Lightroom 4.4RC HDR problem with Photomatix 32 bit plugin

[Hans Kruse]

I have used the Photomatix 32 bit plugin for HDR merges and tone mapping in Lightroom for a while now. I installed LR 4.4RC and now all TIFF files from the Photomatix plugin renders wrong. They become very very dark as the shadows slider almost does not work. If I merge the same RAW files in Photoshop CS6 the resulting 32 bit file is correct with LR 4.4RC. So now the question is where the problem is. Does anybody have more information on this? Is it the Photomatix plugin that generates wrong information that due to a fix in LR 4.4RC now exposes the error (where previous LR versions did not)? Or is it an error in LR 4.4RC?

[Simon Garrett]

See the discussion on the Adobe forum at http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1162055?tstart=0.

The suggestion there is that it's a PhotoMatix problem (embedding the wrong profile, or at least a profile with an incorrect gamma, which LR has up to now ignored, if I read it correctly). 

[Hans Kruse]

Thanks very much Simon. I didn't find that thread so thanks for that. This confirms my suspicion of a bug in both LR 4.3 and the Photomatix plugin. So I will contact HDRsoft about this. I can do the same with Photoshop CS6 HDR Pro but I find that CS6 often have problems merging highlight areas like a sky where Photomatix does a much better job. I hope CS6 gets fixed to do this right.

[Schewe]

This confirms my suspicion of a bug in both LR 4.3 and the Photomatix plugin. So I will contact HDRsoft about this.

It seems to be a Photomatix problem but don't be surprised if Adobe comes around and fixes it...remember, LR 4.4 is an RC, not the final GM version. It's quit possible that changes made to LR 4.4 exposed a flaw in a 3rd party software. It's happened before. Who is at fault and who should "fix it"? Tough question...but if LT 4.4 is technically doing the "right thing" maybe its up to the 3rd party to fix it.

[Hans Kruse]

It seems to be a Photomatix problem but don't be surprised if Adobe comes around and fixes it...remember, LR 4.4 is an RC, not the final GM version. It's quit possible that changes made to LR 4.4 exposed a flaw in a 3rd party software. It's happened before. Who is at fault and who should "fix it"? Tough question...but if LT 4.4 is technically doing the "right thing" maybe its up to the 3rd party to fix it.

Thanks Jeff and confirmed maybe a strong word to use now. I have contacted HDRsoft about the issue and hope they have more insight into the problem.

[Hans Kruse]

I got a response from HDRsoft and they have fixed it so it works with LR 4.4RC. See here http://www.hdrsoft.com/support/faq_merge_lrplugin.html#lr44
I checked the beta version plugin on a couple of my HDR merges and it worked with LR 4.4RC.

[PixelSquish]

i just got back from shooting a listing in HDR (only my 3rd one in HDR, used slightly different EC this time) and for 30 minutes I progressively started to think I had massively messed things up, or a camera issue, until I realized I had installed 4.4RC and it absolutely HAD to be a software compatibility issue with photomatix. shadow areas were unfixably black -  was so dark and random i eventually stopped thinking for a second and said to myself, it's not on my end me or gearwise. a quick google brought this thread, and i just wanted to say i haven't been so happy reading a thread on a photo forum in awhile.

i love this thread.