bracketing

[NormanP1]

Hi I have a D3200 which does not have exposure bracketing. What is the best way to do this manually?

 

[Gary_Scotland]

Hello,

My suggestion would be......

• Use the camera on a tripod.
• Take a meter reading with your camera and see what it is suggesting for aperture/shutter speed
• Go into manual mode and use these settings for your first photo, then take a serious of photos lowering the exposure for each photo (leave all other settings the same), and then do the same when raising the exposure.

Good luck,

Gary

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http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gary-Muris%D1%BBn-Ph%D1%BBt%D1%BBgraphy/215744688457537

 

[Jirka-]

You can use exposition compensation, e.g. -1,5, 0, +1,5. However you will not get perfect alignment of of the photos (for HDR) if you touch the controls between the shots unless you have a really massive badass tripod.

 

[Deleted1929]

The best way is to get a camera with exposure bracketing.

You may be able to get an android application to control a DSLR via USB, but I don't know if this is possible with a D3200. The Nikon forums may have more information.

If you just take some shots at different exposures you can blend them using software on a computer, like Hugin. The software will handle aligning the images automatically, usually very well.

http://hugin.sourceforge.net

Hugin can do HDR from bracketed sequences and handle alignment as well.

Some HDR applications will also handle auto alignment of images.

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StephenG

 

[Guidenet]

Hi I have a D3200 which does not have exposure bracketing. What is the best way to do this manually?

We've been bracketing exposure long before someone decided to add auto bracketing to a camera. Back in the film days, we'd bracket because we couldn't see the results immediately on the back panel. It was safer to bracket then having to go back and shoot the shot again. You just take the shot and change the exposure. Make sure ISO is not on auto or it will adjust in a manner that isn't going to allow a real bracket.

If you intend to use these images as part of a composite like HDR, then you'll have to be careful to use a good tripod. Each image can be off a little because the good HDR programs allign it back for you. Again, make sure auto ISO is off. Only adjust the shutter speed to change the exposure. You don't want to have a different depth of field between the bracketted shots. Many people use A or Aperture Priority so the aperture doesn't change. You can then manually change the shutter speed or use compensation.

I'd stick to + or - 2 stops for HDR. That means only three shots to make it easier for good alignment and it's all you need.

There just is not a real reason other than convenience for auto-bracketing unless we've forgotten all we learned over the years.

That all said, you can bracket most anything that affects the image and where you don't want to have to come back to the same spot. You can bracket sharpening. YOu can bracket saturation or anything else. It just means you're taking more than one image at a different setting so you can decide later what you want. No more and no less.
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Cheers, Craig

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[Leonard Migliore]

First, they disable bracketing on their low end cameras for no reason other than making them lower-end. Whoever decided that should go to the circle of Hell specially reserved for marketing people. Then on the ones that do bracketing, they limit the maximum change to 1 stop. This is software, guys. Why put these weird limits on it? Am I going to hurt myself if I bracket 4 stops at a time? But, for no reason that comes to mind, they do let you bracket in 1/3 stop increments, allowing me to take a bunch of pictures that I am barely able to tell apart.

So for my typical dynamic range-enhancing shots, I do 5 images 1 stop apart and throw away +1 and -1 because there's nothing really useful in them. But it's still better than turning the dial between shots.

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Leonard Migliore

 

[Guidenet]

Come on Leonard. Nikon doesn't disable bracketing. They just don't have "Auto" bracketing in their bottom entry level, but you can bracket all you want any number of stops you wont on any camera.

The use of bracketing started before any camera had auto-bracketing.

Now, I agree with you in I wish auto bracketing included the choice of the duration of shutter speeds. 1/3rd stop seems a bit foolish.
--
Cheers, Craig

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[Deleted1929]

I'm with Leonard on this one, Craig. Bracketing is, from an implementation point of view, nothing more than a little firmware code - you don't really need another button, just a couple of menu entries somewhere is enough. Now the firmware for all the DSLRs must share some source code - you just don't rewrite the whole firmware source from scratch for each camera. So to generate that entry level firmware they're compiling it with a directive to omit the bracketing. That's disabling is my book.

And let's remember that the D50 has bracketing ( and a good deal more ) and they deliberately chose to create a two-tier marketing split for the entry level models after that. It really is a rather cynical exercise in plumping up their profit margin on the entry level model.

That's it's embarrassing seems to escape them. I find it very difficult to recommend a D3200 to anyone given that other entry level models ( costing the same ! ) have a better core feature set.

The rather bizarre insistence that higher models use single EV steps for bracketing is just bizarre and makes you wonder if they really listen to photographers at all. The D5100 and D7000 can bracket three frames in 2EV steps. The D300s requires you to bracket in at most 1EV steps, which is utterly useless for HDR. Equally bizarre is the tiny EV steps they allow - as little as 1/3 EV. What possible reason would anyone use such a small bracketing step ? At the same time Exposure Compensation is 5EV either way, which is basically the wrong way around IMO. The Bracketing shoudl be up to 5EV steps, the EC can be as little as 2EV.

The higher models should really have arbitrary programmable bracketing. This is the 21st century after all. Heck, my Canon A710 with CHDK can do better.

If Nikon had any sense they'd just make Thom Hogan head of Sanity Testing and avoid these stupid things.

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StephenG

 

[dad_of_four]

First, they disable bracketing on their low end cameras for no reason other than making them lower-end.

I'd take a guess that the typical person that buys a low-end camera:

• does not know what bracketing is
• shoots on full-auto, or scene mode 100% of the time

Nikon is probably trying to avoid thousands of calls to tech support such as: "When I take a photo, the first one is fine, but then the next one is too dark, and then too light. Nikon sucks. I want my money back!"

 

[Leonard Migliore]

Come on Leonard. Nikon doesn't disable bracketing. They just don't have "Auto" bracketing in their bottom entry level, but you can bracket all you want any number of stops you wont on any camera.

Come on Craig. Let me rant a little. Everyone else does. I am well aware that I may manually bracket exposure with anything that lets me set the shutter speed. But auto bracketing is a convenience feature that can't cost more than a nickel to implement.

The use of bracketing started before any camera had auto-bracketing.

Yes, I know. But it's really tedious slipping film holders in and out and changing the shutter speed by hand.

Actually, now that I think of it, I never bracketed with 4X5. I just took the time to get the exposure right in the first place. But that's a different discussion.

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Leonard Migliore

 

[Deleted1929]

Nikon is probably trying to avoid thousands of calls to tech support ...

Strangely Pentax, Sony, Canon, Panasonic and Olympus don't seem to be plagued by these support calls you think Nikon are avoiding.

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StephenG

 

[Guidenet]

Come on Leonard. Nikon doesn't disable bracketing. They just don't have "Auto" bracketing in their bottom entry level, but you can bracket all you want any number of stops you wont on any camera.

Come on Craig. Let me rant a little. Everyone else does. I am well aware that I may manually bracket exposure with anything that lets me set the shutter speed. But auto bracketing is a convenience feature that can't cost more than a nickel to implement.

The use of bracketing started before any camera had auto-bracketing.

Yes, I know. But it's really tedious slipping film holders in and out and changing the shutter speed by hand.

Actually, now that I think of it, I never bracketed with 4X5. I just took the time to get the exposure right in the first place. But that's a different discussion.
Leonard Migliore

You're right and I absolutely agree with you. The only reason I spoke up is so the new people wouldn't think they couldn't do bracketing with an entry level Nikon.. that is was automatic bracketing that didn't exist. I wanted to make sure they knew they could bracket with any camera and that manual bracketing was very easy.

But I agree with you and Stephen that it should be included on all the cameras and that it should be more versatile on the better cameras. I think Nikon still considers auto bracketing to be used the way it was originally used to capture several exposures to choose from later rather than for composite imaging. If I were shooting 35mm film, I might want 1/3rd of a stop bracketing, well maybe. For composite images I was 1, 2 or even 3 stops.

Fortunately, Nikon allows 9 frames of burst in auto bracketing so though I'm held down to only one stop, I can take enough so I can choose 2 stops and erase the single stops. Now, that said, there is no reason not to use single stops in HDR. I think you get a cleaner transition. Instead of three frames +- 2stops, I'll use five frames+- 1stop. It's really the same thing. I might even use seven frames or even nine frames if I want 5 frames +- 2 stops. It's plenty versitile for me, though it would be easier if they'd let me adjust the stops above one stop per frame. They just don't understand HDR yet.

With Photomatix or Nik HDRefex Pro I can load all the images then take out the ones I don't wish in the composite. It's pretty trivial and kind of nice having all those images.

--
Cheers, Craig

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[Guidenet]

Nikon is probably trying to avoid thousands of calls to tech support ...

Strangely Pentax, Sony, Canon, Panasonic and Olympus don't seem to be plagued by these support calls you think Nikon are avoiding.

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StephenG

For starters, I agree that AUTO bracketing ought to be included on all the cameras, but the idea that this can cause confusion is real. I would further agree that the buyers of a D3200 would so rarely consider autobracketing as to not be a real issue especially when you look at the numbers who never buy another lens and who never leave auto-exposure.

I can tell you also that AUTO bracketing might indeed be a cause of increased tech support calls on cameras like the D5100 and above as well as other makes. I run into it a lot in my little beginner class, especially after they've tried HDR. They forget to turn it off and end up complaining about the exposure later.

This also happens when the HDR tutorial told them to change the function button to bracketing. Later they accidently turn it on and don't understand the exposure issues. I really do see it a lot these days with HDR being so popular.

But, I agree that it's no reason to leave it off. Nikon should just make it easier to warn when it's left on and make it harder to accidently turn it on and off. I accidently turn it on all the time with my D700 where I have it programmed to the funtion button. On my D800, it's much nicer with it's own button on top of the old rewind knob.

--
Cheers, Craig

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[tclune]

Hi I have a D3200 which does not have exposure bracketing. What is the best way to do this manually?

The most recent cameras have stupendous dynamic range at their base ISO. I think that the best way to do the moral equivalent of bracketing with those cameras is to tone-map the raw data in post.

 

[Leonard Migliore]

Hi I have a D3200 which does not have exposure bracketing. What is the best way to do this manually?

The most recent cameras have stupendous dynamic range at their base ISO. I think that the best way to do the moral equivalent of bracketing with those cameras is to tone-map the raw data in post.

So my D300 is not only obsolete, it's immoral because of its lack of DR. Now I can hardly take it out in public anymore. (The irony-challenged are free to add smileys to this post)
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Leonard Migliore