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Using i.Dynamic for those impossible outdoor shots
  • magnus387magnus387

    I realize that most people are not the biggest fans of I.Dyanmic due to its unpredictable nature, and slight increase in noise, but after a couple days of figuring out the best way to use it, I can honestly say that I really love it. When switched on, the I.Dynamic function will only activate when the disparity between the highlights and the shadows is very high. The problem with this, is that it tends to only turn on when the highlights are really blown out, and it defeats the purpose of using it because you are now the proud owner of a piece of crap shot.

    The trick is to get it to turn on when the highlights are just on the verge of peaking (and subsequently losing information), and your shadow areas are not completely black. While it may not be the most elegant solution, I found that I could achieve the aforementioned if I framed the shot with a dark wall, or object on one side of the frame - thus falsely increasing the dynamic range of the shot, and getting I.Dynamic to turn on. Here is an example of the exact same shot taking moments apart. The first with I.Dynamic off, the second with I.Dynamic on the highest setting. I hope this makes sense, and helps anyone who has been trying to figure this setting out. No color correction was done - the only variable is IDYnamic.

    Cheers.

    OFF.png
    3840 x 2400 - 7M
    ON.png
    3840 x 2400 - 8M
  • 6 Replies sorted by
  • shianshian

    maybe there's a way VK can hack it so you can toggle it on/off there's a thread for function requests.

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/3970/gh3-fimware-suggestions/p1

  • plasmasmpplasmasmp

    This is one of those features I wish had manual controls. a controllable iDynamic with our 100mb+ bitrates would really leave more room for grading high dynamic range scenes.

  • GabelGabel

    I do see a difference, but I wanted to see how much one could do in post. The thing is, I wonder if "all" the camera does is to basically do a shadow recovery to boost the highlights (which would explain the more noise) and wanted to see if it is something that would yield the same results in post. Here is my very simple test, hence the crudeness. But I think it looks OK and one could pull out quite a bit of detail in the shadows, more or less the same as iDynamic.

    shadow_recovery_00467.jpg
    3840 x 2400 - 3M
  • magnus387magnus387

    @Gabel , While I get your point, I think that IDynamic is a bit more complicated that just lifting the shadows and pulling back the highlights. I actually find the effect that it has on the LowMids to be the most profound. Looking at your color grade, (in comparison to the IDynamic ON grab) the most obvious difference to me is the washed out look in the shadows on the tree, and the brick building is still not as bright as the IDynamic version. IDynamic is far from a "free meal", but I do think that it's a good and effective option to have when it is called for. Hope that didn't sound antagonistic, I certainly appreciate your test.

  • GabelGabel

    You're very right. I just wanted to see the amount of information one could pull out of the shadows without it looking like barf (I would still have kept it somewhat darker), but I've tinkered with all the rest to keep it looking OK (brought down the building quite a bit, added color and so on) to make it a bit more pleasing. And you could be right, I just wanted to see what could be pulled out when not using it, that is all.

  • filmsourcefilmsource

    I was told that it only triggers with yellows.

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