philip_pj
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Yes, there is certainly no crime in leaving parts of the histogram vacant at either end. Many lenses do not handle highlights with grace, as as example.
It's an artistic pursuit and that is the best part of the process to be honest, for which you have to enjoy post-processing.
All that said, wide dynamic range is, however, the best yardstick for sensor-based image quality, for shadow recovery and to provide the best 'clean canvas' for your moves in post.
Like many, I have lost a lot of images to Subject Brightness Range (SBR) (which is a scene attribute) so wide that the camera used simply could not record it satisfactorily. I refer here to landscape photography in particular. You had to walk away.
This is also true for documentary work in harsh light conditions, where the aim is to record the subject faithfully, with credible detail and colour. In distant and remote environments, you need a high hit rate and that is what wide DR provides.
I do agree there is a threshold above which the wider DR is not necessary or desired, given the other factors involved. The top tier of cameras for DR is dominated by large, heavy and unwieldy devices that I would not personally use. On average, they grant you an extra stop or so of range, but if a 200kw car does the job, who needs a 250kw one?
Click 'Maximum PDR' to order the camera list bottom left here:
https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/PDR.htm
These are the reasons we all owe Sony Corporation a debt of gratitude for lighting the fire under their posteriors. God knows how long it would have taken the sleeping Rip Van Winkle duopoly to wake from their comfortable slumber.
Sony came along at the exact right time, speaking personally. I post this information every few years because, to paraphrase Robert Louis Stevenson in Treasure Island: 'people have a grand memory for forgetting'.
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