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Thanks Paul! I like the perspective you captured, the wide-angle really accentuates that. A little grittiness with noise could go good with those subjects. I love architecture too but have not put much attention to it yet.  Out here where I am I get more ancient ruins than industrial buildings.

Ooooo, ancient ruins; that sounds exciting!  What part of the world is that?  You might want to try borrowing or renting a super wide angle and see what you can do.  I'm addicted to my Sigma 8-16mm!

Have you thought using a bean bag to steady the camera? Fits easy in a small backpack and not too heavy. I use a Crown Royal whiskey bag full coffee beans. Put them in a plastic bag inside the CR bag. Cheap and effective, plus if camping the coffee is close at hand.

Excellent idea, Dave!  A beanbag has been on my list of things to purchase, but I like your idea.  Alas, whiskey is a little past my skill level and wine never comes in a bag (unless it is a paper bag  ).  I'll start querying my friends and see if anyone has one lying around!

Your item #2; I expect even with high FPS you will have trouble with moving objects.  I've thought of complex ways to tackle this but have not gone there yet. My easiest solution was to synthesize multiple exposures in Lightroom from a single frame by exporting with different EV steps, then process with your tool of choice. Example below. A pretty good result capturing extreme motion.

Really nice shot, Dave!  I would have no hope of making even a 5 shot capture of subject matter like this, even if ML did use high-speed shooting.  My envisioned scenario is more like this: 

- I'm out with my camera and no tripod and find a nice architectural shot that is in heavy shade and bright light. 
- I can brace against a lamp post or bench; not as steady as a tripod, but OK.   
- Capturing the entire dynamic range requires at least +/- 3 EV.  While I have had OK results with +/- 3 EV handheld, the resulting HDR gets pretty noisy.  I think that finer brackets would help
- Set up ML to take 5 brackets at 1.5 EV and hand hold with bracing
- I think I would be able to keep camera steadier if high speed shooting was used rather than low-speed

BTW, I forgot to mention that I look to shoot *really* wide, so this helps me with slow shutter speeds :-)




Good Bones by GeekNeck, on Flickr

After reading all the posts in this thread, I'm not getting what you are really after as a goal in the final processed shot. You are looking for high FPS and a high number of exposures. Why??

Thanks for the reply, Dave.  I don't necessarily shoot 9 brackets every time I do an HDR.  I have had occasions where a 3-shot bracket at +/- 3 EV just wasn't enough to capture the entire scene.  Also 3EVs apart is just too much for a smooth HDR.  If I'm on a tripod I'd usually go for 1.5 or 2 EV.  Because of this, I would certainly consider a 5-shot HDR handheld because I think I could get good results.  I would also consider a 9-shot bracket if I had a reasonably steady platform, like a tree or fence post.

The reason high speed is important is for the following reasons:
1. I have a higher chance of keeping the camera steady and pointed in the same exact location if I only have to hold it for approximately half the time.
2. The scene changes less from the first to the last shot.  Very important for shot with moving people or blowing trees!

I assume the 2 sec delay isnt what you are talking about? This caught me out when i first tired HDR and now i have it turned off so there is no delay between shots.

While not what I was worrying about, I didn't know you could turn it off.  Excellent tip!

Thanks for the replies.  It seems the consensus is that ML bracketing does NOT use high-speed continuous shooting.  That's fine, I just wanted to know if it was possible.

FWIW, I can see numerous cases for 9 bracketed shots, especially if shooting at 5.3 FPS.  I can hold the camera relatively still for 9/5.3=1.7 seconds if there is good light.  If I have a nice tree, wall, or chair that won't move on me, I can get a good series in so-so light! :-)

Sorry for not getting back sooner.  Sometimes this "life" thing really get in the way...

Here is what I did and observed:
1. Set 60D to Canon bracket mode and high-speed continuous shooting
2.  Point camera at a bright light and fire off the brackets.  Images taken very quickly!
3.  Set camera to M, f/1.8, 1/2000 sec (still in high-speed continuous)
4. Enable ML bracketing, 9 shots at 1 EV steps
5. Point camera at same bright light and fire off a shot
6. Images were taken, but much more slowly.  Not the time between shutter open and close, but the time between shutter close and shutter open of the next shot.

I apologize for not previously telling you my version.  This is all happening with Version 2.2 (XMas 22 Dec 2011).  Could it be that an upgrade will resolve this?  Thanks.

Paul

Thanks for the reply, but I don't think it is a buffer issue, as I can get 11-13 RAW shots into the buffer with no problem.  The issue is that I want ML to use what Canon calls "High-speed Continuous" shooting (5.3 FPS) when doing HDR bracketing.  ML seems to use the "Low-speed Continuous" (3 FPS) mode.

Not necessarily, I just want all of my brackets to be taken as quickly as possible.  If ML does not allow the use of 60D's high speed mode, that's fine. I just wanted to verify whether that is the case or that I am missing something in the manual.  Thanks!

I guess I should have mentioned that I want more than the three brackets offered by the Canon function.  ML doesn't help with Canon Brackets, right?

Hi all,

I am just getting into ML, so forgive me if this is a dumb question....
I have tried the HDR bracket setting on my 60D and have had reasonable luck with it.  The problem is that the images are taken very slowly, requiring a tripod.  Is there a way to get ML to use the highest FPS setting possible so that I might use it hand-held?  Thanks in advance!

Paul