5DMARK III - HDR Mode only for JPG...why?

[mauro.canon]

from
http://learn.usa.canon.com/resources/articles/2012/5d3_hdr_capabilities.shtml
JPEG images only
For technical reasons, the EOS 5D Mark III's in-camera HDR Mode requires JPEG processing, and can only be done with bracketed JPEG shots.

...It's not possible for the final HDR image to be a .CR2 RAW file.

why?

note
If the bracketed source images are shot as reduced-resolution JPEGs, the final HDR image that results will likewise be at the same reduced-resolution JPEG setting.

question..is the quality of this hdr..jpg  enough for stock agencies (alamy, agefo..getty)?

[eeek]

But, if you shoot in raw, it saves the three shots in raw and you can do it yourself. That you could sell for stock.

[moreorless]

But, if you shoot in raw, it saves the three shots in raw and you can do it yourself. That you could sell for stock.

Seems the the main use of it to me, allowing you to see a standard HDR done in camera to judge the suitability of the shot, kind of like shooting B&W in raw to get some feedback but actually doing the proper conversion yourself latter.

[simonxu11]

The answer is simple, because it's 5D not 1D

[te4o]

Well, I think the in camera HDR is not meant to make you say WOW...
I am not a master of HDR, I like it if properly applied but I know how many pitfalls are there for a good imagery.
Dan Jurak, who is posting sometimes here, does 97% of his work in HDR (http://www.danjurak.com/) This is where the in-camera cannot compete (Dan, do you allow me to do some advertizing for your gallery, I learnt a lot there just from looking.)
I haven't seen an in-camera HDR which can deliver similar results yet.
I think that the HDR-jpeg will be deleted first and the RAW will stay to be worked on a computer.
I agree with previous posters on another thread that HDR in camera is useful to see what is possible and try to improve it in PP.
It could be useful especially for HDR starters (like me  ) who don't know how many shots in what AEB distance to use for a difficult scene. The JPEG can provide some immediate feedback. Unfortunately, the in-camera HDR is limited to only 3 shots whereas the manual AEB goes up to 7 (-3 to +3EV), so even there is no real sense behind it except for the curious...

[DramaMask]

What is a RAW file? --> The (almost) unprocessed data from the sensor
What is an HDR image? --> Highly processed data compiled from from three separate images.

Knowing this, it doesn't make sense to me for an HDR image to be coded as a RAW file. Perhaps a 16 TIFF would make sense though.

[awinphoto]

While I would have thought that they could do it in raw, i guess, like dramamask said, raws are uncompressed, hdr's are heavily processed... kinda counter productive, but still sounds odd... Then again, if it's saving the raw files for you, do you really want to leave it to chance to let the camera do the conversion for you or would you prefer to do it yourself to have total control (the whole purpose of raw files to begin with)...

[Canon-F1]

i see no reason to have HDR for .CR2 raw files.
they do not suppport 32 bit if im not completely wrong.
so it would need in camera tonemapping.

HDR is a highly creative process.. why would i let the camera do it?

it would be more logical to have in camera 32 bit file support (tiff, exr... etc.).
so the camera just puts all the infos together in one 32 bit file and you do the tonemapping later in postprocessing.

[grahamsz]

Seems the the main use of it to me, allowing you to see a standard HDR done in camera to judge the suitability of the shot, kind of like shooting B&W in raw to get some feedback but actually doing the proper conversion yourself latter.

I agree completely - having a preview of what something might look like in HDR will give me the impetus to take the raw files into photomatix. It'd be nice if Canon's tools could recreate that same image on the computer and let you tweak it from the camera's starting point.

I am disappointed that it can't fire off three bracketed frames with MLU (at least it sounds that way from the reports)