HDR FAQs

1. Can auto-focus can be used with Promote Control in HDR mode?

We recommend to have your camera AF turned off when using the Promote Control in HDR mode. If automatic focus is turned on, most cameras try to re-focus all the way before taking a shot. When trying to re-focus, they often go the whole way to the end of the focusing range and back - and depending on the lens, it might take 1-2 seconds. This time is taken off the time that Promote Control thinks the camera should be taking the picture already. It's impossible to predict how long it will take the camera to acquire the focus - and worst of all, cameras don't report success or failure on focusing operations (it's just not a part of the protocol). So to play safe, we recommend using manual focus - so that camera cannot interfere with your HDR sequence by focusing, and push a carefully engineered sequence out of its intended timing.

If you keep your AF on, it might still work, but here is what happens in most cases:
1. If you do not use a shutter cable, and AF fails or takes too long, Promote Control will report an error.
2. If you do use a shutter cable, and AF fails or takes too long, depending on the timing one of the two results might happen:
- Promote Control may report an error
- the camera will scroll through all intended exposure times without actually taking any pictures, or only taking a few instead of all.

If you have either of the above symptoms, try pre-focusing and then disabling AF before starting to take an HDR sequence with Promote Control.

2. Why did my HDR have fewer frames than I expected?

Some cameras do not respond fast enough to Promote Control shutter release commands. You can make Promote Control go slower, so that your camera will catch up.

We recommend you update Promote Control firmware first to make sure you will have access to all the setup features. To do that, please visit the Promote Control Firmware Update Knowledge Base section to download the latest firmware update files as well as the firmware update application. Please consult Promote Control User Manual for details on how to update your Promote Control firmware.

To ensure your Promote Control is working as fast as your camera can, use the following Promote Control setup settings:

1. If you are not using shutter cable, and only use USB, use "USB shutter release frame delay" setting. Increase the value of that setting until all frames are being taken successfully.

2. If you are using shutter cable, use "Adapt shutter cable to small cam buffer" setting. Increase the value of that setting until all frames are being taken successfully.

3. If you use Live View mode while taking HDR images, refer to the following KB article:

Canon 5D Mk II and Live View/MLU - one Mirror Up per sequence