D800 Exposure Bracketing issue

<p>I recently upgraded from a D200 to the D800 (big jump I know!) I predominately shoot landscapes <a href="http://www.guy-richardson.com">www.guy-richardson.com</a> hence the purchase over the D600. I use the bracketing feature the majority of the time to capture the correct exposure range for a scene as I don't use ND Grads. However upon receiving the camera I realised I can only bracket images to a maximum of 1EV whereas the D600 can shoot 2EV. I usually shoot 3 frames to cover to get the best overall quality from a scene but if I wanted to match EV of the D600 or even lesser cameras I have t shoot 5 frames which is time consuming and a unnecessary waste. <br>

Considering the D800 has one of the highest dynamic ranges on the market I would have thought they would make the most of it rather than removing this feature as a marketing ploy (which I believe it is) Has anyone else found this issue annoying or caused them not to buy the D800?<br>

I sent Nikon support an email regarding this issue. <em>See my email and their response below. </em><br>

<em> </em><br>

<strong><em>My Email</em></strong><br>

<em>Hi there,</em><br>

<em><br />I recently purchased the highly anticipated D800 and as a Landscape photographer I use bracketing on a regular basis. Upon using the bracketing feature I was amazed and disappointed to find that the maximum EV steps between each image is only 1 EV. Considering the less professional cameras in your range like the D7000 and D600 offer up to 2 EV and less dynamic range than the D800 I find this lack of flexibility baffling. I understand I can achieve 2 EV by bracketing 5 shots instead of the normal 3 but then I have 2 images I have to delete each time. Could I ask if this issue has been addressed before or if there is a firmware update to correct it?<br /><br />Kind regards, <br /><br />Guy Richardson</em><br>

<em> </em><br>

<strong><em>Response </em></strong><br>

<em>Dear Guy, <br /><br />Thank you for your email.<br /><br />We appreciate your suggestion about our product. This particular request has been raised a few times already and forwarded to Nikon Japan. I will escalate your email to the Design & Quality Department for consideration as well - however I cannot promise it will be addressed in a firmware update for the D800.<br /><br />Please do not hesitate to contact us again in case of any questions.<br /><br />Kind regards,<br /><br />Aleksander Nowak<br />Nikon Europe Support</em></p>

<p><em><br /></em>It sounds like the more fuss is made from the consumer will have a positive effect on them updating the firmware to fix the issue. So please, if you find this problem a pain in the a** then please email Nikon as it's the only way it will be changed. </p>

<p>Guy Richardson</p>

 

<p>This has been requested since the age of the D200 and it seems that they finally did it in the D600. Let's wait another ten years until Nikon chnges the firmware of existing cameras.<br>

However, congrats, it will not be on the camera now any more if you are not happy with your pics...</p>

<p>"I understand I can achieve 2 EV by bracketing 5 shots instead of the normal 3 but then I have 2 images I have to delete each time." - Surely you'd have 3 images to delete Guy? If you need 4 stops extra dynamic range, then all of the central exposures between the two extremes are redundant.</p>

<p>Anyway, I completely agree that Nikon's bracketing options are far too limited. I think it's time Nikon started seriously listening to some real-world photographers, instead of marketing "experts" or simply making it up as they go along. Maybe they just can't get their heads around their changing customer-base. Time was when PJs and sports photogs were their main professional market, but not for the D800 I'll wager.</p>

<p>Countless hours need to be expended by Nikon managers before a programmer might be allowed spend the maximum five minutes it would take to change the firmware. How many more lines of code are necessary to allow the flexibility of bracketing by 2, 1, 1/2, 1/3 EV and sequences of 3, 5, 7 and 9 images?</p>

<p>The D800 is not designed for speed. It's a camera to be used with a lot of patience. I recently took some landscapes where there was a fair amount of snow on the ground. I wasn't at all sure about exposure so I set the bracketing to 1/3rd stops and took 9 shots at each scene (4 under-exposed and 4 over-exposed according to the internal meter). I was shooting raw + jpeg so twenty pictures involved 360 images. By the way I have a fairly quick computer (iMac), but haven't bought Capture NX2, yet so I was importing to iPhoto and this lot took over an hour! I think the bottle neck is my USB 2 card reader. Anyone have any recommendations about something faster?</p>

Manual Exposure Mode

 

I don't see anything wrong with Nikon's response or the camera's design.

You might be able to cut the number of exposures required down to two. Or even one if you're careful and keep a filter or two handy.

Please don't tell me that someone is actually using iPhoto to process D800 photos. For the love of all that is sacred, buy a

copy of Aperture or Lightroom.

+1 on what Dan said. There is no bigger fan of Apple computer than me, but iPhoto? Really? This is like outfitting your

Ferrari with metal roller skate wheels.

<p>Yeah, forget Capture NX2 - dealing with 360 shots in that would be an incredible pain. You want Aperture or Lightroom. You don't have to bracket that finely - 3 or 5 shots at +-1, and use adjustments in software if you want a fractional stop. You've got enough DR to handle it.</p>

<p>Found the max 1 EV bracketing also annoying - so I'm also using 5 (or at times even 7) exposures.<br>

+1 to Dan as well :-)<br>

OK - we're getting off topic a bit - for managing the photos surely Aperture or Lightroom make much sense - for raw conversion I still prefer Capture NX2 (although it's aged an upgrade more than overdue).</p>

<p>Rodeo Joe, agreed 3 shots with a total 6 stops would be a bit extreme and only used when shooting into the sun. But having +-1.5EV would be much more manageable (the 5D seems to handle it!) </p>

<p>Dan, the whole reason of bracketing allows you not to have to touch the camera during a sequence, have you ever tried blending two images that have movement between them!? It's not for the faint heated and defiantly not something you'd do in iPhoto either! </p>

<p>Correction, I meant 4 stops not 6.</p>

<p>iPhoto is temporary as would Aperture be. I want Capture NX2 for raw conversion but can't afford it right now. As I understand it iPhoto's limitations are not to do with how long it takes to import the images (although I could be wrong about that), I think to solve that issue I need a USB 3 card reader. I actually bought a card reader from Apple for my MacBook but had to return it - I confused 'thunderbolt' and 'lightning'! The iMac has a built in SD card reader, I'm looking for a CF reader.<br>

Guy, bracketing is also obviously about getting the exposure right, clearly elimination of camera shake is not the whole reason for using it.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Countless hours need to be expended by Nikon managers before a programmer might be allowed spend the maximum five minutes it would take to change the firmware. How many more lines of code are necessary to allow the flexibility of bracketing by 2, 1, 1/2, 1/3 EV and sequences of 3, 5, 7 and 9 images?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>While that may be true, I wonder how much time we have spent discussing the lack of the two-stop-increment option in D800 (and many other Nikon DSLRs) bracketing? I think it is easy enough to select one-stop increments and get a total of 5 frames in bracketing: -2,-1,0,+1,+2. If you indeed don't want the two middle images that are +- 1-stop from the norm, it should be easy enough to delete them. Since you are shooting landscape, presumably not in "machine gun" speed, I don't think the extra shutter actuations will put that much more burden on your shutter or memory card space. Personally, I would much rather have those extra frames to choose from in post processing.</p>

<p>The D600 (and D7000) has another limitation: it allows at most 3 frames in bracketing. Therefore, while you can select 2 stop increments, at most you can only get -2, 0, +2 on the D600 and D7000. On the D800, you can get-4, -3, -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, +3, +4 for a total of 9 stops.</p>

<p>Actually, I can see why Nikon doesn't want to give you the option of 9 stops with 2-stop increments. In case one selects: -8,-6,-4,-2,0,+2,+4,+6,+8, I wonder how useful those +-6 and 8 frames are. The camera can get into trouble if -6 and -8 exceed the fastest shutter speed in 1/8000 sec and +6,+8 beome very slow time exposures.</p>

<p>An extra two frames isn't the end of the world for sure, but in real world terms when shooting a scene in high winds and fleeting light you want to make sure you capture the scene as quickily as possible so you don't miss the moment. You have to consider this is the leading DSLR in landscape photography, you shouldn't have to improvise. I just find it to be such a simple mistake by Nikon that could so easily be changed.</p>

<p>For a fast, and portable card reader, the Lexar is hard to beat. I have the USB 2 version, and it is much faster than any other USB2 reader I have seen, and faster than the alleged USB 2 reader built into my computer.</p>

<p>The new version is USB 3. Very compact if you take it on site. Other sites offer it cheaper than direct from Lexar.</p>

<p>http://www.lexar.com/node/4577</p>

<p>I have a sturdy tripod, head, and L-bracket setup. I have no problem "touching" the camera between shots. I've even taken shots with the shutter button when I don't have time to attach a cable release or pull it out of the bag. Wind and subject movement (e.g. waves) are bigger problems than camera motion.</p>

<p>To bracket shots in M mode, compose, focus, make an exposure, turn a knob, make another exposure, repeat if necessary. I don't understand the difficulty or the concern over camera movement. Try loading a film holder into a view camera, and you'll appreciate the ease of use of a DSLR very quickly.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>for raw conversion I still prefer Capture NX2</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Your mileage may vary, but in my opinion, LR is far better for many reasons once you learn how to get the most out of it. I haven't tried Aperture, but a friend uses it and his images are stunning.</p>

<p>Another great thing about LR is that it doesn't use as much memory. I'm running on a 4-year-old iMac with 4GB of RAM with no performance issues whatsoever.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I have a sturdy tripod, head, and L-bracket setup. I have no problem "touching" the camera between shots. I've even taken shots with the shutter button when I don't have time to attach a cable release or pull it out of the bag.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>I have no problem touching the camera between shots either with that kind of set up. That is why I think a lot of the complaints on this thread are merely poor excuses.</p>

<p>David, thanks for the card reader suggestion.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I have no problem touching the camera between shots either with that kind of set up. That is why I think a lot of the complaints on this thread are merely poor excuses.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Really? Any slight movement can be be the difference between 10 minutes processing to 1 hour! So why risk it? Especially with cameras with such high resolution. </p>

<p>Interesting. I don't do much with alignment directly in Photoshop for manual merging of images. I have, however, had the experience of successfully shooting HDR five shot sequences handheld with my D700. Nik's HDR software, in Photoshop, has aligned the shots perfectly. Granted, these are shots with relatively fast shutter speeds and fired with the camera on high speed sequencing.</p>

<p>That is not my usual practice. Usually with a three series Gitzo and Markins M-20 locked down tight with an L-bracket on the D700. I have never had an alignment problem, even using my finger on the shutter release. Foliage? Now, that is a different story. Time between shots, not camera movement becomes the problem there.</p>

<p>Is it the D800's increased resolution that increases the sensitivity to a tiny amount of movement between shots?</p>

<p>Why is making HDR bracket shots line up right so hard? Current software does a really good job. I have some very nice ones made from 5 and 7 shot bursts with the camera on a monopod. It's digital - just shoot the burst two or three times so if you mess up you have a backup set. I usually don't need the backup though. A few nights ago I was making bursts for HDR cityscapes at night on my D800 with a tripod I got for $30 on Ken Rockwell's recommendation without a remote trigger because I'd lost mine, and most were fine.</p>

<p>Looking at 3 photos from the D300 I saw that I bracketed at 1 stop for 9 shots bracketing. I then In LR used the NIK software HDR plug in to edit. I think they look decent for the D300. You can view some of those photos in my gallery <a href="/photodb/member-photos?user_id=2366293">here</a> on photo.net The cars folder would be the best example. The architecture shots are mixed from single to 9 brackets.<br>

<br />Using/testing the D600 I did single and 3 shot brackets at 3 stops HDR photos. Nik HDR gave me a warning that i didn't really like the 3 stop difference. My latest shoot was 3 shot with 2 stop difference.<br>

I like both the d300 and d600 cameras results. Knowing that the d600 will have a better overall images the 3 shot bracket is still acceptable to me. If i was upgrading to the d800 i wouldn't mind the 9 shot at 1 stop difference since it would produce better images over the d300 anyways.</p>

<p>You can view 3 post in my blog http://vipmediastar.com/?page_id=6<br>

The one titled "Chicago the city with a life" all photos were processed with LR+NIK and the skydeck is at 3 shot 3 exposure.<br>

The "sunny cold and beautiful" post the 2 color ones were also 3 shot and 3 exposure.<br>

<br />The "The Windy City" post all photos including the black and white one were 3 shot and 2 exposure difference.<br>

<br />I like how the HDR comes out with this camera but the oily spots ruined several shots especially in the sky.<br>

I'm returning the D600 and there is a possible 99% chance that ill get the d800 for the 9 shot, 1/250 flash sync, body grip and viewfinder closer (I like to shoot at hip level in street photography while walking) those are among a few reasons that help me decide with the upgrade including the current discount on the camera.</p>