The trouble with that is that 2-stop gaps are really too large for effective HDRI. Plus, minus-4 to plus-4 is a far greater range than is usually called for.
The rule of thumb: your DARKEST exposure should be the one that has your bright areas properly exposed, and your BRIGHTEST exposure should be the one that has the dark areas properly exposed, and the rest of your exposures should be distributed evenly in between. By "properly exposed", we mean "looking the way we want them to look in the final image." If you do an HDRI with the darkest/lightest images putting the highlights/shadows both on zone 5 (middle gray) you'll get a very muddy rendering, very hard to work with.
Likewise, if your gaps between exposures are too large, the program has to interpolate too many values and the transitions get blocky.
For the most part, folks that use 9-exposure blends are working with half-stop increments. There ARE, of course, exceptions where one important area of the image is very bright or very dark, but in those cases it's often better to do your merge just to cover the main areas, and have another, outlier exposure for the extreme area that yuu then blend in by hand after the HDRI merge and tone mapping have been accomplished accomplished.
None of this has anything to do with the magic lantern, btw. A 9-exposure bracket would be very nice to work with if it could be tweaked to do them in half-stop increments. Is that how it works? Or is it LITERALLY a "9-stop" bracket, as you wrote, that can't be adjusted?
The trouble with that is that 2-stop gaps are really too large for effective HDRI. Plus, minus-4 to plus-4 is a far greater range than is usually called for.
The rule of thumb: your DARKEST exposure should be the one that has your bright areas properly exposed, and your BRIGHTEST exposure should be the one that has the dark areas properly exposed, and the rest of your exposures should be distributed evenly in between. By "properly exposed", we mean "looking the way we want them to look in the final image." If you do an HDRI with the darkest/lightest images putting the highlights/shadows both on zone 5 (middle gray) you'll get a very muddy rendering, very hard to work with.
Likewise, if your gaps between exposures are too large, the program has to interpolate too many values and the transitions get blocky.
For the most part, folks that use 9-exposure blends are working with half-stop increments. There ARE, of course, exceptions where one important area of the image is very bright or very dark, but in those cases it's often better to do your merge just to cover the main areas, and have another, outlier exposure for the extreme area that yuu then blend in by hand after the HDRI merge and tone mapping have been accomplished accomplished.
None of this has anything to do with the magic lantern, btw. A 9-exposure bracket would be very nice to work with if it could be tweaked to do them in half-stop increments. Is that how it works? Or is it LITERALLY a "9-stop" bracket, as you wrote, that can't be adjusted?
ML kicks HDRI ass! My 50d can be set to shoot at whatever stop interval you desire, and will auto evaluate the scene and cover the entire range automatically... Dont really want to do HDRI any other way now.
ML kicks HDRI ass! My 50d can be set to shoot at whatever stop interval you desire, and will auto evaluate the scene and cover the entire range automatically... Dont really want to do HDRI any other way now.
So, ML is on a card that has to stay in the camera while you shoot, or it's on a separate card and you load it up each day, then put in your regular card for shooting, and when packing up at the end of the shoot you yank the batteries and ML goes away?
Cuz if you keep ML on a CF card that has to be in the camera at all times for it to work, that obviously could be an issue...
you can copy it to all your cards root directory, but im only going to use it for hdr not for general photography so ill just have it on a 16gb card say
its on the card you dont upload it like you would a canon firmware, im only just starting with it but it look promising
me too but i figure a delete all will do if i just have a HDR card for when i deliberately go out shooting HDR, and be good if i start doing bit more video
me too but i figure a delete all will do if i just have a HDR card for when i deliberately go out shooting HDR, and be good if i start doing bit more video
its worth playing with though
Anyway, it'd be easy enough to keep the ML as a copy on your desktop, and every time you download pics then reformat the card, just pop it back in the reader and xfer the ML in again...
If you format the card in the camera you'll be asked if you want to keep the Magic Lantern software on there or not. So you don't have to keep reloading it on the card.
And, remember that this software can damage or destroy your camera.
Fun stuff!
also says they had over 3000 people install it and no bricks yet.....
a quick google shows no problems apart from one guy who didnt read the instructions and posted saying it had killed his camera and all he had to do was remove the battery and it was fixed
And, remember that this software can damage or destroy your camera.
Fun stuff!
also says they had over 3000 people install it and no bricks yet.....
a quick google shows no problems apart from one guy who didnt read the instructions and posted saying it had killed his camera and all he had to do was remove the battery and it was fixed
I had it hang once on an alpha build while flashing the firmware. Scary moment!! Pulled the battery and re-did the install on the card, and all was well!
Frankly, this is just CYA bullshit, don't let it worry you - they just don't want five people a week claiming their dead camera (that was soaked in salt water) is dead because of ML.
Well, the ML site told me I needed upgraded firmware on my 5D2, so I've done that. And I've downloaded ML. Now I just wait for my courage to peak, I guess.
going to try mine this week once ive sent my classic 5d off, my mate runs ml on his toy canon for filming work not sure which one but it only takes sd cards
And, remember that this software can damage or destroy your camera.
Fun stuff!
also says they had over 3000 people install it and no bricks yet.....
a quick google shows no problems apart from one guy who didnt read the instructions and posted saying it had killed his camera and all he had to do was remove the battery and it was fixed
I'm sure you're right. I just found that disclaimer interesting especially since I don't seem to recall them admitting that on their site before, at least not when i first came across it several years back. Just the usual "use at your own risk" message that is typical of mods in general.
Well, the ML site told me I needed upgraded firmware on my 5D2, so I've done that. And I've downloaded ML. Now I just wait for my courage to peak, I guess.
Just go for it... You'll be thrilled. (and we are screwed now that you have auto-HDR...) ;)
I would like to see some of your examples that have you talking about it, if you don't mind sharing. Looking at the user-submitted galleries on their site wouldn't convince me it's worth the time or effort. Ghosting, soft, grainy, often cartoony. Nothing Photomatix can't do. Maybe in the right hands...
I would like to see some of your examples that have you talking about it, if you don't mind sharing. Looking at the user-submitted galleries on their site wouldn't convince me it's worth the time or effort. Ghosting, soft, grainy, often cartoony. Nothing Photomatix can't do. Maybe in the right hands...
As far as I know, the ML isn't any sort of a processing program for HDRI. But it lets you set up to 9 steps in exposure bracketing, where Canon's default software only brackets 3. Certainly, I'll be doing my merges in HDR Efex Pro, as always.
