Dynamic Range Bracket; In-Camera - Can you explain to me?

[jw432]

Hi all, and thanks in advance for what I am sure will be a great answer.

 

Still loving my new x-e3 and learning all the details.  I still don't understand the in-camera Dynamic Range Bracket and what I can do with it.  I've done a number of Exposure Brackets and played with HDR in Affinity Photo and once I get my tripod I'm gonna play with some focus stacks too.  But I don't know what to do with DRB.

 

I turned it on and took a picture, albeit of my living room - with probably a low dynamic range.  All three pictures look the same to my eye and when I exported and diffed the exif data, the only differences were in the date/time and sequence numbers, so what did I really get from that?  Is there a way to use DRB to create an interesting photo in the same way that AE Bracketing or focus stacking can?  Does DRB make a bigger difference for say sunsets?  Would I get a better result to take a number of AE brackets and combine them with a number of DRBs?

 

I have tried searching for this but all the hits want to discuss HDR techniques with no mention of DRB in-camera.  If in fact there is something interesting going on with DRB, would I take the bracket exposure and stack or merge them in Affinity or would I simply pick the best one?

 

Thanks!

[graflex]

Your camera has a "dynamic range expansion" function that you access with the DR mode setting. You have three states: DR100, DR200, and DR400. DR100 is the normal mode of operation for the camera. In other words there's no off setting or DR0 setting -- the camera has to be set to one of the three and/or there's an auto DR option where the camera will select for you.

 

To use either the DR200 or DR400 settings you must increase the ISO value above base. DR200 requires that you set the ISO to at least 400 and DR400 requires that you set the ISO to at least 800. The point of the DR expansion modes is to generate a lower contrast JPEG in response to high contrast lighting conditions. Normally camera settings that focus on altering JPEG appearance do not effect the raw files from the camera; this function is an exception as it does have a substantive effect on the raw files. That is in fact how it works. By forcing you to raise the ISO the camera meter will calculate a reduced exposure. Normally the camera would then apply analog gain to the sensor signal to compensate but with DR200/400 engaged the analog gain is withheld. The thinking is that this is preventing highlight clipping. The JPEG is then processed with a special tone curve to better render the high contrast lighting.

 

DR bracketing allows you to shoot a bracket set using all three settings in sequence for a single photo. NOTE: that the ISO will have to be set to at least 800 to make this possible as the DR400 option requires at least ISO 800. The goal would be to get the best of the three camera JPEGs.

 

Caveat: If you save and work with raw files the effect of the DR modes on your raw files needs to be taken into consideration.

[jw432]

...

DR bracketing allows you to shoot a bracket set using all three settings in sequence for a single photo. NOTE: that the ISO will have to be set to at least 800 to make this possible as the DR400 option requires at least ISO 800. The goal would be to get the best of the three camera JPEGs.

 

Caveat: If you save and work with raw files the effect of the DR modes on your raw files needs to be taken into consideration.

Great!  Thanks graflex!  I will switch up my iso and give it a try.  Based on what you are saying, the DRB had no affect because I was shooting on iso 200.