That was quick...
Yesterday, after implementing the speckle solver (see previous post) I discovered two minor bugs that could prevent some DNGs from processing correctly. Those bugs are fixed, and because of those fixes I decided to release this version already.
So in this version: high ISO M8 DNGs and high ISO compressed M9 DNGs should now behave properly, without producing speckles on the two sharper algorithms, and if you did see conversion errors on some DNGs, that issue should now also be solved.
You can download this new version here.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
About those speckles...
Well, as you know - if you read some essential blog posts on DNGMonochrome - I discovered some problems with the two sharpest algorithms a while back, most noticeable on high ISO M8 files, leading to white or light gray speckles. So far I haven't seen them on high ISO M9 files, but I also didn't test a lot of high ISO M9 photos.
I discovered the speckles when I was experimenting with a downloaded 2500 ISO M8 DNG, and it took me a while to understand what was happening.
Essentially the two sharp algorithms stay very close to the pixel being interpolated, and the number of pixels looked at - to get to the right value for the pixel under consideration - is small. The advantage: the interpolation stays close to home and it leads to sharper results.
The smoother algorithm averages over a larger area, looks at more pixels, and loses sharpness that way. The advantage though is that noise (and dead pixels) gets eradicated. It leads to a smoother, less noisy, less sharp result and no speckles on high ISO images.
What happens with the sharp algorithms on high ISO is that the color noise starts to have a big impact on the outcome, in a rather negative way. This particular M8 file was riddled with color noise, especially the red channel was totally out of control, with big red blotches in the shadows. As a consequence, the information picked up from the red channel was incorrect. And when averaging based on only a few pixels, these out of control red pixels were too big an influence, causing wrong values for the pixel under consideration, leading to the speckles.
I managed to solve that today and the results are quite satisfying now. Still sharper results than with the smoother algorithm, without the speckles and without using a median filter.
Lower ISO images are untouched by this method. It only kicks in when necessary and on a per pixel basis.
I still need to transport this new approach to the red and blue filtering, and test if I also need to implement this for M9 high ISO files. Need to produce some very noisy photos first for some testing.
Obviously these improvements will be in the next release...
I discovered the speckles when I was experimenting with a downloaded 2500 ISO M8 DNG, and it took me a while to understand what was happening.
Essentially the two sharp algorithms stay very close to the pixel being interpolated, and the number of pixels looked at - to get to the right value for the pixel under consideration - is small. The advantage: the interpolation stays close to home and it leads to sharper results.
The smoother algorithm averages over a larger area, looks at more pixels, and loses sharpness that way. The advantage though is that noise (and dead pixels) gets eradicated. It leads to a smoother, less noisy, less sharp result and no speckles on high ISO images.
What happens with the sharp algorithms on high ISO is that the color noise starts to have a big impact on the outcome, in a rather negative way. This particular M8 file was riddled with color noise, especially the red channel was totally out of control, with big red blotches in the shadows. As a consequence, the information picked up from the red channel was incorrect. And when averaging based on only a few pixels, these out of control red pixels were too big an influence, causing wrong values for the pixel under consideration, leading to the speckles.
I managed to solve that today and the results are quite satisfying now. Still sharper results than with the smoother algorithm, without the speckles and without using a median filter.
Lower ISO images are untouched by this method. It only kicks in when necessary and on a per pixel basis.
I still need to transport this new approach to the red and blue filtering, and test if I also need to implement this for M9 high ISO files. Need to produce some very noisy photos first for some testing.
Obviously these improvements will be in the next release...
DNGMonochrome 0.9.3 beta released
No major changes in this version where the algorithms are concerned.
This version adds a strength setting to the red and blue filtering, it improves the speed of the red and blue filtering process, and it adds support for CR2 files converted to DNG (with Adobe's free DNG converter) for the Canon EOS 350D, EOS 40D and EOS 5D Mark II.
I didn't test the smaller RAW format of those Canon cameras, so at present I can't guarantee proper functioning of those smaller RAW formats.
You can download this new version here.
This version adds a strength setting to the red and blue filtering, it improves the speed of the red and blue filtering process, and it adds support for CR2 files converted to DNG (with Adobe's free DNG converter) for the Canon EOS 350D, EOS 40D and EOS 5D Mark II.
I didn't test the smaller RAW format of those Canon cameras, so at present I can't guarantee proper functioning of those smaller RAW formats.
You can download this new version here.
Monday, September 24, 2012
DNGMonochrome, next release almost there...
Well, more or less done with the new stuff, just need to run some additional tests.
Converted Canon files now all seem to work, but I've not tested the smaller RAW formats of the 5D Mark II.
If you are interested in this software for CR2 files, do note that you need to convert them first to DNG and that the end result is also DNG, which can't be read by the regular Canon software (DPP). Also, so far only the EOS 350D, EOS 40D and EOS 5D Mark II will be supported. I might extend that a bit with other models, if I can find some online camera specific RAW files.
The strength setting for red and blue works, and I managed to speed up the whole thing again. Not the regular conversion, but the red and blue conversion. Going from 90 seconds on my system to 30 seconds for the whole process, think that's a very welcome improvement.
I've not looked at the algorithms this time, but I do intend to start some more testing on high ISO images, since those were left out during the initial development and do pose some problems.
I figured out what's happening with the sharper algorithms (essentially color noise gets amplified), so I want to see what can be done about that (if anything) apart from diverting to the 'smooth' algorithm...
I've had several questions today, since the software seems to be 'discovered', sparking a sudden interest... bad timing because I'm off on a short break this week, starting tomorrow (Tuesday), so comments and emails might be left unanswered for a few days...
I suspect to have 0.9.3 beta online by the end of this week or in the coming weekend.
Converted Canon files now all seem to work, but I've not tested the smaller RAW formats of the 5D Mark II.
If you are interested in this software for CR2 files, do note that you need to convert them first to DNG and that the end result is also DNG, which can't be read by the regular Canon software (DPP). Also, so far only the EOS 350D, EOS 40D and EOS 5D Mark II will be supported. I might extend that a bit with other models, if I can find some online camera specific RAW files.
The strength setting for red and blue works, and I managed to speed up the whole thing again. Not the regular conversion, but the red and blue conversion. Going from 90 seconds on my system to 30 seconds for the whole process, think that's a very welcome improvement.
I've not looked at the algorithms this time, but I do intend to start some more testing on high ISO images, since those were left out during the initial development and do pose some problems.
I figured out what's happening with the sharper algorithms (essentially color noise gets amplified), so I want to see what can be done about that (if anything) apart from diverting to the 'smooth' algorithm...
I've had several questions today, since the software seems to be 'discovered', sparking a sudden interest... bad timing because I'm off on a short break this week, starting tomorrow (Tuesday), so comments and emails might be left unanswered for a few days...
I suspect to have 0.9.3 beta online by the end of this week or in the coming weekend.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
DNGMonochrome - the next release...
It's not there yet, but currently after a short break, I'm back at it.
It's still Experiment I (for a potential Experiment II, I need to learn some new stuff first)...
I'm currently working on support for Canon files.
Adobe has a free DNG converter, in which you can convert the Canon RAW files (CR2) to DNG. And since I still have many Canon photos in my own collection, I wanted to see if DNGMonochrome could convert those converted CR2 files to monochrome.
It needed some small adaptations, but currently the EOS 350D, EOS 40D are fully supported, and I'm working on the DNGs converted from CR2 files from the 5D Mark II. That seems to be the only 'problem' camera so far and requires some additional coding, since the Bayer filter doesn't seem to be in the correct place for DNGMonochrome.
I've also introduced a new setting for red and blue filtering. It will be possible to filter according to a strength setting (ranging from 'full' to 25%). Especially a 50% red setting gives nice results, possibly comparable to an orange filter.
Not sure yet when the release will be, but I hope within two weeks from now...
Zhouzhuang, China, December 2007...
Canon EOS 40D with Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 converted to DNG and then to red filtered monochrome with DNGMonochrome...
It's still Experiment I (for a potential Experiment II, I need to learn some new stuff first)...
I'm currently working on support for Canon files.
Adobe has a free DNG converter, in which you can convert the Canon RAW files (CR2) to DNG. And since I still have many Canon photos in my own collection, I wanted to see if DNGMonochrome could convert those converted CR2 files to monochrome.
It needed some small adaptations, but currently the EOS 350D, EOS 40D are fully supported, and I'm working on the DNGs converted from CR2 files from the 5D Mark II. That seems to be the only 'problem' camera so far and requires some additional coding, since the Bayer filter doesn't seem to be in the correct place for DNGMonochrome.
I've also introduced a new setting for red and blue filtering. It will be possible to filter according to a strength setting (ranging from 'full' to 25%). Especially a 50% red setting gives nice results, possibly comparable to an orange filter.
Not sure yet when the release will be, but I hope within two weeks from now...
Zhouzhuang, China, December 2007...
Canon EOS 40D with Canon EF 35mm f/2.0 converted to DNG and then to red filtered monochrome with DNGMonochrome...
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