How many stops can a digital camera capture?

Question

How many stops can a digital camera capture?

I wondering if some one know, or have measure, the stops also for the negative or positive film, the human eyes, the monitor, the television, etc...

Thank you in advanced.

Answer

The answer will most probably change in time.

Current top cameras are said to capture around 10-11 stops at base ISO, less at higher ISOs, see DPReview tests of Nikon D3X for example. As a sidenote - you won't probably like the pictures that are processed to measure the maximum dynamic range, they'll simply lack contrast you'd expect from "normal" picture.

Negative film is said to have up to 9-10 stops of latitude and reversal film around 5-6 stops. What you're actually able to see also depends on the medium used to present the picture - prints from negatives are usually limited to what the paper can reproduce, slides to what can be projected and digital images to what the monitor is able to show.

Update: I've made a DR test on my 5D (the old one, not mk2) and with default settings I get 9 stops of usable range, with special processing 11+ (there is probably more room on the shadows' side):

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