the dillema
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 11:52 AM 
With last night’s Camera Raw Update 3.7 came a most welcome addition: Aperture 3 support for the Fujifilm Finepix X100 camera. A nice surprise given Apple’s sometimes leisurely pace when it comes to supporting the latest cameras.
But strangely, I am now faced with a serious dilemma.
JPEG? SERIOUSLY?
I know. Why should I be racking my brains over this right? Native RAW support means I should now simply hit the Image Quality menu, switch to RAW and be done with it. I mean, when I first started looking for a compact walk-around camera my one criteria was RAW files — I dismissed everything that was JPEG only. That’s how much of a RAW shooter I am. So what has changed?
I’ve been shooting JPEG for 40 days, that’s what.
SPOILED
When I look at what I’ve shot so far I can’t say I feel cheated in any way. The images look damn good. They look good at 100%; They look good printed.
When I found the Adobe DNG Converter trick I did quite a few RAW vs JPEG tests and in the end decided to stick with JPEG. I wasn’t that impressed with the difference and generally thought the in-camera files had better overall noise control, one the X100’s strength.
So I’ve gotten used to dealing with those JPEGs and have found them to be surprisingly sturdy in post. Less headroom and control? That’s the big trade-off. But as I mentioned in this discussion I’ve been approaching the X100 like a film camera, making sure I get exposure and white balance spot on when shooting instead of relying on the fluidity of RAW. It’s a much more deliberate way of shooting that I feel fits in perfectly with how the camera works. This isn’t a machine gun with 3D tracking.
APERTURE 3
From my initial tests I can say Apple has done a great job with the RAF files, making the decision all the more difficult. Converted files are pretty close to in-cam JPEGs and the re-appearance of De-noise in RAW Fine Tuning (which wasn’t there with DNGs) is a godsend.
There is however a difference in the quality of noise: the grain isn’t as fine and looks more mottled. It’s still ok, but it IS different. There also seems to be a bit more vignetting which points to Fuji adding tweaks when processing for the lens.
There are also slight differences in tone (especially reds) and the obvious shadow/highlight interpretation depending on how you’ve set the camera’s Dynamic Range settings (which don’t apply to RAW).
TRADE-OFF
That’s always the thing isn’t it? Compromise, compromise, compromise. Obviously I can get the best of both worlds by shooting RAW+JPEG. But this — for me at least — adds a layer of confusion I’m not sure I’m prepared to deal with. The problem becomes one of self-editing: which version is the best one. Most of the time both will be perfectly fine... but different. There’s that word again.
THE BLANKET
In the end, with the X100 I don’t think I’d be choosing RAW for added file quality. The in-camera files are that good. I’d be doing it for peace of mind: the ability to tweak exposure and white balance after the fact, to recover highlights. RAW as my security blanket.
In a professional context, with my Nikons, this is a no-brainer. I want that peace of mind, that security. I also need to be able to change my mind in post, go with another interpretation I may not have thought of while shooting the scene. But I bought the X100 for personal use. We’re preparing our trip to France and I just don’t want to think about storage over there. If I shoot JPEG I’ll have more than enough cards on-hand and I’ll be able to backup to my iPad without even thinking about storage space.
I’ll also come back and edit what I shot, as is, no second guesses. Screwed up the exposure? Too bad. Next.
There’s a certain serenity that comes from knowing all the decisions have already been made. Am I discarding RAW entirely? Of course not. I also might flinch over there and hit that odd RAW button once in awhile. But for the most part I’m going to live on the edge. To hell with security.
This RAW shooter’s X100 will be bleeding JPEGs... for the foreseeable future at least.
More pics below.
Later.
Reader Comments (8)
Great Post. Would you go out and shoot specifically BW in camera? Or would you PP BW?
Cheers...DanG
Thanks Dan. I do it in post. The BW modes in the X100 are fine but I prefer keeping at least some of my options open. I also like having the colour information available in a BW conversion. So let's just say I'm treating it as dual mode film ;)
Same with me, but I always shoot in RAW and to DNG in LR3, I always keep a RAW back-up. I do not have the X100...yet, but seriously thinking about it.
Cheers...DanG
I have had the same dilema myself. How do you shoot the jpeg B/W images you've shown here? Do you shoot in color and convert them to B/W in post processing, or in B/W (with any of the yellow, red,... filters) and retouch them in post processing? Also, can you tell me about your post processing steps?
Cheers!
Ryan,
As I told Dan in the comments below, I always shoot in colour and convert in post. I used to do everything in Silver EFEX but I now rely pretty much exclusively on Aperture 3's built-in tools. Oddly, I don't use the Monochrome brick and prefer a combination of Enhance, Tint and Curves. I've sort of expanded on the method described here: http://www.laroquephoto.com/blog/2010/11/17/aperture-better-black-white/.
Best
Hey Robert!
Yeah… I started doing that with my Nikon a few months back (on personal projects) and have been quite impressed with the results. Most of the time I keep the BW JPEG - with mild post work - but I have the RAW to fall back on if I need it. And I do love seeing the image in BW on the LCD as I'm shooting.
The difference in the case of the X100 is that it slows down the capture rate quite a bit. RAW+JPEG takes-a-loong-time to write. And so far the in-camera BW images haven't really been to my taste. Not enough anyway. Which is why I'm leaning towards the simplest and lightest solution with this camera.
Take care :)
Hi
Great shots here and I am curious about using JPEG only, as I am a die-hard RAW shooter. I tried some in-camera B&W but did not like the results - I see you do your B&W in post.
My question is what JPEG settings you use by and large? Which film emulation and settings like Sharpness, Highlight and Shadow tone?
Lee
Hello Lee,
Sorry for the late reply (I was out of the country for a few weeks). I did a couple of tests with various custom settings when I first began using the camera but have now settled on the default settings (including Provia). i find this gives me best starting point to work with in post.
That said, now that Fuji has fixed the black levels in Velvia I might give custom settings another try with that film emulation as base. I'll report back if I like the results…
Thanks for reading :)