iSRD and other suggestions

[l.j.nash]

Hi,

I've been keen to try out HDR Studio 8 as I'm trying to decide whether to upgrade from v6.6 of the HDR Studio Suite.

I've only experimented a little so far with v8 but these are the possible issues that I've found so far.

iSRD doesn't seem to be working, no defects are marked up or corrected, yet when I open the same file in v6.6 it works very well. After selecting 1:1 in the iSRD tab a coloured bar continually scrolls under Preview as if the program is doing something but nothing appears to happen! Zooming seems to have some issues. If SRD is subsequently deactivated and the dialog closed the zoom icons stays greyed out, so there appears no way to return to the full image although you can still move around the image in Navigator.

On the subject of zooming, the Ctrl modifier key also appears to do nothing.

Also under v6.6 clicking on 100% at the bottom of the image window provided the option of choosing a zoom level and then movement around the image could be achieved using the Navigator dialog. My suggestion would be to reinstate this selectable zoom level at the bottom of the screen as in v6.6.

Possible negafix glitch, the first time I open a new negative image (one I have not previously opened in v8, or any negative image after deleting the preference file) after selecting Negative, film Vendor, FilmType and ISO settings, I have to deselect and then reselect CCR for the RGB endpoints to be set correctly (i.e. in the Expansion Tab for R G and B all markers read 0, 255, 0, 255, 0, 255).

What's the idea behind the initial frame opened by default not encompassing the full image? This was not the default behaviour in v6.6 and it's quite annoying having to resize the initial frame to fill the screen every time a file is opened.

Whilst what follows does not constitute an issue or bug I think it's important to provide feedback on your new GUI.

The GUI elements under windows 7 seem out of place with the rest of the system. For instance the GUI font size is smaller than every other windows program. The scroll bars appear as if lifted from OSX Aqua style and do not "fit-in" at all in windows. Even the file opening dialog appears to be completely customised, with the same aqua style scroll bars, small fonts and unique icons, why???

What is the zoom icon supposed to do? Even in v6.6 it didn't seem to serve any purpose that I could identify.

Why not provide a modifier key to allow navigation around an image whilst zoomed (the space bar perhaps) rather than solely relying upon dragging a box around in the Navigator window?

Even though v8 is now a native 64-bit application under windows I haven't noticed any speed improvement at all.

Hope this feedback is of some use,

Lee.

[LSI_Morales]

Hi Lee,

I'll check the issue with the zoom factor and closing the iSRD.

thanks for your feedback.

Cheers

[LSI_Morales]

Hi there

could it be possible for us to get access to any of those images you happen to be working with? I have checked the behavior you have explained but SilverFast behaved exactly the oposite as described by you.
Hence I would like to try one of your images.

Cheers

[l.j.nash]

Hi,

I'd be happy to send you one of images but they're rather large, 100MB or so, as I scanned at high resolution for archiving.

When I'm back home (this weekend) I'll try and downsize an image and see if the behavior is the same. What is the maximum file size you can accept, as 10MB is about my email limit and your posting limit seems to be about 250kB.

Best Regards,

Lee.

[drw]

I too am having problems with iSRD. Whenever I apply iSRD, the resulting processed image is very dark. If I process the image without iSRD, then the resulting image is correct. This is for 35mm slides scanned as HDRi files in Silverfast 8 with an Epson V750 on a Mac (OS X 10.7). Note that the images process fine using HDR version 6.6.

As a side question, in HRD version 6.6, I generally only use the Jobmanager to apply the RGB curve and iSRD to the scanned HDRi files. I then save the files as 48-bit TIFF's, and use another program to set the white point, black point, neutral grey, sharpening, etc. Will this option still be available in the final version of HDR version 8.0?

[LSI_Morales]

Hi there,

I'd be happy to send you one of images but they're rather large, 100MB or so, as I scanned at high resolution for archiving.

When I'm back home (this weekend) I'll try and downsize an image and see if the behavior is the same. What is the maximum file size you can accept, as 10MB is about my email limit and your posting limit seems to be about 250kB.

It would be interesting to use the images as they are, not downsizing them. Do you have access to an FTP server or a dropbox account where you can put the images?

I too am having problems with iSRD. Whenever I apply iSRD, the resulting processed image is very dark. If I process the image without iSRD, then the resulting image is correct. This is for 35mm slides scanned as HDRi files in Silverfast 8 with an Epson V750 on a Mac (OS X 10.7). Note that the images process fine using HDR version 6.6.

Same here, is there a way for you to provide access to your images?

As a side question, in HRD version 6.6, I generally only use the Jobmanager to apply the RGB curve and iSRD to the scanned HDRi files. I then save the files as 48-bit TIFF's, and use another program to set the white point, black point, neutral grey, sharpening, etc. Will this option still be available in the final version of HDR version 8.0?

Sure with HDR 8 you will also be able to apply the needed changes and export them for further processing with an external application

Cheers

[drw]

If you could please forward some instructions (or an email address) for sending a file, I would be happy to do so (I do not have access to an .ftp or anything else like that). The file size is approximately 60 MB.

Some additional information: In my experience, the problem occurs with both "Positive" and "Kodachrome" slides, scanned in either Silverfast V6.6 or V8.0. Unlike the original poster, the iSRD function is working for me (i.e., it does remove the dust and scratches), but again, the resulting processed image is very dark.

I did try to process a negative in HDR V8.0 that I had scanned using Silverfast V6.6, and that worked fine (I have not scanned any negatives with Silverfast V8.0 yet). So, at this point, I would say that the problems I am experiencing are only with scans of slides, and not with scans of negatives.

[LSI_Morales]

Hi drw

If you could please forward some instructions (or an email address) for sending a file, I would be happy to do so (I do not have access to an .ftp or anything else like that). The file size is approximately 60 MB.

Email will not work, I will send you an email with an invitation to dropbox, you can then put the file there in one of the folders and follow the instructions to share it.

Cheers

[l.j.nash]

I've uploaded a couple of scanned images that both display the same problem as regards iSRD. In neither case does my installation of SilverFast HDR 8 mark or remove any defects.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47396447/D-U.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/47396447/E-B.tif

Best Regards,

Lee.

[LSI_Morales]

Hi Lee

Thanks for the images they do not seem to have any recognizable information on a 4th channel( or an infrared channel), that is why the scratch correction isn't working.

I am wondering how did you create those files?
Did you use SilverFast? If so, which version was used and scanning mode?

Thanks in advance

[LSI_Morales]

Hi there,

after some inspection of your files with our colleagues we discovered in fact a small bug which was preventing from reading the infrared channel correctly.
The upcoming update of this pre-release version will contain a fix for this.

Thanks for your cooperation

Cheers

[ca1945]

Hello,

Just to put in my two cents, I have been using the latest prerelease (r2) but am still having problems with iSRD when using it on scanned positives and negatives. HDRi files loaded from SF Ai Studio 6.6 do not correctly read the infrared files at all.. it shows the scans as being covered all over in random defects where I know no defects exist, when SF 6.6 correctly shows only minimal dust and scratches.

Also, when loading HDRi files made with SF 8, the infrared channel is also read incorrectly, though in a different manner; it is not as wild as files from 6.6, but it does not recognize nearly the amount that it should be.

I wanted to make sure the infrared channel was actually capturing the defects, so I did a quick scan with SRD in Ai Studio 6.6 and compared it with the output from HDR Studio 8 with iSRD detection and correction set to its highest level. The SRD in Ai 6.6 worked great and removed nearly all the scratches (and there were plenty); HDR 8 did almost nothing, literally on the order of a few pixels even though the settings were maxed out.

I don't know if you guys are aware that this issue is ongoing. It sounds similar to the issue above, though I am using Mac OS X 10.6.8, so maybe the problem was fixed for windows but not mac.

Note: I just recently upgraded to SF 8, so I have not taken the time to check if iSRD is working as good in it as it is in 6.6. I assume it is. But obviously there is a difference in the way the two encode the infrared channel, as evidenced by the different ways that HDR 8 reads the channels from either program.

In a separate issue, I was working on an archival HDRi source file captured at a very high dpi that I wanted to crop and save a smaller dpi HDRi file to do my adjustments so I didn't eat so much memory. I figured I could just open it in HDR 8, set the frame to what I wanted and the output size I wanted, and save it as a new file with no processing. But when I set it to ouput at 64 bit HDRi file (with the only processing being changing the location and size of the frame), the resulting file was NOT a simple cropped, resized version of the original.. the histogram levels had been completely distorted, with all three channels being pushed all the way down to the very dark shadow regions. The file was a positive transparency, and this was set correctly in both the source and the crop. Perhaps I missed a setting, or is this a bug?

Cheers,
-CA

[LSI_Morales]

Hi CA

Thanks for your cooperation. We are really interested in this issues with iSRD and the infrared correction. It's been a bit hard to trace exactly where the problem is coming from.

Could you please let me know which scanner are you working with? would it be possible for you to provide some of those files which are giving you trouble for a further analysis (may be in dropbox)?

It is important to know which version was used to create the HDRi files (6 or , the operating system and the scanner model.

Again, thanks for your cooperation

Cheers

[ca1945]

I am working with the Plustek OpticFilm 7600i on Mac OS x 10.6.8.

I created a small sample test today and took some screenshots as well.

The image in SF6.6 showing iSRD detection

Kenny-1-HDR-with-iSRD-in-SF-6.jpg (124.08 KiB) Viewed 4615 times

The image in SF8 showing iSRD detection

Kenny-1-HDR-with-iSRD-in-SF8.jpg (152.98 KiB) Viewed 4615 times

The SF6.6 file showing iSRD detection in HDR 8

Kenny-1-HDR-SF-6-with-iSRD-in-HDR-8.jpg (98.74 KiB) Viewed 4615 times

I took another screenshot as well, of HDR 8 while working on the file that I saved with SF 8, but I have reached the limit on attachments. But HDR 8 wasn't even allowing me to preview the iSRD for that file, no matter how many times I pressed the 1:1 button.

Here are the files. I scanned them at a small resolution just for easy uploading.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3822585/Kenny%201%20HDR%20SF6.tif
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3822585/Kenny%201%20HDR%20SF8.tif

Please let me know if I can assist further on this issue.

[LSI_Morales]

Hi CA

The files you have uploaded are only 48 bit HDR and not HDRi file?

I could not see any infrared channel

Cheers