From my (.limited) research everyone is saying that true HDR will not be achieved by taking one RAW image...
Good luck coming up with a consensus definition for "true" HDR. The wiki definition: "
High-dynamic-range imaging (
HDRI) is a
high dynamic range (HDR) technique used in imaging and
photography to reproduce a greater
dynamic range of
luminosity than is possible with standard
digital imaging or photographic techniques." focuses on the goal and not the methodology for achieving the goal. Back when HDR imaging became a commercial product the typical digital camera was equipped with an 8 or 10 bit ADC. A single raw file back then captured less total tonal range and the multiple exposure method was the best solution. Look what happens when you increase the bit depth of the camera's ADC:
8 bit = 256 discreet tonal levels
10 bit = 1024 discreet tonal levels
12 bit = 4096 discreet tonal levels
14 bit = 16384 discreet tonal levels
The increase is exponential. Your camera is equipped with a 12 bit ADC. So do you really need to go the multiple exposure route to capture a high contrast scene. Here's an example using a camera with a 12 bit ADC like yours but with a much smaller sensor and so less capable overall than your camera.
That's the JPEG file the camera created. It fits the bill for a troublesome high contrast scene. It's backlit with the sun behind the scene. The JPEG from the camera looks badly underexposed. But any additional exposure will begin to clip the diffuse highlights in the raw file. The highlights in the JPEG are already starting to clip with a blown blue channel. Shooting a camera JPEG with lighting contrast like this would require a compromise that would give up the highlights in order to better expose the midtones. That would leave you with a blown white sky which would suck.
So HDR then: Get out your tripod. You've got trouble if the scene has movement. Capture your bracket set and then to work you go with your HDR software.
Or, don't bother with the tripod. Don't worry about movement. Make sure you get an exposure that places the diffuse highlights at the sensor threshold -- just one click and process a 12 bit raw file:
Your camera is more capable than the camera used here.
There are a lot of caveats: Of course the lighting contrast can go higher and the multiple exposure method becomes the only solution. In my experience that's pretty rare now. I have HDR software that I used to use that I no longer use. My newest camera has a 14 bit ADC. There's a learning curve for sure in being able to process the raw file successfully, but there's a learning curve for the HDR software as well.
So bottom line, before you go through the whole tripod, multiple exposure, special software route are you sure you really need that. You might, but odds are you don't.
Joe
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