Free HDR Softwares

Here's my list of the best free HDR softs. All of them are totally free softwares however some are stripped down and have some functions disabled and have restrictions.

Luminance HDR

PROS
Supports Raw
Merge more than 3 exposures
Auto and manual Alignment
9 tone-mapping algorithm to choose from
Single image tone-mapping
Supports tabs view
Rotate, resize, and cropping
Reads transer exif data
Absolutely free no restrictions and watermarks
Available for Linux, Mac, and Windows

CONS
not very user-friendly
no live view you have to render to see resulting image

Website and Download



Picturenaut

PROS
Supports Raw
3 or more Exposures
Multi-threads
Auto and manual alignment
Auto and full user controls
Rotate, resize, crop
Drag and drop support
Filters and plugins support
Reads transfers exif data
Local and Global tonemapping algorithm
Live View
Absolutely free no restrictions and or watermarkings
For Windows and OS X

CONS
Non (in my opinion)

Website and Download

FDRTools Basic

PROS
RAW support
Merge 3 or more images
Auto and manual alignment
ICC color standards
Read transfer of exif data
Global tonemapping algorithms
Global white balance correction
Drag and Drop
Batch processing
GUI theme/skins
Rotate, reflect (lossless)
Preview support
Absolutlely free no watermarkings restrictions
For Windows and OS X 32-bit only

CONS
Nothing major
Upgrade to get the 64-bit support, parallel processing and the Compressor plugin

Website and Download

Fusion (free version)

CONS
Raw support
Auto alignment
Auto and manual controls
Tone mapping options
Vivid contrasty results
Batch processing

CONS
Resulting images looks a bit unrealistic
Leaves watermark
Windows 32-bit only

Website and Download

Essential HDR Community Editon

CONS
RAW support
HDR creation from 1 or more photos
Merge 3 or more image
Excellent tonemapping ability
Tonemap user settings save support
User-friendly interface
Preview
Drag and drop

CONS
Allows only 1MB size per image maximum
Leaves a small watermark at the bottom
Windows 32-bit only

Website and Download

HDRtist

Raw support
Merge 3 up photos
Easy to use interface
More controls and functions
Straigtforward controls
Can create realistic vivid images
4 tonemapping system
Save directly to iPhoto or Aperture
Free, no watermarkings

CONS
Mac OS X only

Website Download