XPhase update adds major improvements including exporting individual exposures for HDR

XPhase Pro S (reviewed here), the highest resolution 360 camera, got a major update that added among other things, the ability to export individual exposures from a bracketed HDR shot for use with a third party HDR software.

XPhase is the highest resolution 360 camera with a capture resolution of 200 megapixels and a stitched photo resolution of 16384 x 8192.  It has also one of the most dedicated development teams, with monthly firmware updates.  This month’s update features several improvements:

1. There is now a scene mode, and a separate setting for whether there is movement.  In previous versions, there was a deghosting algorithm that can stitch and fuse HDR shots without ghosting.  However, it could cause issues in areas of high contrast lighting.  There is now a static mode that can be used in high contrast lighting without problems if the shot was taken on a tripod.
2. There is now a long exposure noise reduction to remove thermal noise from long exposure photos.  After a long exposure, the user should cover the camera completely and use the same exposure settings to take another photo.  During processing, the user can select the two files and select “Remove noise and stitch” to remove the thermal noise in the first photo.
3. Gyroscope calibration to make automatic leveling more accurate.
4. The XPhase can now shoot continuously at a fixed interval.  In addition, the software can apply the exact same stitching to a series of photos for time lapse videos, HDR, compositing or other uses.
5. There is now an option to export an HDR photo as separate exposures in DNG format.  For example, with an HDR6 shot, it will be rendered as six DNG photos of different exposures, with identical stitching.  This enables you to use them with a third party HDR software.
6. There is also an option to export every exposure of every lens individually, also in DNG.  This is for users who want to stitch the photos themselves and use their own HDR software.

The updates to the app (e.g. enabling export of individual exposures) can be used with past photos as well, not just those with the current firmware update.

Xphase is available for purchase from its sole distributor for $879.  You can get a free extra 128GB thumb drive if you use this affiliate link.