Nip2 is a strange program, where you arrange widgets in a workflow to manipulate images. The result is like a spreadsheet for working with images, or imagemagick with visual feedback. Once you have put together a “workspace” with one image, you can use in scripts to apply the same manipulations to other images.

PROS: It is much faster than imagemagick, and it gives you feedback along the way. No more trial-and-error guessing the right values for convert. It supports almost every bit depth and color space you can think of.

CONS: It can be very finicky about what inputs are in what format. Sometimes you are forced to use 8-bit inputs for certain operations. It has only the most rudimentary gimp/photoshop-like editing facilities, so you are pretty much working with entire images.

Kind of a strange experience, and a bit quirky in its implementation (despite being at version 7), but it definitely has a place in putting together an automated workflow.

I discovered qtpfsgui and related apps quite recently and used it mainly for tonemapping the luxrender outputs, but yes it should work great for producing HDR images from photos.

I intend to create some real HDR angular env maps from an exposure series of RAW photos I will shoot.

Thanks for the information.

You are right of curse about the color correction on the node. I have to have a look at your pynode solution. The mentioned thread is an interesting read.

Regarding gamma correcting your material, it should be done to the colour input not the output otherwise it will affect the shading not just the colour. If you really want correct material previews it can be done via pynodes http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=136555