HLG or Hybrid Log Gamma

[aPpYe]

Hello, I am trying to decide between getting the PRO or ZOOM version of the Mavic 2 ...

I guess the thing it really comes down to for me is the ability to film HDR video, so I don't get overblown highlights or overly dark shadows. I notice this here and there on my Mavic Air.

I am seeing what seems to be conflicting information on this. On the one hand, I am seeing that it is required for your TV or monitor to support HLG (My Sharp LC-70LE733U, purchased in 2011 does not) in order to be able to view it. On the other hand, I see some videos (shot using HLG) around the internet that claim to be "straight from the memory card" with no postprocessing.
They look pretty good to me:

... of course there is no side by side comparison on these. What I am primarily concerned about, is I am not very interested in spending a lot of time post processing my videos. While I do some occasional messing around with this stuff, I would like to know that I can get some decent HDR video without having to post process. I plan on filming primarily in 1080p, as I don't have any 4k equipment and don't plan on buying any for the foreseeable future. My drone footage is all for personal hobby use.

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this for me.

 

[SteelFlyer]

I have not tried shooting with the HLG. But in general my understanding is that HLG takes quite a bit of processing in post. HLG is a whole new color gamut (called REC 2020). The "normal" gamut we use is REC 709 and almost all TVs and monitors in use today use REC 709. There are new HDR TVs that can natively display REC 2020 but not many yet. It is possible that by chance HLG files out of the camera look good, but in general to have them look OK on normal monitors or TVs takes work to get them into a good place in REC 709.

The consensus is that unless you have a gig that is asking to deliver REC 2020 files, it's probably best to just ignore it.

All that said, I'm sure there are others with much more experience than I who may have other information.

 

[aPpYe]

This still kind of confuses me... I can see how what the monitor/TV is capable of displaying is relevant if it is connected to the drone directly, or otherwise directly playing the file, but since I view my drone files using the media player on my computer, doesn't that (and/or the OS) decide what colors are going to show up on the monitor?

 

[miemo]

Drone Film Guide is among the more knowledgable drone youtubers, their take on HLG is also pretty much exactly what SteelFlyer already mentioned above: unless you're asked for the clip in HLG, don't bother. See here:

The 10bit color in H265 will already give you a lot of latitude in avoiding overblown highlights & black shadows, and it'll be something that you can actually share with the rest of the world.

 

[SteelFlyer]

This still kind of confuses me... I can see how what the monitor/TV is capable of displaying is relevant if it is connected to the drone directly, or otherwise directly playing the file, but since I view my drone files using the media player on my computer, doesn't that (and/or the OS) decide what colors are going to show up on the monitor?

In essence, think of HLG as wearing rose colored sunglasses. All of the colors are mapped slightly differently than what you are used to. When you shoot in this, your monitor or TV can display the file but the color values will be mapped slightly different so it won't look "normal". On a display or monitor that understands HLG, it will detect that the image was shot in HLG and display the colors correctly. To view on non HLG devices and have it look right, you have to essentially translate the colors manually in post-production.

It is possible that HLG will become the standard sometime down the line (or not like 3D). For now DJI is trying to either future proof or have a new feature that has some buzz (I suspect the latter). As Miemo said, the 10-bit color in DlogM is a much bigger deal and this gives considerably more dynamic range so I'm not sure how much added benefit there would be from HLG anyway.

I don't have the exact link handy, but if you go on YouTube and search for Wolfcrow, he did a couple of in-depth videos on using HLG with the Panasonic GH5 camera that goes into great detail on the subject. I came away from those with the feeling that HLG was something I was just going to forget about - at least for now.

 

[aPpYe]

Okay, so for this non-professional, not-interested-in-post-processing consumer who just wants to fly his drone and look at stuff, I am thinking the zoom will likely be the better option. I would still like to see what HDR (HLG, straight off of the drone) vs standard footage would look like on a standard monitor though...