WDR on or off

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raab

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What's the general consensus around having WDR on or off?

I noticed that even in bright sunlight the image looks washed out with WDR on whereas I thought it really only had an impact in lower light scenes. To me WDR off looks much better..

Here's a comparison:

4K, CPL on, WDR on:
Screen Shot 2021-07-08 at 2.53.01 PM.png

4K, CPL on, WDR off
Screen Shot 2021-07-08 at 2.53.48 PM.png
 
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Washed out image or more visible image. WDR pays off better when switching from low to high lighting, as with nighttime driving.

I think you'll find your answer if you start comparing night footage instead
 
I'll check night time footage
 
Looks worse at night, though with wdr off there's more motion blur

WDR on:
wdr_on_3.png
WDR off:
wdr_off_3.png
 
jokiin said:
WDR OFF is perhaps more visually pleasing, WDR ON contains a lot more information, which is best depends if you want to make movies, or capture evidence
Click to expand...
Yeah, capturing evidence of course

Do you think I'm capturing too much dash? Or is that about right, I'm wondering if the colour of the dash and car is causing the camera to over compensate with WDR
 
raab said:
Yeah, capturing evidence of course

Do you think I'm capturing too much dash? Or is that about right, I'm wondering if the colour of the dash and car is causing the camera to over compensate with WDR
Click to expand...
I think the adjustment is good, if you aim it further up there are going to be times when that will have a negative impact on your daytime footage, there's always compromises to be made and it's about finding a balance
 
Yeah fair enough, thanks for confirming
 
I have tested WDR, and I think this camera doesn't have WDR, it is just a particular adjustment of the shadows. So basically if you want a flatter image just turn on WDR and drop EV to -0.6 and then you will have a flat image witout burning the highlights (-0.6 EV) and just bring up the shadows. This doesn't mean it is WDR you can just do the same in the editor bringing up the shadows with all the noise, artefacts and blocks.
I have to test during the night and edit two videos, one with WDR and EV -0.6 and the other normal with EV 0. I will share it on youtube or just snapshots of Davinci Resolve. We will see if my impressions are right or wrong.
 
i would still take a superior dashcam if it was recording B&W video but better than a color camera.
 
kamkar said:
i would still take a superior dashcam if it was recording B&W video but better than a color camera.
Click to expand...

I've experimented with B&W dash cam video using the Mobius and it was very effective but I concluded that not being able to identify cars by what color they are was a significant problem, so I went back to color capture. For example, even if I couldn't capture a license plate I could identity a car as a "blue Chevy".
 
SuperCurro said:
I have tested WDR, and I think this camera doesn't have WDR, it is just a particular adjustment of the shadows. So basically if you want a flatter image just turn on WDR and drop EV to -0.6 and then you will have a flat image witout burning the highlights (-0.6 EV) and just bring up the shadows. This doesn't mean it is WDR you can just do the same in the editor bringing up the shadows with all the noise, artefacts and blocks.
I have to test during the night and edit two videos, one with WDR and EV -0.6 and the other normal with EV 0. I will share it on youtube or just snapshots of Davinci Resolve. We will see if my impressions are right or wrong.
Click to expand...
In the end I'm running with WDR off as I can always brighten the image when editing it like you've mentioned
 
raab said:
In the end I'm running with WDR off as I can always brighten the image when editing it like you've mentioned
Click to expand...
During the night static (not driving) the best is with WDR ON
front -1.0 EV,
rear -0.3 EV
also valid for day where I rather prefer -0.6 and 0.0

With WDR finally there is more dynamic range, so more information. But I have to test driving.

Note: while running parking mode you can not change the video configuration.



Enviado desde mi ELS-NX9 mediante Tapatalk
 
raab said:
Looks worse at night, though with wdr off there's more motion blur

WDR on:
View attachment 57387
WDR off:
View attachment 57386
Click to expand...
The letters "HRV" is only legible on one of the trucks in the image.
Now imagine if that was a license plate... :unsure:
That's the difference between being able to read a license plate on one and not being able to read one on the other. I don't care so much about it being an overall more washed out or blurred image so long as I'm still able to read a license plate?
 
Lothar said:
The letters "HRV" is only legible on one of the trucks in the image.
Now imagine if that was a license plate... :unsure:
That's the difference between being able to read a license plate on one and not being able to read one on the other. I don't care so much about it being an overall more washed out or blurred image so long as I'm still able to read a license plate?
Click to expand...
The example it is just a snapshot, could be one static and the other moved just because pressed a button. We need more extensive testing with different configuration. What is clear to me is that during night dinamic range is critical, as you need to record in the dark and in the highlights. The movement depends only on the shutter speed.
The problem is to do a fear comparative you need two cameras to record just the same, but I will do my best to get the most of this camera, except in this case I am not going to waist my time doing colour calibration as I use to do with all my cameras, here doesnt make sense.
 
Hi

I can confirm that is better with WDR, but of course, you have to reduce the EV -1.0 front and - 0.3 rear to preserve the high lights. Basically, you can get a similar image by adjusting the light but the information is better with WDR, fewer blocks, better quality. I have to test during the night and movement, but static is clear, less postproduction work and better quality day and night... pending movement.

Video is uploaded in 4k


About the rear camera is even better the WDR vs no WDR, with this sensor it is much better with WDR.
 
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raab said:
In the end I'm running with WDR off as I can always brighten the image when editing it like you've mentioned
Click to expand...
Although you can always brighten the image, anything that was too dark to be recorded can not be brightened, WDR increases the range of brightnesses that are recorded, so you get more evidence but with less accuracy, at least that’s the reason for using it. On the VIOFO cameras WDR generally doesn’t record much more evidence, but some of what is recorded gets less compressed, which may be the reason why the initials in post #4 are more readable with WDR.
 
Nigel said:
Although you can always brighten the image, anything that was too dark to be recorded can not be brightened.
Click to expand...

That's not quite true. If you use a media player (such as VLC) that allows you to adjust gamma to a lower value you can often dramatically open up dark shadow areas that may even look completely black. There is usually far more information available in your videos than is visible in a standard media viewer configuration.

gamma.jpg


440px-GammaCorrection_demo.jpg
 
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I confirm that the dynamic range with WDR is really wider than without it. Specially in the rear camera. So except I will discover a drawback I strongly recommend to use it, but reducing the compensation as the problems is always the highlight. -1.0EV and 0,3EV. The post edition can improve the not WDR result but never will be better tan the WDR.

I have to test with highlight speeds during nights. If someone can verify it better.

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I’ll give those settings a go
 
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