Why do camcorders have a relatively small luminance range?

[Dosdan]

I always notice the problems getting the right exposure in auto mode when you have a mixture of very bright and dim at the same time. Is exposure control on miniDVs done by varying an electromechanical iris or by electronically varying the sensitivity of the CCD? If the later method is used, would the former be superior?

Is luminance DR a function of CCD imaging elements?

How does this compare to vacuum-tube image devices? (Are they still used anywhere?)

How much difference is there in the luminance range of a consumer camera compared to pro versions? How do pro cameras improve this?

Going to 3 CCDs would improve colour accuracy but it doesn't do anything for DR. Is that true?

[troyvcd1]

It is all related to the CCD inside the camcorder. This holds true for digital cameras too. They only have a f-stop range of about 3. When you have a very bright day with dark shadows your f stop range is going to be 5 for the picture and no CCD whether in a digital camera or camcorder can correctly capture this. There is work in the correct direction namely with the new fuji s3 digital camera that has a mozaic design as opposed to a lateral design. This combined with new software will capture a greater dynamic range.