As I reflect on my earlier thoughts about Halide’s Process Zero, I find myself in a conundrum. I’ve captured several photographs using the Halide II app with the Process Zero feature, and while I must admit the JPEG exports from the DNG files look quite good and meet my expectations, I remain sceptical about the actual value of Process Zero.

After shooting in manual mode on. my iPhone 11 Pro, keeping my ISO low and carefully adjusting exposure under bright conditions, I’m pleased with the results. However, I question whether these images are genuinely superior to those I’ve captured with previous versions of Halide II. I suspect they may not be. This leads me to wonder: Is Process Zero the revolutionary feature that Lux claims it to be?

Blue Spring Road · 8 October 2024 · Apple iPhone 11 Pro · iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2

Going deeper, I imported my Process Zero DNG images from my iPhone 11 Pro into Adobe Lightroom Classic and used ExifTool on macOS to examine the EXIF metadata. Here’s the command I ran:

exiftool -a -G1 -s /Volumes/Media/Pictures/Catalog/2024/10/Apple_iPhone\ 11\ Pro_20241009_IMG_9602.DNG > exif_output

Here’s a breakdown of what each part of the command does:

• -a: This option stands for “all.” It allows ExifTool to display all available information, including duplicate tags, which might be skipped without this option.
• -G1: This option groups the output by the tag hierarchy. The 1 indicates the first level of groupings, which helps organize the output for better readability. It will show the group name alongside each tag.
• -s: This option stands for “short.” It suppresses the printing of the tag names, providing a more concise output that includes only the values.
• /Volumes/Media/Pictures/Catalog/2024/10/Apple_iPhone\ 11\ Pro_20241009_IMG_9602.DNG: This is the path to the DNG (Digital Negative) file from which I want to extract metadata. The backslashes () are used to escape spaces in the filename, allowing the command line to interpret the entire path correctly.
• >: This symbol redirects the output of the command to a file instead of displaying it on the terminal.
• exif_output: This is the name of the file where the output of the command will be saved. The metadata extracted from the DNG file will be written to this file.

In summary, this command extracts all available metadata from the specified DNG file, groups the metadata by tag hierarchy, formats it concisely, and saves the output to a file named exif_output.

Blue Spring Road · 8 October 2024 · Apple iPhone 11 Pro · iPhone 11 Pro back camera 4.25mm f/1.8

The findings raised more questions than answers. The Compression is listed as JPEG and the ImageCaptureType is marked as ProRAW. The iPhone 11 Pro does not support the ProRAW format that combines standard RAW format information with Apple’s image processing capabilities. This is exclusive to the iPhone 12 Pro and later models. This contradiction feels disconcerting.

Blue Spring Road · 9 October 2024 · Apple iPhone 11 Pro · iPhone 11 Pro back camera 4.25mm f/1.8

According to Lux, Process Zero is available on every iPhone running Halide and iOS 17 (or later). Lux asserts that “adjusting the exposure on a processed JPEG/HEIC is never as good as ‘re-developing’ a digital negative.” If that’s the case, why is Process Zero being marketed as groundbreaking when the EXIF metadata suggests it’s just a repackaged ProRAW file—something the iPhone 11 Pro doesn’t even support? It seems like I’m being led to believe I’m getting something special when, in reality, it might just be a rehash of existing capabilities.

I’m left grappling with a growing sense of scepticism. While I’m satisfied with the quality of the images I’ve produced, I can’t shake the feeling that Process Zero might not be living up to the hype. It’s a good feature, no doubt, but is it any better than what Halide II has offered in the past? I’m beginning to doubt it.

Blue Spring Road · 8 October 2024 · Apple iPhone 11 Pro · iPhone 11 Pro back camera 6mm f/2GroupFieldValueExifToolExifToolVersion12.70SystemFileNameApple_iPhone 11 Pro_20241009_IMG_9602.DNGSystemDirectory/Volumes/Media/Pictures/Catalog/2024/10SystemFileSize16 MBSystemFileModifyDate2024:10:09 08:05:25-04:00SystemFileAccessDate2024:10:09 08:42:19-04:00SystemFileInodeChangeDate2024:10:09 08:42:17-04:00SystemFilePermissions-rw-------FileFileTypeDNGFileFileTypeExtensiondngFileMIMETypeimage/x-adobe-dngFileExifByteOrderBig-endian (Motorola, MM)IFD0SubfileTypeReduced-resolution imageIFD0ImageWidth4032IFD0ImageHeight3024IFD0BitsPerSample8 8 8IFD0CompressionJPEGIFD0PhotometricInterpretationYCbCrIFD0MakeAppleIFD0ModeliPhone 11 ProIFD0PreviewImageStart3664IFD0OrientationHorizontal (normal)IFD0SamplesPerPixel3IFD0RowsPerStrip3024IFD0PreviewImageLength4939362IFD0Software18.0.1IFD0ModifyDate2024:10:09 08:05:25IFD0DNGVersion1.3.0.0IFD0UniqueCameraModeliPhone12,3 back telephoto cameraSubIFDSubfileTypeFull-resolution imageSubIFDBitsPerSample16SubIFDCompressionJPEGSubIFDPhotometricInterpretationColor Filter ArraySubIFDSamplesPerPixel1SubIFDTileWidth504SubIFDTileLength378SubIFDCFAPlaneColorRed,Green,BlueSubIFDBlackLevel528

https://islandinthenet.com/inconsistencies-in-halide-iis-image-files/

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