Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Steve Kale 
<stevekale@b...> wrote:
> But while the top half of the bucket contains the same amount of 
water as
> the bottom half, it represents only 1 unit of dynamic range (linear 
device).
> If you keep halving the amount of water left and thereby measuring 
off 1
> unit of exposure or dynamic range each time, the amount of water 
available
> to that "zone" is a lot less.  At some point the amount of water per
> exposure zone is so little it is unusable and at some point falls 
below a
> sample unit.  So the size of your sample (minimum measurement) is 
important.
> There is no doubt we would rather have a bigger, fuller bucket to 
begin
> with.  But there is benefit to being able to sample or measure off 
the
> bucket in smaller units because at the end of the day we drink the 
water
> (manipulate images) in these units.
> 

Did I ever say that the sample size wasn't important? No I don't 
believe I did. Simply that you can divide the bucket up into big 
amounts, or small amounts. And whether you sample the actual bucket, 
or make it look like you are sampling a bucket that is twice the size.

No matter what method you use, you can not fill the bucket past full! 
Your dynamic range (excluding noise) is the bucket size from empty to 
full. You can not get a bucket that is less than empty. You can not 
get a bucket that is more than full. How you want to count it is up 
to you, including whether you consider a part full cup as nothing 
(zero) or full (one), when the bucket is full, it will have (n) cups 
worth. If you have a bucket that is nearly full, it is up to you to 
decide if that last cup has enough water in it to count as full, or 
count as empty.