K-5 In Camera HDR Part 2

This time at Rufford Old Hall, looking through the spy hatch into the Great Hall. The ancient oak screen in the foreground would be pitch black without doing something about it and in-camera HDR seems to do the job very well.

Perfect hdr... i.e., doesn't look like hdr but brings out the details!

Cheers, Kris.

Yes, it works and the camera HDR generates a nice result. You have to have the camera stable of course, because it takes 3 actual seperate 'frames', although I believe the mirror remains up throughout as it sounds like only the shutter re-cycling. John how did you keep the camera steady there?

And also, surely we are going to be told that HDR is not necessary here with a K5 and its DR capabilities? Just expose for the windows and use some massive shadow correction.

I can't speculate what we are going to be told, but I was there and I don't fancy any camera having a chance at recording it all....

However, the camera has an auto align feature and also when we look through the peep hole it's possible to wedge the camera and lens quite securely. There are lots of techniques for stabilising a camera when shutter speeds are slower. It's where a bit of lateral thinking comes in very handy.

So for in-camera HDR, provided we are realistic in our expectations, we don't necessarily need a tripod. For the conventional 7 exposure HDR that I often use, then we do need a tripod.

Hope that helps!

Lets hope we don't need 6 pages of histograms and 200% crop comparisons to back you up I have also found the auto-align (on the K7)very good, and have been able to prop the camera on a seat in low-light and get good results, so yes, its is a very practical and versatile 'get out of jail card'.

Do you really use 7 shots for Photmatix work? I find 5 is plenty, and the camera auto-bracket feature makes an easy job of it.

Yes Nigel I use 7 shots and do it manually. The camera is set to Av and I alter the exposure compensation to change the exposure.