DPReview TV: Waveforms are better than histograms (and stills cameras should use them)

By now, most serious photographers are familiar with histograms, a tool we've used for years to judge exposure. But what about waveforms? In this episode, Chris and Jordan explain why this tool from the video world may be the best way to judge exposure for photos - and why still cameras should use them too.
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[@kbmats]

I took me days to understand histograms and I just learned how to understand waveforms in less than 8 minutes lol

[@millerdp]

Yep, leave it to Chris and Jordan and all is well and everyone is educated!

[@katumus]

Just the opposite, if you would be learning waveforms first you would be scratching your head weeks. And then you would learn histogram in seconds as it makes far more sense than waveforms that is meant for color distribution and not for exposure.

[@paulalanputnam4592]

Ok. I’m sold. Let’s use DpReview’s power on social media and such to push camera manufacturers into providing us with waveform graphs in our screens.

[@louis993546]

Hopefully in a few years: Fuji: waveforms as free updates to super old cameras Panasonic: surprisePikachu.gif

[@waynecake5867]

Panasonic: loading false color.vlt Boom there is false color, wave forms suck!

[@josecolon8143]

Louis Tsai lol

[@josecolon8143]

wayne cake 🧁

[@legendp2011]

if we all let fuji know they might add it in a few months :) ........probably put it in the xh2 first

[@fjodorf7341]

I love Fuji but it’s a joke that I don’t even get zebras, let a lone a waveform, on my Fuji X-H1, which is marketed as a video camera.

[@davidweidhofer9284]

in "darktable" it is possible to switch from histogramm to waveforms

[@MattVickers]

I was looking for that exact comment

[@Lysergesaure1]

Darktable has had that feature since 2013 too :-)

[@geoffreybassett6741]

Thanks for letting me know this, I'm using it now for personal work.

[@p3rrypm]

Can you do tethered shooting? If not, then it's of limited use for balancing the exposure in camera.

[@KarlStevens]

@@p3rrypm Yes, darktable supports tethered shooting.

[@LordMardur]

Lantern Magic adds this to Canon cameras in Live View. The example of your face against the white background, just using spot exposure metering completely solves the issue with any digital photo camera. The waveform feature is present in video cameras, because there you cannot just spot meter and then reframe. The exposure needs to be adjusted while recording and also through changing light conditions in one video.

[@chcomes]

Not only it would be more useful, histograms are currently showing levels on jpeg and not raw, which is basically bullshitting raw shooters into wasting dinamic range and making worse pictures by "protecting highlights" that are still well protected in raw bc the jpeg is using only the bottom of the exposure due to... no reason?

[@grahammcdonald]

Exactly why don’t use the hgram.

[@chcomes]

@@grumpyrocker i didnt know that!

[@xmlthegreat]

What! I didn't know that the histogram was based on jpg!

[@josecolon8143]

Harry Neary !!!!!! Damn I need to read my manual

[@TheInternetEnzyme]

Yeah i suppose just the way these signal processing pipelines are designed makes it that processing a realtime histogram based off of jpeg is just easier. But it is wholly confusing. I literally dont use my on camera histogram at all. I’ll just do aperture priority with auto iso and a minimum shutter speed and correct for exposure and dynamic range in post

[@qbgabe12]

Future camera firmware update: "As suggested by Chris and Jordan, waveforms is now available in photo mode"

[@legendp2011]

funny thing is my old t3i/600d has a waveform with magic lantern in all modes

[@stalman]

I’ve been saying it for years! Also, vector scopes could be more useful with a slight redesign

[@HoggetBlanker]

Majic Lantern has waveforms in Liveview for the cameras it supports :)

[@ilovethismightyfineplace]

Now that you mention it, I can’t think of any reason why we’d need a histogram over a waveform. Interested in why this hasn’t happened yet.

[@Athaeus]

I'm wondering if it's simply a matter of processing power. It may be that waveform simulations take more processing power, so manufacturers stick with histograms until waveforms are no longer taxing the processor and battery.

[@ilovethismightyfineplace]

That’s a fair analysis. It probably does take slightly more processing power. But they use waveform in video cameras, and video generally uses more processing power than stills. So I think the difference may not be enough of a reason.

[@brois841]

Too much complexity which is unnecessary. Video DR is reduced compared to photo.

[@legendp2011]

+Athaeus ............you can install magic lantern hack on a canon 600d/t3i or 5dmkii even and get waveform monitoring.......so I don't think proccessing poower is it. it's possible they want to protect higher end cameras.........but if that's the case than I don't know why blackmagic doesn't have waveform.........so I don't know

[@freecycling6687]

What about instead of superimposing a different form of display on top of the image, using a **heat map** instead? Press a function button and instead of seeing the image colors, the heat map colors would be shown, e.g. red for blown-out, magenta for 90-100%, etc. etc. IOW, a more informative "blinky" display. Could be made configurable as to # of colors / exposure bands to show.

[@geoffreybassett6741]

This would be incredible, another great video feature that would be great in photography.

[@IvoPavlik]

That's actually a pretty good idea!

Great job, as always! I never learned histograms, and have been using waveforms for decades (ever since the were in CRTs in TV stations and video editing suites).

[@cotswoldphotographers]

Really interesting and informative video guys. Makes you wonder why we really bother with a histogram when a waveform is far more useful. Hopefully, we’ll see this incorporated soon 🤞

[@derekbrown6832]

Interesting video, Chris & Jordon, lets hope this is something the camera companies, pick up on, in the near future, would come in handy for stills photography.

[@luisdiegosalas]

Thank you for this video! I agree, and sincerely hope Adobe, Phase One, and camera makers are listening.....

[@GeneWaddle]

I totally agree. I only recently started using waveforms in video editing, but I think they are a great tool and would be very helpful while shooting both video and stills.

[@1fareast14]

Darktable, a free raw processor defaults to displaying a waveform :)

[@GrandHuevotes]

As a photographer ive never needed or wanted even histograms. I always just eyeball it by feel and use exposure comp. the less I have to jerk with and worry about the better

[@jimbean532]

Great info! You guys crack me up. Thanks for being you.

[@dragonstone6594]

I'm all for it. Bring them waveforms to photo mode. It's a fantastic idea.

[@thomasbowan7864]

Thank you on this video... I'm new to today's types of cameras and knowing how to get better photos and videos by using this method is awesome and I so thank you.

[@john3Lee]

I have thought the same for a long time.... Good video..Thanks.

[@pjw2000]

Quality educational vid, y'all. Thanks!

[@fabianfeldmann4500]

Good Point. I noticed that waveforms are way more useful, as soon as i got into video and also wondered why it wasn't available for the photo side of things!

[@vishnuramachandran5548]

I think having ZEBRA on ur cam really helps... It doesn't take up any space and really gets the job done of protecting the highlights...

[@pavelrezny1969]

Especially with the ability to set the % at which Zebra is shown. Waveform inform only about one dimension of two dimensional image. Zebra inform about all pixels but only in two levels. Maybe false colors is another interesting theme ;-)

[@Rico-ns5dt]

I agree too. Wave forms are nice and cool but with zebras, I just compensate, adjust or dial back and I'm good. It's intuitive and instantaneous.

[@ColinRobertson_LLAP]

Zebras work well but can be very distracting when trying to compose.

[@johnmccann4041]

Wouldn't work in the example where the face is way too bright but not yet pure white.

[@StringerNews1]

Zebras only work when a large area is overblown; they're useless for small areas. Waveform monitors are _not_ one-dimensional, they cover the entire picture, not just one line, though pro models _can_ do that. If the WFM is too much to grok, I suppose that's why in TV they leave the important controls and displays for the engineers, and leave the pointing to the camera ops. Maybe some just need an "idiot light" to say "turn it down" or automatic mode. But for those who can chew gum and shoot at the same time, a WFM will help good shooters from clipping black & white levels.

[@lighthunter1980]

Great timing. Just yesterday I played with waiveforms in Magic Lantern on my 6D but didn't understand how to use it!

[@fritzlanbin9412]

I love you guys innovating photography, such a good and simple idea.

[@itcamefromabox]

Great video, dang it you guys are such a pleasure to watch.

[@mrheng562]

I agree. I personally find waveform more useful and combine with RGB parade would be perfect for both photo and video use. It bugged me too that my GH5 went let me use the waveform for photography.

[@grantshields5712]

mind = blown Great and informative video!

[@africanfilmmaker179]

I definitely agree with this. Many times I'm in Lightroom and wish I had a waveform to look at

[@johnhjic2]

I must admit that as a photographer not used or seen wave forms as they seem to have been a video tool, But I love your explanation and they look like a very interesting tool for both videos and photography. So yes in the future it would be nice to see.

[@tonyjames5444]

When I started in photography I spent weeks learning Sensitometry and subsequently a great deal of time understanding the 'Characteristic Curve' or 'HD Curve', this basically relates to density & exposure. In graph form you'll see an S curve with the bottom or 'toe' as it's known representing the shadows, the straight line the middtones and where it curves out at the top, (the shoulder), the highlights. Personally for me seeing a readout of this on the camera cam be helpful if you know what your looking at, to steep a curve and you've got high contrast, to low and a flat image. (You could say the screen tells you allot especially with highlights but not so much shadows).

[@millerdp]

Catch the wave! Chris and Jordan, thanks for the excellent bit of education (for this non-videographer). Funny, whenever I explain a histogram I invariably say, “Look here, that means SOMEWHERE in the frame it is completely overexposed.” Now I know there is technology to make that legible. Sierra Hotel!

[@nolansnook1268]

Great clear explanation. Thanks!

[@DeyvsonMoutinhoCaliman]

Indeed, I barely look at histograms because often it doesn't help me to properly expose the subject, it measures the whole picture. When I read "waveform" I thought it would be something complex, but it's very intuitive.

[@1025mahoney]

as a professional film colorist and editor, histograms are maddening to me. thanks for this

[@milanrychtr2080]

This is realy great idea! Would be great to have this during the shooting on our cameras.

[@made_by_phil]

THANK YOU DPReview! Finally someone speaks out loud what everyone was thinking! Please, could you do another video on scopes in Photo Software? Adobe needs to implement the lumetri scopes from premiere - and I mean ALL of them - to EVERY image editing software including Lightroom!!!!

[@eeltauy]

great video! please make more of these!

[@marcherrmann9635]

Very interesting thoughts! Let's see when producers will understand and follow...

[@tanegaranchu]

I use a Small HD focus with a sony a7III, and the waveforms work fine in still mode.

[@no-trick-pony]

Zebra works just fine for me and they are much quicker and more intuitive on EVFs. And you usually see how "close" you are by the amount of area that is blown out on e.g. faces. If it's just tiny dots, it's just some reflections on pores/very tiny glossy spots. Wave forms just use the x-axis location, right? So I can't tell what exactly is blown out to what extend if I have to motifs above/below each other with similar color and where EXACTLY in the image something gets blown out.

[@jeremyg9305]

Yeah, and with Zebras, at least on Sonys, you can set it to hit below the max highlight exposure too, so "85% Plus" would put the zebras to varying degrees over everything 85 and over.

[@LifewithDusty]

always so entertaining way to go thanks

[@lawyerdch]

Very helpful. Thanks as always.

[@Nuntjako]

Great video and great idea. I would love such a feature

[@laolsaouce]

Yes I'm all for the incorporation of motion equipment and tools into stills!

[@wanderlost.productions]

Affinity Photo has the ability to display waveforms. I edit most of my photos this way 💜

[@DavidDatura]

I only occasionally shoot very short video clips on my iPhone. So I have no experience of waveforms or even knew what they looked like or how they work. Due to this video, now I do and what a revelation! They are so much bloody better than a histogram! (Which I’ve never really found to be all that helpful anyway) Manufacturers start offering this option for stills photographers! It’s like the difference between an ancient boxy CRT TV and a flat panel OLED one!

[@Raychristofer]

Thanks Chris I always felt like an amateur when Jordan talked about waveforms and I had no clue. Keep in mind zebras are great too and precise in showing where the blown out bits are and they do work in photo mode at least in my g7.

[@DaCarnival]

Zebras give you a highlight warning, but they don't tell you how close you are to blowing out, or how the exposure is as a whole. Waveforms provide a lot more info. The waveforms with color information you see in editing software, THAT I'd like to see in a camera.

[@Raychristofer]

@@DaCarnival thanks for the insight Carnival. I'm curious though if they were to add it on the camera during video if it would steal much of the processing power, for example if a camera is running at 100 megabits per second and you turn on the waveform if it would have to run for example 80 megabits per second 2 run that display. Maybe I'm overthinking it though

[@DaCarnival]

@@Raychristofer a waveform is probably a bit more taxing than a histogram to both calculate and represent visually, but I don't think the processing hit would directly affect data rate (nor would it be feasible to make that compromise). Most of the processing power of a modern camera goes towards the image compression, so in some instances a more compressed (lower bit-rate) codec could tax the camera more a less compressed one. I think adding a histogram to an already released camera would possibly make it sluggish to operate, maybe affect the refresh rate of the LCD/viewfinder, but the (video) recording would be protected as first priority. For photos, maybe you would have to sacrifice on burst speed. But I'm no expert on this... However, I think that most recent smartphones have a more capable processor than even 8.000-10.000$ cameras these days. Camera manufacturers just have to embrace the fact that they are now in the computer business, especially as AI powered imagining starts bringing crazy dynamic range, noise and auto-focus improvements. But now I'm off on a tangent...

[@Raychristofer]

@@DaCarnival you know what's interesting since you mentioned the smartphone, when I use my phone for video it doesn't have trouble hunting for focus and it locks onto faces immediately it makes me wonder how it is able to do better than my Lumix G7 because my Panasonic will put the crosshairs on my eye but still take 10 seconds to focus on it. And to go one step further they say larger sensors do better but I've seen movies shot on a small iPhone sensor that look outstanding.

[@junjiah]

a very self-explanatory title that basically sums up the whole video

[@modrisklingenbergs]

Very educational. Thanx! 👍

[@digitalspecter]

Well, I didn't know of the existence of this type of visualisation until I saw this video. Then I went to see if the tool of my choice, Darktable, has them and of course it does! I'm going to play with them and see if it makes editing easier as well :) Thanks!

[@TheIllaman]

Very informative, thank you

[@TracyDavis904]

Just got my first big boy external monitor (Atomos Shinobi) and I was wondering about how to use all of the monitoring options like waveforms on there. Thanks. Would love to see a video about false color too!

[@fotowalo]

thx a lot... you're right. would be nice to use it even in photowork and older cams like my Nikon D7200.....

[@DustinBKerensky97]

I never knew how to use waveforms so this was educational just for that. But I can definitely see the benefit for regular shooting. As for how to integrate waveforms into the viewfinder; how about since the waveform interprets the intensity of light across the image just put a 25% opacity exposure line across the entire image? Especially if you have a function key that toggles it off and on, you can just overlay the waveform over the actual image so you know exactly what object is causing highs and lows on the image. An option for this is since more worry goes into overexposure of an image just have a the bottom of the image be the 50% mark of the waveform and a line rises off that as your exposure moves up past the 50% point and if the line gets to the top of the image you're overexposing there.

[@scottgmaclean]

Jordan -- no one on KZbin gets a better image out of a GH5 than you, especially your outdoor shots and your skin tones. Great work (Chris you're ok to I guess:-)). I'd love, LOVE, a video on your filming/editing process - it would benefit so many other GH5 users too.

[@thatjordandrake]

We're friends now.

[@DavidSalahi]

Great point! I shoot with a GH5 also and it’s frustrating not to be able to use the waveform feature when shooting stills.

[@bedoinuk]

Personally I like Olympus' implemetation of a clipping warning which highlights both extremes in real time in blue/red, just as Lightroom does (you need to enable it in the menu first). And you can have waveforms in the post already provided you're using Affinity Photo...

[@GiuseppeCammino]

Interesting video. Thank you

[@LucioDaou]

Magic Lantern enables waveform on live view for many Canon cameras, and also on image review. Also, they can be based on raw instead of the jpg preview.

[@scobelverse]

This is fantastic. Agree 100%

[@whitewalker9622]

i´m on your boat.. used to be a news photographer.. waveform is a great tool! both in camera and in software..

[@eirjordan337]

Damn, I didn’t realize to look into the EVF for the GH5 - awesome tip! ...... Just also realized that the theme of this video is to combine video and photo...led me to imagining a Chris and Jordan hybrid creature....LOL

[@Stealther]

Absolutely agree! I have Jordan's setup :D

[@MarkusRothkranz]

What light / modifier are you using in the living room? Nice

[@simon3461]

Zebra patterns on Sony cams also make it very easy to find the highlights in the picture and to adjust the exposure, especially because you can set the amount of brightness where the camera shows the zebra pattern, like 90%, 85% and so on...so I don't need waveforms but if we finally get it sometime in the future it would also be a nice addon.

[@FrankNeulichedl]

Histograms are fine, in raw you have enough dynamic range to approximate with histograms. In video where you are stuck with 8 or 10 bit you need to nail exposure ... I'm not fostering lazyness, just to not overly obsess about the tools

[@-grey]

I shoot jpeg. Getting it right in camera is important for me. And maybe more would move back to that easier workflow if accuracy was more available in the moment.

[@brois841]

@@-grey yes, but it's relatively easy to tell with a histogram and "blinkies," as Chris calls them, are a good way of seeing what's clipping. We aren't dealing with dynamic scenes and low DR. I mostly prefer JPEGs SOOC too, but to Frank's point, we are dealing with a ton more DR and can get really good shots without a waveform. If you're dealing with the type of DR that's described in this video you'll need to shoot RAW and recover regardless.

[@markjohnson7761]

The issue is that even thou you shot raw, the histogram in your camera is based on the jpeg. I often think expose to the right baed on histogram to then import in lightroom and find it underexposed to what I expected based on that original histogram. That said, if the wareform is baed on jpeg then same issue.

[@itsepocx]

Thank you so much for this great video.. now i finally learned about waveforms with no effort at all! I think waveforms must be a little harder on the processing side of thing, and the camera market is so competetiv with specs that its hard to do waveforms and have high framerates. I hope Nikon incorporates this in their next mirrorless Z, they are already great with video with nativ lenses!

[@hedydd2]

For the average Joe, the beauty of the advanced mobile phone is that you don't need things like waveforms. They just get the exposure right using computational photography. Keeping it simple for the photographer. Besides which, cameras like the Sony A7 III with eye and face focus gets there by exposing for the face in focus. I know that there are situations that require something different, but really, just how often and how essential would anything but a few clicks of the EV compensation dial be? Or DRO or on static subjects, multi-shot HDR.

[@rc_mac]

We love Waveform, we are videographers!

[@chrisroot7182]

Yes, waveforms are much more intuitive. I have worked in the video broadcast industry for years and have wondered why still cameras haven't adopted them.

[@fjodorf7341]

Great video. People, push your favorite camera manufacturers to incorporate waveforms! (especially fuji, hehe)

[@DelightfulVegans]

If Darktable can show waveforms for processing stills than our cameras should have the option to as well :D

[@DJEntroP]

rgb waveform and vectorscope is the best combination! im using it shading for live tv all the time

[@ihabsalem]

Great video

[@josephasghar]

Your histogram will clip IF ANY of the channels are clipping, irrespective of if there’s details in the other channels. I use a sekonic light meter that’s calibrated to each of my cameras for that reason. Excellent to have a separate, dedicated tool.

[@EduardoLoriafotografia]

wow... fantatic video!

[@feenstra_photography6657]

Yes! I definitely agree. Usually I underexpose my shots just to be sure I don't come close to clipping my highlights. It doesn't help that my cameras histogram (Fujifilm x-t1) apparently is always showing me my jpegs histogram and I find it unreliable. Whether or not I shoot raw only, or both Raw and jpeg. Is that still the case with current cameras?

[@ej_tech]

6:06 Didn't even mention Canon. lol

[@jonathanlogan6953]

Sadly Canon hasn't earned a place beside Nikon, Sony, and Fuji for hybrid mirrorless cameras.

[@brois841]

@@jonathanlogan6953 and Panasonic....

[@46ace]

Who????

[@peteryungcp]

It's because historically, Canon think EOS and EOS C are 2 separated product lines that Canon think will never merge together. That's why their EOS mirror / mirrorless system won't have an "up to date" video camera design compared with other competitors. I think it's understandable that Canon won't transfer anymore video camera technology to EOS mirror / mirrorless system in short future...

[@rsmith02]

Didn't Magic Lantern have waveforms?

[@leofaulhaber5641]

Great idea.

[@haroldlauhoyan]

YES! and vectorscopes in photo editing software as well,, been have the question in my head since i started doing videos,, why are we not having these tools in photo editing. But tbh i dont need them while shooting photos cause i got raw format haha

[@mcconkeyb]

100% agree! Histograms are better than nothing, but there are many other better tools to evaluate exposure. Waveforms are also an old tool used in the video industry and are marginally better than histograms. But why use tools that are 50 years old? Why not bring in tools of the modern age? Like 'heat maps' or 3D graphical plots? These would be able to show the user the exact information that they need without having to learn how the tools work and the limitations of these 50 year old tools. Newer tools can present information clearly, concisely and intuitively!

[@DanDill]

Are SmallHD monitors a solution for accessing waveforms ib still photography on a Canon 5D4, for example?

[@Nivenization]

Thank you.

[@Barnyz]

As someone who does video and stills i would to have this on future hybrid cameras

[@rocheuro]

great stuff, I use ML RAW on my Canon DSLR and EOS M mirrorless. with Magic Lantern you actually have waveforms and other amasing functions on many of older Canon Cameras (that are actually still very very good) After you use them once, you're not gonna go back to simple histogram!

[@Sadiquecat]

Wow, wish i knew about this sooner

[@stalman]

Give me false color, also in Lightroom and Photoshop

[@terrynewmanphotography]

Good video. So we should all look forward to this years firmware upgrades?

[@Askorbian]

Great Video! Hopefully this will be implemented in future cameras/firmwares.

[@k.s-b440]

Is there a posibility to create a app, conectet to wifi or bluetooth?

[@Timmy2Jpolev]

As a stills shooter I use a light meter to approximate the balance of various lights, then histogram to approximate exposure and then look at values (0-255) in CaptureOne to perfect exposure by mousing over areas. To me the waveform works with video because there's moving subjects and camera. With stills I'd adjust light between two scenarios but video has to get it all in one take. Waveform would help catch the exposure problems that stills don't even have- better dynamic range.

[@simianinc]

Zebras! You can set the threshold limit for when they appear and they’re already in many cameras. As a GH5 user, I have access to waveforms but still prefer zebras because they take up no space on the screen. But I use waveforms a lot in post

[@improbablehandle]

You guys rock!

[@richardcorfield9926]

I have histogram combined with blinkies (or orange non-blinky on mine) and focus point histogram. Focus point histogram can be used with Zone System. But I can rapidly tweak my dials to make blinkies appear and disappear so that lets me know which regions and how far. I guess the waveform is lots of histograms in the y axis, but the x axis is image x axis? What if you want to think in terms of image y axis?

[@ChrisProuse]

Well said! 👍

[@AgnostosGnostos]

Does anybody knows if there is a photo app with waveform for my iPhone?