8.1 and hardware HDR

[vamp07]

Can somebody that actually knows explain to me how 8.1 helps with HDR? I have read so many conflicting comments about this. I have a feeling a lot of people are speculating but not too many people know. I need a 8.1 to actually use hardware for HDR? What I have read seems to indicate that the update just allows third parties to use that hardware but it was already being used in the Google Camera?

 

[GTvert90]

It activates this Pixel Vision Core. It has nothing to do with the quality of the HDR just the speed and efficientcy of processing the image. It also allows 3rd party apps like Snapchat to use the PVC and HDR. Of course those apps have to be updated for it

 

[Jeremy8000]

You won't see a difference in quality, as GTvert90 said, but it will make processing slightly faster (I found it noticeable on portrait mode). It also makes the camera processing substantially more power efficient, so there is a battery life savings as well.

It would be nice to see a 3rd party camera app that could avail itself of Google's stellar HDR, but also provide the options of full manual controls and RAW output.

 

[e30ernest]

If an app made proper use of Android's camera API I read it would be able to use the PVC post 8.1 if HDR+ HAL is enabled. Instagram for example did not receive an update, but photos with the PVC turned on is much better than it used to be.

It won't be long til more feature-rich camera apps will have this too I think.

 

[Rukbat]

We have a pretty good explanation of what HDR is at https://www.androidcentral.com/what-hdr

Basically, it brackets 3 shots, slightly overexposed, normal and slightly underexposed, then stitches them together into one picture that uses the overexposed shot's dark portions and the underexposed shot's bright portions, so neither one is as washed out. It's just the electronic way of increasing the dynamic brightness range (there used to be film with increased dynamic range).