Nikon D4 HDR

[James Parker]

I briefly read the specs on the new D4 and it said something about being able to do HDR in camera. The thing I didn't understand, Having never done HDR, is that it said the in camera process only used two shots and I thought a reading of three areas was required. Any thoughts? Jim

[arash_hazeghi]

HDR is taking two or more images (underexposed and overexposed) and combining them to extend the dynamic range. 2 is the min you need.

[John Chardine]

James- How many images you make is determined by the dynamic range of the scene in question. For scenes with relatively low dynamic range, two images might be enough, for scenes with more, you may need 5 + to capture the range. I do a lot of HDR (it's so much fun) and usually can get away with three images at -2ev, 0, +2. There is a trade-off here (as there always seems to be in photography)- the more images you make for an HDR, the more noise and chromatic aberrations tend to show up in the final image. In a broad sense you don't need multiple images to make an HDR image. When you use Photoshop's Shadows and Highlights, dodge the shadows and burn the highlights, or make exposure adjustments (Fill, Recover, black point etc) in Adobe Camera Raw, you are using HDR technique. You can get very pleasing results from a single RAW image too. Just bring it into to Adobe Camera Raw and adjust the Exposure slider three separate times to simulate -2, 0, +2, and save the three images. I use Photomatix Pro for HDR processing and find it does an excellent job even with a single RAW image. I have never had good success with the HDR facility in Photoshop CS5. There are several cameras out there right now that do HDRs internally- that is make more than one image and combine in camera and it's clear that whether you like it or not, HDR will be offered in most if not all bodies in the future.

A very good book on HDR is Rick Sammon's "HDR Photography: Secrets for Digital Photographers".

[Randy Stout]

James:

The in camera HDR function is only two frames, based on one overexposed frame and one normal frame. You of course can use the extensive auto bracketing function to do up to 9 frames with exposure steps ranging from 1/3 to 3 full stops!
The latter frames can be processed in post.

Cheers

Randy

[Alan Stankevitz]

Canon is offering similar in-camera HDR now in the 1Dx and 5D Mark III. I seriously doubt I would use the in-camera feature however since I do not think you would get the same flexibility as post-processing the image(s) using a package such as Photomatix Pro. Similarly to John, I also prefer Photomatix Pro and do not use CS5's for this.

Alan
www.iwishicouldfly.com

[James Parker]

Alan, Randy, John and Arash, Thanks all of you I appreciate your time and expertise. Jim