Bracketing?

[jamieboy]

I've just recently bought a Canon 400D as my first DSLR. I haven't had much time to play with it properly, so sorry for this - probably a dumb question, but:

Is there any advantage to using the exposure bracketing in the camera, compared to just doing it with the RAW editing tool?

Just wondering whether it's better to record three RAW files at different exposures, or whether I'd be better to have a single RAW + JPEG?

[Rednut05]

Better to have 3 RAWs if you wanted to do an HDR image. So you'd merge the under, over and correctly exposed images together so there is generally more detail in the picture as no where is too dark or light to see.

Crap explanation but still it's an explanation.

Otherwise Jpegs take up less space on cards and Raw more space. Shoot raw if you feel the need to do a lot of editing and well others will come along with the advantages and disadvantages.

David

[_dobbo_]

With a single RAW file you can't recreate information that isn't there - so any over or under-exposed areas will remain that way no matter what you do.

You will also find that working with a single RAW will result in much more noise in the shadows when you boost exposure. Bracketing avoids all these issues.

Edited by _dobbo_ on Friday 25th May 14:20

[jamieboy]

Right, these both make perfect sense. Thanks very much.

[poah]

bracketing will help you get the exposure you want.

[cuneus]

_dobbo_ said:

With a single RAW file you can't recreate information that isn't there - so any over or under-exposed areas will remain that way no matter what you do.

You will also find that working with a single RAW will result in much more noise in the shadows when you boost exposure. Bracketing avoids all these issues.

Edited by _dobbo_ on Friday 25th May 14:20

As I have just discovered - back to school for me

How does the bracketing (say +/- 1) write the raw files ?

[Rednut05]

They come out as 3 separate raw files.

[Famous Graham]

Rednut05 said:

They come out as 3 separate raw files.

Yep - and the camera takes three separate shots too.

So make sure you're on a tripod or vewy vewy qwui...sorry..still

[GetCarter]

But +/- 1 is a huge leap. IMHO - Much better to set to +/- 0.3 or +/- 0.7.

90% of the shots I take I bracket. Often 5 or even 7 frames (at 0.3)

Eats the hard disk, but they are so cheap these days.