HDR: RAW vs 5exp

[Mr Yuck]

Another reason to shoot in RAW:

You can convert a RAW file to HDR, and it's pretty close.

The first one is a 5 exposure HDR, bracketed using a 10 second timer on a Rebel XT, the second is from a single RAW (from the Rebel XT)

These were tonemapped in Photomatix, using the same settings.

5exp

Flickr Page

RAW

Flickr Page

Cloud position is different between them because of the 10 second timer, there was about a minute between the first and last shots, because this is a loaner camera and I couldnt figure out how to reduce the self timer to a more reasonable length, otherwise the skies would be closer to the same.

[Killjoy]

I think I actually like the shot from the RAW file better. It has that great dynamic range, and yet the clouds are not all soft and fuzzy from moving between shots.
When you made this from a RAW file, did you save five different exposures from the one file, and then combine?

[Mr Yuck]

actually I just went in photomatix and converted RAW to HDR.

The reason there was so much cloud movement in the real one was because I used the self timer to eliminate shaking when I pressed the shutter button, I wont do that again with this camera though because it only has a 10 second timer... (what's up with that? My A570 lets me have a 1-10 second timer, and the Rebel XT which is double the price of the compact digital doesnt have that??)

[imported_timothybui]

Where can I get photomatix? I'm not having fun doing HDR with CS2.

[Mr Yuck]

Here

there's also a plugin for CS2 for less money, I do like the standalone program though.

[imported_JeromeL]

i have to agree. the raw file seems alittle more "real(?)". i have the brackets for some hdr shots, just gotta get it all assembled, i can't wait!