D800 and HDR in camera

<p>I've been shooting my D800 for nature photography and really love it. The last couple of weekends I was playing around with the in camera HDR which from my understanding cannot be done in RAW. I was turning it off and on as needed and at the time of the shot the camera takes an extra second or two to process, but I can't seem to find anywhere in the file data if the shot was HDR processed or not after that, especially like in bridge and/or lightroom. Am I missing something?</p>

<p>I guess this should be visible in VNX2 or CNX2, if not in standard EXIF viewers. But you should be able to tell by the lifted shadows, expanded highlights and reduced midtone contrast in JPG images if you have set a significant "exposure differential".<br>

It may be not trivial to tell from the higher ADL levels, maybe by a different type of rendering and a-little-bit cleaner shadows (but mind ADL action is scene-dependent). Btw ADL seems to be revamped in D800 too; the DPR review indicates 11.5 EV, which is a couple EV more than the previous generation. <br>

'tis pity that Nikon in-camera HDR doesn't store source NEFs, so one could use it for preview but do proper HDR processing on the computer. The way it is it is better to use the old AEB way, unless you want to send vacation greetings with pics of sunsets to your old folks by email.<br>

LR4 is also very good in processing of single wide-DR NEFs, if you normally shoot raw but don't like messing with HDR programs or can't use bracketing for stuff that moves.</p>

<p>This is a task best left for post processing, don't you think? I'd NEVER do it in camera.</p>

<p>Peter, the in-camera HDR feature of the D800 actually works quite well and is so easy and fast to setup and use. It can be a big time saver for those that don't know how to create HDR images, don't have the software, or don't want to spend the time on the computer.</p>

<p><em>"pity that Nikon in-camera HDR doesn't store source NEFs"</em> Very true.</p>

<p>I haven't found the time yet for the learning curve for the software HDR effects. I would say that if I'm going to spend the money on such a great camera I should at least know if some of the extra features like in-camera HDR are worth exploring. The camera did do a much better job than be trying to bracket and combine photos elsewhere with my limited experience in Photoshop doing such a thing.</p>

<p>Elliot,</p>

<p>The D800 is not designed for those folks, though, is it... Seriously.</p>

<p>Peter, (not Elliot) .... those 'profilers' @ Nikon disagree with you...obviously.</p>

<p>Does the D600, a more obvious target for 'beginners' have the same feature?? .....:-)</p>

<p>> I haven't found the time yet for the learning curve for the software HDR effects. <br>

HDR is mainly about <em>heavy-handed</em> post-processing in order to make wide scene DR work on limited output DR, killing least contrast where it matters to <em>you</em>. If you're not willing to spend the time, better avoid hi-DR (harsh-lit) scenes altogether. All it takes is install a program, import bracketed images, and play with the sliders. Using in-camera tricks for this purpose is comparable to a pilot flying steering the plane manually in fair weather but switching to autopilot upon approaching a storm ;) <br>

Alternatively, if you don't like extra HDR software but don't mind raw processing, you are likely to get better results by using a raw converter that does HDR-like wide-DR processing, such as LR4, DxO OP 8, RT4. You need to expose carefully or bracket exposures. </p>