How much is AEB worth?

[Lodovico]

Hello,

Camera noobie and my first post in the forum. I did a lot of research and deliberated over which entry level DSLR I was going to go with. I was deciding between the Canon T3 and the Nikon D3100. I went with the Nikon because of the overall picture quality ratings and things like display screen size, 1080 video and the interface of the camera. Right after I made the purchase, I discovered HDR photos. The Nikon doesn't have AEB, but the Canon does.

I realize I can still do HDR photography without automatic bracketing, but my understanding is that it's a lot more difficult. I'm wondering what you experienced people think about the importance of AEB in a camera? I can still return my Nikon and go with the Canon, but do you think AEB outweighs the other reasons I picked the Nikon?? Thanks!!

John

 

[Overread19 7]

It's not a lot more difficult at all, in fact outside of very specialist situations you can get as good or better with doing it manually over automatic.

For HDR the general concept is that you have a scene before you where the values from the darkest point to the brightest are beyond the ability for your camera to capture in a single photo. If you expose for the bright white parts, the black will be significantly underexposed. If you expose for the black parts the white parts will be significantly overexposed (and over/under exposure to white/black means you don't get any detail to recover).
So you take a meter reading of the brightest point, and the darkest and work out the difference in stops between the two, then you simply take a series of photos between those two extreme points to cover the whole range of values in the scene.


A typical way to work is to use full manual mode and spot metering. Set the aperture to what you want for the depth of field and the ISO to a suitable value (for a typical landscape, as an example, you'd be able to use a low ISO since you won't need a fast shutter speed and will likely be using a tripod).
Then you meter the brightest point - adjust the shutter speed to give a proper exposure. Then meter the darkest, adjusting the shutter speed only to get a proper exposure on the meter.

You've now two shutter speed values which gives you the idea of the spread of the range of exposures in the whole scene. You can now expose once for each of those extreme values and then once in the middle (changing the shutter speed only of course) or you can take more than 3 exposures if you feel you need to or if the range is very extreme.

 

[Lodovico]

It's not a lot more difficult at all, in fact outside of very specialist situations you can get as good or better with doing it manually over automatic.

For HDR the general concept is that you have a scene before you where the values from the darkest point to the brightest are beyond the ability for your camera to capture in a single photo. If you expose for the bright white parts, the black will be significantly underexposed. If you expose for the black parts the white parts will be significantly overexposed (and over/under exposure to white/black means you don't get any detail to recover).
So you take a meter reading of the brightest point, and the darkest and work out the difference in stops between the two, then you simply take a series of photos between those two extreme points to cover the whole range of values in the scene.


A typical way to work is to use full manual mode and spot metering. Set the aperture to what you want for the depth of field and the ISO to a suitable value (for a typical landscape, as an example, you'd be able to use a low ISO since you won't need a fast shutter speed and will likely be using a tripod).
Then you meter the brightest point - adjust the shutter speed to give a proper exposure. Then meter the darkest, adjusting the shutter speed only to get a proper exposure on the meter.

You've now two shutter speed values which gives you the idea of the spread of the range of exposures in the whole scene. You can now expose once for each of those extreme values and then once in the middle (changing the shutter speed only of course) or you can take more than 3 exposures if you feel you need to or if the range is very extreme.

Thanks for the response. I guess my concern is that I've read you can't really do any type of scene that has motion without AEB because even slight changes (like clouds moving) will be hard to align, even with good software. Not true??

 

[Overread19 7]

It depends.

First up any scene with motion will only work with AEB if the shutter speed for all the photos is fast enough to freeze the motion. Furthermore (far as I recall as I've not used AEB) you've still got to press the shutter for each photo even in the Canon auto mode; so you've still got a tiny bit of lag there.

It also depends on how the scene is setup. If its an easy scene with a sky and land (for example) chances are minor differences in motion between the two won't be a problem since the two parts don't interact with each other in a complex manner --- whilst if its a more complicated scene you might experience some problems (it also depends on the speed of the motion).

There is certainly some added complexity to the setup, many times those minor motion differences might be fixable with software control or manually blending the photos yourself using layers and layermasks.

 

[KmH]

Note that the T3 does not have Spot metering mode, a feature that is also very useful for making HDR exposures.

While exposure bracketing can be done manually with the D3100, if you have the T3 the only way to Spot meter manually is to use an accessory hand held meter.

 

[Derrel]

Spot metering is a lot like a 10 CD changer in a car. Meaning, it's about thirtieth on the list of needed features. Spot metering's value is quite dubious for the vast majority of people and scenes. Counting a lack of "true" spot metering against Canon is an old trick many Nikon fans have used for years; for a long time, Canon used a BETTER system, called "semi-sot" or "wider-area" spot metering, or some such thing, metering a 3 to 4 degree angle, instead of like 1 degree; that was used as ammunition against Canon cameras by Nikon fans for quite a number of years. NOw that a d-slr can shoot and "develop" a picture within a second or two, the need for a spot meter has become quite limited for many people. I myself find spot metering typically almost useless. The issue with it is that it is *so,so,so critical*, and so,so,so prone to giving WILDLY ERRONEOUS readings in real-world use. For a beginner, the utility value of spot metering is EXCEPTIONALLY LOW. It's kind of like the ability of new high-performance motorcycles to tach out and do 160 miles per hour...kind of a USELESS FEATURE for anybody except professionally capable riders, riding on cleared tracks under sanctioned racing conditions...and even then, stupid, and dangerous...

 

[TonysTouch]

AEB is very simple to do manually, and you can do it in a way that suits you better. Take a few shots to get your desired exposure level. Then stop down the shutter speed by half of the shots you want minus half a shot (i.e. if you want 5 shots drop your shutter speed twice). Then take your 5 shots rotating the shutter speed dial once for each shot. You now have a 5 shot bracket. I have a D5100 and it only allows me to auto bracket 3 shot sequences. This allows you to shoot as many shots as you need for your HDR without compromising speed. At least until you get into higher end bodies.

 

[Lodovico]

AEB is very simple to do manually, and you can do it in a way that suits you better. Take a few shots to get your desired exposure level. Then stop down the shutter speed by half of the shots you want minus half a shot (i.e. if you want 5 shots drop your shutter speed twice). Then take your 5 shots rotating the shutter speed dial once for each shot. You now have a 5 shot bracket. I have a D5100 and it only allows me to auto bracket 3 shot sequences. This allows you to shoot as many shots as you need for your HDR without compromising speed. At least until you get into higher end bodies.

Thanks, Tony. But what about alignment of the photos later on? Is that done easily with software? So is the consensus that if I like everything else about the D3100, that AEB isn't enough of a reason to swap out for the Canon T3?

 

[mjhoward]

Canon used a BETTER system, called "semi-sot" or "wider-area" spot metering, or some such thing, metering a 3 to 4 degree angle, instead of like 1 degree; that was used as ammunition against Canon cameras by Nikon fans for quite a number of years.

I believe you're looking for "Partial" metering, which they still have

And AEB isn't worth all that much IMO. HDR is likely going to be a 'Phase" for you and even if it isn't, the Dynamic range of todays cameras are high enough that if you're shooting in RAW, you can take a single exposure and recover the highlights and shadows and make either a composite or tonemapped version that is often confused with HDR.

 

[TheBiles]

Most good HDRs use more than 3 exposures, which is all you get from AEB anyways. Set your camera on a tripod, change the exposure between each shot. Bam.

 

[Lodovico]

Thanks everyone!!

 

[bratkinson]

Back in the film days, manual exposure bracketing was the ONLY way available. For night photography with available lighting, I'd shoot as many as 8-10 identical shots at different shutter speeds or apertures and 'keep the winner'. This was especially true for long exposure, Bulb shots...10 secs, 30 secs, 2 mins, etc.

One of my favorite shots of all time was at dusk at the Magic Kingdom Castle in Disneyland. I took at least 10 shots in the 10-15 second range (cable release, camera sitting on a large trash can). The one with the best exposure ("the winner") also had someone walk through the frame while the lens was open. The only thing that shows is his white tennis shoes were in one place long enough to register on the film!

 

[Dao]

Both Spot meter and AEB are additional tool that help us as a photographer. Do I have to have it? No, but it comes in handy.


Overread, in the Canon AEB, if you set the camera to AEB and shutter to continuous mode, it will take 3 shots continuously and then stop with one press and hold on the shutter button.

 

[Dao]

As for OP's questions. It varies from person to person. If you need to shoot multiple exposures with one press most of the time, it worth every pennies. If you only do it once in a long while, then just use what you have. For static scene, manually adjusted exposures is fine. For fast dynamic scene, even with fast shutter speed, you will still see issues sometimes.