Canon 6D HDR problem

[grafxman]

I am unable to activate HDR mode. It is continuously greyed out and is non-selectable. HDR backlight is OK. Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Big Mike]

Do you have the camera in the green 'fully auto' mode? That mode tends to disable most of the options on a camera.

 

[grafxman]

No Big Mike. It's in manual mode.

 

[Big Mike]

What does the manual say about HDR mode?

 

[grafxman]

Page 155 covers HDR mode. It's just one page of info and it just says to select it then describes how to adjust the dynamic range. I've been watching the Canon video on HDR and I can't see anything I'm doing wrong.

 

[grafxman]

UPDATE: the Canon video states that the HDR mode is available in P, Tv, Av, M, CFn1 and CFn2 modes. I had already been through all the modes but the custom function modes so I decided to try those two modes. Low and behold, the HDR mode is available in both custom function modes and no where else. I suppose I'll just have to use one of those modes for the HDR mode unless someone can tell how to get it work in the M mode.

 

[grafxman]

It turns out it was pretty easy to fix. I emailed Canon and they replied telling me to reset the camera. I did that and it's OK now. Of course I had to re-enter my personal settings but that wasn't too hard.

 

[Big Mike]

Glad you got it figured out.

 

[OLaA]

This is also an issue if you are trying to select hdr while shooting RAW. Not sure if you checked that, but it is possible that when doing the reset your quality setting changed to jpeg.

 

[grafxman]

This is also an issue if you are trying to select hdr while shooting RAW. Not sure if you checked that, but it is possible that when doing the reset your quality setting changed to jpeg.

Yes, after I reset it I checked to make sure that HDR mode worked OK which it did. I always shoot RAW so I went through the settings and restored things the way I prefer. I then discovered that HDR mode no longer worked! It didn't take me long to figure out that the camera had to be in jpeg for HDR mode to be available. The mystery to me is why the Canon guy didn't mention it and why it's not mentioned in the manual or in Canon's instructional video about HDR mode.

 

[OLaA]

This is also an issue if you are trying to select hdr while shooting RAW. Not sure if you checked that, but it is possible that when doing the reset your quality setting changed to jpeg.

Yes, after I reset it I checked to make sure that HDR mode worked OK which it did. I always shoot RAW so I went through the settings and restored things the way I prefer. I then discovered that HDR mode no longer worked! It didn't take me long to figure out that the camera had to be in jpeg for HDR mode to be available. The mystery to me is why the Canon guy didn't mention it and why it's not mentioned in the manual or in Canon's instructional video about HDR mode.

Yeah I was a little disappointed when I realized it too. I never really use HDR but having the option sounded good. You can still do regular bracketed shots and combine in post. Should offer more control as well, but not nearly as convenient.