One of the most popular posts on our blog is about HDR reference white, which has been standardized as 203 nits. But in reality, there is no such thing as reference white, any more than there is a fixed value for 18% gray or fair skin. Diffuse white can be 145 nits indoors or as... Continue Reading →
Cullen Kelly: Set A Speed Limit Of Around 250 Nits
During a live stream, Cullen Kelly said that 1,000-nit specular highlights are unpleasant to look at and that windows should be closer to middle gray. Do you agree? Can intense specular highlights serve an expressive purpose? "HDR is fairly new, and as typically happens with new technologies, we have impartial parties really, really pushing for... Continue Reading →
Cinematographers on HDR
Match the quotes to the DP “[HDR is] a dream for any cinematographer, any creator of images... I think every cinematographer will have an interest in high dynamic range, because it’s the way that we want to capture images, so later we can do whatever we want in [digital color grading]. We need all the... Continue Reading →
MiniLED – How many dimming zones are necessary to a achieve contrast ratios comparable to OLED?
According to this study, when seated at the minimum viewing distance, 4X as many zones are required for an 85" 8K TV as compared to a 55" 4K TV; but when seated at the optimum viewing distance (at which the display occupies a 40° field of view)), the number of zones remains the same for... Continue Reading →
No, It Doesn’t
Forum member, EOSHD https://youtu.be/wEf8FmPMJxM It appears that many in the online community obstinately refer to ETTR as overexposure, which it is not. Overexposure is pushing highlights too far, to the point of clipping, at which point they are unrecoverable. Exposing to the right maximizes dynamic range while minimizing noise in the shadows.
Devotion is a Feast for the Eyes
Unlike 99% of productions, Korean War drama Devotion was conceived, monitored and shot in HDR, the show LUT and dailies were HDR, the hero grade was HDR - and it looks simply gorgeous. Photo: Netflix Photo: Netflix Photo: Netflix Photo: Netflix
“Is the Barten Ramp the correct threshold?”
The Barten Ramp is calculated from P. G. J. Barten’s 1999 Contrast Sensitivity Function (CSF), a model that supposedly incorporated most of the important variables in the ability of the HVS to detect contouring in digital display systems. Note this is modeled rather than measured data and the model is based on data that predates... Continue Reading →
“Television Better Served By HLG“
“The PQ system was developed by Dolby, a company whose main focus is on the cinema while the HLG system was developed jointly by BBC and NHK, two organizations whose main focus is on television… Television is probably better served by the HLG system that was designed from the ground up by television engineers for... Continue Reading →
Narrow vs. Full Range
Grass Valley White Paper diagram of the Barten ramp showing the susceptibility to banding of different HDR curves. We can see that full range offers only a very slight advantage over narrow range in guarding against banding artifacts. Photo: Grass Valley
What’s Behind the Window?
Frankly, we'd rather not know. Below, screenshots from a few outstanding examples of HDR filmmaking and one screen grab from a promotional video shot by Erik Messerschmidt for the ARRI Alexa 35. Photo: ARRI. Encounters 'The Swing', DP Erik Messerschmidt Photo: Netflix. 'Devotion', DP Erik Messerschmidt Photo: Netflix. 'The Hand of God', DP Daria D'Antonio... Continue Reading →