowing out highlight detail entirely.
Larger sensors generally offer more dynamic range at a comparable sensor-technology generation, since more total light-gathering area per pixel (or per given resolution) tends to produce a cleaner shadow noise floor, widening the usable range before shadows become unrecoverable. Sensor design and processing generation matter just as much as physical size, though, which is why a recent smaller-sensor camera can outperform an older larger-sensor one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does shooting RAW give more dynamic range than JPEG?
The sensor captures the same physical dynamic range either way, but RAW preserves far more of that captured range for recovery in post-processing, while JPEG compression and in-camera processing discard much of it permanently at the moment of capture.
How does dynamic range relate to HDR photography?
HDR (high dynamic range) techniques combine multiple exposures at different brightness levels specifically to capture a wider effective range than any single exposure's native dynamic range could hold on its own, a deliberate workaround for scenes exceeding the sensor's real capability.