[DavidJeng]

Hi, although my first Pentax was bought in 1960's, I am struggling with my recently purchased K20D. Can anyone help for the HDR feature built in the camera?

[fractal]

Things have changed slightly from the sixties. What kind of trouble are you having with the feature?

Anyway, welcome to the forum.

[Ash]

Welcome David.
Be aware that the 'HDR' feature on the K20D is not a true HDR function as it does not incorproate multiple exposures to create a HDR image, but rather it is an imitation HDR-like effect put on a single JPEG image.
Hardly the same and not as appealing as that of the true HDR feature of the K-7

[Raybo]

Welcome David.
Be aware that the 'HDR' feature on the K20D is not a true HDR function as it does not incorproate multiple exposures to create a HDR image, but rather it is an imitation HDR-like effect put on a single JPEG image.
Hardly the same and not as appealing as that of the true HDR feature of the K-7

From what I have read Ash is spot on.

I have not used it on my K20 as of yet, but if an area of your image is overexposed it will remain overexposed and so on............

[WMBP]

Sorry, I don't understand what y'all are talking about. Is there an "HDR" feature in the K20D? I've never noticed it.

There is of course the extended or enhanced dynamic range feature. (Pentax itself can't figure out what to call this, apparently.) This supposedly gets better detail in the highlights. I have never been able to tell if it's really doing anything at all. This feature is enabled in the ISO setting screen accessed via the Fn button. I think this feature is sometimes given the acronym "EDR."

But that's not the same thing as "HDR" at all, is it? And the distinction matters, because the K7 does in fact have something like real HDR capability built into the camera.

Will

[mysticcowboy]

I do a lot of HDR photography with my K20D, but have to combine the exposures in post production. There are a number of software choices for doing this. The most popular is Photomatix. Photoshop CS3 and greater can do it too. There are lost of tutorials on the web for those two programs. Other people also make HDR software but I haven't tried it.

michaelmckee
My Port Townsend – A City in Photographs

[Rondec]

The HDR is one of the jpeg filters that you can apply in camera to your images. These filters include things like black and white, sepia, illustration, and color extraction. Basically, you need to choose a jpeg image, hit the function key and then hit your left arrow and you can choose which filter you apply.

I don't use any of the filters (don't really use jpegs in camera), so I can't really comment on it other than to say that the above posters are right. It is not true HDR, which is obtained through combining several exposures of the same image.

[Ash]

Sorry, I don't understand what y'all are talking about. Is there an "HDR" feature in the K20D? I've never noticed it.

There is of course the extended or enhanced dynamic range feature. (Pentax itself can't figure out what to call this, apparently.) This supposedly gets better detail in the highlights. I have never been able to tell if it's really doing anything at all. This feature is enabled in the ISO setting screen accessed via the Fn button. I think this feature is sometimes given the acronym "EDR."

But that's not the same thing as "HDR" at all, is it? And the distinction matters, because the K7 does in fact have something like real HDR capability built into the camera.

Will

Will, if you shoot RAW, you will not see this 'HDR' filter (or any other filter) as an option to you. You need to either convert a RAW image to JPEG or shoot JPEG to see the option. When playing back a JPEG, press the Fn key and flick left for filter options.

There you will see a myriad of filter selections you can make, one of which is the 'HDR' filter, which apparently tries to mimic the HDR effect. It creates more halos than anything else IMO and so I don't use it at all.

D-Range is something else altogether, used when exposing a shot, and designed to allow for a larger DR to be incorporated within the camera's recordable DR - thereby slightly decreasing contrast in the resultant image (a side effect for extending DR).

This serves to try and preserve as much strong highlight detail there may be in an image (like a landscape in broad daylight) but is quite limited in the ability to enhance shadow detail, as true HDR shines at doing.

edit: beaten to it by Rondec...

[WMBP]

Rondec and Ash,

Thanks for setting me straight. Shooting JPEG. Yes, I've heard of it. :-)

Anyway, I am still right that the K7 does HDR in a different, more "normal" and more effective way, no? I gather that the K7 takes 3 pictures or something like that and actually layers them together, as you might do on your computer. That is a neat trick. I just tried what the K20D does and, well, I was underwhelmed.

Will