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Joe_Mulleta
Joe_Mulleta
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Opening HDR images in ACR is great but why is there no support for EXR?

Jun 21, 2012 1:29 AM

Tags: #dng #tiff #hdr #exr #hdri #tonemapping

As said above why is there no support for the EXR format, which is THE industry standard for HDR images?

 

Christian Bloch, author of the standard reference book for HDR imaging is thinking the same:

"The next step should certainly be OpenEXR support. Full-on 32-bit TIFFs are annoyingly huge for no good reason. Seriously! For the image above it's 120 MB versus 30 MB in EXR, with absolutely no quality difference."

 

Will EXR support come in the near future?

8576 Views   11 Replies   Latest reply: Joe_Mulleta, May 12, 2013 4:05 AM
 
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  • MadManChan2000
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    1. MadManChan2000,
    Jun 21, 2012 1:15 PM   in reply to Joe_Mulleta
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    Probably not right away.  Possibly in the future.

     

    In the meantime, it's not necessary to use full-blown 32-bit TIFFs.  As you can see from the "Save" options in Ps, there are many choices when saving TIFFs.  These include 16, 24, or 32 bits per channel, as well as compression. 

     
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  • Joe_Mulleta
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    2. Joe_Mulleta,
    Jun 25, 2012 1:28 PM   in reply to MadManChan2000
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    Too bad it's not planned to be suported soon, I think EXR support is a must, since it is basically THE standard for everything HDR related.

     

    On a sidenote:

    It is mentioned that apart from TIFF HDR images, there is also support for HDR DNG:

    "Supported HDR formats are TIFF and DNG."

    Can they be converted from TIFF to DNG or what is the source for them? I didn't find anything about a HDR DNG format on the web.

     

    Thanks.

     
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  • Jeff Schewe
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    3. Jeff Schewe,
    Jun 25, 2012 2:41 PM   in reply to Joe_Mulleta
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    Joe_Mulleta wrote:

     

    Can they be converted from TIFF to DNG or what is the source for them? I didn't find anything about a HDR DNG format on the web.

     

    Yes, if you save out a 32-bit TIFF as a DNG it will retain the 32-bit TIFF in linear gamma. Course, at this time only ACR 7.1 and LR 4.1 can open a DNG HDR...

     
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  • Joe_Mulleta
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    4. Joe_Mulleta,
    Jun 25, 2012 2:57 PM   in reply to Jeff Schewe
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    Jeff, can you elaborate a bit more please? I haven't found a way to save a TIFF as DNG? If I open an HDR image in PS I don't have the option to save as DNG - the DNGconverter also doesn't recognise the 32vit TIFFs...

     
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  • Jeff Schewe
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    5. Jeff Schewe,
    Jun 25, 2012 4:29 PM   in reply to Joe_Mulleta
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    Open the 32-bit HDR TIFF in Camera Raw and use the Save button and choose save as DNG...any image ACR can open can be saved out as a DNG including JPEGs and TIFFs. Raw images remain undemosaiced but TIFF and JPEG will be what's called "Linear DNG" meaning the image will be demosaiced and saved in a linera gamma in the DNG.

     
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  • station_two
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    6. station_two,
    Jun 25, 2012 8:42 PM   in reply to Jeff Schewe
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    Jeff Schewe wrote:

     

    ...will be what's called "Linear DNG" meaning the image will be demosaiced and saved in a linear gamma in the DNG.

     

    That's a great, succinct, lucid, pithy and thorough way of explaining the term "Linear DNG", which had puzzled me for quite some time.

     

    Thank you very much, sir! 

     
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  • Jeff Schewe
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    7. Jeff Schewe,
    Jun 25, 2012 9:26 PM   in reply to station_two
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    pithy?

     

    :~)

     

    I'm glad it helps...while Adobe has not been secretive about the various flavors of DNG it could be argued that they haven't done a really great job of really explaining the ins/outs to users (who are not likely to read the DNG SDK). Now with the advent of Lossy DNG, it's become even more complex…hopefully somebody will do a white paper some time to explain the benefits and shortcomings of DNG in different workflow applications...

     
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  • Noel Carboni
    21,006 posts
    Dec 23, 2006
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    8. Noel Carboni,
    Jun 26, 2012 4:23 PM   in reply to Jeff Schewe
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    Don't get pithed off Jeff, I think he meant it as a compliment. 

     

    pith·y

    [pith-ee]

    adjective, pith·i·er, pith·i·est.  
    1.   brief, forceful, and meaningful in expression; full of vigor, substance,
          or meaning; terse; forcible: a pithy observation.

     

     

    2.   of, like, or abounding in pith.

     

    -Noel

     
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  • station_two
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    9. station_two,
    Jun 26, 2012 8:46 PM   in reply to Noel Carboni
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    Of course it was meant as a compliment, and I got the distinct impression that Mr. Schewe took it as such. 

     
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  • Jeff Schewe
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    10. Jeff Schewe,
    Jun 26, 2012 10:20 PM   in reply to station_two
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    Yep...I just don't read the word  pith·y on the forums too often so I got a kick out of it  :~)

     
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  • Joe_Mulleta
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    11. Joe_Mulleta,
    May 12, 2013 4:05 AM   in reply to Joe_Mulleta
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    I wanted to bring this up again with a new ACR version on the horizon (hint: Lightroom 5)... :-)

     
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