[Zig]

Sorry, Pol, I lied(it might look rude of me if I hijacked!).



OK, this is with Photomatix basic(free) version. It combines 2 versions of the same image; the range between the 2 images is 2 stops, yet of course each image has its own dynamic range anyway. The scene itself has a considerable dynamic range: shot at midday in strong sunshine, glary white limestone, deep and angular shadows...an exposure nightmare of (I'd guess) 4 stops or so(?}
This is a noisy image, evident upon close inspection and in the detail in the crop lower down, shot at 800ASA.
I again found that darn "haloing" but also found this can be mitigated to some degree by keeping contrast low at the conversion stage.
Firstly, I have to say I'm pleased with what the software can give me in terms of extracting more detail..though I don't trust it to give me a final, finished image. What it does provide is more "choice", more information and detail, so as to provide one with a better chance!
I've found in this mono conversion that I have to do less dodging and burning to get what I want: this is fine for me as CS2 doesn't really do either in terms of what one expects from a darkroom. In short, Photomatix at the very least, provides me with opportunity to avoid getting into the "contrast spiral" when using D+B on a mono image.



Here's a 100% crop of some detail.
Notice the hints of that haloing: this increased when I chanced using a higher contrast pair of initial images...and I've no doubt that it would quickly worsen upon any but the most careful use of D+B. It is not "fringeing": it does not exist on either of the inputted images; rather, it seems to remind me of the same "blend"-type algorithm on some panorama-making or depth-of-field enhancing(eg, Heliconfocus?) tools. I'm not sufficiently knowledgeable about such matters, but am inclined to think that the "answer" to any problems with this haloing lies in a) keeping contrast low at the inputting stage; b) ideally having the option to save as layers.
I may be well off-track here and am keen to be educated by the experience of you who are really getting to grips with the tone-mapping side of things. Of course, the free version of this software IS free and hasn't been tweaked for a year or so, so it may perform more raggedly than its "Pro" stablemate....but at present I'm drawing shy of spending my cash on something that quite honesly won't have the "legs" to make it to hard copy at decent sizes(well, with my 350D at any rate)
I'd also be interested if anyone knows the limitations of it in terms of file size...I'm guessing 2 gigs. (The reason I'm musing about this, is because of its implications for doing a tone-mapped combo of the same pano/mosaic at different exposures btw...maybe the guys at tawbaware have additional experience here too?)