OK, did a bit of experimenting. I used a triple bracketed exposure (-2,0,+2) of a church with some overhanging branches. The shots were taken with a tripod, mirror lock-up and self-timer to get them as stable as possible. There was a slight breeze moving the leaves on the overhanging branch.
I processed the RAW files three times:
- Merge to HDR in Photoshop, then used the Photomatix Tone Mapping plugin (my usual workflow)
- Created the HDR image and tone mapped in Photomatix Pro (the standalone application)
- Created the HDR image and tone mapped in Essential HDR
In each case, I used the default tone mapping settings.
Obviously the top of the church tower didn't move between shots, so it would be reasonable to assume that there wouldn't be any problems here...but take a look:
http://www.waterden.net/stuff/cr.jpg
Both Photomatix and Essential HDR have produced some pretty ugly chromatic aberration along the top of the tower and on the gargoyle to the left.
When it comes to attempting to align areas that have moved between shots, however, it's a different story. Have a look at what's happened with the moving leaves:
http://www.waterden.net/stuff/align.jpg
This is a pretty tough task for any software to take on but, although none of the results are perfect, Photomatix's ghosting-reduction algorithms win hands down.
Unfortunately, I don't know what all this proves. You pays yer money and you takes yer choice, I suppose.