Re: Digital camera (P&S or DSLR) with built in HDR feature

I think what the original post is about is why camera manufacturers are not

doing more to increase the pretty lame exposure latitude of current
digital 
sensors.
It is not clear that the new D3 sensor has any greater latitude or is 
accompli****ng its rumored ISO feats with improved data processing.
RAW formats allow, with much post exposure manipulation, the creation of 
images with a greater apparent than real increase in latitude. You are 
really bringing up the underexposed areas and trying to hide the noise.
You 
can do nothing with overexposed areas because of the limited exposure 
latitude of digital sensors to over-exposure, which has been re****ted to
be 
as little as 1/10th of a stop. Sekonic uses that figure to try to sell 
exposure meters so who knows if it is true or not. However it is obvious 
from experience that current dSLRs have very, very limited latitude to 
over-exposure.
Current in camera jpeg processing algorithms truncate image data to 8 bits

which in addition to limiting color gamut also limits exposure latitude
even 
further.
There have been a few announced patent filings that relate to this issue, 
including the Kodak modification of the Beyer filter which, if it works, 
would probably benefit low end more than high end sensors.