Hi,

How does the in camera HDR from mutliple exposuse in camera with D700 compare in terms of quality with what one gets with a software like Photomatix ?

Any comparison between both approaches ?

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In camera HDR is OK. Post process softwate gives much more control.
A similar comparison is a JPG out of the camera VS RAW with post process.

KenL

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As I recall from my D700, Nilesh, you hare limited to 2 shots and they are JPG's. You eliminate all control over the process, aside from controlling the initial exposures, and just let the camera do it. What you get is what you get, with only the ability to manipulate the JPG afterward.

If you need something "quick and dirty", it sure is a lot faster than doing it on a computer.

Mick
http://www.mickklassphoto.com
or
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They can be either JPEG or NEF and the 2 shot limit is for Overlay. If you use Multiple exposure you have more shots. Nikon just put up an article on using overlay and the article pointed out that if you were shooting a night stars scene and the moon, you would get a more realistic result by shooting in Overlay mode as adding in a moon later, you might not have the right environment that matches your star images. I have never tried this, but now that I have been reminded of these two modes I think I will experiment.

Bob Baldassano
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camera"

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The major benefit of going to the trouble of shooting (and processing) HDR images is the expanded level of control over exposure range, detail enhancement, increased color saturation and contrast. The D700, as has been pointed out, can only produce a very limited end product in this regard. Compound this with being left with an 8-bit color JPEG its probably not the best way to go.

Ernesto Santos

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Now offering fine art print services and ICC printer profiling.
Great service - at a great price!

Thanks Ken, Mick and Enselto.

Just checked my D700 and wanted to clarify - I think D 700 can take upto ten shots in multiple exposure (so that should give a fairly expanded range ?) and also records this in NEF (Raw).

I do understand of course the greater flexibility one gets with software like Photomatix - like "ghost" removal etc (which I loved) .

Will try and shoot and check the results in both methods so that I can decide whether for an amateur like me one can get any difference or does it make sense in buying a HDR software.

As a newbie am learning some of the HDR stuff and love it !

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Well, I may confuse things even more but it seems like people are talking about, and mixing up, two different things.

Regarding *in-camera* HDR: I also thought it was limited to using only two exposures, and limited to JPEG (and maybe TIFF) only? At least that's what my D800 is limited to. If NEF is turned on, the in-camera HDR option is turned off... That's what I thought was being correctly referred to by Mick (BTW, another Buffalo native?) in post #2.

This is different from the ability to take multiple bracketed exposures (in any format...) for post-producing HDR with Nik, Photomatix, etc.

Regards,
Glenn

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Hi Glenn,

I just googled on this and am posting a link whick kind of explains what I was trying to refer to -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EoRbVX7Drk

In my D 700 I dont think I have any seperate "in camera HDR" which you are referring to. I was kind of trying to experiment with multiple exposure (different from the bracketing option).

Thanks for taking time to respond.

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The D700 does not have an in camera HDR mode like the D800. But as your noted video shows you can manually set a number of images with various EV values and combine them in camera using the multi exposure function in the D700. Of course you will have less final control over the image, but it will be an HDR image by definition. This approach does not require a separate HDR program.

Bob Baldassano
My Nikonians Gallery

"Nikonians membership - My most important photographic investment, after the
camera"

Retirement is a gift of time - Don't waste it!

Okay -- thanks; that's what I get for talking about a camera I know nothing about -- turns out I'm the only one confused! But I learned something new!

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D700 does not have HDR in-camera, what it does have is Active-D Lighting. It works quite well to compress the exposure range a little bit, especially at base ISO.

What's nice about the D700 for HDR work using Photomatix, is that it is able to take up to nine auto-bracketted shots in NEF/RAW with a fairly high frame rate, and without a lot of noise, at 12MP which is a huge file for an HDR in RAW. Probably one of the best cameras for HDR work (outside of a D3/D3S/D3X perhaps)

Dave