A difference between the Pentax K-x and the Pentax K-7 is that the K-x can take 3 auto-bracketted exposures and the K-7 can take up to 5. When I decided to buy a K-7 also, this was a great feature that I was excited about. But recently I have been taking HDR photos with both my K-x and my K-7, and honestly, I think the K-x performs better in this category. Or maybe using 3 exposures instead of 5 performs better.
HDR with the Pentax K-x (3 exposures)
HDR with the K-7 (5 exposures)
It is difficult to tell the differences by just looking at the photographs, but I found that I was getting consistently better results when I was using my K-x. But then, upon closer inspection I think that it is really a factor of how I have the exposures set.
On the K-x I typically do a normal (0 ev) an under (-3 ev) and an over (+3 ev) exposed photograph. Getting this sort of result.
On the K-7 I was typically doing a (0 ev), (-2 ev) (+2 ev) (-4 ev) and a (+4 ev). But getting strange artifacts, like this. Notice the clouds on the left side.
So really, it comes down to how you have your auto bracketing set. Here is what I do now.
On the K-x for auto-bracketting I use
- +/- 3 for extreme lighting conditions (conditions with very bright/dark areas)
- +/- 2.5 for normal conditions (no extreme bright/dark areas)
- +/- 2 for mild lighting conditions (not much variation between brights/darks)
On the K-7 for auto-bracketting I use
- +/- 1.3 & +/- 2.7 for extreme lighting conditions
- +/- 1 & +/- 2 for most lighting conditions
Conclusions
Really, I would just experiment with the different auto-bracketted settings. When you take your 3 (or 5) exposures just look at the top over and under exposed photographs. If the bright is almost ALL washed out (or the dark is almost ALL dark) I would turn down your ev steps and take the shot over again.
Finally, here is a comparison
Original
3 exposures
5 exposures
Let me know what you think, or your own experiences with this.
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This is very interesting! Thanks for doing this test – very useful IMHO! I made a similar conclusion with my K-x though (after a number of ruined exposures, heh). The thing with exposures could partially be that K-x tends to clip highlights, so I fully agree to set the exposures carefully if taking them in strong sun/light. BTW, the 1st image is exceptional – what lens have you used there?
Hey Michael,
I know that those heavily processed HDR photos are quite in vogue right now, but – at least for me – a really good processed HDR picture is one that is not recognizable as such. I still enjoy watching your photos, but you should be aware that this “tonemapped-to-death” style wears off pretty quickly. I’d actually love to see some hints on how to process HDR images into naturally looking pictures. Especially your waterfront picture shows very strong halos, which I’m sure you wanted to have in the picture, although they are not very natural. I think it is easy to move the sliders to extreme positions and have a cool “HDR” effect, but it’s far more difficult to achieve realistic results IMHO.
Stefan
Great article…excited to go try some of this stuff when my K-x arrives next week!