It seems almost impossible to find a (credible) source that explains clearly
how "HDR photos" and HDR display differ. This CNET article, dated October 25,
2016, sort of gets there, but without making it really plain, as it should be.
https://www.cnet.com/news/hdr-for-cameras-vs-hdr-for-tvs-whats-the-difference/
The article is long enough to confuse the heck out of the innocent, so here are
the salient points. At long last, without saying exactly what they mean, the
last paragraph I quote explains how "HDR mode" on smartphones is in fact
dynamic range compression. Too bad they don't actually say it in exactly those
words.
----------------quoting----------------------------------------
by Geoffrey Morrison
High dynamic range (HDR) is quite the buzzword. There's been an explosion of
"4K HDR" TV sets to choose from, along with HDR TV shows and movies from
Netflix, Amazon and others.
Meanwhile there's "another" HDR with which most people are much more familiar.
It's a photography process that's been around for years, in particular on phone
cameras. And now it's received a new infusion of publicity thanks to the "HDR+"
feature on Google's new Pixel phone.
. . .
The TV version of HDR, though newer, may be a little easier to understand. The
TV makes the bright parts of the image really bright, while keeping the dark
parts dark. This range between light and dark, also known as the contrast
ratio, is supposed to be greater on HDR-capable TVs than on standard TVs.
In its simplest state, it means a brighter TV, but only in the areas on screen
that need it. The result is an image that really pops and looks more like what
you'd see in the real world. In addition, there's potentially more data
available for more detail in the bright and dark parts of the image (which
we'll talk about later).
. . .
Photo HDR has been around for a few years, and probably more familiar,
especially if you like to play around with your phone's camera settings.
A camera sensor (and the rest of the processing involved) can only capture a
limited range of light at one time. Getting really bright objects, like the
sun, at the same time as objects in shadow, is really difficult. The cheaper,
worse or older the camera sensor, the less "range" it has (generally) to
capture everything in one image.
To create an image with a greater range from light to dark, HDR in cameras
capture the same image at multiple exposures. ... These are combined using
processing, either in the camera or after, via software like Photoshop.
. . .
Or here's the ultimate way to think about all this. An HDR photo can be seen,
in its entirety, on your current computer monitor or phone screen. True HDR
content and HDR TVs can't be visualized on your current screen, nor have
pictures taken of them (accurately) because they go beyond what your current
screen is capable of.
--------------------------------
I think Craig should post something that verifies his claim that iPhones have
HDR displays. And by that, I mean post something that provides brightness
range, on these iPhone displays, to justify the claim.
Bert
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