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Author Topic: Fuji X-T2 Rust in Antarctica and Elsewhere  (Read 3270 times)

MBehrens

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Fuji X-T2 Rust in Antarctica and Elsewhere
« on: June 07, 2017, 01:26:59 am »

I was intrigued by Kevin Raber's Rust in Antarctica series he posted here on LL and the new 100% zoom-able image viewer. I have the X-T2 as well and was eager to see some images developed with Capture One. I've heard good things about C1 and Fuji raws. However I was pretty disappointed in the results I'm seeing in the 100% crops of the posted images. I am not criticizing the images, I have every respect for Kevin's work and enjoyed the images, and all he does for LL. But I wonder if he is adding grain to the images for an artistic style, because they are significantly grainier and less sharp than the images I get using Iridient X-Transformer and Lightroom CC.

To test my theory I decided to head down to the shipyards, just a few blocks away here in Seattle and it was a beautiful day here today so I was itching for an assignment, so I headed out to shoot some rust. Here is a gallery of some of the images If you compare them to the the Antarctica shots I think you will agree that it is pretty significant. Zenfolio doesn't do 100% crops online, but you can download the full size images.

Is this difference simply a difference in raw processors or is Kevin applying an artistic style. He mentions the new viewer zoom capabilities and urged us to use them, so I expected to see sharpness I see in my images. I tried to use similar lighting and shot all hand held. I used the 18-55 kit lens. Hopefully Kevin will join the conversation, I'm curious about his workflow.

 - Morey
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rdonson

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Re: Fuji X-T2 Rust in Antarctica and Elsewhere
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2017, 09:52:44 am »

I've been shooting rust in the form of industrial machinery since I got my X-T2.  Some of my favorites are machines used in NC mining. 

To your point, I haven't found anything capable of pulling out the detail from my X-T2 files that's as good as Iridient X-Transformer or X-Developer.  After the initial demosaicing and first pass sharpening in Iridient I'm back into my home territory of Lightroom CC. 

Caveat:  I have not tried Capture One.
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Regards,
Ron

MBehrens

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Re: Fuji X-T2 Rust in Antarctica and Elsewhere
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2017, 10:32:54 am »

I agree Ron, IXT and LRCC is working very well for me. Have to be careful in LR, things can get crunchy very quickly in LR after presharpening in IXT.
I recently reviewed the LR Sharpening video by Michael and Jeff, and have been a little more aggressive lately. Looking at the images that I posted, the bow anchor shot is a little crunchy. I'm usually see things on day 2 that I missed during the initial developing.

Thanks.
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Kevin Raber

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Re: Fuji X-T2 Rust in Antarctica and Elsewhere
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2017, 11:07:11 am »

Hi,  I exp[lained my workflow is Capture One.  While I won't get into a debate because everyone has to find the tools that work for them, I find C1 does the best job with Fuji files.  There are a number of Capture One engineers that shoot Fuji so they work real hard to make C1 handle the files the best.  You can do layer masks as well as color editor on the Fuji files.  I shared a number of sharpening settings in the article.  You can input those in c1 and then preview the differences that they make.  So, number one I white balance.  I tend to go on rust 200-300 warmed than auto or normal WB.  Then I set levels, usually, I do an auto and then adjust the white and black points.  This re-maps the histogram.  Then I may adjust a little contrast or even reduce it.  I may add a tad of saturation for effect.  Then I do a highlight and shadow recovery if needed.  I will use adjustment layers to emphasize some parts of the image.  C1 does a pretty good job auto masking.  I may darken the sky a bit or lighten a certain part of an image in the shadow area usually.  Then I may also use the color editor and adjust certain colors.  Finally, I will use one of the sharpening settings that I provided. These are where I add texture to the image.  These might not be what I use for a normal image just for the record.  I output to Tiff and then in Photoshop may work the image a bit more.

I have made a number of 17x22 as well as some 44 inch prints and they look great and are popular.  Not everyone agrees with the look I give my images, but that is my choice.  while I like the new 100% zoom feature it sometimes doesn't show what you would get on a print.  the prints while color wise are a good match yield a lot more detail.

I like to play with an image no matter what kind it is.  It's not unusual for me to make several different variations of an image.  That's easy to do in Capture One.  Also, C1 is really fast especially when compared to LR.  Iridient is a good processor and I have tried it out but compared to the speed and all the features in C1 it just isn't for me.  In Capture One I can also save all the setting as a style and use it to apply to similar images anytime.  Like a preset in LR.

Hope this gives you some more insight.

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Kevin Raber
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MBehrens

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Re: Fuji X-T2 Rust in Antarctica and Elsewhere
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2017, 06:57:10 pm »

Kevin,

Thanks so much for the detailed response, I'm always interested in how creative folks work!
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TommyWeir

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Re: Fuji X-T2 Rust in Antarctica and Elsewhere
« Reply #5 on: June 09, 2017, 02:31:07 am »

As a fellow Fuji shooter (X-T2) I have found that C1 offers the best all round experience as an overall tool from RAW, through file management, corrections and output options.  It's more flexible than LR and offers Fuji shooters better raw processing.   That said I will round trip the occasional image through Iridient Developer, primarily certain black and whites where detail is important.  The controls in ID permit remarkably detailed images.  I have come to view ID as a second raw processor available to me within C1.

You do round trip out of C1 as a RAW and back in as a 16-bit TIFF, a process that works seamlessly using Edit With in C1, ID smart enough to pick up the RAW when handed the TIFF and then outputs overwriting the TIFF C1 created.   

So only for certain images I do this, under 10%, mostly I am thrilled with how C1 handles Fuji raw files.

MBehrens

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Re: Fuji X-T2 Rust in Antarctica and Elsewhere
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2017, 11:18:56 am »

Thanks Tommy.
ID's IXT is my routine demosaic tool. All of my images go through it with differing settings for different types of images. LR demosaicing of X-Trans raws is just not up to par. Which is why I was interested in C1 and hoped that the Rust series would provide an example of its capabilities, I don't believe that it does.
I'll keep looking around. Stick with my IXT / LR workflow.
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