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All posts tagged "hdr"


Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Oloneo PhotoEngine Review

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Software" @ 07:00 AM

Product Category: HDR Software
Manufacturer: Oloneo SAS
Where to Buy: Oloneo's Website
Price: US$149
System Requirements: OS:Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (32-bit or 64-bit), Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit)
Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit) Hard disk: 200MB of available space CPU: 1.6 GHz Intel or AMD with SSE2, dual-core recommended RAM: 1.5GB Screen: 1280 x 720.
Specifications: Complete Feature List

Pros:

  • Great-looking and pleasing HDR images in just a few clicks;
  • Fast rendering live preview of changes;
  • Offers a high level of control for the advanced user.

Cons:

  • Auto-alignment for handheld HDR shots not perfect;
  • Active noise reduction controls not present.

Summary: Oloneo's PhotoEngine may be the most expensive, but it is easily the best HDR software available in the market currently. Its ease of use with beautiful and natural results makes it hard to beat. It also has an additional neat trick in the form of HDR ReLight. There are a few minor issues, but for a 1.0 product, they do not overshadow the positives as a whole.

[Editor's Note: Today we bring a special review, written by a top professional photographer with well over a decade of experience. Jed Wee will be reviewing Oloneo's PhotoEngine, which made a splash when the beta was first released back in 2010. Now that the product is shipping, how well does it live up to the early promise? Join Jed as he puts the software through its paces!]

Read more...


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

HDR Photography Examined at DigitalRev

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Articles & Resources" @ 05:00 PM

http://www.digitalrev.com/en/hdr-ph...it-7188-article

"HDR Photography: you either love it, or you loathe it. What we have come to think of it today is the highly-saturated, colour-infused, dream-like images that we see posted on a barrage of image hosting sites. It's one of those trends that has got a grip hold of the photographic hobbyists since the boom of digital photography. But, truth be told, it's nothing new."

Jeremy Cla... I mean, Kai from DigitalRev has a short column on the horror known as HDR Photographs. Well, horror in the hands of the uninitiated. I still blame Photomatix for their aggressive and surrealistic tone-mapping algorithm for making a mess out of HDR; the HDR tools in Photoshop are nowhere near as crazy.


Friday, October 29, 2010

My First Decent HDR Image, Thanks to HDR Efex Pro

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Software" @ 09:00 PM

I’m reviewing some new software that, for the first time in my opinion, puts quality HDR images within reach for average users. The problem I’ve seen with other HDR software is that it either produces awful, garish images, or requires an engineering degree to figure out. I’ve never found HDR software that I found both powerful and easy to use until: HDR Efex Pro really brings the elements together. It’s not exactly cheap ($159.95 USD), but it’s within the realm of what most photography buffs should be willing to pay for quality software.

The above image is available as desktop wallpaper for 16:9 monitors or 4:3 monitors. It was taken at Lighthouse Cove, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada in early September 2010.


Wednesday, September 15, 2010

HDR Video: Cool and Kind of Creepy!

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 10:30 PM

http://www.photographyblog.com/news...ents_hdr_video/

"A company called Soviet Montage Productions has released a short HDR video captured using two Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR cameras and a beam splitter. The two cameras used different exposure settings but - thanks to the beam splitter - filmed the exact same scene, allowing the two pieces of footage to be blended and tone-mapped in software. The result is a more realistic and more "film-like" video, as you can see below."

Talk about some interesting visual effects! HDR video is something I hadn't heard of before seeing this post; it's fascinating to see how they've created the HDR capture...

Tags: dslr, hdr, hdr video

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Nik Software Announces HDR Efex Pro

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Software" @ 04:00 PM

http://www.niksoftware.com/hdrefexp...o/usa/entry.php

"San Diego, CA - August 25, 2010 - Nik Software (www.niksoftware.com) today announced HDR Efex Pro, a completely new HDR imaging toolkit designed to help photographers quickly and easily achieve the full spectrum of HDR enhancements from the realistic to artistic. High dynamic range photography is a process in which multiple exposures are captured, aligned and merged to generate a single image that enables a much wider range of colors, highlights, and shadows. HDR techniques are typically used to enhance landscape, architectural, nighttime, and artistic photography. New HDR Efex Pro overcomes limitations in other software tools with a revolutionary all-in-one approach that enables both realistic and artistic effects to be applied within a single tool."

I really like HDR images - so long as they're not overdone - but I have yet to purchase a tool to create them with. Lightroom 3.0 still has no HDR functionality (one of my complaints with it as I work on my review), and my image processing is also done in Photoshop Elements 8, which similarly lacks HDR tools. I've tried several tools, and they've mostly fallen flat when it comes to ease of use - I don't feel like I have hours to spend learning a new tool, so it needs to be reasonably intuitive. HDR Efex Pro isn't cheap at $160 USD, but if it does the job, it might be worth the asking price.

What's your preferred HDR tool?


Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Oloneo PhotoEngine Beta Released

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home Software" @ 03:00 PM

http://www.oloneo.com/

"Oloneo today launched the first public beta version of Oloneo PhotoEngine for Windows, the only high dynamic software offering photographers full control over light and exposure in real-time, as if they were still behind the lens. Turn on and off light sources, deeply re-expose pictures in full 32-bit per channel without compromising details and color appearance. Oloneo invites photographers to take an active part in the final development stage of Oloneo PhotoEngine for Windows by downloading the beta version at http://www.oloneo.com."

I've seen a lot of different software for editing images, and many of them are just, well, awful. This one might be different though - I'm extremely impressed by what I'm seeing in the video above. Light source detection, and being able to change the white balance of each light source, one at a time? That's some freakishly impressive coding right there - I've never heard of anything like this before. I've downloaded the free beta and will check it out - and there are two more videos after the break. Read more...


Monday, July 12, 2010

HDR Expose Launched by Unified Color Technologies; Photographers All Over the World Groan

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home Software" @ 07:00 PM

http://www.dpreview.com/news/1007/1...01hdrexpose.asp

"HDR software maker, Unified Color Technologies has unveiled the HDR Expose 32-bit HDR merge and editing software. It replaces the company's flagship HDR PhotoStudio software, but inherits its core features and technology."

Alright, so I'm a little unfair here, since I have no idea how well HDR Expose performs, but HDR now is a catchword for unevenly exposed, garish, and downright terrible photos. We've got Photomatix and its not very good tone-mapping feature to thank for that. I know many photographers who would rather not label their HDR photos as HDR for fear of being discriminated upon. HDR can be nice, but it has to be done skilfully and in moderation; something that 99% of HDR photos out there lack.


Monday, June 21, 2010

Canon In-Camera HDR Maps Single Exposure to Individual Pixels

Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng in "Digital Home News" @ 01:30 PM

http://www.photographybay.com/2010/...ividual-pixels/

"A recently published Canon patent application (see USPTO Appl. No. 12/630,594) reveals a method for altering exposure values at the pixel level, which would allow Canon to produce a camera that captures a much wider dynamic range with a single image."

This is pretty neat for those of you who are looking to actually get real dynamic range out of your images, as opposed to that overdone fad of making your images surrealistic (and not in a good way either). While it is hard to tell if this will ever materialise (or stay; remember Canon's ill-fated Eye Control experiment), at least it's good to see some work done in areas other than just finding out how to squeeze more megapixels into the marketing brochure.


Thursday, May 29, 2008

Casio EX-F1: The Best Prosumer Camera on the Market?

Posted by Jeremy Charette in "Digital Home Talk" @ 07:00 AM


So my girlfriend tells me I'm working too much, and that I need a hobby. Why not photography? Currently I shoot by numbers. As in, if I take hundreds of photos, statistically speaking, at least a couple will be good. Probably not the best approach.

I've been looking at DSLRs, but I keep coming back to the Casio EX-F1. It's not a DSLR in the strictest sense of the word (there's no movable mirror or optical though the lens viewfinder), but it does so much more than a pure DSLR ever will. HD video, ultra high speed video (up to 1200 fps), 60 fps stills, auto exposure bracketing (useful for HDR), 7 fps flash photos...it seems like there's nothing it can't do. It has a hotshoe for an external flash, and can accept standard 62mm lens filters and attachments. The price tag is a little steep at around $1000 USD, but that's comparable to what an entry level DSLR and some good glass would cost.

So, is the EX-F1 the best prosumer camera on the market...or not?

Tags: casio, DSLR, ex-f1, hdr, HD

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