Help me with new acquisition

[timacn]

A month ago I began looking for cameras that do "in camera" HDR. I know most people prefer to do HDR with post processing, but I wanted a camera that did it automatically.
My main camera is presently a Nikon D7000. I have a few nice lenses for it.

Suffice it to say that in this month, I have learned of numerous options in new cameras. It is all, frankly, overwhelming to me. (I took a photography course years ago and learned how to factor in aperture, shutter speed, a little exposure compensation, etc. I routinely feel quite stupid when I read various reviews and comparisons. Please take my ignorance into consideration.)


The three options I seem to have narrowed my search to are as follows:

Get a Nikon D5300. Better than my D7000? Light weight, good image quality, I already have Nikon 2 good DX lenses, does 2 image HDR in camera with JPEG output. No AA filter. (a good thing?)

Get a Nikon D7100. Like the D5300 but heavier and weather sealed. No AA filter. 2 image in camera HDR with JPEG output. Will mount all my Nikon lenses.

Get a Pentax K5iis or K50. Weather sealed, good images, does 3 image in camera HDR with JPEG output. Can use legacy K mount lenses.

Get a Pentax K3. Like the K5iis but can do in camera HDR using 3 raw images

Get a Sony A7 or A7r. Supposedly great full frame image quality but I've heard it has a problem with light leaks and "mirror flopping." Supposedly great for HDR with JPEG output.

Get a Sony A6000. Nice size and feel for me. Smallish in a good way. Can supposedly mount other lenses with adaptors which reportedly work well. Does 3 image HDR with JPEG output.

Get a Nikon D610. Great reviews. Full frame. (The wave of the future?) 2 image in camera HDR with JPEG output Can't take full advantage of my Nikon DX lenses. I can't help but think a version of the 610 with no AA filter has to be on the way soon and I think I would prefer to wait for that.

Any suggestions as to what I should do? Any recommendations not on my list? I will appreciate any advice you can give to me.

 

[timacn]

Whoops! That's 7 options, not three!

 

[robbins.photo]

I guess my question is what sort of pictures will you be taking most often? What type of photography do you think you'll be doing most? That would have a big impact on what sort of camera would be the best choice for you personally.

 

[timacn]

I like pictures of landscapes and architecture primarily. I would probably like to take photos of birds as well. I've taken some pictures of eagles with a Canon sx50 but the results were not of very good resolution.

 

[robbins.photo]

Ok, in that case my recommendation would be the D7100. If you going to be doing bird photography you want a high MP sensor so you can get the most out of when you crop, and believe me having gone from a D5100 to a D5200 (16mp to 24mp) believe me I can tell you that is a huge jump in quality/capability when it comes to cropping images.

 

[SCraig]

Why are you so sold on in-camera HDR? You only have a tiny fraction of the control over it that you do with computer software, and Potomatix is a TON cheaper than a new body that you don't really need.

 

[timacn]

Hi Scott. thanks for responding to my questions.

Why "in camera" HDR? I dunno. I think I like the instantaneous feedback so I can retake/adjust if necessary. Apparently others feel the same way.

For "serious" HDR, though, I agree with you about photomatix.

 

[SCraig]

Hi Scott. thanks for responding to my questions.

Why "in camera" HDR? I dunno. I think I like the instantaneous feedback so I can retake/adjust if necessary. Apparently others feel the same way.

For "serious" HDR, though, I agree with you about photomatix.

Personally I just see in-camera HDR as another marketing gimmick. Much like in-camera black and white. You give up an enormous amount of control over the final results but it gives the marketing people something else to crow about.

You can still get the instantaneous feedback without in-camera manipulation. Take a shot that shows detail in the shadows, another that shows detail in the midtones, and a third that shows detail in the highlights. That's all the camera is doing, but later you can decide how the blending is handled as opposed to a software engineer at Nikon or Canon or Sony.

 

[Ido]

Before you jump on in-camera HDR, try maximizing your current camera's capabilities in this respect:

• Use the RAW file format
• Use base ISO and expose to the right of the histogram

All that will go a long way to avoid the need for HDR. The sensor in the D7000 is very capable with regard to dynamic range. RAW, base ISO and ETTR help maximize the dynamic range.

However, there are instances where HDR is required to capture the entire dynamic range of a scene. Before buying a new camera that does that automatically (and usually, quite poorly), learn how to do that yourself. You can do realistic-looking HDRs…



…or experiment with the infamous unrealistic nature of HDR.

If all that isn't for you at all, proceed to buy a camera that does it automatically. But please, don't do so until you try maximizing dynamic range in a single RAW file, as well as experimenting with HDR.