400 Megapixel Images

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DOF Addict
Posts: 4
Joined: 27.05.2023 00:58

400 Megapixel Images

Post by DOF Addict »

With the latest firmware update, the Canon EOS R5 is now capable of capturing sharp, highly detailed, 400 megapixel images. It would be nice to stack these, but I seem to be hitting memory problems.

If I downsize them in Photoshop to 200 megapixels beforehand, Helicon Focus stacks them just fine, but above this size, I get:

Method A: CL_MEM_OBJECT_ALLOCATION_FAILURE
Legacy B: Success!
Method B: CL_MEM_OBJECT_ALLOCATION_FAILURE
Method C: CL_MEM_OBJECT_ALLOCATION_FAILURE

This was tested with no other apps running.

My PC runs Windows 10 in 128GB of RAM, of which I've allocated 90% to Helicon Focus. My graphics card is an NVIDIA - GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER. My system benchmarks at 691.47. Do I need more RAM for this, a better graphics card, or is this a limitation of Helicon Focus?
DOF Addict
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Re: 400 Megapixel Images

Post by DOF Addict »

Update:

I have a workaround now, which is to disable OpenCL. Then each of the four methods progress to completion, albeit slowly.

So that's good, but my questions still remain. Given the processing time for such images, it would be nice to have OpenCL working.
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Catherine
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Joined: 29.04.2019 22:38

Re: 400 Megapixel Images

Post by Catherine »

Yes, the problem is that the graphics card does not have enough on-board graphics memory to fit the images. To keep using acceleration you need a GPU with more VRAM, but we don't know how much more exactly. 16 GB is definitely enough with lots of room to spare, and 12 GB is probably also enough, but we're not 100% certain.
Another way to reduce VRAM requirements is to process images with 8 bits per channel rather than 16 bits (i. e. JPEGs or down-converted TIFFs), but you're probably not interested in that.
DOF Addict
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Re: 400 Megapixel Images

Post by DOF Addict »

Thanks for that, Catherine. The R5 only generates such images as JPEG, so I'll give 8-bit a try, too. That might be a better fix.

I suppose I'll look into a graphics card upgrade at some point, too.

By the way, I'm new here, and am very impressed with Helicon Focus, its processing speed, user interface, simplicity/complexity balance, offline licencing, support, and, well, pretty much everything about it.
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Catherine
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Re: 400 Megapixel Images

Post by Catherine »

JPEG images can only ever have 8 bits per channel, so, unfortunately, no more memory savings available there.

Thanks for your kind words! We're very happy you like our software, and we hope it will be a useful tool in your work.
DOF Addict
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Re: 400 Megapixel Images

Post by DOF Addict »

I found another answer to this, which is to update to the NVIDIA graphics driver required by the very latest graphics cards (which mine is not). (My image processing PC stays offline at all times, and is stable, so I'm not in the habit of doing frequent software updates.) With the latest driver, Helicon Focus can render 400 Megapixel images using my 8GB graphics card. It's still a bit slow, but an improvement over having OpenCL disabled.

Unfortunately, the latest driver uninstalls the NVIDIA Control Panel, which I need, and trying to sort that out on an offline PC means an unwelcome trip down the rabbit hole. I might be down there some time.

I might still upgrade my graphics card, but this is a useful experience, helping me decide whether I want to or not. The latest cards need the latest driver, and if that breaks things, well...
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