Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
06-19-2021, 08:51 PM   #16
Forum Member




Join Date: Nov 2014
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 87
QuoteOriginally posted by cooks333 Quote
I'm always looking for resources/tools to help improve my post-processing and just came across this YouTube video about a new Lightroom feature called Super Resolution. The short description is that with a couple of clicks Lightroom will use AI/machine learning algorithms to double the pixel width and height of a DNG image. That translates to a 4x boost in the total number of pixels. As explained in the video, a great application for this would be taking a heavily cropped photo and boosting the resolution to make larger prints or display in online venues where you need more pixels.

Well this all seemed like magic to me. I mean, come on, you can't just create pixels out of thin air without some kind of cost or tradeoff, right? Right?!?! So I dug up some heavily cropped images from my K1-ii + D-FA* 50mm to give it a try for myself. The test images are shown below with links to my Flickr where you can download the full-sized originals. Compare those to the enhanced versions, which are in this album. In short, I am blown away and the magic seems to be real! When I compare side by side, the enhanced versions look noticeably better without any negative consequences. Curious if anyone else has given this feature a try. What was your experience? Are there any images where Super Resolution introduced some weird artifact or performed poorly in some other way?

Hummingbird


Diamondback


Lovebirds
Interesting

06-19-2021, 11:28 PM   #17
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Michail_P's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2019
Location: Kalymnos
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 3,006
The matter could be extended to the identity paradox... when synthetic data is creating the illusion of pixels from scratch, then is it really still the same shot? I wonder, do you need higher pixel count when you can increase their existence via AI ?
I don’t mind that. The feature seems to work just fine for heavily cropped frames. I could get good use of this.
06-20-2021, 12:39 AM - 1 Like   #18
Forum Member




Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 61
Thanks for sharing and inspiring me to explore
06-20-2021, 01:24 AM - 3 Likes   #19
Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
pschlute's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Surrey, UK
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 8,115
QuoteOriginally posted by Michail_P Quote
when synthetic data is creating the illusion of pixels from scratch, then is it really still the same shot?
For anyone who uses a digital camera with a Bayer Filter Array (ie the vast majority of us), the colour data in our pixels is created synthetically already. As each pixel can only record one colour (red or blue or green), a demosaicing algorithm estimates the amount of the other two colours to give us our colour digital image.

I see the advances in up-sampling (of which super-resolution is the latest) to be a natural progression. No more or less "true" to the original shot than the image our digital camera has "created" for us in the first place.

06-20-2021, 02:58 AM   #20
Pentaxian
Oldbayrunner's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,661
This Adobe feature was introduced several months ago into PS and was discussed back then. True Topaz may have an edge in this but I quit buying Topaz products a few years ago. Not for the reasoning they weren't good I just got tired of buying and paying for upgrades for software I found I could do the same thing with what I was using, albeit with a few more processes. Of course I don't do any professional work anymore so I don't need to have things done quickly with lessor process.
06-20-2021, 07:51 AM   #21
Otis Memorial Pentaxian
stevebrot's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Vancouver (USA)
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 42,007
QuoteOriginally posted by vonBaloney Quote
More accurate might be that synthetic data is created.
Agreed. A comparison that might be made are those digital filters that add painterly effect.


Steve
06-20-2021, 07:57 AM   #22
Otis Memorial Pentaxian
stevebrot's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Vancouver (USA)
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 42,007
QuoteOriginally posted by pschlute Quote
For anyone who uses a digital camera with a Bayer Filter Array (ie the vast majority of us), the colour data in our pixels is created synthetically already. As each pixel can only record one colour (red or blue or green), a demosaicing algorithm estimates the amount of the other two colours to give us our colour digital image.
Excellent point. I am reminded of the article several years ago comparing a 36Mpx scan of a 645 film image with a 36Mpx digital capture. The photo was of a bush having small red flowers, about half of which where "missing in action" on the pure digital capture, having never been adequately recorded by the red-mapped sensels.


Steve


Last edited by stevebrot; 06-20-2021 at 08:35 AM.
06-20-2021, 08:28 AM   #23
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
cooks333's Avatar

Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 501
Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by pschlute Quote
I see the advances in up-sampling (of which super-resolution is the latest) to be a natural progression. No more or less "true" to the original shot than the image our digital camera has "created" for us in the first place.
I agree. I have much, much less of an ethical issue with up-sampling than I do a lot of other editing tools that are now widely available (reminds me of this article). It's really hard for me to think of applications for a lot of the new tools in my images anyway, but having easy access to up-sampling that works well in LR will definitely come in handy for me.
06-20-2021, 11:03 AM - 1 Like   #24
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
ramseybuckeye's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Hampstead, NC
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 17,276
I had a few photos from last week that were cropped quite a bit so I decided to try this out, not too bad, I did three and uploaded them all to Flickr, here's one: (added, it actually looks better on Flickr than it does here)
06-20-2021, 12:01 PM   #25
Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter




Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Baltimore
Photos: Albums
Posts: 3,383
I haven't used the LR version yet, which they have just imported from PS, where it first appeared. Based on successful work I've done with GigaPixel AI, I'd say it's a welcome addition to LR and I look forward to using it within LR. The "problem" with GP AI is that you have to leave the principal editing program. What I look forward to checking into with the LR version is working in the DNG space continuously----and then working on the new DNG to massage that file if it needs it----sometimes you can get some harshness in GP AI unrelated to artifacts. Also, at least in GP AI you can't let it do auto sharpening (and sadly the sharpening tool is really limited). Also, don't believe the hype about 400% and more. Sure your Ford Fiesta can probably go 120mph, but it's not a great idea.
06-20-2021, 02:49 PM   #26
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
jatrax's Avatar

Join Date: May 2010
Location: Washington Cascades
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 12,991
Upscaling has its place. Not for everything but it can be useful if you just need a little more size.
06-20-2021, 03:23 PM   #27
Moderator
Loyal Site Supporter
Wheatfield's Avatar

Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: The wheatfields of Canada
Posts: 15,903
QuoteOriginally posted by cooks333 Quote
It creates a new copy of the raw file (DNG) that you can stack with the original in LR, so I think it's editing the raw file. Not sure if it works with other raw file types since I exclusively use DNG.
It was released last month in Camera Raw, and this month in Lightroom. I've played with it a little bit. It seems to work as advertised. I haven't noticed any weird artifacting on the images I used it on. It is cool that my old istD files can be enlarged to a usable 24mp. I haven't found much use for it yet with the K1 files (144mp), though I suspect it will be really useful for the bug and bird brigade.

---------- Post added Jun 20th, 2021 at 04:27 PM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by DWS1 Quote
This is nothing new. I had an editing program 20 years ago that would create new pixels and assign a color value to them based on the average of the pixels' values that would surround the new pixels at the insertion point. They just didn't call it AI.
That's because they didn't have AI 20 years ago. This is not using nearest neighbor interpolation with a new name.
06-20-2021, 05:14 PM   #28
Site Supporter
Site Supporter




Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Arkansas, USA
Posts: 1,169
QuoteOriginally posted by cooks333 Quote
Did it work?
It actually worked quite well.
06-21-2021, 12:14 PM - 4 Likes   #29
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
zkarj's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Wellington
Posts: 1,287
To all those people who are decrying this feature — have you tried it?

I first used such a feature in the Pixelmator Pro app on Mac last year sometime and I did find it magical. I took a really sharp shot of a helicopter and doubled the resolution and then sent it to my brother who is a very experienced graphic designer and a whizz with Photoshop and he said "The larger one is sharper than the original". It doesn't matter what is "invented" and what is not. It matters only if you get a useful result. For me, it has a few times saved a shot that I would otherwise not have published because I have a minimum size that I always want to adhere to.
06-21-2021, 12:30 PM   #30
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
jatrax's Avatar

Join Date: May 2010
Location: Washington Cascades
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 12,991
QuoteOriginally posted by Wheatfield Quote
though I suspect it will be really useful for the bug and bird brigade.
Agree with that. I have not had any need to increase the size of K-1 files but I do have some that were heavily cropped and thus marginal for printing. I am going to run some of those through and see what the results look like.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
dng, feature, files, images, lightroom, magic, month, photography, photoshop, pixels, resolution, try, versions, video
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Save cash on high MP cameras with Adobe's Super resolution. BarryE Digital Processing, Software, and Printing 31 03-18-2021 07:21 PM
How is multishot super-resolution truly possible? biz-engineer Photographic Technique 31 04-19-2020 10:30 AM
Night Super Moon Super Resolution on 100mm jeffshaddix Post Your Photos! 8 10-15-2015 12:07 AM
Super resolution with K5 AlessandroB Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 6 04-26-2012 08:29 PM
New year resolution Vs camera resolution Tripod General Talk 1 01-04-2009 05:10 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 12:04 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top