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HDR wirh iPhone iOS 4.1

ustein

Contributing Editor
iOS 4.1 is now available.

I tested the HDR feature with the iOS 4.1 developer version and was not impressed. I think the alignment is quite poor or my hands are too shaky. Share your experience.
 
Uwe,

I was actually quite impressed with the HDR implementation. Perhaps something has improved since you tested (or I'm a poor judge).

Here is an original non-hdr shot followed by the HDR version - sorry I had played around with the HDR version in Toycamera but you can still see how nicely it captured the blown out areas in the non-HDR shot.


 
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Don Ellis

Member
My first thought when seeing Uwe’s remarks was, “That can’t be right. Some of the images
on my iPhone screen look much better.” And indeed they do – if you’re only planning on
looking at them on your iPhone screen.

I’ve shot from the back seat of my taxi and suddenly the HDR sees through the windshield
and picks up detail on the surrounding buildings and the bus in front of us – details
you’re never going to get in Photoshop from the normal photo because they’re simply lost.
Sure, the colors are a little more washed out across the image, but still, what you gain
seems impressive – until you look at full-size images.

They’re rubbish.

I won’t do more than one photo right now to save you and me both some time. If you have
an iPhone 4, you can check out the resulting images yourself and make your own decision.
If you don’t have it, you won’t care – although my advice is don’t rush out and buy an
iPhone 4 for the HDR capabilities alone. Plus I don’t want to use up all GetDPI’s
bandwidth.

But the bottom line for me is that, in full-size images, there wasn’t a single photo that
was better than the original unless you wanted to use it for forensic purposes (seeing
in the shadows and highlights no matter what the quality) rather than just a nice-
looking photo.

So here’s my single example in two sizes and two 100% crops – nothing was done to the
images beyond resizing. It was an overcast day, as you can see.

A note on comparing images: I always find comparing images side-by-side -- or stacked, as
below -- an iffy proposition. The only way that I compare images is to download them and
then either view them in ACDSee, flipping back and forth between two images, or taking
them into Photoshop and layering them and then turning the top layer on and off. This
technique really shows you what's going on...

Normal 640 photo:


HDR 640 photo:


Normal 1200 photo:


HDR 1200 photo:


Normal photo, 100% crop:


HDR photo, 100% crop:


As a note: the HDR feature is easily turned on and off, it takes both normal and HDR at
the same time, and it takes about 5 seconds to process the image before you can take
another photo (not bad for timing, really).

But I may never use it again.

Don
 

Don Ellis

Member
Ok, I did another test on something I thought might actually work. As you can see, the
background is naturally grainy and the stainless-steel chair is going to reflect a lot
of light. So here are the results:

Normal 640:


HDR 640:


Normal 100% crop:


HDR 100% crop:


This might be the only photo I’ve taken where some people might like the HDR version
better. I still prefer the original. These are unretouched photos, but for my own
interest I did use Shadows/Highlights with Highlights set to 20% and it brought back
some detail to the waterdrops, but still not near the HDR version, so HDR does work on
some photos… again, for forensic purposes in my opinion. I’m going to continue to use
the iPhone 4 camera in standard mode.
 

Terry

New member
Here was a test that I did the other day:

Regular exposure


HDR - a lot of the blown highlights are brought back - color is still good


Crop regular




Crop HDR



Alignment problem


I did the same shot with HDR pro a $1.99 App....the colors aren't nearly as good (not as accurate).
 
I wasn't convinced that Don's HDR images were "rubbish" at all. In fact, I remain "bullish" on the feature. Sorry Don, just my personal preference! :)

I would much rather add contrast or black level in post than try to bring back a blown highlight - which the standard iPhone mode will give you every time in a moderate to high contrast scene.

Will I use HDR every time, of course not, but given the appropriate scene, I'll be relying on it for sure. What a great tool to have built into the camera.
 

Don Ellis

Member
I wasn't convinced that Don's HDR images were "rubbish" at all. In fact, I remain "bullish" on the feature. Sorry Don, just my personal preference! :)
That's why free will was invented. :)

I look at my last shot and see the added noise in the sky, the artifacts around the building details, and the incredible halos on top of that left building and I think Forget it.

Then there's the desaturation you experience with many photos. I've gotten to the point that if I have to do too much in Photoshop to create an attractive image, I'm just not going to do it.

Having said that, I seldom travel without another camera and in this case I took many of the same photos with my DP2, so I'm happy.

I would much rather add contrast or black level in post than try to bring back a blown highlight - which the standard iPhone mode will give you every time in a moderate to high contrast scene.
For me, it's much more than contrast and black point, but then I guess I don't take iPhone shots very seriously, as good as they are. I think they're great for what they are... but they are what they are: surprisingly good for a phone.

Another consideration, of course, is what size you're going to use them at. If it's 640 or 800 for web use, then they're very good, even with HDR.

Will I use HDR every time, of course not, but given the appropriate scene, I'll be relying on it for sure. What a great tool to have built into the camera.
I'm always happy to have more rather than less... but you would expect that: I'm American. :D
 
Don,

You summed up perfectly the reasons why I think the HDR is fine on the iPhone. I simply don't pixel peep images from the iPhone, or as you said "take iPhone shots very seriously".

That said, I'm sure we've all taken some wonderful images with the phone that never would have been captured otherwise.

Here is one of my favorite images captured this past year - taken on a lowly 3Gs and no HDR! :)

 

Don Ellis

Member
Don,

You summed up perfectly the reasons why I think the HDR is fine on the iPhone. I simply don't pixel peep images from the iPhone, or as you said "take iPhone shots very seriously".

That said, I'm sure we've all taken some wonderful images with the phone that never would have been captured otherwise.

Here is one of my favorite images captured this past year - taken on a lowly 3Gs and no HDR! :)
Looking at this on my iPhone, I'm sold. :) Intriguing and atmospheric. Let's face it, anything that can capture a moment in our lives is close enough to a miracle so as to be nearly indistinguishable.
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
Recently I captured quite a few photos in Apple HDR on the IP4. I all cases I preferred he non HDR pictures:

- HDR was washed out
- HDR was more grainy

Did first tests with TrueHDR today.

- Alignment not that great either
- But it save the two exposures and the underexposed photo has fewer highlights clipped
- Blending in CS5 with top alignment shows some promise
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
By merging the HDR and non HDR version from the iPhone 4 I get quite nice results:







I found this by making a false test :) .
 
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