Dual ISO - massive dynamic range improvement (dual_iso.mo)

[kayman1021]

tools used
dng frames and an mlv

@masc
I completely forgot mlvapp is capable of this, thanks for reminding

@Danne
Uploaded on "dng frames and mlv"
0_corrected_I_raw_corr_disabled.dng is that i made outside of mlvapp, the others are from the original, exported with different raw correction settings.
Mine does not look good as dng somehow, but i attached an mlv that contains the first frame of the round trip file. There is looks okay.

@adrjork
I have MLV App v1.11
Also i zipped the tools as "tools used"

[Danne]

Trying to wrap my head around this. So, the first dng is the one that converts successful?
0_corrected_I_raw_corr_disabled.dng

Could you tell me or upload a dng that you know for sure you are able to convert that looks ok? I just tried cr2hdr from 2016 but still getting stripes.I just need one of your dng files that you are able to convert, nothing else.

[kayman1021]

export_from_compressed_mlv

[adrjork]

It works...
I've no words kayman1021.
With your apps' version my dual-ISOs get solved. I don't even need raw2mlv because I uploaded the DNGs directly into Davinci... and it finally works.

Now, just to be fussy, passing throuh cr2hdr is a “pain-in-the-a@@” workflow: very-very-very time-consuming.

@Danne: is there any future chance to see this sort of “legacy” dual-ISO-conversion option in Switch?

[Danne]

If I know what version and from what branch I could look into what's going on. If it's even cr2hdr but probably is.
Shouldn't be too hard for a windows user to obtain this info.

Thanks for the file @kayman1021. It doesn´t wothout lines convert on my mac so it depends on your version of cr2hdr. If you could find from what branch and version I could look into it.

[adrjork]

I'm not really a Windows user and I'm not a coder, anyway the working cr2hdr.exe has been created 4 Dec 2017, and HERE i found Commit 06fae84 dated 4 Dec 2017... Is it anything useful?

[kayman1021]

I am at work now, if arrive at home i'll check (5 hours from now)
It's probably the version on ML Downloads/Utilities

[Danne]

No specified branch but should be included in the binary info I think.

[adrjork]

It's probably the version on ML Downloads/Utilities

Apparently yes: same creation date. Perhaps silly question: does libraw.dll matter somehow?

No specified branch but should be included in the binary info I think.

Can you tell me how can I extract this info for you? (In OSX I opened the .exe with Keka, and now I have some docs in a folder. I opened them with an Hex editor and the only one not-in-alien-language is a doc named “19” in which there is written «GNU C 4.9.0 20130523 (experimental) -m32 -mtune=generic -march=pentiumpro -g -O2 -std=gnu99». Is it anything useful? I guess not...)

[Danne]

Ok, compiled from cr2hdr branch which seems to be the one used successfully here:
https://bitbucket.org/hudson/magic-lantern/branch/cr2hdr

I managed to convert the uploaded dng correctly with a mac binary so obviously it should work.

I updated Switch, please test:
https://bitbucket.org/Dannephoto/switch/downloads/Switch.dmg

Also a mac binary here:
https://bitbucket.org/Dannephoto/magic-lantern/downloads/cr2hdr


EDIT: Tested Switch and problem still persists so @kayman1021 round trip to rebake the dng fixed it. We need to examine what data is missing originally. Phew, complicated stuff.

EDIT: Tested again and the mlv_dump not coming from bouncyball works straight out of the box with the updated version of cr2hdr. In Switch select (m)  mlv_dump(MLV)

So, the problem seems related to mlv_dump version. cr2hdr doesn´t like the dng from the updated mlv_dump code.

[masc]

@Danne: do you see the difference between the versions? Is it the same algorithm as in MLVApp? Worth to change it?

[Danne]

Yes. Mlv App has those issues. Will probably fix those flickery bugs and maybe finally dual iso will become reliable.

[Danne]

What works now in Switch for dual iso for both mlv_dump version are:
    (05) do not fix cold pixels  added!
    (07) disable vertical stripes in highlights  added!

Disable cold pixel and vertical stripes. Now cr2hdr chews the files normally again...

[adrjork]

You almost did it, Danne. Great job anyway!
I tested 7 most problematic dual-ISO mlvs, and new Switch does work for 6, and fails only for 1.
That one gives a weird result: the converted dngs are a sequence that alternates bunches of good-dngs and bunches of bad-dngs. The bunches contain different numbers of dngs, for example the first bunches contain respectively 8-good-dngs, 2-bad-dngs, 8-good-dngs, 10-bad-dngs, 2-good-dngs, etc.
Good-dngs have extension in uppercase (.DNG) whilst bad-dngs have extension in lowercase (.dng).
The curious thing is that importing the dngs-folder into Davinci, the software can't recognize a unique sequence, instead it imports all the bunches separately (each one with 8, 2, 8, 10, 2, etc. dng-frames)
I uploaded the first 30 dngs of the folder HERE, and also a shortened version of the problematic mlv HERE (the original file was 15GB, so I used MLVApp, RAW Correction disabled, codec MLV Fast Pass).

[Danne]

Usually when not all files are converted it means cr2hdr algoritm have a hard time detecting dualiso on the file. Trying a second time sometimes works but probably the file itself wasn´t a perfect dualiso example. Sorry, I can´t download atm, on a very slow connection. Could you upload maybe a single dng file that wouldn´t convert?

[adrjork]

Tried a second chance with that single problematic file gave a perfect result.
I correct myself: you COMPLETELY did it.
Sincerely many congrats for your amazing work.

[sm105]

Are the flickering issues generally more pronounced with heavily underexposed shadows? I've got a telephoto shot of the full moon (well above the horizon, so very bright!) with some relatively dim buildings in the foreground. With 5D3 dual-iso at 100/1600, exposed for the moon at 100, I get crazy flickering with both MLV App and Switch. I've confirmed with exiftool the the black and white levels are constant. Besides the flickering, the individual processed DNGs look amazing!