Hi.

4K HDR with a Smooth Q

Cheers,
Dave.

That HDR sure does look fine.  I need to dust off one of my gimbals.

BobWinNV Posted at 5-22 23:41
That HDR sure does look fine.  I need to dust off one of my gimbals.

Hi Bob.

While proper HDR really requires a minimum of 4:2:2 10 bit and rec.2020, the Action's HDR is amazing.

Whatever DJI are doing with this function at 4:2:0 8 bit rec.709 I don't care if it's not proper HDR, it simply shouldn't look this good.

I can't seem to find too much info on it, maybe it's similar to Sony's HLG which is just a screw about with the gamma response that woks as half way house between 709 and 2020. Although HLG is meta tagged to trigger compliant devices. Although it may just be an altered gamma curve for the Pocket, similar to D-Cine but with maybe boosted chroma.

In any event, and although I've not viewed the files on a HDR monitor yet, this is a real feature of the Action that sets it apart from similarly priced cameras

The detail in the foreground shadows when the background is blasted by the sun and the stuff that's not being lit directly, all look awesome. Seriously, it's like magic

The colours can be a bit like "HEY LOOK AT ME" but that's the easiest thing to dial back in post with simple de-saturation if it's not to personal taste.

I'm going to use this a lot on tripod shots and will test it on another gimbal that I've got that's designed for actioncams. To use it on the Smooth Q, I just jammed and wedged a piece of rubber in the clamp of the Smooth Q to hold the Action. Also, this way of mounting keeps the mics clear.

Cheers,
dave.

Hello and good day Dave. Thank you for posting this video you have created. Great work and thank you for your support.

Hi Dave.
Lovely footage.
As I'm not up on the way DJI is stopping the fisheye effect that is normally associated with using wide angled lenses, is that the cause for the odd-looking widening effect of the buildings widths I'm seeing at around 40s and 1.04 minutes at either edge of the frames where the buildings seem to expand and compress in width at the outer edges as the pan progresses.
I must confess it made my brain hurt a bit.
I know I have to compensate for this with my stills images from my DSLRs for each individual shot I take, but to see what The Osmo Action does frame by frame in a moving image, being corrected as it's shot is both somewhat bewildering and eye-bending at the same time.
Informative as usual Dave.
Keep up the good work, weather permitting

DJI Stephen Posted at 5-23 07:44
Hello and good day Dave. Thank you for posting this video you have created. Great work and thank you for your support.

Hi Stephen.

You are very welcome.

Cheers,
Dave.

Ray-CubeAce Posted at 5-25 05:24
Hi Dave.
Lovely footage.
As I'm not up on the way DJI is stopping the fisheye effect that is normally associated with using wide angled lenses, is that the cause for the odd-looking widening effect of the buildings widths I'm seeing at around 40s and 1.04 minutes at either edge of the frames where the buildings seem to expand and compress in width at the outer edges as the pan progresses.

Hi Ray.

Yes, the geometry of the native FOV and the pin cushioning of Dewarp can have some odd effects. I don't know if it's just me but the left side seems more than the right.

I guess that we'll see some tweaks of the Dewarp and maybe some alternative FOVs as DJI introduce later firmware updates.

I doubt we'll see too much happen with HDR as it's already a massive drain on the Action's processing abilities. In fact, and even though this isn't true HDR, I'm very surprised that DJI have managed to get a function like this working at all. In very sunny situations it's a real option to use the Action's HDR function and it's defo not a gimmick.

Due to the lack of manual control of exposure etc. when in HDR, I wouldn't recommend using it in low light as it will gain a fair bit of noise.

Due to the lack of other functions when in HDR, which as I've said does suggest a massive hit on the processor. I'd guess that it is doing at least a two shot bracketed exposure, although three would usually be the minimum. If this is the case it may well explain why the Action takes control of exposure and probably more importantly the shutter.

When in HDR 25 FPS, it may well be shooting 50 FPS, under and over exposing each alternating frame of the 50, then merge/mix/balance each alternating set of two frames into one HDR frame, so 50 back to 25. Maybe???

Regardless of how it does it, it's defo a great function for sunny days.

Cheers,
Dave.

David_Harry Posted at 5-29 07:34
Hi Stephen.

You are very welcome.

It is always my pleasure Dave. Have a safe and happy filming always.