Sony HDR-XR520VE | Sony HDR-XR520VE High Dynamic Range Digital Camcorder

With HDR using software like Photomatix you can make imagery more detailed in the highlights and shadows field than you can with a normal digital camcorder. It is quite similar to the aged technique of exposure blending by taking one photo for the sky and one for the ground, then merging them both together. HDR takes things that little bit further by increasing the amount of detail in the picture and allowing you to create some truly unique film/photos. HDR can be used carefully to create natural looking photographs or you can use it creatively to make atmospheric and emotive pictures. The choice is yours with HDR as to how you process the end result. HDR means ‘High Dynamic Range’.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) was originally developed sometime in the 1940s by Charles Wyckoff and his amazing detailed pictures of nuclear explosions appeared on the cover of Life magazine. The process of tone mapping together with bracketed exposures of normal digital images, giving the end result a high, often exaggerated dynamic range, was first reported in 1988 by Zeevi, Ginosar and Hilsenrath. Later introduction in 1993 resulted in a mathematical theory of differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter that was published in 1995 by Steve Mann and Rosalind Picard. In 1997 this method of mixing several differently exposed pictures to produce a single HDR image was given to the computer graphics community by Paul Debevec.

This specific method was made to give a high dynamic range image from a group of pictures taken with a range of exposures. Now the term HDR with the rising popularity of digital cameras etc is commonly used to refer to this process. This technique differs from the production of a picture from a single exposure of a sensor that has a native high dynamic range. Tone mapping is used to display HDR images on devices with a low native dynamic range for example a computer screen or HD Camcorder.

In image processing, computer graphics, and photography HDR is technology that gives a much greater dynamic range of luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than that of normal digital imaging. HDRI is intended to accurately represent the varied range of intensity levels found in real scenes ranging from direct sunlight to shadows.

The HDR-XR520VE Digital Camcorder from electronic giants Sony comes with a sensitive GPS receiver which will track your position wherever there’s a satellite signal. Video footage and pictures are automatically matched with location data as you go along. The Sony HDR-XR520VE Map Index marks where each image has been taken on the LCD screen. Simply touch an on screen thumbnail to select imagery to enjoy a world of special memories. You can get online map views on your pc by using the HDR-XR520VE Picture Motion Browser software (supplied).

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