5D III Dynamic Range

[bestimage]

Folks,
Greetings,
As we all know the dynamic range of 5D MK III is not better than its counterpart Nikon D800. I was wondering if this deficiency could be addressed by using single shot HDR for batch processing. Has anyone tried HDR batch process to improve dynamic range, what would be good software for this purpose or any other comments. Thanks in advance.
Raj

[RLPhoto]

The popcorn is popping as I type. 

[bestimage]

That means ?

[ishdakuteb]

that means he is waiting for "flame war" with his pop corn... hic.. hic... i am getting tired of that too.  however, back to your question.  below is the link to show you the good way:

HDR Ep 115: Take & Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey: Adorama Photography TV

[rpt]

That means ?

Like ishdakuteb says, it means that your original post could result in an all out polarization on this thread leading to at least two well defined poles and possibly a third one that represents the "neutral/do not care" segment with a very low possibility of a fourth segment trying very hard to keep technical responses of this thread on track...

[rpt]

I use Photomatix Pro, Lightroom Enfuse, and CS5/6 32 bit HDR.

Mostly I use Enfuse, it batch processes well and is comparatively quick and the results very good. Photomatix does do batch processing but the results are very inconsistent as normally each image needs a slightly different adjustment. The CS5/6 32 bit HDR is beautiful, it gives far and away the most natural looking files but is a system hog, each image takes a decent amount of time and you need to record an action to make it a batch process, plus you then need to edit it in a 32 bit enabled program, from Adobe that would be either Lightroom 4 or Camera RAW7 that shipped with ACR in CS6.

Generally I will use Enfuse for interiors and some exteriors, I use Photomatix Pro for difficult exteriors and more dramatic looks. I use CS5/6 for big prints when I want the best and have the time to spend. If I had to choose one program it would be Enfuse, if I had to lose one it would be Photomatix Pro.

Thank you for bringing us back on track.

[awinphoto]

single shot HDR

How would an HDR from a single shot change anything?
That's like scaling the image up to get the same number of megapixels the D800 has.

Both Topaz adjust and Adobe CS6  do a nice job at single shot HDR...  I prefer topaz adjust personally with a touch of detail, but to each their own.  The problem is they can easily get overdone and I dont like, personally, the overdone look... I like a little pop... Not more not less... The difference is topaz and the like tend to give the image overall punch, especially dependent on how you have the sliders...  Plus you can get unnatural halo's and such.  It really is a slippery slope.  The D800 and it's 14 stops of DR, tend to do the opposite, it is very natural but very flat as a result.  So you need to do tweeking to give it that pop. Of course, you could use topaz or CS6 to give it that pop, and it could arguably do a better job with less noise due to the extra information anyways, but that's another topic for a different day.  In the end, it really, honestly, doesn't matter, and it is what it is...  Dont worry about extra DR that you likely wouldn't need or want anyways. 

[David Hull]

Folks,
Greetings,
As we all know the dynamic range of 5D MK III is not better than its counterpart Nikon D800. I was wondering if this deficiency could be addressed by using single shot HDR for batch processing. Has anyone tried HDR batch process to improve dynamic range, what would be good software for this purpose or any other comments. Thanks in advance.
Raj

If the information ain't there in the original single shot, then it won't be there in the post processed result regardless of how you try to post process it.  Put another way, there is no way you can squeeze 14 stops of DR out of a capture that only had 12 stops of information in the first place.   

[DanielW]

IF you want a real answer- the answer is, the read out noise in the Canon cameras is high due theirs read out from the sensor edge  to the ADC, as long the read out noise is 14 times higher than the Sony/Nikon cameras at base iso there will be problem for Canon to get a large DR at base iso as  Sony have with theirs column wise ADC onboard the sensor chip. And add that the Canon sensor has banding issues/pattern noise in the lower levels.
Simple facts

Now who could have foreseen this?

[RMC33]

that means he is waiting for "flame war" with his pop corn... hic.. hic... i am getting tired of that too.  however, back to your question.  below is the link to show you the good way:

HDR Ep 115: Take & Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey: Adorama Photography TV

THanks for this!

[m]

Dont worry about extra DR that you likely wouldn't need or want anyways.

But the OP worries about it.

Whatever you apply, you could do the same to the image data that initially has more DR.

You cannot get more juice out of this orange than it contains.
Especially not more than out of that other orange that happens to have more juice in it.
No matter what fancy juicer you use.

If the juice is tastier or not was not the question.

[Aglet]

Folks,
Greetings,
As we all know the dynamic range of 5D MK III is not better than its counterpart Nikon D800. I was wondering if this deficiency could be addressed by using single shot HDR for batch processing. Has anyone tried HDR batch process to improve dynamic range, what would be good software for this purpose or any other comments. Thanks in advance.
Raj

"HDR" can mean two things: multi-shot exposure bracketing (to overcome limitations in camera sensors) and tonemapping (to overcome limitations in display/print technology). When you are doing "single-shot HDR", you are only doing tonemapping.

-h

That about sums it up.
You can only tone map a single shot, you can't get more DR from it altho you can compress it to look that way.  You'll still have the original limitations of whatever camera you shot it with.

So I think the answer to your actual question is, No, even if there is a batch process to do this you would not be able to gain any DR from it.

Expanding DR beyond any camera's limitations will require multiple exposures bracketed appropriately to provide the extra range required.  More files, more data, more processing and more limitations in the form of things possibly moving within the image from one shot to the next.
No real batch process for that either as each image will usually require some tweaking to make it look right.

Sorry, no shortcuts.  Best compromise is to use the highest DR camera you can use and tone-map as desired if you want to do single shot only.

Meanwhile, you may not realize you just created another DR argument minefield that people are now jumping around in, somewhat off-topic. 

[K-amps]

Speaking of DR compression; Here's a thought....

Pixel or photosite level "Electronic shutter".

 areas of the sensor with enough light shut off sooner than the areas that need the shutter to be open longer... till you have perfect exposure with reduce DR capturing everything and no banding or gradient issues.

I should patent this and sell it to Sony quick...

[pwp]

Below is the link to show you the good way:
HDR Ep 115: Take & Make Great Photography with Gavin Hoey: Adorama Photography TV

+1 This is a great little tutorial and the most relevant contribution to this thread. I've bookmarked it. Thanks.

-PW

[lintoni]

Speaking of DR compression; Here's a thought....

Pixel or photosite level "Electronic shutter".

 areas of the sensor with enough light shut off sooner than the areas that need the shutter to be open longer... till you have perfect exposure with reduce DR capturing everything and no banding or gradient issues.

I should patent this and sell it to Sony quick...

Continuously measuring and then switching off 20.000.000+ pixels as required ?  Good luck with the processing required and the noise generated.