“When I import videos from my iPhone 12 Pro to PremierPro, they look washed out or overexposed. As I understand things, this is because Dolby HDR is not supported.
Is there a workaround I can use to get the color back in my videos?
Also, any ideas when Adobe will eventually provide support for Dolby HDR?” – A user asked from Adobe Support Community
While the Adobe Premiere Pro software is useful tool for video editing, there are situations when the video quality looks overexposed. The quality appears blown out during the import process. This happens due to incompatibility issues with the Smart HDR feature in iPhone 12 series devices, which cannot work on older models.
There are particular ways in which it is possible to rectify the iPhone 12 HDR video quality issue. In this article, we discuss that further.
Part 1: What is Dolby Vision HDR Video in iPhone 12 or 13
Before we start discussing how to fix the iPhone HDR video problem at hand, one should understand what Dolby Vision HDR means in the first place. To note, it is a proprietary type of HDR format, with more data than SDR videos. This is because the camera quality with HDR effect can capture video recordings with extra data regarding the scenes, like shadows, highlights, and color range.
Moreover, the Dolby Vision type of HDR video iPhone 12 feature works with dynamic metadata, which is useful for tone-mapping images in frame-to-frame or scene-by-scene format. The iPhone 12 devices allow the user to shoot high-quality Dolby Vision HDR videos in 4K, at 30-60 FPS. That is possible with the support of extra RAM in these device models and the presence of the A14 Bionic system-on-chip. Not to mention, iPhone 12 models come with a 10-bit OLED display.
Such factors make the demand for Dolby Vision iPhone HDR video settings reasonable. However, the Dolby Vision quality only works on the most compatible devices with relevant display types. At this point, iPhone 12 is the only phone with this feature in the camera, which limits the ability to share 10-bit HDR videos to other devices or platforms, like Adobe Premiere Pro.
Having HDR-based video playing in the SDR display type would automatically make the colors look weird and washed out. If the software came with an SDR squash functionality for importing/exporting Dolby Vision HDR videos in SDR format, that would benefit users.
Part 2: Why the HDR videos on iPhone look washed out or overexposed?
It is inaccurate to assume that the iPhone HDR video issues like overexposure or washed-out appearance occur due to Adobe Premiere not supporting Dolby HDR. On the other hand, the more reasonable reason is that most of the screens and system versions do not work with this functionality.
So, even if you use the Premiere Pro software and import exact images with accurate color composition and resolution, the image quality might look bad on most devices. If a monitor supports the HDR quality and you choose the relevant color space, overexposure issues will be limited.
Therefore, there is a need to click the video with the HDR video camera and display it on the right platform/screen. In Premiere Pro, the Override into Rec.709 solution is available and can work to rectify this issue for some users.
With the right features like Color Workspace, Lumetri pre-sets, and other features, you can add them in a drag-and-drop manner to work on the project pane for more customizations.
The Premiere Pro 2022 version can work with the video clips as HDR after changing specific CM settings. The right monitoring setup must be prepared while working on this editing environment.
Also, it is important to consider the nits’ levels on screens to understand if a device can even display the iPhone 12 HDR video. These devices support a 10-bit OLED display type that can reach a peak brightness of 1200 nits. So, it is suitable to showcase the footage without much error.
Part 3: Most Effective 4 Ways to Fix Overexposed iPhone HDR video in Premiere Pro
The following are some of the feasible solutions we’ve gathered, you can take to handle the overexposure quality of HDR videos while using Premiere Pro.
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