Help with my new DSLR...

[pjbw]

I have used a 'bridge' camera since 2006 and am reasonably competent with RAW, post-processing, printing. I have joined a local photographic society and have been persuaded to get with it. Especially after reading the Camera Labs review I bought a Sony A77.
I wonder could someone recommend a general book which would introduce me to such as DRO, HDR and, most importantly, when to use these techniques.

[davidedric]

Hi Peter,

Sorry, can't help with the book, but I hope you've had a good look at the tutorials here on this site.

Dave

[chauncey]

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...g+the+sony+A77

[D L]

From my beginner's point of view, I thought this youtube was a good intro to HDR:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeG9Wm0-yXw

Tim Cooper, the presenter, explains when to use it and how.
From memory he also has a book on the subject.

[dem]

some useful articles on the A77:
http://blog.william-porter.net/2012/...ange-with.html

[barrydoig]

Hi Peter. You have got yourself a good camera there and you will enjoy using it. I suggest you buy a User Guide for it to go along with the handbook you will have received with the camera. It will help you understand the inner workings of the camera better. David Busch has a good Guide for this model, and there are others which a Google search will locate for you. Re DRO (??) and HDR and so on, get to know your camera first by using it. I am an avid HDR user, but I wouldn't use these techniques until I know my camera and have got into some basic photography. You have a good tool there. I am pleased you are getting with it.
Barry From New Zealand

[DanK]

I don't have a Sony, but based on how Canons work, I guessed that neither of these features affects raw files, that is, that they are just different ways of doing in-camera conversion to jpeg. I quickly googled, and the first things that came up suggested that this guess was right. If that is not explained in the manual, you could google a bit more to (dis)confirm this. If it is correct and you are shooting raw, as your posting suggests, you can simply ignore them. If one of them does affect the raw files, you have a decision. I keep everything like that turned off on my Canon bodies because Canon does have a third feature that actually does mess with the raw file.

[rpcrowe]

I agree with Barry from New Zealand. I have found the David Busch User Guides very informative. I have the Compact Field Guide for my Canon 7D and I would assume that the edition covering your camera is equally as informative!

I like the Compact Field Guides best because they are specifically aimed at the use of the camera. I find them a better reference than the Canon User Guide because the Compact Field Guides are easier and more pleasant to read. I also like the Compact Field Guides because they are not filled with "boilerplate" information about composition, exposure triangle, etc... I am fairly competent in general photography and don't need a "Photography 101" book, when I want to learn (or review) some specific aspects of my camera. I also like the size and cost of the Compact Field Guides". It is small enough to carry on a trip although I don't carry it out shooting...

I purchased one of the "Snapshots to Great Shots" series books for my 7D and found it virtually useless because it was jammed with simplistic general photographic information and really IMO, did not provide any in-depth information on the camera. It might be O.K. for a beginner but, it is not the type of book I need.

[inkista]

Peter, this is just my opinion, but as a tech writer, my first instinct is always RTFM. The user manual for your camera is probably a good way to start out knowing how to use DRO/HDR modes in your camera. It will, probably, however, absolutely suck at telling you what's actually being done in-camera to achieve the results. But also, if you are shooting RAW, neither one is liable to do anything, because most camera processing only happens on JPEGs.

The main reason to use something that manipulates the dynamic range of your images is because you're shooting a scene where the dynamic range is larger than your camera can capture in a single exposure. That is, the range between the darkest darks and the lightest lights is bigger than the full range your sensor is sensitive to. Typical scenes that can create this situation are shooting out of a window in the daytime, or a lot of landscape shooting. If you look at the histogram of an image, if you have "shoulders" jammed up against either end of the histogram--or both--then you're looking at a "high dynamic range" scene, and you will either have to make a choice between the highlights or the shadows as to which is more important and which you want to preserve--or you'll have to shoot a bracketed set and employ one of the many techniques in post-processing (HDR, exposure fusion, etc.).

My guess as to what DRO is doing is simply what you could do yourself in post-processing by reducing the contrast, and your camera's doing it dynamically, based on the individual data image, to set where the "white" and "black" points go. Whether you want to use it is up to your personal taste and what scene you're trying to shoot. But simply practicing with it on and off should tell you whether or not it makes enough of a difference that you want to use it, or when you'd want to use it.

[Krawuntzel]

Especially after reading the Camera Labs review I bought a Sony A77.
I wonder could someone recommend a general book which would introduce me to such as DRO, HDR and, most importantly, when to use these techniques.

Hi Peter
As owner of a Sony A77 I have used DRO and HDR settings in the beginning for a while. As others mentioned these settings only apply to in-camera jpegs and when using Sony's software to "develop" RAWs (the settings are registered as part of the RAW file and applied in Sony Image Data Converter or Sony Play Memories).
However, after a while I did no longer care about those settings, as I got better results by "developing" RAWs on my own (to my own taste).
I would take the advice of Kathy: Try it on and off, and see whether it suits you.
Erwin

[pjbw]

Peter, this is just my opinion, but as a tech writer, my first instinct is always RTFM.

Yes Kathy, as a computer programmer for 20 years the first thing I did was to 'RTFM' (naughty in English English!). Thank all the rest of you for your help. Dem's reference to William Porter's site http://blog.william-porter.net/2012/...ange-with.html is a good start.
My hobby-horse: It would be great to have a true WYSIWYG and WYDSIWYDG mode EVF and screen like my old camera had (NOT 'live-view') but it would be too slow for 2015.

[xpatUSA]

Yes Kathy, as a computer programmer for 20 years the first thing I did was to 'RTFM' (naughty in English English!). Thank all the rest of you for your help.

Nice sting in the tail . . .

[inkista]

Nice sting in the tail . . .

I'm a professional tech writer. I'm used to it.

[pjbw]

Thank you all.
I have bought at considerable expense Gary Friedman's 2-volume 'The Complete Guide to Sony's Alpha 65 & 77 SLT Cameras'.
They seem to cover everything I will ever need.
(My 2006 camera was the Sony DSC-R1. Uniquely it seems it feeds its EVF and screen from the processor (slowwwly) so what I see is what I get and equally, what I don't see is what I don't get. Unlike Live-View. Maybe someone in Sony will pick up my rants and add such a view mode to a new model - need hardware and software though.)