> I don't know of any 24-32-bit per channel sensors, and that's what you'd need. Dynamic range doesn't require bit depth. You can have an 8 bit sensor with 20

> I don't know of any 24-32-bit per channel sensors, and that's what you'd need. Dynamic range doesn't require bit depth. You can have an 8 bit sensor with 20 stops of dynamic range. You'll lose color/luminance resolution of course but as long as 255 is capturing a light that's 2^20 times stronger than 0 that's 20 stops of dynamic range. But more than that theoretical point there are already sensors pushing well beyond what humans can do in terms of dynamic range. Apparently humans have a respectable 10 stops and sensors are already in the 15 to 20 stop range and pushing beyond it: https://www.eoshd.com/2014/11/new-sony-sensor-21-stops-dynamic-range-5120-native-iso-destined-high-speed-cinema-camera-smartphone/ https://www.eoshd.com/2014/11/new-sony-sensor-21-stops-dynam... To map it into 16bit values you can just use a curve to distribute the bit depth unevenly across the dynamic range. Older DSLRs did that to get perfectly usable images with just 10 bits per channel.