Upressing Resolution and Bit Depth

[sanveer]

I have been saying this for the longest. And now it appears that most things can be fixed and improved in post.

Theoretically, as long as a JPEG (or any other 8-bit photo or video codec) isn't exposed absolutely terribly, its possible to not just improve (usable) dynamic range, but also increase the bit depth (super useful for post work) as well as increase the resolution. 

This doesn't mean that all photos will suddenly start looking insanely better, but most photos which don't have severe highlight clipping or way too much shadow noise, can look remarkably better.

This also means that codecs can stretch dynamic range (way) above the bit depth, as long as the sensor allows for it.

Interestingly, this should be even better for modern smartphone photos, since those suffer from actual details and bit depth, noise (except in night mode), lower resolution and bit depth.

I noticed it already in the upressing video of Topaz Lapbs where 480p was upressed to 4k. It removed all kinds of artefacts and banding. Which, implies that, intentionally or unintentionally ir was also improving the vit depth. This particular software is more Phtoos. But the same principle applies. Though it would be super strenuous on a system yo handle this. 

This JPEG to RAW AI engine should be even more effective for smartphones.

 

https://topazlabs.com/jpeg-to-raw-ai/

[Mark Romero 2]

Yeah, looking forward to the improvements that AI can make to both stills and video. I've been pretty impressed with how Resolve Studio handles retiming and  scaling (even though Speed Warp eats up my 8GB of VRAM very quickly).

[sanveer]

I've only upressed a pic once on a laptop. It was a surprising good job, the app earnt too large and the thing happened quick too. But it was a single pic, JPEG, 12MP and from a smartphone. 

For the 16-bit photos TIFF that Topaz Labs advertises, I am guessing it must be processor intensive.

For video it may be a lot worse. 

[tupp]

3 hours ago, sanveer said:

I noticed it already in the upressing video of Topaz Lapbs where 480p was upressed to 4k.

As you may recall, we have previously discussed the Topaz Labs software, including "JPEG to RAW AI"

 

3 hours ago, sanveer said:

Theoretically, as long as a JPEG (or any other 8-bit photo or video codec) isn't exposed absolutely terribly, its possible to not just improve (usable) dynamic range, but also increase the bit depth (super useful for post work) as well as increase the resolution.

Again, the color depth of the original image cannot be increased unless something artificial is added.  Likewise, detail lost in extreme highlights and shadows cannot be recreated unless something artificial is added.

 

It seems that AI can provide more color depth and create details, as shown in the Topaz software.

 

 

3 hours ago, sanveer said:

I noticed it already in the upressing video of Topaz Lapbs where 480p was upressed to 4k. It removed all kinds of artefacts and banding. Which, implies that, intentionally or unintentionally ir was also improving the vit depth.

Removing artifacts such as banding does not indicate an increase in bit depth -- it just means that the artifacts have been removed.  The resulting image without banding can have the same bit depth as the original image that suffers banding.

 

COLOR DEPTH =  RESOLUTION x BIT DEPTH.  So, if one can increase the resolution and maintain the same bit depth, then the color depth increases.  Similarly, if one can increase the bit depth and maintain the same resolution, then color depth increases.

 

Of course, merely putting an 8-bit image into a 10-bit container will not increase the color depth of the original image, nor will merely up-ressing an image increase the color depth.  Something artificial has to be introduced to increase color depth in a given image.