Fuji Xtrans Raw Converter Options for a Windows User

[capital]

I have stayed on the sidelines with regard to the Fuji xtrans format. With the soon to be released X30, I am considering it as a go everywhere camera solution. My concern is perhaps the non trivial cost of a dedicated raw processing solution for this format. I am aware that Capture One supports it, I am presently using LR4 since I have no need to upgrade at the present. I guess my question is, what alternatives exist to the costly Capture One software, also has there been recent progress with xtrans demosaicing algorithms? Are there any lingering issues with difficulty in rendering foliage?

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I have stayed on the sidelines with regard to the Fuji xtrans format. With the soon to be released X30, I am considering it as a go everywhere camera solution. My concern is perhaps the non trivial cost of a dedicated raw processing solution for this format. I am aware that Capture One supports it, I am presently using LR4 since I have no need to upgrade at the present. I guess my question is, what alternatives exist to the costly Capture One software, also has there been recent progress with xtrans demosaicing algorithms? Are there any lingering issues with difficulty in rendering foliage?

photoninja,

you can ran OSX in VmWare -> iridient & rpp

silkypix - this one is Fuji's OEM converter in some incarnation

I think rawtherapee now supports x-trans

[MarkM]

Iridient runs native on OS X. To my eye it is noticeably better at pulling out detail than the latest Lightroom when zoomed in to 100%. Whether this matters in practice depends on where and how the images will be used. Lightroom handles the x-trans images pretty well and now has profiles built in that attempt to match the Fuji presets (i.e. Provia/Astia etc.) I am generally happy with Lightroom's processing for the way I use the camera.

Although not ideal, it probably wouldn't be a bad workflow to use Lightroom for general processing and storing while having something like Iridient around when you really need that last 10%.

[Martin Ranger]

The Fuji Raw Converter included with the camera does a very good job, and is not as user-unfriendly as people make it out to be. In my tests (and for my kind of images), it is better than Lightroom especially with fine detail. It is also free. Lightroom does a pretty good job, and is certainly not a reason not to get the Fuji.

To get the best results out of the files, I export the images unsharpened and use Focus Magic for capture sharpening, and Topaz Detail for creative sharpening. I also do this with my Nikon files, and with any raw converter I use, so it is not a Fuji-specific workflow.

[AFairley]

I find that generally, Photo Ninja does a better job with XTrans files than LR in terms of extracting detail.  It's quite difficult to add appreciable sharpening in LR without introducing halos.  However, PN is not nearly as fluid to use as LR and lacks local adjustments.  I use PN to get in the ballpark and LR to refine and print.

[David Sutton]

Where detail is important I either turn sharpening off in LR and do capture sharpening in Photoshop with Topaz Detail, or use PN for the raw conversion. Haven't made comparison prints yet to decide which way to go.

[capital]

Thank you all for your replies. It sounds like Photo Ninja and perhaps even the oem provided converter might satisfy requirements.