Bracketing time-delay

GrahamW58

I used to have a Panasonic Lumix bridge camera, which had a dedicated HDR setting that effectively took 3 bracketed shots. These were saved in RAW and could then be imported into an HDR processor to produce one JPG.

The Nikon HDR function only uses two images, which are saved as JPGs, and it compiles them in camera to produce a JPG.

The obvious way to get a similar effect to the Lumix is to use bracketing. I set this up and have used the self-timer to take three consecutive shots.

However, the camera seems to be taking a very long time to complete this process. To set up the shot, I have use live-view to see the scene on the LCD. I hear this 'clunk', then there's a pause, then the three shots are taken, but I there's a long pause between shots.

The SSD card is a FlashAir 32Gb which I thought should be fast enough.

Any ideas what else I can do?

Many thanks, Graham

bruto

Have you tried it in viewfinder view? It might work faster. LV is always a little slower because it must first shut the shutter, then take the image, then open the shutter again, for each shot. It's also possible that LV is trying to refocus with each shot, and that's pretty slow. If you must use LV to compose, try switching it off just before you shoot.

My D3200 does not bracket, so I'm just guessing here, but viewfinder view should work pretty fast.

If you're only taking three shots it should not matter what card you're using, since they will go to the camera's buffer before they're sent to the card.

e.t.a. it also occurs to me to wonder if the time delay is working on each exposure. Just to experiment (you can toss the blurry results) try LV bracketing without the time delay.

GrahamW58

Genius. Thanks for such a fast and clear answer. You're absolutely right. It would still really need a tripod, but the speed without the LV is definitely quicker.

Interestingly, I did one set of three with the LV and one without and despite everything else seeming to be the same, the degree of under-exposure and over-exposure seems more marked without the LV too. Not sure what that's about, but I shall keep an eye on it.

Thanks again, Graham

bruto

I would add that if your camera accepts the IR remote shutter release, which I'm pretty sure it does, this would be a good alternative to the self timer. The release itself is quite inexpensive, and very handy to have.