Creating Panoramas with Lightroom Classic results in strongly clipped highlights with Mavic 3 files

[mathiasrh]

Issue: Lightroom generated DNG files contain strongly clipped highlights when creating panorama images from DJI Mavic 3 files

Lightroom Classic version: 11.5
OS and version: macOS 12.3

To reproduce this behaviour, load DNG files created with DJI Mavic 3 into Lightroom and use the internal merge function to create the Panorama DNG. 

When using the Highlights Slider, the created DNG file has much less highlights compared to the original DNG file. In most of the files, high contrast scenes are completely blown out, so the files need to be edited in Lightroom and stitched in Photoshop or another software after export.

I have not noticed this behaviour with my Sony RAW files, so I assume this is rather unique to the DJI Mavic 3. 

Please see screenshots below. 

[TheDigitalDog]

Can you upload the DNG's to something like Dropbox so the actual raw data can be examined outside of LR (it has no raw Histogram). 

[JohanElzenga]

I'm not sure I understand the problem. In your first screenshot, the Exposure is set to +0.56, Contrast is set to +6 and Whites to +2. That blows out the highlights and even setting Higlights to -100 does not correct that. In your second screenshot of the indivdual image, all these sliders are set to zero. That means you only needed to set Highlights to -77 to get good detail. So the only problem seems to be that you apparently used 'Auto Settings' in the Panorama Merge dialog, and that this does not give a very good result with such an overall dark panorama, which doesn't surprise me a lot. Turn off 'Auto Settings' in the panorama merge, or simply reset the Exposure, Contrast and Whites sliders to zero afterwards. If you still see this effect after you have done that, then there is a problem with the merge itself.

[mathiasrh]

Thanks for your feedback, JohanElzenga. No, the problem is not that the auto settings are activated. Even without auto settings, the highlights are completely blown out, that's the issue in my opinion and why I started this thread. This only happens in the created panorama, not in the original DNG files straight of the camera. 

And it had nothing to do with this specific panorama. It happens to almost all panoramas when there is a rather contrasty scene with high dynamic range. That's why I think it is a bug in the engine handling the merge. 

I am uploading another screenshots of the final panorama, displaying the same settings like the original DNG file.

I am happy to upload the single files of the panorama as well. As I am currently on a slow internet connection, please allow a bit more time for this.

[mathiasrh]

Please find sample files for the panorama here: https://we.tl/t-ONkEYB6kJj

[mathiasrh]

I would like to add to this topic, that the same behaviour happens witht the Sony A1. So this must be some kind of bug in Lightroom that has not been there before.

[JohanElzenga]

Since your report Lightroom Classic has been updated to version 12, so start by updating if you haven't done that. Nobody is reporting any issues like this, and I have created plently of panoramas myself during the last two months, so I strongly doubt there is such a bug.