The rumor (but posted as a press release by CNET Asia) this morning is that the Canon G12 will get both an HDR mode for stills and video.
There is mention of an HDR stills mode using brackets, but I’m going to go ahead and assume that the HDR Video mode is some kind of pulling down highlights and raising shadows in camera on the chip, on the fly.
I am pleased to announce that I will be contributing over at HDRLabs.com as a co-blogger. Christian Bloch (author of The HDRI Handbook) has invited me into his world of “HDR Nuts” as he calls it. I choose to view us as pixel warriors or digital knights. Regardless of the geeky analogies, the truth is we are all fighting the war on exposure and trying to defeat the same enemy. It is a challenge for photographers, cinematographers and VFX artists alike. I’m thrilled to be a part of the site and hope to make a positive impact in the months and years to come.
I do not plan to abandon this blog. I will likely mirror many of the posts over at HDR Labs here and I’m sure there will be times I want to discuss non-HDR information that might just be basic photography gear or such, and will post those here rather than clutter HDR Labs blog.
Many of you have also expressed interest in some form of training from myself and I have actually been working on a few projects at once so I’ll share what is going to emerge in the weeks and months ahead.
I have just crossed the threshold of having shot roughly 14,000 HDRs that I tonemapped into final JPEG/TIFF formats for commercial delivery for clients (mostly incredibly high dynamic range real estate scenes). Because of this extensive experience with tackling exposure day to day for going on 5 years now, I have a unique view of HDR from a production pipeline point of view. I’ve also shot and edited well over 1000 landscapes which were bracketed, merged to HDR and tonemapped, “for fun”. I’m quite familiar with the dos, don’ts and work arounds relating to HDR Capture and Post Processing.
That said, a few things are in the very early stages of planning for eBooks, Video Training, Workshops and/or One on One Training. These are the concepts I’m working on:
Over the weekend I uploaded some HDR Timelapse Video to both my Vimeo and YouTube accounts (links below). It is part HDR Timelapse and part HDR Video. The HDR Timelapse segments are obvious because the tripod is locked off. What I am calling HDR Video is pseudo HDR video in my book. Those pans in the garden and architectural interiors are actually just still frames that are blended in video editing software to create frames between each still frame.
There are many flaws in the architectural segments because the video software guessed at pixel movement between each frame shot and you’ll see wavy lines appear briefly a few times. Also, because I panned the camera by such a large amount between each still frame shot, the software had trouble creating all the in between frames (which also contributes to the large stair step feeling in the pans). I was tempted to not include these shots because they are flawed, but figured I might as well to at least showcase the fact that each still is a tonemapped image from a 9 shot bracket taken with a Nikon D3 (each merged to HDR, then tonemapped of course).
Again, each frame is actually a bracket of images that were merged to HDR and then tonemapped. Many sequences were shot with a Nikon D3 set to auto bracket 9 shots from under exposed to over exposed with 1EV jumps between each of those 9 frames. I also shot a few segments with a Canon T2i set to 3aeb.
(MORE DETAILS OF THE SHOOT BELOW THE VIDEO LINKS)
Vimeo 720p DIRECT LINK HERE (crisper than YouTube version) (embedded below)
HDR Timelapse and HDR Video from Michael James on Vimeo.
YouTube 1080p DIRECT LINK HERE (embedded below)
The D3 segments were shot via HDR Timelapse using the D3′s built in intervalometer. The intervalometer on the D3 allows for shooting brackets in addition to standard single frame timelapse. You just set the camera up initially as if you are going to shoot an automatic exposure bracket like you would any other AEB burst, but then go into the intervalometer setting afterwards and set it up for timelapse mode… presto… HDR Timelapse capture at your fingertips. (The D3 can fire 3, 5, 7 or 9 frames from under exposed to over exposed in AEB mode)
With the Canon T2i I had to “trick” the camera per se by using in camera AEB plus connecting a Promote Control via USB to it to fire it off. However, this was prior to the Promote Control having the new firmware which adds HDR Timelapse functionality. When I shot the sequences with the T2i it was when the Promote Control would only do standard timelapse or HDR bracketing, but not both.
So what I did was set the Canon T2i to 3aeb on the camera itself and then I set the Promote Control to standard timelapse with it shooting one frame off in 5 second intervals. So the T2i was firing off the full 3aeb sequence over 10 seconds per bracket because of the timelapse delay. Basically, the promote control was assuming it was just firing off a timelapse sequence with shots fired every 5 seconds. But the T2i I set in AEB mode instead of manual mode so that the shots fired off each 5 seconds were in fact the AEB sequence the T2i was set for.
Shot 1 would go off (normal exposure), then 5 seconds later shot 2 would go off (the under exposed frame), then 5 seconds later the shot 3 would go off (over exposed frame). Another 5 seconds would pass and start over on the normal exposure, and on and on.
Because of the 5 second delay between each AEB shot, there was time for trees/sky to move slightly, but the sequences I used the T2i on were not hurt badly because of the delay. The T2i HDR Timelapse sequences were: the bedroom shot, the shot from the top of a home showing trees/beach/water in distance and the Vegas Skyline sunset shot through a VERY DIRTY hotel window (no balcony to shoot from). So the delay between frames was not as apparent as it would be shooting other subject matter.
I used this same technique with the Promote Control to do other HDR Timelapse sequences too, but just have not gotten around to processing yet. I even shortened it up to firing off every 3 seconds in some cases, but it eats through memory cards too fast and doesn’t encompass as many changes in lighting / clouds, etc. Now that the Promote Control’s firmware is updated to support HDR Timelapse, I won’t have to use that work around in the future.
Finally, a lightly tonemapped image of the D3 in progress of shooting the HDR Timelapse sunset sequence. (Shot with a Sigma SD14)
CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGE VERSION
Just announced this morning is the second update to Oloneo’s PhotoEngine public beta. However, this update includes 64 bit support if your system supports 64 bit programs (the download is for both 32 bit and 64 bit systems in one installer). I was on the 64 bit private beta and it was ROCK SOLID for a beta. Not a single crash despite throwing a few dozen large brackets at it and lots of tonemapping tweaks.
Oloneo reports (and confirmed by users in forums) that it runs well on a dual core Mac using Parallels Desktop 5.
===> DOWNLOAD LINK AND RELEASE NOTES HERE <===
Oh, did I mention yet how FAST this app is? ;)
HERE’s THE LINK to the review I did when it first released the version 1 beta (in case you missed it).
Unified Color Technologies Announces 32 Float™
New Plug-in Provides Complete 32-Bit Color Editing Functionality To Photoshop Users
32 Float = Full Press Release HERE
So what you say?
So this $99 plugin ($79 intro price) will allow your Photoshop CS3 – CS4 – CS5 to have tremendous HDR capabilities.
If you are happy with your current version of Photoshop and didn’t upgrade to CS5 to get the HDR Pro plug-in, you can now add high end HDR editing to your Photoshop CS3 or CS4.
If you bought Photoshop CS5 and are underwhelmed at the tools in photoshop’s HDR Pro, then you can add more functionality to CS5 with 32 Float from unified color.
I was not given access to an early edition so I can not comment on it or rank it yet. Once I do get a chance to use it I”ll either update this post or add a new one in the feed.