HDR programs?

[Milk 1027]

Anyone have good, cheap, HDR programs.
I'm seriously thinking about just buying Photoshop.

I tried Luminance, and maybe I just don't know how to mess with the settings, but I didn't like it.
Anyone have any suggestions, or know of any cheap or free programs, that would do a good job.
So far, I get a better result from doing a "fake" HDR photo on GIMP.

[LoneStar]

Right now, I'm using Corel PaintShop Pro. It has a decent HDR function, among other photo editing tools. It retails for $99.99, but is usually on sale at BestBuy for $50, like right now. I have the older version (X2), so this one should include the HDR tool, as well.

PaintShop Pro

I've also been recommended 'Photomatix' from a few others, including members from C5.com. One of the sites I have bookmarked is an HDR Tutorial, also recommends Photomatix, and includes a coupon code for 15% off the program. From seeing some of the other forum members' pics on this site that use Photomatix, I would highly recommend it.

HDR Tutorial

Here are a few HDR pics (mild editting) from PaintShop Pro that I've done.








EDIT: Here's a link to a thread I started a while back, when asking about HDR. There's a link to Nathan Moreno's Flickr Album, with HDR pics made with Photomatix.

[Mindz]

The two I've used are:

Photoshop CS3 and newer
Lightroom

[BumbleSS]

I used the HDR in Adobe Photoshop CS5 for my Camaro pics below.
I've tinkered with PhotoMatix as well but continue to use CS5 for other features.