HDR help

[davwhite]

I have been playing with Photomatix in trial form and I am now ready to buy.
Problem!! Do I buy the full pro version or a plug-in.

I shoot Canon RAW and process n Aperture2 and final adjustments in CS3

There is available a Aperture2 & CS3 plug-in at a lower price.

Does anyone know what the difference is, if any, between the full ver and a plug-in?

[ricktas]

I can't really help there David, I haven't ever tried the plug-in. I have the stand-alone software and it works extremely well. Can you get a trial of the plug-in as well? At least that way you can assess it inside PS first.

[mcdesign]

You can do more with the full version David, HDR, Tonemapping, Exposure blending and batch processing. I had the same dillema and went with the full version.

[davwhite]

Thanks Rick & Margaret. We are only talking about $20-$30 dollars difference but by what you said Margaret the full version is the go I reakon

[davwhite]

Seek and you shall find.

After a bit more searching I found this....

How does the Aperture plugin differ from Photomatix Pro?

The Photomatix plug-in for Aperture offers the following features:
· Merge of bracketed photos into a 32-bit HDR image
· Option for automatic alignment of the merged photos
· Options for automatic reduction of chromatic aberrations and noise in the HDR image
· Tone Mapping with the Details Enhancer and Tone Compressor methods

The standalone Photomatix Pro offers all above features. It also offers exposure blending/fusion, ghosting reduction, read/write support of 32-bit HDR image format, and a powerful batch processing. These features are missing in the Photomatix Plug-in for Aperture.

[MarkW]

David
With Aperture you only get one image processor app to use within Aperture. Once you select say CS3 then you cant use your Photomatrix app if its stand alone unless you intend to use it before importing the image into the Aperture system.