Consider this image from Aruba, of a rental car inside:
Without a flash, a dynamic range like that is difficult. So look at the before/after:
And so yes, from that image on the left with its very black blacks and blown out whites I can still get back to a reasonable picture—provided I shot in RAW, of course. Here’s my develop settings:
This gives me a sort of one-image HDR.
What lens what used, you ask? My standard ultra-wide, the 16-35mm f/2.8 lens set to its widest 16mm zoom. Shot at 1/100th sec at f/5.6, 200 ISO.