Difference between revisions of "HDR Software overview"
(This is not about Windows only products... ;-)) |
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[http://www.unifiedcolor.com/ unifiedcolor.com] | [http://www.unifiedcolor.com/ unifiedcolor.com] | ||
| − | | 1.0 | + | | 1.1.0 |
| Win, Mac | | Win, Mac | ||
| 149.99 USD, 30-day free trial | | 149.99 USD, 30-day free trial | ||
| − | | The first full 32-bit/channel (96 bit/pixel) HDR software. Using human vision color modeling (Beyond RGB™ color model) allows creating crisp, photo-realistic images, with many HDR editing operations | + | | The first full 32-bit/channel (96 bit/pixel) HDR software. Using human vision color modeling (Beyond RGB™ color model) allows creating crisp, photo-realistic images, with many HDR editing operations. The tone-mapping is done via direct editing of 32-bit HDR image data in a WYSIWYG workflow. Includes Lightroom and Aperture plug-ins. Photoshop plug-in (called 32 Float) is provided as a separate product. |
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! hugin | ! hugin | ||
Revision as of 06:44, 27 September 2010
Certainly one of the most interesting upcoming technologies for photographers is High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI), allowing work with the full real world levels of illumination. While standard image formats utilizes 8 or 16 bits with applied gamma and color space, the HDR image format extends the bit depth up to 96bit in a linear color space.
On this overview we will focus on the currently available GUI-based software packages that are able to create and process HDR images. I want to thank all authors of the respective software packages for their support during the creation of the overview, especially Geraldine Joffre, Andreas Schömann, Paul Nolan, and Thomas Lock. Aside from the windows based GUI packages Bernhard Vogl has evaluated, command line tools are also available and have been added to the table below.
The following software packages have been tested:
Software overview
| Software | Homepage | Version | Platforms | Price | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artizen | 2.5.17 | Win | 45 CDN | - | |
| EasyHDR Pro | 1.70.3 | Win | 30 EUR | - | |
| FDRTools Basic | 2.3.0 | Win, Mac | free | - | |
| FDRTools Advanced | 2.3.0 | Win, Mac | 39.00 EUR | - | |
| HDR Darkroom | 2.1.0 | Win, Mac | 79 USD, 29.99 USD for student, free trial, free to charities, churches and some non-profit organizations. | The first all-in-one HDR Software to achieve both surreal HDR photography and photo-realistic/natural HDR images, with fast tone mapping processing, single photo enhancement and user-friendly design. | |
| HDRShop | 1.0 | Win | free for non-commercial and educational use (commercial license: HDRShop 2 (399.00 USD)) |
no further development, superseded by the commercial version 2.0 | |
| Unified Color HDR Expose | 1.1.0 | Win, Mac | 149.99 USD, 30-day free trial | The first full 32-bit/channel (96 bit/pixel) HDR software. Using human vision color modeling (Beyond RGB™ color model) allows creating crisp, photo-realistic images, with many HDR editing operations. The tone-mapping is done via direct editing of 32-bit HDR image data in a WYSIWYG workflow. Includes Lightroom and Aperture plug-ins. Photoshop plug-in (called 32 Float) is provided as a separate product. | |
| hugin | 0.7 beta 4 | Linux, Win, Mac | free, open source | All in one panorama creation program. See hugin | |
| Photogenics HDR | 7.0 | Win, Linux | 699.00 USD | focuses on 3D workflow and film editing | |
| Photomatix Pro | 3.2.6 | Win, Mac | 99.00 USD | - | |
| Photoshop | 11.0 (CS4) | Win, Mac | 649.00 USD (US download) 1042.84 EUR (Europe boxed) |
- | |
| Picturenaut | 3 | Win | free | ||
| pfstools | 1.8.1 | Unix, Mac, (Win) | free, open source | Command line tools and two GUI (pfsview and qpfstmo) for creation and processing of hdr images. | |
| PTGui Pro | 8.3.5 | Win, Mac | 149 EUR | All in one panorama creation program. See PTGui | |
| LuminanceHDR (was Qtpfsgui) | 2.0.0beta | Win, Mac, Linux | free, open-source | QT based GUI for pfstools, now including an automatic image alignment. See Qtpfsgui |
As you can see,there is a wide variety of fees you have to pay for the different software packages. This is partly justified by the features and the editing functions the various programs offer.
HDR creation and tonemapping
| Software | measure camera response curve | create HDR from bracketed images | create HDR from camera RAW image (*1) | tonemap image to LDR | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| single HDR image creation | batch mode | LDR image alignment | ghost removal |
number of different operators | single image via GUI | batch mode | parameters save-/restoreable | panoramic mapping (correct border and zenith/nadir blending) | |||
| Artizen | ○ (histogram) |
√ | √ | automatic & freehand & numeric |
? | √ | 5+ Builtin Plus 8 more downloadable | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| EasyHDR | ? | √ | √ | manual ? | ? | √ | 1 | √ | during creation | √ | – |
| FDRTools Basic | √ & modify-able histogram |
√ | ○ (via command line) |
√ | √ | 2 | √ | ○ (via command line) |
– | ||
| FDRTools Advanced | √ & modify-able histogram |
√ | ○ (via command line) |
√ | √ | √ | 3 (also supports compression & contrast bracketing) |
√ | ○ (via command line) |
– | √ |
| HDRShop | √ | √ | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| HDR Expose | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ (3 options) |
√ | 16 | √ | √ (batched HDR merge and recipe processing) |
√ | – |
| hugin | √ | √ | - | √ (by standard control points) |
- | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Photogenics HDR | – | √ (relies on EXIF data) |
– | ? | ? | – (tethered shooting with Canon cameras possible) |
3 | √ | – | – | – |
| Photomatix Pro | √ (selectable) |
√ | √ | √ (selectable) | √ | √ | 2 + 2 LDR blending methods | √ | √ | √ | ○ (no zenith/nadir possible) |
| Photoshop | √ (supposedly automatic) |
√ (relies on EXIF data) |
– | √ (selectable) | ? | – | 4 | √ | – | √ | – |
| Picturenaut | √ (selectable) |
√ | ○ (via command line) |
√ (selectable) | ? | – | 2 | √ | command line (HDRI2LDRI - adaptive logarithmic only) | √/– (can read MKHDRI-curves) |
not necessary, global operator |
| pfstools | √ (pfscalibration, pfstmo with qpfstmo GUI) |
√ | ○ (via command line) |
- | - | √ | 7 | √ (qpfstmo) | √ | -/– (command line) |
– |
| PTGui Pro | √ | √ | √ (via Batch Stitcher) |
√ (by standard control points) |
- | - | 1 | √ | √ (via Batch Stitcher) |
√ | √ |
| LuminanceHDR | ○ pfstools calibration can be used |
√ | √ | √ | √ | √ | 9 | √ | √ | √ | – |
*1: Most software relies on DCRaw for RAW conversion. Some cameras with extended DR capabilities are not converted correctly (e.g. Fuji's S3 camera: Although DCRaw could theoretically read all photosensors, it would need one conversion call for every photosite which is not implemented in the tested software packages.)
HDR image manipulation
There are basically 3 types of appications available:
- Converter software: This type of software will assist you in generating and tonemapping HDR images
- Image editors: These are full-flagged image manipulation programs that will also give you the possibility of HDR generation and tonemapping
- Panorama creation programs with the additional possibility of HDR generation and tonemapping
| Software | File formats (*1) EXR/HDR: 96bit TIFF: 32bit |
software type | full image editing capabilities | manipulation essentials | no. of builtin panoramic transformations | filters | plugins possible | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| read/write | resize, crop, rotate | white balance | approx number |
HDR capable | scriptable | |||||
| Artizen | EXR, HDR, TIFF, PFM | image editor, converter and creator | √ | √ | ○ (color adjust) | 4 | >40 | √ | √ | Tone Mapping Operator SDK included |
| EasyHDR | HDR, TIFF | converter | – | – | √ | – | – | – | – | – |
| FDRTools Basic | EXR, HDR, TIFF | converter | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| FDRTools Advanced | EXR, HDR, TIFF | converter | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| HDRShop | HDR, TIFF | converter | – | √ | √ | 6 (+ 3D rotation) | ~15 | √ | – | √ |
| HDR Expose | BEF, EXR, HDR, TIFF | HDR merge, image editor | √ | √ | √ | - | 16 | √ | √ | - |
| hugin | EXR, HDR, TIFF | panorama creation program | – | ○ (panorama related transformations and cropping) | – | 12 | - | - | - | n/a |
| Photogenics HDR | EXR, HDR, TIFF | image editor | √ | √ | ○ (color adjust) | 4 | >40 | √ | – | √ (beta) |
| Photomatix Pro | EXR, HDR, TIFF | converter | – | √ | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| Photoshop | EXR, HDR, TIFF (always assumes 32bit) |
image editor | √ | √ | ○ (white point adjust) | – | >40 | ~15 | √ | √ |
| Picturenaut | HDR, TIFF | converter | – | √ (resize) | – | – | – | – | – | HDRShop plugins |
| pfstools | EXR, HDR, JPEG-HDR (read only), PFM, TIFF | converter | – | √ | – | 4 | ~11 | √ | √ | n/a |
| PTGui Pro | EXR, HDR | panorama creation program | – | ○ (panorama related transformations and cropping) | – | 10 | - | - | - | n/a |
| LuminanceHDR | JPEG, PNG, PPM, PBM, TIFF, EXR, HDR, PFS, RAW (read only, all cameras supported by dcraw) | converter | – | √ | – | 4 | ~11 | √ | - | n/a |
*1: TIFF: 32 bit floating point TIFF. Please note that the TIFF file format is an abstract container for various encoding methods. This may result in incompatibility when exchanging TIFF files between various applications.
This is also true to some extent for .hdr files. Though, all applications in this overview use the most recent file format.
UI functionality and large image processing
The best HDR software is not of much use if it lacks of an intuitive user interface. We will now have a look on some key functionality and UI design.
We will also have a look if the applications utilize a clever memory management. The test file is a HDR panorama stitched by Hugin with a size of 8000x4000 pixels (32 Mpix), converted to the Radiance (.hdr) format. (This is tested using a standard Windows XP setup w. 1GB of RAM, swapping to HDD allowed)
| Software | drag & drop operation from operating system possible | large image processing | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| drop JPEG LDR images → generate HDR image | drop HDR image | load 32Mpix HDR file | tone map 32Mpix image | |
| Artizen | yes / yes | yes | √ | √ |
| EasyHDR | no / no | no | runtime error | – |
| FDRTools Basic | no / no | no | √ | ○ (very slow) |
| FDRTools Advanced | no / no | no | √ | ○ (very slow) |
| HDR Darkroom | yes / yes | yes | √ | √ |
| HDRShop | yes / no (will open multiple images for editing) |
yes | √ | n/a |
| HDR Expose | yes / yes | yes | √ (requires 64-bit OS) |
√ (requires 64-bit OS) |
| hugin | no / no | yes | √ | - |
| Photogenics HDR | yes / no (will open multiple images for editing) |
yes | √ | ○ (very slow) |
| Photomatix Pro | yes / yes | yes | √ | √ (only in batch mode) |
| Photoshop | yes / no (will open multiple images for editing) |
yes | √ | √ |
| Picturenaut | yes / no (will open multiple images for editing) |
yes | √ | √ |
| pfstools | no / no | no | n/a (no GUI) | √ (depends on algorithm) |
| PTGui Pro | no / no | yes | √ | √ |
| LuminanceHDR | yes / yes | yes | √ | √ (depends on algorithm) |