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Hydra User Reviews (7 posts)Write A Review
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Jul 19 2009

UNCOY  I agree with the suggestion to go with Bracketeer. I checked out Hydra's galleries and the results are atrociously artificial. The team look like nice people and they have their marketing sorted. Pity about the software.  
(Version 2.1.1)

praisebury
0
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Replies:
Aug 27 2009

HIGHERTERRAIN  Thank you for correcting the version that is available.   
(Version 2.1.1)

praisebury
-2

May 22 2008
***..

CAPTSALTYJACK  I didn't care for Hydra, to be frank. I took different shots, some of them with 3-bracket ranges, others with 5-bracket ranges. The results that Hydra spit out were poor, weirdly saturated (kind of a "candied" look to it), or underexposed.

I took the same exact photo sets and ran them through Bracketeer (GUI frontend for Enfuse), and the results were stunning. With some tweaks, they looked even better.

Can't recommend Hydra. Go for Bracketeer, save a few bucks, and get a better performer too.  
(Version 1.5.2)

praisebury
+5
[ Reply ]
May 14 2008

JOHAN ELZENGA  The Aperture plugin (1.5.2) works fine on my MacBook Pro, but on my Quad G5 I still get an error that the plugin didn't load.  
(Version 1.5.2)

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0
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May 14 2008

JOHAN ELZENGA  The Aperture plugin (1.5.2) works fine on my MacBook Pro, but on my Quad G5 I still get an error that the plugin didn't load.  
(Version 1.5.2)

praisebury
-1
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May 12 2008
****.

DAMPEOPLES  Well, they didn't lie, it now has tonemapping as well as an Aperture plugin! The plugin is in beta, and will expire in June or July, but it's been working for me so far. I want to say that it's more like an automator action, where it loads aperture, then imports your rendered image into a folder/project you select, but that's fine with me too! Been playing with this a bit tonight, and it sure is fun. I really need to start bracketing more of my shots, I did it for a while, but got out of the habit. The regular HDR images were great out of this app, it did what it was supposed to do. I suppose the best compliment to get for a HDR picture is that someone doesn't 'see it'. The tonemapping I am still experimenting with, and have had interesting results so far. Gotta love it.  
(Version 1.5)

praisebury
+2
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Replies:
May 14 2008

KBEAT  So far, you're the only person I've come across who has gotten the Aperture plug-in to work. Most people can't even get it to load and install properly. I got it working, but it creates 32-bit files that crash my system as soon as I attempt to edit them.

I was really hopeful for this plug-in, as I want to save myself a trip to Photomatrix, but so far I'm very disappointed. I left a note about the issues on their support forums, but so far it's gone unnoticed.  
(Version 1.5.2)

praisebury
0
May 14 2008

DAMPEOPLES  The docs left out that you may need to create the Plug-Ins folder, then add the plugin to that. It's not very useful at this time within Aperture if you need to align them yourself, but pretty much works perfectly if auto-align works. They're also not that great about answering the forum in a timely manner, but all my emails have been answered. Good luck!  
(Version 1.5.2)

praisebury
0
May 14 2008

KBEAT  I got it installed, thanks. I should have more clearly stated that people are having a hard time getting the plug-in to load properly. Although, I didn't have that issue.

The problem I'm having is that Hydra creates 32-bit files, which Aperture doesn't support. These files, once they're created, crash my entire system the moment I attempt to edit them. It makes no sense for an Aperture plug-in to create a 32-bit tiff, as they are incompatible with Aperture! So unless I'm missing some crucial step, how do you edit the files created in Aperture using the Aperture bricks?  
(Version 1.5.2)

praisebury
0
May 14 2008

DAMPEOPLES  In the Aperture preferences, under the Export option, mine copy has PSD 300DPI selected, I assume that's 8bit. This is the only other thing I can think of, as when Aperture prepares it to export, this is the type of file it generates. I just tried the 16bit, and it is working as well, so I really can't think of anything else that would be causing you problems! I'm no expert though :)  
(Version 1.5.2)

praisebury
0

May 6 2008

DAMPEOPLES  You've gotta describe what you did in each app before you talk about 'wow' results. Photomatix is a HDR/Tone Mapping application, Hydra is not at the moment, although Tone Mapping is coming in a future release, according to my communication with the developer, he said in the 'Spring', I emailed him back and told him the dogwoods are blooming and the birds chirping here already :)  
(Version 1.0.4)

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0
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Jan 22 2008

RICHCASTILLO  I'm a pro shooter and frequent user of Photomatix Pro. Naturally, this app caught my attention while doing my daily scan of Macupdate. I must admit I have only tried this app with one set of 3 frames (a red covered bridge in Maryland with a menacingly dark cloudy sky) and I have not read the documentation. However, I think that one shot, "do or die" test is a valid test of a solid app, especially considering that I know my way around the Mac.

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. A clean Cocca interface is no substitute for missing functionality. The resulting "HDR" image was no better than the middle exposure. Just to be fair, I immediately reprocessed the same 3 images in Photomatix Pro and the result was stunning! If anyone wants to see the comparison just reply. I really wanted this app to work but in my opinion this app is just cool GUI and no real functionality. BTW: the GUI for Photomatix is not at all impressive but man, does it deliver results.   
(Version 1.0.1)

praisebury
+2
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