Batch processing DNG RAW files for time-lapse without flickering?

[alexd44108318]

Hi,

I posted a similar question in the Adobe AE forums 6 months ago without any luck.

I am trying to use the maximum out of my cinemaDNG files from My DJI Inspire 2 super 35mm X7 camera without any good results. I have found one way that works without shadow flickering but that means using the process 2010 (v2) engine in camera RAW and that one is nowhere near as good as the 2012 (v3) or latest one (v4).

I've been told that this works for time-lapse photographers batch processing in Lightroom (have not tried yet). That makes me confused since I've been told that ACR & Lightroom uses exactly the same process engine?

Anyone with any ideas?

kind regards // Alex

[JP Hess]

I suspect a lot of users are going to disagree with my point of view. But if you are focusing on time lapse photography I think you're wasting a lot of time trying to work with the raw or DNG files. I think you would be much smarter working with high-resolution (high quality) JPEG files. I haven't done time lapse for quite a while, but I think you could eliminate flicker by working with manual exposure and using a consistent f-stop. I know, I probably don't know what I'm talking about. So you can disregard my suggestions.

[Conrad C · Accepted solution]

How to cure the flicker depends on what's causing it. One cause of time-lapse flicker is that as the camera closes and opens the aperture for each frame, the camera is not precisely opening the aperture to exactly the same diameter as the previous frame;  apparently a lot of cameras are this way. If there's no way to force the aperture to stay open during the entire time lapse, it has to be fixed in post.

Because these are CinemaDNG frames, you should be able to use one of the time lapse tools that's compatible with Lightroom and Camera Raw that can de-flicker the final video. The one I've used is LRTimelapse (with standard raw frames because I don't have a drone). While the name implies that it's for Lightroom, there's a Bridge & Camera Raw workflow for it that can work just as well.

alexd44108318  wrote

I am trying to use the maximum out of my cinemaDNG files from My DJI Inspire 2 super 35mm X7 camera without any good results. I have found one way that works without shadow flickering but that means using the process 2010 (v2) engine in camera RAW and that one is nowhere near as good as the 2012 (v3) or latest one (v4).

That might be related to another kind of flicker. Some of the most useful controls in the recent process versions, such as Clarity, Highlights, Shadows, and Dehaze, are what Adobe calls "image-adaptive" — the effect can vary depending on the content of each individual frame.  For a time lapse, that means -45 Highlights might produce a different amount on frame 347 than on frame 348, and that would be visible as flicker. You could try increasing the deflicker amount in the time-lapse software, but it might not cure it. The recommendation from the LRTimelapse developer is to limit the use of image-adaptive controls, especially Clarity and Dehaze.

If you want more information about all this, it's worth searching the LRTimelapse website and forums for flicker discussions even if you end up using a completely different application to deflicker.

As a bonus, a tool like LRTimelapse lets you ramp settings over time. This lets you get the most out of the full dynamic range of raw files, for example during a day-night transition. If you want to ramp settings, that's a big reason to stick with raw instead of shooting JPEG, where there isn't nearly as much dynamic range to take advantage of.

[alexd44108318]

Thank you Conrad! This is what I needed to know.

– Some of the most useful controls in the recent process versions, such as Clarity, Highlights, Shadows, and Dehaze, are what Adobe calls "image-adaptive" — the effect can vary depending on the content of each individual frame.  For a time lapse, that means -45 Highlights might produce a different amount on frame 347 than on frame 348, and that would be visible as flicker.

Thank you and I will try LRTimelapse

// Alex

[GCH UAV]

Sorry to dig up an old thread but isn't the whole point of shooting RAW to be able to adjust those types of parameters in post? - Without introducing unwanted flickering? What are we supposed to do? Just not adjust highlights and shadows? Isn't that the whole point of RAW? 

Is there a definitive list of which controls are "image adaptive"?