The Sony Alpha DSLR-A100K also incorporates what Sony calls Dynamic Range Optimization (DRO). This hardware-based system is said to analyze and manipulate RAW data in-camera, before processing and JPEG compression, in order to recover shadow or highlight detail that might otherwise be lost.
Because Sony didn’t let us take our Alphas home from Alaska, none of us has had a chance to determine whether DRO is worth yet another acronym — whether it really gives the camera a tonal advantage over its competitors. But the system did seem to tame the relentless light of Alaska’s summer, holding good detail even in sunlit snow. The system appeared, in fact, to lessen the need for RAW mode, which of course the Alpha 100 offers.