DSLR Cameras for HDR

One of the essential features that a camera must have for HDR photography is exposure compensation. At a minimum, the camera should allow you to manually change the exposure settings with relative ease. This will allow a camera mounted on a tripod to shoot HDR images. Trying to handhold and shoot HDR using exposure compensation is pretty much impossible because you have to fumble through the dials. That’s where Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) comes in. AEB is ESSENTIAL for handheld shooting as it allows you to fire off the entire HDR image set by pressing the shutter release for each image. No fumbling needed, just preset the camera, compose the image and press for each release of the shutter.

 

Another great feature to use with AEB is Continuous Shooting mode. With Continuous Shooting activated the camera will shoot all the frames continuously while HOLDING the shutter release down. This allows for steadier handholding and because of the rapid fire, helps reduce ghosting. Don’t get carried away about spending more money on a camera for HDR just for the high frames per second. Not worth it.

 

Today’s DSLRs have AEB but some don’t cover enough dynamic range. At a minimum the camera in AEB mode should capture a range of at least 4EV (see column 5). That means at least a +2EV and a –2EV image is created in the exposure set. Canon, some of the Nikon’s, Pentax, and the Fuji S3 Pro are able to shoot this sequence by taking 3 images at 2EV spacing. The high-end Nikon’s and Fuji S5 Pro, require 5 images at 1EV spacing but still capture the same dynamic range. A camera with 3 frames @ 1EV spacing isn’t going to allow enough dynamic range in AEB mode. These camera’s are at the bottom of the chart. If you have one of these camera’s, all is not lost, just use a tripod and dial in the exposure each time.

Some DSLRs allow you to choose the order of bracketing, for example, Meter/Under/Over. What’s the best? The best order of bracketing is Meter/Under/Over. The Under and Over exposed images are essential to HDR and when shot in succession with little time gap, can reduce ghosting. Just omit the Metered exposure and merge-to-HDR the Under and Over images. If they were shot in continuous shooting mode, all the better.

 

HANDHELD TECHNIQUE

Photomatix, CS3, FDRTools, EasyHDR are able to align your source images but when handheld shooting, good techniques are still needed. When shooting handheld concentrate on being steady. Look through the viewfinder and use one of the etch marks in the viewer and lock it on a feature in the scene. Press the shutter release on hold steady for all the shots.

 

Before you pay the full price, the Photomatix tutorial has a discount coupon for the program.

Copyright 2007 Ferrell McCollough