Hi Rick

It depends on your camera model, but with some models once you have set the camera to exposure bracket, it will always bracket all your shots until you turn bracketing off. I don’t have a D5100, but with my D200 if you have your camera set to single shot drive mode and bracketing turned on, then it will behave as you describe.

So, all you need to do is to turn bracketing on when you want it, and then remember to turn bracketing off when you don’t want it. I’m not quite sure how exactly you turn bracketing on / off with the D5100, but the manual should tell you if you’re not sure.

Hope that fixes it

Dave

Hi David

Do you mean the camera can’t autofocus, or are pictures are coming out blurry, or are the pictures too dark? It’s difficult to give much advice without more specific information on what you mean by being unable to shoot.

Dave

It is not a strict necessity to shoot bracketed images on a tripod, but if you shoot handheld, then you need some software that will align the handheld images correctly. I use Photoshop’s auto align feature, I believe Photomatix can also align handheld images automatically.

Software can’t always align the images correctly, which is why it is generally better to use a tripod if possible. Personally, the majority of my bracketed and then blended photos are shot handheld with no tripod.

I am 90% sure the software that comes with the camera is pretty useless for anything other than doing a basic RAW conversion. If you want to blend bracketed shots, particularly handheld ones, then you’ll have to fork out for some more expensive software. Possibly the GIMP (free) would be okay, but I don’t have any experience with that program. Aligning the handheld images may also be able to be done using panorama software like Hugin (free).

The other thing to note is that the D5100 is known for having a good dynamic range (and likely the D3200 will be as good or maybe better). So there is less need to bracket shots – you can take a single shot exposed for the highlights, then pull up the brightness of the shadows to reveal more shadow detail.

Personally I would rather have the D5100 than the D3200, both for the bracketing, and also the articulated screen. I’m sure both are good competent cameras though.

Dave

Thank you. I will try that software. My HDR Software will not blend exposures without applying the HDR effect. Its cool sometimes but most times I like a more natural effect. Just got a new Canon 17-55mm 2.8 and can’t wait to start experimenting.

Thanks again !

Personally I manually blend my bracketed images together using layer masks in Photoshop and use Photoshop’s auto align feature for aligning bracketed shots taken handheld. You can see the process I go through with an image at: Exposure blending to increase the dynamic range of an image.

Bracketed photos can also be blended without HDR automatically, this method is known as exposure fusion. Photomatix offers both HDR and Exposure fusion, while EnfuseGUI is a free exposure fusion software.

Hi Ronnie

I don’t have a 5D Mk II, but my understanding is that you can bracket 3 images up to +/- 2.0 EV, and the bracket amount can be set in 0.3 or 0.5 EV increments. (So yes, it does have auto bracketing).

Hope that helps.

Dave