*"Films have much bigger dynamic range, "

*kawecki - Unless you're talking about Medium or Large Format Negative(About 3" x 4" and 8" x 10,") 35mm" refers to the size/type of film/negative, used by most Single Lens Reflex cameras.  I was'nt talking about digital...allthough you can bet your bottom dollar the same principal/technique applies!

*"after all in some way the HDRI images have to be done."

To get a 360 degree 2D Photographic image is impossible in one shot, but it does'nt take any special Film or Camera.  Fish Eye, and Panoramic Lenses will help, but what's needed is a program to help composite the seperate shots, and then Squish the Top and Bottom of the new image to map onto a sphere nicely.

* "I didn't used automatic cameras and adjusted them by hand and eye."

What tool you use to get your F-Stop and Shutter Speed is irrelivant.  You could just as well walk up to your subject with a light meter, measure the distance between it and your camera, and then calculate the Shutter Speed, but if you have an Automatic Camera doing this for you, then it will display , for you, whats going on.  Likewise it will allow you to make changes.  Automatic cameras are'nt always correct.  This is one instance where they are almost always off.