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Xphase Pro S releases update for 6-shot HDR and DNG mode

XPhase Pro S - 3-shot vs. 6-shot HDR
XPhase Pro S – 3-shot vs. 6-shot HDR

XPhase Pro S (reviewed here) has finally gotten an update that enabled two major features: a 6-shot HDR (instead of a 3-shot HDR), and a DNG export mode.  With a 3-shot HDR, the camera takes photos at -2EV, 0EV, and +2EV.  With a 6-shot HDR, the XPhase takes six photos at -3EV, -2EV, -1EV, 0EV, +1eV, +2EV.  The 6-shot HDR version does increase the highlight range, as well as the effective bit depth.  Remarkably, the 6-shot HDR is still ghost-free.

However, the 6-shot HDR mode only works in manual exposure mode for now, and without an exposure meter, the user will have to guess the exposure.  Moreover, the 6-shot HDR mode is available only in the Android version of the app.  However, XPhase is working on updates to enable the 6-shot HDR in auto exposure mode, and to make it available for the iOS app as well.

As for the DNG export, XPhase can export fully stitched photos in DNG format from its new desktop app.  I will be conducting further tests but my impression is that the DNG export may have smoother highlights compared to the PNG export.

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Mic Ty

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  • > With a 3-shot HDR, the camera takes photos at -2EV, 0EV, and +2EV. With a 6-shot HDR, the XPhase takes six photos at -3EV, -2EV, -1EV, 0EV, +1eV, +2EV.

    I don’t understand what purpose 6-shot instead of 3-stop HDR does here. Yes, you have better highlights in this 6-shot example. But isn’t that just because of -3EV being “lowest exposure”? In practice, I believe a 3-stop -3EV, 0EV,+2EV would give just as good results? I believe the steps are still so close that extra exposures in-between shouldn’t be necessary? Well, okay. Only my personal guess/theory. No practical experiments to back it up. But if I’m right, 3-stop would reduce risk of ghosting (even though it still doesn’t seem to be a big problem).