pfshdrcalibrate(1)

NAME
pfshdrcalibrate - Create an HDR image or calibrate a response curve from a set of differently exposed images supplied in PFS stream.

SYNOPSIS
pfshdrcalibrate [--response <type>] [--calibration <type>] [--gauss <val>] [--response-file <filename.m>] [--save-response <filename.m>] [--multiplier <val>] [--bpp <val>] [--luminance] [--samples <val>] [--help] [--verbose]

DESCRIPTION
Create an HDR image or calibrate a response curve from a set of differently exposed images supplied in PFS stream. When used with 8bit images, luminance in the output HDR image corresponds to real world values in [cd/m^2] provided that hdrgen script contained correct information on exposure time, aperture and iso speed. Note that sometimes ISO speed indicated by camera does not correspond to standard (ISO-100 is in fact ISO-125). The accuracy of absolute calibration has not been thoroughly tested with different camera models, however one can expect the relative measurement error below 8%. Use pfsabsolute in case of systematic error.

OPTIONS

--response <type>, -r <type>
    Allows to choose from predefined response curves. This can be used either to apply this response or use it as an initialization for automatic self-calibration. Predefined response curves are: "linear", "gamma", "log". Default is "linear". This option can be used only with Robertson method.

--calibration <type>, -c <type>
    Type of automatic self-calibration method used for recovery of the response curve and/or type of method used for HDR merging. Accepted types include: "robertson", "mitsunaga". "robertson" is the default and recommended algorithm (see commends in the Bugs section below). More infomation on the algorithms can be found in:

    M.A. Robertson, S. Borman and R.L. Stevenson
    Dynamic range improvement through multiple exposures
    In: Proc. of International Conference on Image Processing 1999 (ICIP 99), pp 159-163 vol.3

    and

    T. Mitsunaga and S. K. Nayar
    Radiometric Self Calibration
    In: Proc on IEEE Conf. on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'99). Volume 1, p. 1374

--gauss <val>, -g <val>
    Sigma value for the Gaussian used as a weighting function (in the range 0-1). Applies to Robertson02 algorithm. Default value: 0.2

--response-file <filename.m>, -f <filename.m>
    Use response curve saved in the matlab format file. Turns off automatic self-calibration. Uses Robertson02 or Mitsunaga99 model to apply the response curve (see -c option).

--save-response <filename.m>, -s <filename.m>
    Saves the response curve calculated during automatic self-calibration stage in a matlab format file. Can be later reused for set of images captured with given camera. Also works fine for plotting with gnuplot.

--multiplier <val>, -m <val>
    Input multiplier value. Can be used to manipulate the range of source exposures. Default value for Robertson method is 256 since LDR images are by default scaled to 0..1. This value is set to 1.0 for Mitsunaga method.

--bpp <val>, -b <val>
    Number of bits per pixel in input data from the camera. Default value is 8.

--samples <val>, -p <val>
    Number of samples used during the self-calibration in Mitsunaga algorithm. Default is 50000.

--fix-saturated, -x
    Use this option if you see black pixels in overexposed / saturated areas. The black pixels are visible if all exposures contain pixel values that are outside reliable range (are under- or over-exposed). This flag gives non-zero weight for the brightest and the darkest pixels, thus avoiding zero-weighted pixels. Note that the calculated luminance values for these pixels are not reliable.

--luminance, -Y
    Recovery of response curve will be performed for luminance channel only.

--verbose
    Print additional information during program execution.

--help
    Print list of command line options.

EXAMPLES

pfsinme *.JPG | pfshdrcalibrate -v -s response.m | pfsview

    Recover the response curve from set of all JPEG files in the current directory and save it to response.m file. To view the response curve, use pfsplotresponse command.

pfsinme *.CR2 | pfssize  --maxx 1200 | pfshdrcalibrate -r linear -v --bpp 16 | pfsout result.exr

    Read Camera RAW images (from Canon), resize them so that the image width is equal or less 1200 pixels, merge them into an HDR image using all 16 bits and save as an Open EXR image.

pfsinhdrgen sample.hdrgen | pfshdrcalibrate -x -f response.m | pfsview

    Create an HDR image from exposures defined in sample.hdrgen using the response curve "response.m" and view it. Fix the problem with black values given to overexposed pixels.

pfsinhdrgen sample.hdrgen | pfshdrcalibrate | pfsview

    Create an HDR image from exposures defined in sample.hdrgen using the default self-calibration method and view it.

pfsinhdrgen sample_dcraw.hdrgen | pfshdrcalibrate -b 16 -r linear -c none | pfsview

    Given that the script sample_dcraw.hdrgen refers to camera RAW files (see pfsindcraw), this example will generate an HDR image assuming a linear response.

pfsinhdrgen sample.hdrgen | pfshdrcalibrate | pfsview

    Create an HDR image from exposures defined in sample.hdrgen using the default self-calibration method and view it.

pfsinhdrgen sample.hdrgen | pfshdrcalibrate -c mitsunaga -samples 100000 -s resp_mitsunaga.m >/dev/null

    Create an HDR image from exposures defined in sample.hdrgen using the mitsunaga self-calibration method with 100000 samples and save it to "resp_mitsunaga.m".

SEE ALSO
pfsplotresponse(1) pfsinhdrgen(1) jpeg2hdrgen(1) pfsview(1) pfsindcraw(1) pfsabsolute(1) pfsglview(1)

BUGS
Currently Mitsunaga and Nayar's method does not produce reliable camera response curves. Robertson's method should be used instead.

Robertson's method may banding or wrong colors in strongly over-saturated and under-saturated areas. For best results, there should be a sufficient numbers of exposures in which no pixels is over- or under-saturated in all the exposures. It is possible to fix these issues with some heuristics (as most HDR merging software does), but it is currently not done in this release. pfscalibration was meant to be used for research purposes and getting accurate result is more important than generating good looking images. The heuristics could hide the well visible artifacts, but would also introduce error to the measurements.

For any other issues please report bugs and comments on implementation to the discussion group http://groups.google.com/group/pfstools