CHAPTER 5 EXPOSURE AND FOCUS 67FIGURE 5.2
Digital cameras
are not good at
overexposure.
Highlights over-
come the sen-
sor’s ability to
record useful
information.
Some professional digital cameras capture 36 bits per pixel instead of 24, and are
better able to deal with high-contrast scenes than less expensive, point-and-shoot
digital cameras. Even though 24 bits per pixel means millions of color combinations
are possible, 36 bits per pixel increases that capability to billions. As a result, 36-bit
cameras capture what the human eye sees more accurately. This helps color balance
by providing more colors that can be edited and adjusted.Film Latitude
Accurate exposure is just as important with color reversal films as it is with digital.
Reversal films also have little exposure latitude—that is, they do not tolerate over- or
underexposure (see Figure 5.3). Colors in a transparency begin to look too dark with
as little as one-half stop underexposure. Because there is little tolerance for overex-
posure, colors look pale and bleached out.
Color negative film has much more exposure latitude than reversal film. You will
have a printable negative with as much as one stop underexposure or three stops of
overexposure. However, the best results always come from correctly exposed film.