'Pentax = Built-In-HDR'

[Panther_99FS]

http://apcmag.com/pentax_adds_hdr_capabilities_to_their_latest_dslrs .htm

[EasyEd]

Hey All,


Now this is really interesting. I'm a fan of well done HDR as I think it a major improvement over straight digital photos in many cases and for many subjects. However can the blending and tonemapping really "get it right"? If it does it is a great step forward - if it doesn't it'll give a really powerful tool a really bad name. Also it gives the user no sense of the power of HDR in terms of when you want just a little versus a lot of tonemapping effect. I'm assuming that the camera does save the 3 RAWS (or Tiffs or JPGs) so you can post process yourself if you don't like what you get. I would think it better if you had the option of 5 exposures as well as 3 - more than five is rarely ever needed.

Here is an example of where I think HDR is well done. Your eye probably sees the big picture while the camera will take the small 0 labelled image. So by combining an over exposure with an under exposure and a "correct" exposure you get a much better more complete exposure that more closely shows what your eye sees. (I think he got the +1 and -1 labels backwards from the way people might think of exposure)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lava2bk/2506567487/sizes/l/

-Ed-

[Moparmike]

Hey P. The K20d is old news. :173go1:
I'm patiently waiting til the K20d drops in price a bit...that's what I'm eyeballing to replace my DL with. Unless I get a bang-up deal on an older K10d that is. I think I'd be happy with either one even though I think both the 10 and 20 are kinda big & clunky.

The built-in HDR feature has been talked about on several of the Pentax forums. A couple of guys that I know shooting a 20 and playing with HDR still prefer the results they're getting from Photoshop or other computer based software. The on-camera feature doesn't give you much control over the processing but it might be enough to get more people interesting in fiddling with HDR.

Ed, that CRV shot shows a very neat "everyday" use of HDR. The range across the sky and that little puffball cloud show off the processing nicely!