Hi....and looking to purchase an SLR

[r1rider01]

Sure did :-) Found one on craigslist brand new for 530 with the kit lens.

[r1rider01]

Well bummer....I just found out that the D3100 doesn't do bracketing, so no 3 shot HDR images for me.

[inkista]

Originally Posted by r1rider01

Well bummer....I just found out that the D3100 doesn't do bracketing, so no 3 shot HDR images for me.

Err... why? Just because a camera doesn't automatically bracket doesn't mean you can't bracket at all. You just have to do it manually. Go into aperture priority, set your iso not to wander (i.e., not auto), and then move your shutter speed around to give you your bracketing set. In fact, with manual bracketing, you can probably cover a larger dynamic range than you could with AEB.

[r1rider01]

Yes but then you have the factor of the camera moving while changing the settings.....I could also just do one RAW image and use PP to over/under expose and get the effect as well (maybe not as clear as the actualy shot)

[Smallfish]

Originally Posted by r1rider01

Yes but then you have the factor of the camera moving while changing the settings.....I could also just do one RAW image and use PP to over/under expose and get the effect as well (maybe not as clear as the actualy shot)

My camera does exposure bracketing but there's been more than one occasion where I've taken a single shot and thought later on "I wonder if this will work as a HDR?" So done exactly as you've described by creating 3 images from the single raw file with different exposures then used them to create the HDR. It works OK.

[dlambert]

I posted an example of this in the HDR SYS forum this week. Since you're starting with a single RAW image, you're not really adding any new information to the HDR image, so it'll never be quite as dynamic as a true mult-exposure HDR photo (to the best of my knowledge).

This technique seems to be an effective way to help maximize the dynamic range you do have in your photos, though. I've seen some plugins & filters that claim to do the same type of thing without all the intermediate steps, which seems like a very workable approach, too.

I wouldn't let the lack of bracketing dissuade you from your purchase -- you're always going to find one more feature in that next model up, but pretty soon you'll rationalize yourself all the way to the top-of-the-line camera (which you can't afford). You're going to have to make some compromises in order to get started, and this one is only a killer if the *main thing* you want to do with your camera is HDR shots.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by r1rider01

Yes but then you have the factor of the camera moving while changing the settings

A good tripod = no movement.