AE Bracketing for HDR

[walter.sk]

I shoot with an ancient 1DMkII, and just discovered something that simplifies bracketing for HDR.  I'm sure that newer Canons, Nikons and probably the whole crop of DSLR's have some equivalent way of doing it, so I will describe my process here.  It might help somebody else set their camera up for similar choices.

The Personal Functions in the 1DMkII are, unfortunately, accessible only through tethered control of the camera.  One of those PFn's allows me to choose whether bracketing when shooting with the Continuous Drive on will be 3, 5 or 7 pictures.  Nice, but having to program this through the computer seems like a PITA. However, the camera allows me to register 3 different sets of personal functions in the untethered camera, and then select which one I want to apply, on the fly, separate from the computer.

Now, I can go out and switch the number of pix that will be bracketed according to the contrast range in the scene I want to shoot.  If you hadn't thought about this, check out your brand and model of camera.  It really makes shooting for HDR easier.

The other such feature that I've enjoyed is being able to push a button on the camera to switch the focus point temporarily from the center to a position near the top of the focusing oval when shooting vertically, and have it return to the center point when I let go of the button.  Makes it great for rapid switching for portrait shots in the field.

[Jeremy Payne]

Isn't it great when you find something like that?

With the Nikon D700, you can easily choose 3, 5, 7, or 9 shots ... but the max separation is 1EV ... you can do 1/3 or 2/3 or 1EV ... but not 2 ...

If you could do 3 shots at 2EV spacing, that would be genius.   Every time I just want +2, 0 -2, I have to shoot 5 frames.

[walter.sk]

Isn't it great when you find something like that?

With the Nikon D700, you can easily choose 3, 5, 7, or 9 shots ... but the max separation is 1EV ... you can do 1/3 or 2/3 or 1EV ... but not 2 ...

If you could do 3 shots at 2EV spacing, that would be genius.   Every time I just want +2, 0 -2, I have to shoot 5 frames.

With the 1DMkII you can bracket anywhere from +/- 1/3 stop intervals to +/- 3 stop intervals, with 3, 5 or 7 pictures in the series.  Even if the indications i the viewfinder can't encompass the full range selected, the camera will expose as you have chosen.  And, of course, you can set the bracketing around whatever level of exposure compensation you desire.

I find it hard to believe that the D700 will not allow 3 shots at 2EV spacing, as even my little Canon G9 can do that.  Are you sure there is no custom function or menu choice that will allow that?

[Jeremy Payne]

I find it hard to believe that the D700 will not allow 3 shots at 2EV spacing, as even my little Canon G9 can do that.  Are you sure there is no custom function or menu choice that will allow that?

99.999% sure ... I had a G9 myself before I bough the D700 ... and I found it hard to believe too.  But to be fair, the feature set of the G9 is/was impressive ... I especially liked the live pre-shot histogram (also not on the D700).

If there is a way, I can't find it and I've looked ...

[JeffKohn]

I find it hard to believe that the D700 will not allow 3 shots at 2EV spacing, as even my little Canon G9 can do that.  Are you sure there is no custom function or menu choice that will allow that?

None of the Nikon DSLR's I've owned or used (and that's quite a few of them), can do it. It would be an absolutely trivial feature to implement, just a small firmware change I'm sure. But Nikon apparently doesn't care. Shooting 5-exposure brackets when you only need 3 may not seem like a big deal, but if you're doing a lot of bracketing with 24mp NEF's it adds up pretty quick, and can also increase the chances of lighting changes during the bracket sequence (especially if you're using Mirror-Up shooting mode).

[Ken Bennett]

The other such feature that I've enjoyed is being able to push a button on the camera to switch the focus point temporarily from the center to a position near the top of the focusing oval when shooting vertically, and have it return to the center point when I let go of the button.  Makes it great for rapid switching for portrait shots in the field.

This is one of the features that I miss most with the "new and improved" Canon user interface. I absolutely HATE the joystick controller. I have the main AF button set to 45-point area focus, and the point-select button set to center point. Works great for all kinds of subjects -- easy to switch between them.

I started using 1D Mark I in 2001, then moved on to 1D Mark II bodies, so I've been using the same interface for eight years.

And don't get me started on the removal of the interlocks. I was shooting with a 1Ds Mark III last summer, and found it had reset itself to shoot Small JPEGs instead of RAW files. That's impossible with the old bodies; one has to use both hands to change camera settings.

[walter.sk]

And don't get me started on the removal of the interlocks. I was shooting with a 1Ds Mark III last summer, and found it had reset itself to shoot Small JPEGs instead of RAW files. That's impossible with the old bodies; one has to use both hands to change camera settings.

Wouldn't it haave been nice and simple for Canon to have included a Custom Function to allow switching from the interlock, 2-handed method of changing settings to a one-handed way, leaving the choice to the photographer?