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

[kichetof]

and drag n drop works for you?
I can only use command line, and i dont know how and if command line works with folders or multiple files..

/usr/bin is a private folder, you need to copy with root privileges.

Before copy, make a backup of your actual version

Code: [Select]

sudo mv /usr/bin/dcraw /usr/bin/dcraw.9.20  #<-- I like to put the version of the file I backup, to know your version simply run dcraw into terminal

Code: [Select]

cd /folder/where/you/downloaded/dcraw
sudo cp dcraw /usr/bin/

[DavidSh]

/usr/bin is a private folder, you need to copy with root privileges.

Before copy, make a backup of your actual version

Code: [Select]

sudo mv /usr/bin/dcraw /usr/bin/dcraw.9.20  #<-- I like to put the version of the file I backup, to know your version simply run dcraw into terminal

Code: [Select]

cd /folder/where/you/downloaded/dcraw
sudo cp dcraw /usr/bin/

Kichetof,
Thank you for your kind a detailed answer, much appreciate.

But i wrote about me not able to use cr2hdr as a gui with drag n drop dual iso files.
I had no problems to copy the dcraw to usr/bin with command line.

Best
David 

[kichetof]

Oh sorry ! hum I doesn't try. I only use in terminal or LR

[DavidSh]

Oh sorry ! hum I doesn't try. I only use in terminal or LR

Never mind man, you already helped a lot !
is there a way to use terminal command line on a folder instead of one file? i looked at the option and didnt find any...

[kichetof]

yes you can but I doesn't try it (just write now)

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/bash
for i in *.cr2
do
cr2hdr $f
done
Or if you use lightroom, use my plugin

[a1ex]

cr2hdr *.CR2

[kichetof]

  its too late for my brain!

So simple! Thanks a1ex

[DavidSh]

cr2hdr *.CR2

omg too late for my brain too

[dubzeebass]

Got flicker free Dualiso video working yesterday with the 20 bit cr2hdr on Mac, thanks again! I had to run a command the set the same whitelevel for all of them and then zero flickering. Great job guys!

[szDE]

Did anyone experience strange artifacts happening on long exposures? I did a 60 second shot at 100/400 and it contains an awful lot of colorful triangles.

See example.

[dmilligan]

They are stuck/hot pixels - the longer the exposure the more you are going to have. For a 60s photo that many is not unusual. (They are triangles b/c of the demosaicing algo, pixel's values are somewhat interpolated from their neighbors, so one hot pixel has an effect on several pixels around it). You really should do dark frame subtraction for exposures that long.

Also, using dual iso here I would say is completely inappropriate. If your going to have the shutter open that long anyway and your subject is completely motionless, might as well just take another, shorter exposure to add to your DR, if there really is that much DR.

[a1ex]

To fix this particular shot, try --really-bad-pix.

[szDE]

Unfortunately I don't have originals to try different processing parameters, but I'll do some testing on different shots, thanks a1ex!

Considering how many bad pixels arise on long exposures, it would be nice to have this parameter kick in automatically while processing. But since people have different preferences (and cameras) it may be best to implement such feature on Barracuda GUI or LR plugin as a user programmable switch.

dmilligan, I always thought that demosaicing algorithms are mostly square-based (eg 2x2). I was surprised to see triangles ;-) As for dual being inappropriate for this shot - agreed, I'm just testing different ML settings to do a usability study in order to know when some features might be helpful and when not. Regular ISO 100 shot would work well too.

[ShaunWoo]

Hey again guys, about exiftool, using it to even out the levels, i got the tool to read the levels of a reference image by:

exiftool IMG_1234.DNG -WhiteLevel -BlackLevel
White Level                     : 47752
Black Level                     : 2032

but im curious, about this:
exiftool *.DNG "-WhiteLevel<BlackLevel"
exiftool *.DNG "-WhiteLevel+=45720"

thats two lines of codes, also, how do i process the above code to a sequence file, is it done one by one? is there a way to do it for all files, as it done 1 line of code:
exiftool *.DNG "-WhiteLevel<BlackLevel"
said 1 file was processed
then the next line, same, 1 file processed




UPDATE:

i dont know why i didnt think of this sooner, i feel so silly now:

ok i finally got the solution, if youre limited to around 500 files (file path too long etc), make a folder with 1 character name in root of c drive, say 0, make each individual subfolders for everyclip extracted from your shoot, and within each folder, select all dng files, (DONT SELECT WAV), rename with one character say "1", windows will rename them in same order), this way it uses less characters, and now you will be able to process very long sequences

for running multiple instances, its best used when you have a shoot with many clips, so dont use the script, instead, run cr2hdr with same levels parameter, for every clip in the collection rather than for every frame, so this way you will still have many instances, utilizing the CPU, running for every clip rather than frame

[ShaunWoo]

So i believe i figured out how to run the exif tool same levels process, as the above method is too time consuming, HOWEVER BEFORE YOU READ ON, it seems to have made no exposure differences, and it still flickers, but the command that a1ex given me was executed and the files were reprocessed (I BELIEVE)



Heres the mini guide i wrote for myself, so you guys maybe can point out the mistakes:

so, go into windows explorer folder with the dual iso processed files with different levels that flicker, make sure exiftool.exe is in the same folder, whilst holding shift right click in the explorer window blank area > open command window here, right click at the top of the window > edit > paste:

exiftool M28-1423.000000.DNG -WhiteLevel -BlackLevel

M28-1423.000000.DNG is the variable, copy and paste the filename that has the most correct exposure of your sequence, then to insert the command in cmd, copy the command, right click on top of the cmd window > edit > paste, press enter, it will give you the white and black levels, take away the smaller number from the big one

now copy and paste this command into cmd

exiftool "-WhiteLevel+=27808" C:\0\8

the number 27808 is the first variable, which is the answer that you get when you take the small number from the large number, and the C:\0\8 is the location of the files that have different levels, processed dngs, press enter, and it will process all files making new files and renaming the original file extensions, once done you can delete the old renamed files.

seems like it didnt make any exposure changes at all, still flickering

[Audionut]

You probably need to use something like this.

exiftool C:\0\8\*.DNG "-WhiteLevel+=27808"

[ShaunWoo]

trying your code now, compiled in after effects, rendering, and i get an error on frame 37, with an error:

After Effects error: Photoshop file format error (-30504).

( 45 :: 35 )

deleted the processed folder with your code, tried again, exact same result, gonna render 39 frame onwards

nope, seems all frames onward were corrupt, both times of processing, viewed all frames in adobe bridge, it was flickering every 2 frames or so, at extreme conditions, around 2 exposure steps id say, tried opening 39th frame on wards, photoshop cannot open, corrupt, with my previous code, no corruption, all files processed, however there was flickering still

[citytrader]

Do anyone could help me why I'm getting a huge magenta cast and low contrast when opening the dng dual iso in Photomatix?...  here are the files:

Original RAW: http://www50.zippyshare.com/v/22736945/file.html
Dual iso DNG: http://www49.zippyshare.com/v/63977107/file.html

Anyone knows if there is any way to process the dng in Photomatix without this problem?

Camera: 5D MK2
For dual iso I use the last version of cr2hdr-20bit.exe

[Audionut]

The DNG opens fine here in Adobe.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34113196/ML/_MG_9565.jpg

Suggest you contact HDRsoft support:  http://www.hdrsoft.com/support/index.html

[citytrader]

Thanks Audionut, yes on photoshop works, just wandered to know why it didnt work in photomatix... I emailed them, so let see what they answer

[Audionut]

Generally, color casts are from an incorrectly identified black level.  This should be an easy fix for them. 

[kgv5]

This was mentioned some time ago but i believe it went without attracting much attention.

I was filming real estate video lately and used dualiso video for some shots inside the building to have more dynamic range for windows. During the post it is a real huge pain to find those dualiso files among the rest (and there are houndreds of files). I could of course watch every mlv in mlvplayer (i did that, very time consuming, had to write down the numbers) and than checked those files to proceed in raw video converter. Bigger problem is when files are processed - in resolve it is very hard to guess which is processed dual iso and which is normal (especially when you loose you notes from previous step:). I am still struggling with this.
Could it be possible to make custom file prefix work with mlvs?
Devs, please That would be a huuuge time saver.
With cinelog profile i could get rid of most of the color fringing so dualiso video is realy usable but with this this one major quirk.
Thanks

[budafilms]

This was mentioned some time ago but i believe it went without attracting much attention.

I was filming real estate video lately and used dualiso video for some shots inside the building to have more dynamic range for windows. During the post it is a real huge pain to find those dualiso files among the rest (and there are houndreds of files). I could of course watch every mlv in mlvplayer (i did that, very time consuming, had to write down the numbers) and than checked those files to proceed in raw video converter. Bigger problem is when files are processed - in resolve it is very hard to guess which is processed dual iso and which is normal (especially when you loose you notes from previous step:). I am still struggling with this.
Could it be possible to make custom file prefix work with mlvs?
Devs, please That would be a huuuge time saver.
With cinelog profile i could get rid of most of the color fringing so dualiso video is realy usable but with this this one major quirk.
Thanks

Dual Iso has different name, Have you use .MLV or .RAW?

[kgv5]

I use MLVs, 5d3, 1.1.3. Checked newest version from 17 may, files are named like this: M17-2329.MLV and seems that there is no difference between normal and dual iso. Also checked "custom file prefix" to be sure but doesn't work for movies. 
@budafilms - what file names do you get for dual iso movies?

[Marsu42]

I'm wondering if there's any speed vs. iq tradeoff in current cr2hdr? That's because at least on my laptop it's so slow anyway I'll let it process the files when I'm not around ... so if a "--ultra-slow-highest-quality" setting would be there I'd certainly use it :-)