Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Digital Image Processing => Topic started by: Guillermo Luijk on December 22, 2008, 12:33:11 pm

Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on December 22, 2008, 12:33:11 pm
I have already posted this here (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17775&st=260), but didn't seem of much interest to the audience there. However I consider it something interesting so even if I may result boring I'll give it a new try on a discusion thread of its own.

It's all about HDR RAW fusion. All of us know that captured DR can be expanded by shooting more than once at different exposure values, and properly blending the information obtained from all those shots (in general highlights from the least exposed shots, and noiseless shadows from the most exposed ones).

Unluckily most programs performing this task (Photomatix, HDR in PS, Enfuse,...) do their proper RAW development and also do the tone mapping, so the user looses control over the process and cannot make use of his regular workflow tools.

What I tried to achieve is to fuse several RAW files, but obtaining another RAW file as output. This resulting RAW file is noise free (as much as the source files allow for) and preserves the highlights, so looking at the information contained on it, it can be considered an HDR RAW file. But the new thing is that now the user can develop it in his own RAW developer or feed it into his preferred tone mapping software.

I.e., an optimum (maximum noise reduction and maximum sharpness preservation via non-progressive blending) mix is carried out over an arbitrary set of RAW files, putting the best information of each of them into a resulting RAW file (16-bit DNG) that summarizes all the useful information found in the original files. Now it is up to the user what to do next (develop it with his RAW developer, tone map it with Photomatix,...).

What do you think about the usefulness and applications of this RAW fusion?

The source RAW files and the resulting DNG are ready for download in the original article (see 'DOWNLOAD RAW FILES'): ZERO NOISE VIRTUAL RAW (http://www.guillermoluijk.com/article/virtualraw/index_en.htm).

The scene was captured through 2 exposures 4 stops apart and the resulting non demosaiced DNG is a real 16-bit RAW file, containing free of noise the ~12 f-stops of DR of the real scene. When comparing the resulting DNG to the original files in the extreme ends of the DR, we conclude none of them was capable on its own to capture all the DR, but the DNG is:

(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/article/virtualraw/comp.jpg)


With proper RAW development adjustments we get straight from ACR this tone mapped HDR picture:

(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/article/virtualraw/resultado_lite.jpg)

Some field must be missing or wrong in building the DNG file so I couldn't open it with DCRAW. Just try ACR which works fine with it.

BR
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Hening Bettermann on December 22, 2008, 04:23:58 pm
Hi Guillermo!

I can not understand that you feel that your Zero Noise has not been of much interest to the audience here. The thread to which you link fills 14 pages, and my impression is that quite some people are eager to try the software at once it is ready. Myself, being a Mac addict, I have prepared by befriending Parallels, and I'm just short of learning Spanish
;-)

Merry Christmas!
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: BernardLanguillier on December 23, 2008, 12:21:36 am
Quote from: GLuijk
I have already posted this here (http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=17775&st=260), but didn't seem of much interest to the audience there. However I consider it something interesting so even if I may result boring I'll give it a new try on a discusion thread of its own.

Hi Guillermo,

I am very interested in your work and very thankful that you are willing to share it with us here at LL.

VMWare 2.0 would be the host for me since I am also on OSX and I need to find an efficient way to generate DNG files from my .nefs, but those are the 2 main obstacles.

One question though, do the 2 images need to be aligned within one pixel for this to work? Assuming that the answer is yes, you will probably need to develop an auto or manual align capability if it isn't there yet.

Thanks.

Cheers,
Bernard

Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Farmer on December 23, 2008, 12:53:39 am
Let me say that I will pay for this when it is available - no question that it's of great interest to me.

I hope there might even be a nice 64bit version since I run Vista 64 :-)
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Kumar on December 23, 2008, 01:07:29 am
Hi Guillermo,

There is a lot of interest. We're all waiting for you to release the software!

Cheers,
Kumar
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Chairman Bill on December 23, 2008, 03:05:22 am
I'm also interested in this. Having it as an Aperture plug-in would be good     (I'm also on a Mac)
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Jonathan Wienke on December 23, 2008, 04:42:20 am
If you need to align multiple RAWs (the source RAWs are not lined up pixel-perfect), the source RAWs should be demosaiced, then blended, then the result saved as a linear-RGB DNG. The file size will be 3x larger, but a small amount of misalignment is actually a good thing--look at the benefits of multishot MF backs that take several shots with an intentional 1-pixel offset (vertical and horizontal) to create a RAW with real data in the R, G, and B channels for each pixel. These backs are not trying to extend DR, but not having to interpolate 2/3 of the color value for each pixel increases per-pixel IQ significantly.

Anyway, good work so far, and I can't wait to play with the software once it is available.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Mark D Segal on December 23, 2008, 10:26:57 pm
Hi Guillermo,

I'll add my name to the list of interested parties. The results look very impressive.

Mark
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: akclimber on December 24, 2008, 01:35:58 am
Hi Guillermo,

Count me in as another future customer!  Your work will be very valuable.

Cheers!
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on December 26, 2008, 01:40:18 pm
Hi all, thanks for the response. I know the Zero Noise thread created a lot of discussion, and I am happy for that. In this case I wanted to show the output DNG as a new thing, I think I felt too excited about it hehe. Discussion in the forums has revealed as source no. 1 of motivation for experimenting. In particular I tried to do the blending with a RAW output thanks to a honest comment from Jon Wienke in the past, since for me it does not add too much to the TIFF blending.

Regarding the alignment issue, it is true that working in RAW in this case is a drawback (as is any geometrical correction that needs shifting of the image or interpolation). I can think of some aligment on RGGB images but half as precise as that obtained working over image files. Unless you demosaic the RAW data as Jon says, to have all RAW files properly aligned in the Bayer pattern, the alignment that can be done will always be on an even offset on both axes: +0, +2, +4,...

The best thing is to minimise the need of alignment. If this is unavoidable, a TIFF alignment would be preferred.

BR and Merry Christmas.

PS: BTW I have just reorganised my site clearly indicating which contents are translated into English, and providing online translation links where not. Some people got mad clicking on English links that led to Spanish contents.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Farmer on December 26, 2008, 04:32:06 pm
Quote from: GLuijk
Hi all, thanks for the response. I know the Zero Noise thread created a lot of discussion, and I am happy for that. In this case I wanted to show the output DNG as a new thing, I think I felt too excited about it hehe. Discussion in the forums has revealed as source no. 1 of motivation for experimenting. In particular I tried to do the blending with a RAW output thanks to a honest comment from Jon Wienke in the past, since for me it does not add too much to the TIFF blending.

Regarding the alignment issue, it is true that working in RAW in this case is a drawback (as is any geometrical correction that needs shifting of the image or interpolation). I can think of some aligment on RGGB images but half as precise as that obtained working over image files. Unless you demosaic the RAW data as Jon says, to have all RAW files properly aligned in the Bayer pattern, the alignment that can be done will always be on an even offset on both axes: +0, +2, +4,...

The best thing is to minimise the need of alignment. If this is unavoidable, a TIFF alignment would be preferred.

BR and Merry Christmas.

PS: BTW I have just reorganised my site clearly indicating which contents are translated into English, and providing online translation links where not. Some people got mad clicking on English links that led to Spanish contents.

Merry Christmas to you, too :-)

For me, working with raw and output to DNG is extremely valuable and very appealing in this software.  I hope that is what is released and then I will buy it for certain :-)
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: jliechty on December 29, 2008, 03:41:01 pm
Very impressive!  I can't wait to try it.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Wayne Fox on January 01, 2009, 05:50:14 pm
add my name to the list of those very interested.  I'm not technical enough to discuss many of the ideas and how they are applied but have read the 0 noise thread a couple of times.  Like many others I'll have to run the software using parallels on my Mac, but happy to do so if I can achieve what you describe ... a noise free "RAW" file.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Frasier66 on January 04, 2009, 05:24:21 am
GLuijk:
I find this discussion very interesting but I´ve got some questions about alignment of the source RAW images. It was said here that you have to demosaic and stack the RAW files in order to align them properly. What software would I take for that task? I have to save each RAW file separately and not as a stack, right!? Otherwise I could not process them in "zero noise". It is still a little bit confusing since I never dealt with this topic before. There are also some very interesting articles on your homepage, even I find it sometimes a little bit difficult to understand the "translated" text. By the way ... I am from Germany
Kepp up that great work! Grettings, Jochen
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: markhout on January 04, 2009, 09:22:37 am


Always experimenting with RAW, count me in!

Mark
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: button on January 27, 2009, 05:14:12 pm
How goes the programming, Guillermo?  This thread's been quiet lately.

John
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Jonathan Wienke on April 05, 2009, 09:09:37 pm
Bump...hoping all is well with the programming...
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on April 06, 2009, 08:27:47 pm
Hi all, well if it only depended on me, there would exist a DNG version of ZN long ago. But the guy who has to code the DNG export routine is at the moment busy in finishing Perfect RAW v1.0 (it will have an OpenGL super fast GUI and the plan is to offer the code open and exportable to Linux and Mac).

Meanwhile I have been fully using the TIFF version in a recent work. Some samples:


(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/hdr/resultado8.jpg)


(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/hdr/resultado9.jpg)


(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/hdr/resultado10.jpg)


(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/hdr/resultado11.jpg)



Patience.

BR
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: NikoJorj on April 07, 2009, 05:41:35 am
Quote from: GLuijk
Meanwhile I have been fully using the TIFF version in a recent work. Some samples:
Great shots!

Well, count me also on the "greatly interested" list!
I wouldn't want to overburden the development plan, but would innocently think that for a DNG output, LR integration (in the LR/Enfuse fashion) would have a great potential.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: scott morrish on April 07, 2009, 11:43:00 am
Quote from: GLuijk
What I tried to achieve is to fuse several RAW files, but obtaining another RAW file as output. This resulting RAW file is noise free (as much as the source files allow for) and preserves the highlights, so looking at the information contained on it, it can be considered an HDR RAW file. But the new thing is that now the user can develop it in his own RAW developer or feed it into his preferred tone mapping software.

Hi Guillermo,

I am new to these ideas (and the forum really), but am very interested too. It sounds like the ideal solution for certain images and your examples are awesome. As a complete novice in the world of HDR, my recent first steps have resulted in some ugly effects in areas where there has been subject movement (landscapes), although i realise that it may well be in large part down to user error on my part. Can i ask how well your process handles moving water, trees, clouds etc?

Very interested,
Scott
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Craig Murphy on April 07, 2009, 12:28:53 pm
Just beginning to experiment with ZeroNoise.  I can load a raw file but it does not go anywhere from that point.  No image showing up.  I can see that the 'develop' button is shaded out.  Any ideas on what is wrong?   Thanks!

[attachment=12804:Untitled_1.jpg]
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: evogel99 on April 07, 2009, 01:26:45 pm
Hi Guillermo,

What is the "TIFF" version? Is that the Dcraw one?

Also, have you looked into using PixelBender to recreate the merge aspect of ZN? That way one could use PhotoShop to align the images.

Eric
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on April 07, 2009, 02:12:09 pm
Quote from: scott morrish
As a complete novice in the world of HDR, my recent first steps have resulted in some ugly effects in areas where there has been subject movement (landscapes), although i realise that it may well be in large part down to user error on my part. Can i ask how well your process handles moving water, trees, clouds etc?
It's not your fault, most HDR programs fail when dealing with moving areas for a very simple reason: they don't know those are moving areas, so they just interpret luminosities on each pixel and end in either adjacent pixels being taken from different sources, or causing ghosting for performing progressive blending.

The only solution I see for this is to manually detect those moving areas and make sure they are taken from only one of the original RAW files. I do that just by editing the fusion map (the image file in which the source of each pixel is defined), painting on it with the same colour in the entire moving area. Other HDR programs (Photomatix, PS HDR, Enfuse) don't allow to do this creating awful artifacts like having this guy's leg cut:

Zero Noise (with edited blending map in the moving subject area):
(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/zeronoise/zn.jpg)

Photoshop HDR:
(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/zeronoise/ps.jpg)

Photomatix:
(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/zeronoise/pm.jpg)

In addition to the cut leg, Photoshop HDR created some wrong colour casts; I guess could be due to partial saturation. Photomatix even had problems in handling the wide exposure gap between the two RAW files (4 +1/3 EV) and produced horrendous artifacts.

BR
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on April 07, 2009, 02:20:40 pm
Quote from: Craig Murphy
Just beginning to experiment with ZeroNoise.  I can load a raw file but it does not go anywhere from that point.  No image showing up.  I can see that the 'develop' button is shaded out.  Any ideas on what is wrong?   Thanks!

Download the v1.04 update (it contains a .txt file explaining what to do with the .exe file). Second you must use a version of DCRAW according to your OS, it changes whether it's XP or Vista. And save it as c:\dcraw\dcraw.exe (The Vista version of DCRAW in the download page is usually called dcrawMS.exe, and need to be renamed to dcraw.exe)

BR
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Craig Murphy on April 07, 2009, 06:22:17 pm
Pretty sure I have the correct dcraw.exe file in the right folder.  Program still will not go beyond where you see in the attached image.  Any other tips appreciated.  I must be doing something wrong.  The file that opens up after downloading the v1.04 upgrade does not say v1.04.  It says Zero Noise v.0.9exe  This is correct?

[attachment=12824:Untitled_2.jpg]
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on April 07, 2009, 06:42:13 pm
Try to develop that DNG file from the command line, it must produce some error in DCRAW that you cannot see when calling DCRAW from ZN. To do that just open Console (type cmd in the Run dialog box in Start), move to the folder of the RAW file with cd, and having dcraw.exe in the same path as the DNG file type:

dcraw -v -w -o 2 -T -4 file.dng

for example. If you have, try with some specific camera vendor RAW format (CR2, NEF,...).

BR
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Craig Murphy on April 07, 2009, 07:11:14 pm
Sorry.  I understand how to open the cmd box but do not understand what you mean by  'move to the folder of the RAW file with cd (?), and having dcraw.exe in the same path as the DNG file type':
Once I have this figured I can try with my Fuji S5 files.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: NikoJorj on April 08, 2009, 05:33:54 am
Quote from: Craig Murphy
I understand how to open the cmd box but do not understand what you mean by  'move to the folder of the RAW file with cd (?), and having dcraw.exe in the same path as the DNG file type'
Not old enough?  

Easier step : put a copy of dcraw in the same folder as your images.
Open a new text file, write in it the command line that Guillermo said, and then "pause" in a second line.
Save it in this folder too, and rename it with a .bat extension.
Double-click the .bat file and see what happens.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Craig Murphy on April 08, 2009, 06:58:01 pm
No luck with any of that.  Well.  If the software ever goes on sale let me know.  Maybe it will work then :-)  Fascinating stuff though.    Ciao
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Hening Bettermann on April 08, 2009, 09:13:31 pm
Hi Craig,

what Guillermo writes, pre-supposes basic familiarity with Unix. I had the same problem and found a real BASIC introduction here:
http://mrox.net/blog/category/learning-the-terminal/ (http://mrox.net/blog/category/learning-the-terminal/)
However, this is Mac-specific... :-) Good luck - Hening.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on April 09, 2009, 06:49:43 am
Quote from: Craig Murphy
No luck with any of that.  Well.  If the software ever goes on sale let me know.  Maybe it will work then :-)  Fascinating stuff though.
OK do the following step by step:
- Copy dcraw.exe to C: root (i.e. the highest level of the C: disk, not into any folder)
- Copy any of your RAW files to C: root
- Open the console and type cd\ (this will move you to C: root where both dcraw and the RAW file are)
- Type: dcraw -v -T -4 file.cr2 (file.cr2 is the RAW file you copied)

Paste here what the console displays.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Craig Murphy on April 09, 2009, 10:45:55 am
Hello and thanks for the follow up.      Here is what the screen says.  

C:\>dcraw -v -T -4 8866.RAF
Loading Fujifilm FinePix S5Pro image from 8866.RAF...
Scaling with darkness 0, saturation 15872, and
multipliers 2.064190 1.000000 1.131330 1.000000
PPG interpolation...
Rotating image 45 degrees...
Converting to sRGB colorspace...
Writing data to 8866.tiff   ...

It did create a tiff file.
Now it seems to be working except that as in the second image it is hung up at Please Wait.  Processing goes no further.
This is after clicking on Develop.  

[attachment=12882:Untitled_11.jpg]      [attachment=12883:Untitled_12.jpg]
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on April 09, 2009, 02:09:24 pm
Quote from: Craig Murphy
Hello and thanks for the follow up.      Here is what the screen says.  

C:\>dcraw -v -T -4 8866.RAF
Loading Fujifilm FinePix S5Pro image from 8866.RAF...
Scaling with darkness 0, saturation 15872, and
multipliers 2.064190 1.000000 1.131330 1.000000
PPG interpolation...
Rotating image 45 degrees...
Converting to sRGB colorspace...
Writing data to 8866.tiff   ...

It did create a tiff file.
Now it seems to be working except that as in the second image it is hung up at Please Wait.  Processing goes no further.
This is after clicking on Develop.
Hi Craig, but what does the black window say when clicking on 'Develop'? or it just opens and shuts down quickly? have you tried to develop all those 3 files individually with DCRAW from the command line and all three worked? are all of them low DR Fuji files?

Anyway, there are some reasons why you shouldn't use Zero Noise with Fuji S5Pro RAF files:

- First because that camera has an extended DR mode which does this for yourself: if set in high DR mode it shoots 2 RAW files at just one shot to expand the captured dynamic range. It's an HDR camera itself and there is no point to do several captures at risk of misalingment or other issues when your camera can do it for you. You already paid for that, so what's the point of achieveing HDR through additional software?.
- Second because due to its very particular photocaptor distribution, only the Fuji Hyper Utility RAW developer is suited to give the best resolution and performance on RAF files. DCRAW will use a somewhat poor PPG interpolation (see your screenshots) to decode the RAF data, with additional 45º rotation and providing only 6Mpx images instead 12Mpx which is the optimum in RAF files.

To find out more about the Fuji Super CCD: FUJI SUPER CCD. IN-CAMERA HDR (http://www.guillermoluijk.com/article/superccd/index.htm), I think the online translation (click Union Jack on the left) can suffice.

BR
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Craig Murphy on April 09, 2009, 04:08:02 pm
Yeah.  The window opens and closes really quickly.  I tried to screen capture all of it but this is as close as I could get before it disappears.  I know there is another line or two.
I here what you are saying about the Fuji.   [attachment=12893:Untitled_13.jpg]
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on April 09, 2009, 11:15:50 pm
Quote from: Craig Murphy
Yeah.  The window opens and closes really quickly.  I tried to screen capture all of it but this is as close as I could get before it disappears.  I know there is another line or two.
Looking at that screenshot it could be failing the save to disk from DCRAW. Are you sure you managed to develop all the three files from the command line with DCRAW, and all of them developed and saved properly to disk? If so I have no idea what can be happening :S

Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Hening Bettermann on April 10, 2009, 01:13:50 pm
Hi Guillermo

"due to its very particular photocaptor distribution, only the Fuji Hyper Utility RAW developer is suited to give the best resolution and performance on RAF files."

Would this refer to the S5 files only, or to all RAFs? I have a number of those, and I use ACR because of my home-made DNG profiles. But if Fuji conversion is really superior, I might try  to establish color presets for the TIFs in ACR.

Kind regards - Hening
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Craig Murphy on April 10, 2009, 02:43:36 pm
I would think its the same for S1, S2, S3, and S5.  Same kind of sensor in all of them.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Hening Bettermann on April 10, 2009, 03:58:58 pm
Thank you. However, I did not mean that high-end Fuji series. I think of the E 900 and the S 9600.
Happy Easter!  - Hening
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Jonathan Wienke on May 06, 2009, 09:24:53 pm
So the DNG version of ZeroNoise will be available when???
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on May 10, 2009, 08:09:03 pm
Quote from: Jonathan Wienke
So the DNG version of ZeroNoise will be available when???
Patience Jon. Today the v0.7 of Perfect RAW has been offered for download on _all_ platforms simultaneously (the standard code doesn't need to be rewritten on each platform). It's not a complete RAW developer just a basic GUI to check it works on all platforms.

Once Perfect RAW v1.0 exists I will encourage the other members to take DNG Zero Noise, and like PR should be simultaneously multiplatform.


For those willing to try the Perfect RAW v0.7 GUI (with OpenGL and GPU support):

Win32 version (requires Windows XP at least) (http://personales.alumno.upv.es/%7Egermofer/redist/pR%200.70a%20Win32.zip)
Win64 version (requires Windows XP 64 at least) (http://personales.alumno.upv.es/%7Egermofer/redist/pR%200.70a%20Win64.zip)
Linux x86 version (http://personales.alumno.upv.es/%7Egermofer/redist/pR%200.70a%20Linux-x86.zip)
Linux amd64 version (http://personales.alumno.upv.es/%7Egermofer/redist/pR%200.70a%20Linux-amd64.zip)
Mac OS X Universal version (requires OS X 10.4 at least) (http://personales.alumno.upv.es/%7Egermofer/redist/pR%200.70a%20Mac%20OS%20X%20Universal.zip)

The mouse wheel performs zoom.

Regards.


Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Jonathan Wienke on May 10, 2009, 10:53:31 pm
Cool, progress is being made. As long as it doesn't end up like Duke Nukem Forever...
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Hening Bettermann on May 11, 2009, 04:19:40 pm
GREAT that you consider all platforms!!  
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Doug Herrick on June 14, 2009, 12:44:48 am
With the examples that have been used for demonstration, clearly this is an amazing workflow solution. I am not a computer science person, if fact I know nothing about using code. I am eager to learn how to use the dcraw and zero noise, but, I got to tell you, so far, the information provided goes right over my head. After numerous  attempts to process an image using dcraw I have hit the wall. Can someone explain, in much simpler terms, without cryptic abbreviations, a top to bottom guide to using this extraordinary procedure? Please!

Thanks
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Hening Bettermann on June 14, 2009, 01:03:20 pm
Hi Doug
Sorry I can not give you a step-by step guide to ZeroNoise. As I see it, there are 2 choices:
1-Acquire a BASIC knowledge of the Unix SURFACE. Nothing with code. If you are on a Mac, you may find the link useful I gave in post #30. I'm sure there is something for Windows, too.
2-Wait. I think the final version of ZeroNoise will have a GUI (Graphical User Interface).
Not much of a consolation, maybe? - Hening.
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Guillermo Luijk on June 16, 2009, 09:33:11 am

Using Zero Noise is not difficult at all, the difficult part comes when tone mapping the resulting image.
Zero Noise just provides an optimum exposure blending in terms of noise, sharpness and ghosting (if needed).

Someone in Dpreview drew this quick tutorial:

(http://www.guillermoluijk.com/tutorial/zeronoise/znscreengrab.jpg)

The present version has some new features but the basic procedure is the same.

BR
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: Hening Bettermann on June 16, 2009, 10:33:00 am
Sorry, I forgot that it HAS a GUI already!
Title: Zero Noise HDR virtual RAW
Post by: jjlphoto on June 16, 2009, 10:39:54 am
How do we do the Zero Noise technique? What do we need to download? I'm on OSX10.4.11/PPC