ISO Adjustment VS Levels

[Scott Summers]

Hey guys, first time post in here.

I've been using RCX for a few months now, and I've always wondered something, and never been able to lock it away in my head as 'solved'. When shooting on my RED MX, I always shoot at ISO 800; then I'll either ND, or add light, to make the f-stop of the scene match the camera. I'm generally very happy with how I've lit it, and love R3D files for how much you can push the grade while still maintaining detail.

I live in Western Australia, so the sun here is as harsh as it ever gets, and occasionally I get blowouts in the highlights. If I adjust the 'levels' in RCX to any extreme, it just makes the highlights/shadows go a murky grey. But if I adjust the ISO, all of the detail comes back the way I assumed it would using 'levels'.

At those moments, I would kill for a feature where I could output an ISO 100 version of the clip, and use the HDR function of RCX to make an HDR version of the clip with the ISO 800 version. Is there a way I can do this in the levels of RCX without needing to go to this extreme? or is the a way I can make an export at ISO 100 and make an HDR of it? I can't seem to find how to do that in any searches.

Hope this all makes sense, and that I don't just seem like a complete fool.

[Chris McKechnie]

Please do a forum search as this prevents duplicate threads :-)

This thread has what you're looking for: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthr...methods-please

[Bob Gundu]

You can certainly render out 2 different clips using one source to use for HDR. I personally would not use the tools within REDCINE X to combine the exposures because its very primitive. At the same time don't expect an easy solution to perform this task outside of a simple blend. Careful compositing and creating specific masks is the ideal way, but requires a fair bit of work. Here's a good online video with the same approach.

https://vimeo.com/24636714

[Scott Summers]

Please do a forum search as this prevents duplicate threads :-)

This thread has what you're looking for: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthr...methods-please

It's frustrating to search this particular thing numerous times over the last few months, never finding exactly what I'm after, then finally putting a foot out there asking if anyone knows (being the kind of person who fears asking due to the risk of looking stupid), attempting to give as much detail while at the same time trying to not confound people so that the actual question is lost; only to be told to do a search, and then given a link to a post that has nothing to do with my question. Also, I actually said in my thread that I've not been able to find out how to do it in my searches.

[Scott Summers]

Thanks Bob, I'll check out the video; if the video doesn't say, what tool would you recommend for combining the two pieces of footage?

[Chris McKechnie]

It's frustrating to search this particular thing numerous times over the last few months, never finding exactly what I'm after, then finally putting a foot out there asking if anyone knows (being the kind of person who fears asking due to the risk of looking stupid), attempting to give as much detail while at the same time trying to not confound people so that the actual question is lost; only to be told to do a search, and then given a link to a post that has nothing to do with my question. Also, I actually said in my thread that I've not been able to find out how to do it in my searches.

My apologies Scott. Was just trying to help you out with a post that has helped me out tremendously with exposure/ISO/HDR stuff. :-0

[Rob Ruffo]

Hey guys, first time post in here.

I've been using RCX for a few months now, and I've always wondered something, and never been able to lock it away in my head as 'solved'. When shooting on my RED MX, I always shoot at ISO 800; then I'll either ND, or add light, to make the f-stop of the scene match the camera. I'm generally very happy with how I've lit it, and love R3D files for how much you can push the grade while still maintaining detail.

I live in Western Australia, so the sun here is as harsh as it ever gets, and occasionally I get blowouts in the highlights. If I adjust the 'levels' in RCX to any extreme, it just makes the highlights/shadows go a murky grey. But if I adjust the ISO, all of the detail comes back the way I assumed it would using 'levels'.

At those moments, I would kill for a feature where I could output an ISO 100 version of the clip, and use the HDR function of RCX to make an HDR version of the clip with the ISO 800 version. Is there a way I can do this in the levels of RCX without needing to go to this extreme? or is the a way I can make an export at ISO 100 and make an HDR of it? I can't seem to find how to do that in any searches.

Hope this all makes sense, and that I don't just seem like a complete fool.

It can be done, but via compositing software or more complex grading app. Would take many pages to explain various ways, but After Effect can do it, Smoke, etc.