Fuji Rumors » X-Pert Corner

Remote Shutter Control for X Series Cameras

Rico Pfirstinger — Thu, 16 May 2013 23:57:15 +0000

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – Rico’s Flickr photosteam

Releasing the shutter of your camera remotely can have several advantages. For once, not touching the camera reduces shake and vibrations, which is especially important at slow shutter speeds. Mounting the camera on a tripod is only half of the solution. Yes, you can use the camera’s self-timer function for hands-free operation, but it’s hard (if not impossible) to catch decisive moments with this method.

Other applications of remote shutter release devices are placing the camera at hard to reach locations or producing a series of well-timed shots for time-lapse or HDR photography. Advanced timing solutions incorporate wireless operation (infrared, radio-controlled, Bluetooth or WLAN), and they can be triggered by certain GPS coordinates or position changes (like taking a shot every 50 meters while moving in a car), by a person stepping in front of the camera (recognizing faces or movement) or by rather exotic stuff like changes in the magnetic field.

Sadly, Fujifilm doesn’t offer a common remote triggering interface in its X series: With the XF1, there’s no option to externally trigger the shutter at all, so all you can do is using the self-timer. The X10, X20, X100, X100S, X-Pro1 and X-E1 offer classic threads for manual screw-in cable releases. The X-S1 and X-E1 feature an option to electronically release the shutter through the so-called RR-80 port (which hides in the Mini-USB port of these cameras, using pins number 4 and 5), and in addition to that, the X-E1 allows the microphone input socket to moonlight as a remote trigger input that is compatible with a substantial range of camera makes and models, offering a large number of options of remote triggering devices that can be used in concert with this camera.

Classic Mechanical Cable Release

Cable releases can perform the same three basic functions as your camera’s shutter button:

half-pressing the shutter to establish/lock focus and exposure
fully depressing the shutter to take the shot
keeping the shutter depressed (and locked) for an extended period of time to take long-time exposures (bulb mode)

Cable releases come in several forms and usually don’t cost much. There’s no need to get a fancy model (unless you like fancy stuff), just make sure it operates smoothly.

As mentioned earlier, cable releases are compatible with the X10, X20, X100, X100S, X-Pro1 and X-E1.

RR-80 Electronic Release

Just because its interface is electronic doesn’t mean that connecting an RR-80 based remote shutter release adds additional functionality beyond a mechanical cable release. An electronic RR-80 trigger will merely perform the very same three functions:

half-pressing the shutter to establish/lock focus and exposure
fully depressing the shutter to take the shot
keeping the shutter depressed (and locked) for an extended period of time to take long-time exposures (bulb mode)

Beyond that, there’s no communication going on between the camera and the remote: The remote isn’t aware of any camera settings, and the camera isn’t aware what’s set on the remote. Here’s an example of a simple electronic RR-80 trigger that’s available as an accessory from Fujifilm:

There are several RR-80 compatible “no-name” options available, with some of them offering wireless operation or sophisticated interval timers. Here’s an example of an intervalometer…

…and here’s a pretty basic but functional radio-controlled remote trigger:

While an intervalometer is useful for time-lapse photography, a radio trigger will allow you to place the camera at difficult-to-reach or dangerous locations, like on a car or on a pole.

RR-80 devices work with the Fujifilm X-S1 and X-E1. Since RR-80 is an analog hardware option using two Mini-USB ports (but is not transmitting any digital data to the camera processor via USB protocols), there’s no way the X10, X20, X100, X100S or X-Pro1 could become RR-80 compatible through a firmware update. This isn’t a software issue, those cameras are lacking RR-80 compatible wiring to electronically trigger the shutter from the outside.

Microphone Input Port Triggering

RR-80 is a pretty much Fujifilm-specific (and hence rather “exotic”) interface, but the internal microphone port trigger of the X-E1 is not. In fact, this port and its triggering protocol are compatible with a broad range of cameras, including the Canon Digital Rebel, Canon EOS 1000D, Canon EOS 100D, Canon EOS 1100D, Canon EOS 300D, Canon EOS 350D, Canon EOS 400D, Canon EOS 450D, Canon EOS 500D, Canon EOS 550D, Canon EOS 600D, Canon EOS 60D, Canon EOS 60Da, Canon EOS 650D, Canon EOS 700D, Canon Kiss Digital, Canon Kiss F Digital, Canon Kiss N, Canon Kiss X2, Canon Kiss X3, Canon Kiss X4, Canon Kiss X5, Canon Kiss X50, Canon Kiss X6, Canon PowerShot G1 X, Canon PowerShot G10, Canon PowerShot G11, Canon PowerShot G12, Canon PowerShot G15, Canon PowerShot SX50 HS, Canon Rebel SL1, Canon Rebel T1i, Canon Rebel T2i, Canon Rebel T3, Canon Rebel T3i, Canon Rebel T4i, Canon Rebel XS, Canon Rebel XSi, Canon Rebel XT, Canon Rebel XTi, Canon Revel T5i, Contax 645, Contax N, Contax N Digital, Contax N1, Contax NX, Hasselblad H, Hasselblad H3D, Hasselblad H4D-200MS, Hasselblad H4D-31, Hasselblad H4D-40, Hasselblad H4D-50, Hasselblad H4D-50MS, Hasselblad H4D-60, Pentax 645D, Pentax ist D, Pentax ist DL, Pentax ist DL2, Pentax ist DS, Pentax ist DS2, Pentax K-30, Pentax K-5, Pentax K-7, Pentax K-m,Pentax K10 Grand Prix, Pentax K100D, Pentax K100D Super, Pentax K10D, Pentax K110D, Pentax K200D, Pentax K20D, Pentax MZ-6, Pentax MZ-L, Pentax ZX-L, Samsung GX-1L, Samsung GX-1S, Samsung GX-20, Samsung NX-10, Samsung NX-100, Samsung NX-11, Samsung NX-5, Sigma SD1, Sigma SD1 Merrill and Sigma SD15. Whoa!

A triggering device that is compatible with any of these cameras is also supposed to trigger your X-E1, so you can choose from a large number of triggering options, one of them being the ingenious Triggertrap software for iOS and Android devices. In connection with a suitable hardware dongle and cable kit, it will trigger your X-E1 electronically via the camera’s external microphone input, which is located at the left side of the chassis.

This is how the Triggertrap dongle and cable look like:

If you already use an iPhone and are looking for a sophisticated and yet affordable triggering solution with a friendly user interface, you may want to consider Triggertrap. The app itself is free, so you can check-it out before buying the hardware interface. The following triggering modes and functions are available:

Timelapse Mode
TimeWarp™ Mode
Sound sensor Mode
Shock & Vibration sensor Mode
Metal & magnetism sensor Mode
Facial recognition Mode
LE HDR Mode
LE HDR Timelapse Mode
DistanceLapse™ Mode
Motion detection Mode
Cable Release Mode
Star trail Mode
Bulb Ramping Timelapse
Wi-Fi Slave Mode
Wi-Fi Master Mode (trigger other devices running Triggertrap Mobile)
Sunset & Sunrise Calculator
Lag-o-Meter

If you want to know more about these modes and how they work, I recommend reading the help displays in the free Triggertrap app or having a look at the online PDF manual.

But make no mistake: As sophisticated as it looks, the interface between Triggertrap and the camera is as “dumb” and simple as any mechanical cable release or an RR-80 trigger. There’s no digital communication going on between the camera and Triggertrap, so Triggertrap doesn’t know about any camera settings (and can’t change them, either), and the camera doesn’t know about Triggertrap. This means Triggertrap can merely trigger the shutter with these three familiar functions:

half-pressing the shutter to establish/lock focus and exposure
fully depressing the shutter to take the shot
keeping the shutter depressed (and locked) for an extended period of time to take long-time exposures (bulb mode)

However, Triggertrap offers plenty of options to control when, where, why and how often to release (and hold) the shutter, and it features wireless operation via a Bluetooth device or via a second iOS device (iPhone) and WLAN. The sheer number of options may be overkill for many users, but who says you have to use them all?

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

Rico Pfirstinger studied communications and has been working as journalist, publicist, and photographer since the mid-80s. He has written a number of books on topics as diverse as Adobe PageMaker and sled dogs, and produced a beautiful book of photographs titled Huskies in Action (German version). He has spent time working as the head of a department with the German Burda-Publishing Company and served as chief editor for a winter sports website. After eight years as a freelance film critic and entertainment writer in Los Angeles, Rico now lives in Germany and devotes his time to digital photography and compact camera systems. His book “Mastering the FUJIFILM X-Pro1” (Kindle Edition) (Apple iBook Store) (German version) is available on Amazon and offers a plethora of tips, secrets and background information on successfully using Fuji’s X-Pro1 and X-E1 system cameras, lenses and key accessories.

Apple Camera RAW, X-Trans and EXR

Rico Pfirstinger — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:28:52 +0000

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – Rico’s Flickr photosteam

Considering the lively discussion that is going on about Apple Camera Raw and Aperture finally supporting Fujifilm cameras with X-Trans sensors, earlier reports about Aperture’s death appear to be a bit premature. As was to be expected, most of the discussion focuses on heavy pixel peeping, so this is what I am not going to talk about in this edition of my X-Pert Corner column. That’s because with all the pixel peeping, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. There’s more to processing a RAW file than looking at perceived artifacts in 100%-400% magnification modes. Let’s instead focus on the following:

How usable is Apple Camera Raw for highlight recovery?
How is Apple Camera Raw dealing with digital lens correction and RAW metadata?
How is it handling RAW files that were taken in extended dynamic range modes, like DR200% and DR400%?

If you open a “standard” (that is DR100%) X-Trans RAW file in Apple Aperture using the latest Apple Camera Raw, chances are it won’t look that much different from a standard Provia SOOC JPEG file. Why bother, then? We could just use the JPEGs from the camera (maybe with additional tweaking in its internal RAW converter) and carry on with our lives, right? Yes, we could, at least in many instances. However, there are situations that the camera’s built-in JPEG engine cannot handle. This is where external RAW processing options shine—at least some of them, because not all external RAW processors are equally well-suited for specific tasks, such as highlight recovery.

Let’s have a look at a practical example. This is a (cropped to taste) SOOC JPEG image I recently recorded with a XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS prototype lens:

You can immediately see that the dynamic range of this subject grossly exceeds the range of the JPEG: shadows are blocked, highlights (clouds and sky) are blown-out. No matter how you deal with this RAW file in the camera’s internal converter, you won’t get a balanced result showing the full tonal range of the scene. For example, redeveloping the JPEG in-camera with soft (-2) shadow and highlight tone settings won’t rescue the clouds:

Neither will “pulling” the image -1/3 or -2/3 EV using the built-in converter’s push/pull function:

-1/3 EV

-2/3 EV

It is important to note that both -1/3 EV and -2/3 EV versions shown here don’t induce any any clipped highlight warnings, neither in the camera’s “info display” view nor in Apple Aperture. This means that no matter how much further I might pull the RAW in-camera, the texture in the clouds won’t magically re-appear. The internal RAW converter simply cannot rescue this shot. However, a state-of-the-art external converter can.

I shot this sample using the basic “ETTR exposure technique for RAW shooters” that I am recommending in my book. This means setting the camera to DR100% and using the live histogram to set the “right” exposure, clipping the relevant highlights in the histogram just so much that they can still be recovered in Lightroom/ACR or, in this case, Apple Camera Raw and Aperture.

Here’s what the standard import of the RAW file looks like in Apple Aperture:

It’s easy to notice the similarities between this RAW import and the default SOOC JPEG rendering. Again, the clouds and sky are blown-out, while the shadows are blocked and need some heavy lifting. So let’s do that along with some highlight recovery in Aperture, et voilà:

Apple Camera Raw and Aperture are indeed usable for problem cases that the internal RAW converter cannot solve. At least that is the case for DR100% shots. As a JPEG shooter, you wouldn’t have recorded the above sample in DR100%, but in either DR200% or DR400% modes in order to preserve highlight tones while retaining shadow tones. However, you might still want to reprocess a resulting (underexposed) DR200% or DR400% RAW file with Lightroom or Apple Camera Raw and Aperture. So let’s do the latter and see what happens, but before we actually go there, let me point you to my article about expanding dynamic range here on X-Pert Corner, where you can learn more about the inner workings of your camera’s DR function.

Here’s another high-contrast scene. I shot it in DR400% in order to create a JPEG with enhanced dynamic range:

The camera did a good job balancing the dark parts in the foreground and the bright parts in the background of this scene. However, it’s not perfect, and reducing the contrast with the built-in RAW converter isn’t totally convincing, either:

Let’s import the RAW to Apple Aperture and process it with Apple Camera Raw in order to achieve a more pleasing result. Here’s what the standard import looks like:

Whoa! What’s that? This certainly doesn’t resemble the SOOC JPEG shown above! The highlights in the back are even brighter (and blown-out), while the shadows are even darker and more blocked.

Two things have happened here:

Apple Camera Raw is still doing a very poor job handling the import of DR200% and DR400% RAWs. I say “still” because we already know this phenomenon from the classic X100. Apple has made zero improvements regarding this matter in the past two years.
Apple Camera Raw is using RAW metadata do apply distortion correction (the SOOC images and the RAW imports overlap almost perfectly), but it is NOT applying any de-vignetting, resulting in even darker image corners.

Of course, you can still process this RAW file in Apple Aperture, but it’s a more challenging endeavor, as tonality, white point and black point are all over the place. Here’s what I eventually came up with:

I deliberately chose not to rescue more specular highlights in the background, as I wanted to retain a natural, analog film look with plenty of contrast.

For RAWs with DR200% or DR400% “underexposure”, Russian RPP can be a quite powerful alternative due to its built-in “compressed dynamic range” function. Here’s what the original RAW import looks like in RPP:

Don’t be scared by the extreme underexposure displayed here. Instead, simply use the software’s Compressed Exposure tool to change the curve:

With some additional minor tweaks, I find the RPP result quite pleasing:

Comparing the results from Aperture and RPP, you will note that RPP shows more of the scene than Aperture and the SOOC JPEG. This has two reasons:

RPP output is using the full 16.3 megapixels of the sensor, not just 16.0 MP (or even less) like most other converters.
RPP doesn’t apply any lens correction, neither for distortion nor vignetting.

Feel free to download and play with this RAW file on your own. However, please respect my copyright and don’t show anything out of this context.

Let’s summarize:

In principle, Apple Camera Raw and Aperture are a useful and capable RAW conversion combo to “rescue” problematic X-Trans shots with plenty of dynamic range and other issues.
With Apple Camera Raw, it’s recommended to shoot and process RAW files in DR100%. While it is somewhat possible to work with DR200%/DR400% RAW files in Aperture, you will run out of luck in Apple iPhoto, as this software is simply lacking the necessary sliders and functions.
Apple Camera Raw automatically applies digital lens distortion correction based on metadata in the RAW file. However, it doesn’t apply any de-vignetting.

Apple Camera Raw and EXR cameras

While Apple’s latest edition of Camera Raw officially supports all current X-Trans cameras, is also provides unofficial support for several EXR sensor cameras, including the X10, X-S1 and XF1. This means that you can import and open such files in Apple Aperture and iPhoto, and you will be able to see icon image previews of your RAW files in the Finder and the file system.

Actual support of the EXR sensor is very limited, though: Apple’s RAW converter can only deal with half of the sensor’s pixels. This means that HR RAWs are presented with only half their actual resolution, and only the higher exposed sensor half of EXR DR RAWs can be processed. EXR SN RAWs can be processed without losing half the sensor information, but you will run into the same tonality problems we ran into above once its DR exceeds DR100%. So practically, Apple Camera Raw is pretty much useless for seriously processing RAWs from EXR cameras. Lightroom or the camera’s built-in converter will deliver much better results.

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

First Look: XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS

Rico Pfirstinger — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 05:00:08 +0000

UPDATE (18APR2013): Added more llama shots and a new flower shot.

UPDATE: US readers can already preorder the brand new Fuji 55-200mm lens at BHphoto (Click here).

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – Rico’s XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS Prototype Samples

Fuji’s XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS “kit zoom” was one of last year’s most pleasant surprises, offering very good image quality in a portale package at a quite affordable price. This May, it will be complemented by a telephoto zoom that was officially announced today. The new lens starts off exactly where the kit zoom ends: at 55mm, going all the way to 200mm. According to Fuji, that’s 84-305mm in 35mm (“full-frame”) equivalence terms.

The telephoto zoom’s full name is FUJINON XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS, and it’s supposed to sell for USD 699.– (plus sales tax) in the U.S. or EUR 649.– (incl. VAT) here in Germany. I have been able to work with an early prototype of the lens for more than a week, so let’s have a closer look, shall we?

Same, same, but different…

If you already know Fuji’s 18-55mm kit zoom lens, the new telephoto zoom will immediately feel familiar. It’s obvious that Fujifilm wants you to buy this zoom as an extension to your already existing standard zoom. Both lenses offer the same key features: a manual focus ring, an aperture ring without engravings, a zoom ring, an optical image stabilizer (OIS) and fast/silent linear autofocus motors. Everything is located in the same place: There’s one switch to turn the OIS on and off, and there’s another one to toggle the lens between automatic and manual aperture settings. Design, build quality and used materials appear to be quite similar, as well.

Would you like to know more about what all those letters and numbers in XF55-200mmF3.5-4.8 R LM OIS actually mean? If that’s the case, you may want to read my article Decoding XF18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS here on Fujirumors. Pretty much all information on the kit zoom lens is also applicable to the new telephoto lens.

Welcome back! As I mentioned, working with the telephoto zoom is much of a “been there, done that” experience for those who already know Fujifilm’s standard kit zoom lens. Brought together, these two zoom lenses make a perfect couple. But so do Steffi and her Irish horse Poteen:

Fuji’s 55-200mm zoom contains 14 optical elements in 10 groups, including one aspherical lens and two ED elements. Performance should be similar to what we’ve seen from the 18-55mm zoom. It’s impossible to tell with such an early prototype, as Fuji is still working on the mechanics, the optics and the firmware of the lens. This article is far from definitive, it’s a First Look on a work in progress.

On the bright side?

A variable maximum aperture opening of F3.5-4.8 doesn’t sound like much, does it? And yet, the lens is quite up to the task when it comes to isolating objects from their background. Take a look:

110mm, f/4

149mm, f/5.6

190mm, f/9

78mm, f/9

95mm, f/5.6

135mm, f/4.5

More often than not, you may have to drastically stop-down the lens in order to expand the depth-of-field (DOF) to reasonable levels, like in these examples:

55mm, f/16

55mm, f/13

55mm, f/14

The maximum aperture number of this lens is f/22, another kit zoom similarity.

Come closer!

Fuji’s 55-200mm telephoto zoom is capable of operating at distances as close as 1.1 meters throughout all focal lengths, thus creating an opening for limited close-up work with the benefit of a rather narrow angle-of-field (29.0°-8.1°) to hide unwanted background elements, and with a maximum image ratio between 1:16.67 (at 55mm) and 1:5.56 (at 200mm).

116mm, f/4.5

The following uncropped samples illustrate the DOF at different working apertures of f/4.5 and f/8:

149mm, f/4.5

149mm, f/8

My focus point was at the center of the second flower from the right. As expected, there’s a trade-off between increased DOF and smoother bokeh. To get a better impression of these images, you can inspect larger versions of these and other sample shots in my Flickr set, where you can also view full EXIF information and read notes about what and who is depicted in the pictures.

With the limited DOF of increased focal lengths, focusing can become a tricky task: In order to nail a telephoto shot, it’s often useful to reduce the size of the AF frame and place it precisely over the area of the subject that you want to be in focus:

200mm, f/5.6

It would be beneficial if Fujifilm offered the camera’s built-in magnifier tool not only in manual focus (MF) mode, but also in AF-S and AF-C (like in the X100 and X100S). I’m pretty confident that such a feature will be part of Fuji’s next big firmware update for the X-E1 and X-Pro1, which I expect to be released this summer.

New firmware for old lenses

Speaking of summer, Fujifilm has also promised firmware updates for its five existing XF lenses. These updates are supposed to further enhance autofocus performance. The 55-200mm telephoto zoom will already ship with this faster firmware (so no upgrade will be necessary), but in order to properly use the lens, you’ll have to upgrade the firmware of your camera bodies to versions 1.05 (X-E1) and 2.04 (X-Pro1), respectively.

Obviously, the optical viewfinder of the X-Pro1 is of very limited benefit with this particular lens: A usable bright frame is only displayed between 55mm and 60mm. This makes the X-E1 (with its higher-res EVF) the better choice for longer lenses. Since the 55-200mm is rather bulky (but at 590 grams much lighter than it looks), I recommend attaching Fuji’s optional HG-XE1 hand grip to the camera. After all, fully extended and with its lightweight plastic lens hood, this is a pretty long lens—literally speaking.

In my testing, AF performance of the prototype was pretty much on par with what I’m used to from my 18-55mm kit zoom lens. Comparing both zooms at 55mm in rather low light, I got the (utterly unscientific) impression that the 55-200m lens focused a tad faster than the kit zoom, but that may simply be because of its slightly larger aperture opening of f/3.5 (vs. f/4.0) at 55mm. More light, more contrast—you get the idea…

Speaking of aperture openings, here’s the deal:
The lens offers a maximum aperture of…
f/3.5 between 55mm & 75mm,
f/4.0 between 75mm & 115mm,
f/4.5 between 115mm & 165mm,
f/4.6 between 165 & 172mm and
f/4.8 between 172 & 200mm.

Of course, those numbers are just ballpark approximations and may be different in production lenses with production firmware.

The 55-200mm zoom lens features two fast (and very silent) linear motors, and like in the kit zoom lens, the OIS motor is always working (though almost inaudible) in either maintenance or stabilizing mode. The diameter of the filter thread is 62mm, so all of you who’ve just bought 58mm filters for your kit zoom, be prepared to buy again!

As mentioned earlier, the real focusing challenge of this lens (at least for me) is not its lack of speed but the requirement to focus very precisely due to the often limited DOF. Here are a few examples showing living subjects. Some of them even dared to move during shooting…

122mm, f/5

55mm, f/8

Is it just me, or is there a theme…? Anyway, more close-up stuff:

110mm, f/5

173mm, f/4.8

128mm, f/4.5

95mm, f/4

78mm, f/4

181mm, f/5.6

However, if you get it right, you may be rewarded with a pleasant interplay between in-focus and out-of-focus areas.

128mm, f/4.5

135mm, f/4.5

200mm, f/5.6

Again, please have a look at my Flickr set for larger viewing options.

No jitters, please!

Fujifilm promises strong OIS performance with a gain of “up to 4.5 stops” compared to using the lens without stabilization. In reality, your mileage may vary: There’s no guarantee for 100% crisp shots at 1/15s shutter speed and 200mm (= 300mm “full-frame” equiv.) focal length, but if you are lucky and have steady arms and hands (and possibly a monopod), you will probably be able to nail a decent percentage of shots. At such focal lengths, the OIS is also instrumental in framing and focusing the shot, as it calms an otherwise jittery live view image. That’s why I recommend using OIS mode 1 (= “always on”) with this kind of lens.

Manual focus is the usual “focus-by-wire”, but has a quite natural feel. In conjunction with the 3x/10x magnifier tool, the OIS is utterly indispensable.

Now what?

Is the Fuji’s new 55-200mm telephoto zoom lens worth its price? You bet, at least based on my hopefully not so wild assumption that Fujifilm will deliver image quality that compares well to its successful 18-55mm kit zoom lens. We will know for sure once I get my greedy hands on pre-production and production samples of this lens. Regarding handling, speed, design and operation, this telephoto zoom is an ideal extension (and big brother) to the venerable kit zoom lens.

Updated XF lens roadmap

Did I mention that Fujifilm has updated the XF lens roadmap? Well, here it is:

This chart basically confirms what was previously known, with two notable exceptions: Fuji is actively advertising the upcoming XF autofocus lenses from Carl Zeiss (some of you may wonder why), and the F1.4/56mm prime has turned into a faster F1.2/56mm lens. Nice! However, there’s a downside, too: This long-expected lens has been pushed back till January 2014. Honestly, I’d rather like to have it now.

Updated book roadmap

As for my book writing, reader feedback has been very kind and positive about how useful my current book “Mastering the FUJIFILM X-Pro1” (Kindle Edition) (Apple iBook Store) (German version) has been for owners of the X-E1 and even the new X100S. Thank y’all for telling me! That’s why I have decided to delay my X-E1 book until Fujifilm eventually releases a major firmware update that will offer many (as in 100+) new features and improvements. Once that happens (knowing Fuji, it may take a while), a future book will cover both the X-Pro1 and X-E1, so you’ll eventually get two updated camera books for the price of one. Till then, the current book will do just fine. Don’t take my word for it, though. Instead, read a few X-Pert Corner articles or my 65 pages of free reading samples (German version).

Updated critter roadmap

Last Sunday, we got ourselves a llama. Yes, really! His name is Skipper, he’s eight years old. He’s originally from a circus, and he only spits at Nikon users.

55mm, f/3.5

86mm, f/5.6

I’ll get back to you with more llama shots (taken with the telephoto zoom, of course) once Skipper got his own webpage on our little riding website here in Germany.

LLAMA UPDATE: Took two more llama shots today…

200mm, f/7.1, 1/45s (free-hand, OIS at work)

78mm, f/5.6

And one for those who don’t like llamas:

200mm, f/5.6

EXR article update

I’m still collecting questions concerning my planned X-Pert Corner article explaining EXR technology (and how to use it best). What happened to the 1,500+ readers who voted for such an article here on Fujirumors? Come on!

Happy shooting,
have a nice week, and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PATRICK!

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

Studio X

Rico Pfirstinger — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 05:07:04 +0000

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – Rico’s studio samples set

Taking your X-series camera to a studio is easy. All you need is a well-equipped location, a stunning model, great make-up, amazing dresses, beautiful lighting and the talent to put it all together.

Obviously, I’ve got none of that.

That’s why I turned to Damien Lovegrove, who’s not only a master of the trade, but also a keen and experienced X-series user. When others shoot with bulky Canikons, Damien will use his classic (black) X100 or his X-Pro1. Many of his images are nothing short of spectacular and can be admired on his blog, and unlike other well-known pros, he’s not paid by Fujifilm for using and endorsing their products. Shooting the little Fujis is his choice. Here’s Damien with one of his beloved Lupolights, posing as a stand-in model:

Once I learned that Damien was coming to Munich for a lighting workshop at Radmila Kerl’s studio on April 3rd, I quickly secured myself a spot. After all, it’s just a 90 minutes drive from where I live. I brought my X-Pro1, X-E1 and X100S cameras along with a full set of lenses, eventually using Fuji’s trusted kit zoom (which Damien uses a lot), the F1.4/35mm and a classic Voigtländer Heliar F1.8/75mm with Leica M mount, which has become one of my favorite portrait lenses. Damien quickly fell in love with it, as well, but he was struggling with the manual focus of the lens. So let’s begin with a 75mm high-key shot of our stunning model Wlada Schüler from Berlin:

Lit with a single Profoto flashlight from above/behind, I used ISO 1250, f/2.8 and 1/125s flash sync on my X-E1 along with some heavy overexposure that is required for this look. Here’s another example, this time with Fuji’s kit zoom lens at 55mm and f/4.5, dialing up the X-Pro1′s ISO to 1600:

Apart from the initial Voigtländer image, all samples in this article are based on factory-setting OOC JPEGs (Provia), although I dialed down the highlight tone to -2 for several shots. The JPEGs were swiftly processed in Apple Aperture (no fancy stuff or layer work) and uploaded to Flickr.

Using the single Profoto flash unit again, but this time to create contrasty low-key results, I was closing the kit zoom’s aperture to f/9 and f/10. Careful black&white processing of the JPEGs resulted in a pleasant “film noir”-like look…

However, black&white isn’t mandatory for this kind of setting:

We shot the entire day in full manual mode, which was quite liberating given the well-documented and widely discussed Auto-ISO shortcomings of Fuji’s current firmware in the X-Pro1 and X-E1 cameras. I did use Auto White Balance for most of the shots, though, as the Fujis almost always tend to get that right. Exposing manually is quite reasonable in a setting where you can control the light and keep it steady, as this method will get you a series of identically exposed shots. Pick the ones you like, then apply the same post-processing to all of them. Of course, this procedure only works to a certain degree, as even in controlled lighting, small changes of perspective or different positions/postures of the model will lead to varying results that may require individual adjustments.

Everything was recorded in DR100%, because for shots like these, blown highlights are no problem. If they occur, it is either intentional or only affects parts of the subject where it doesn’t matter or may even enhance the shot. When you are shooting JPEGs (like I did), I recommend setting the highlight tone to -2 in order to smooth and protect bright skin tones. However, portrait photography like this is typically high-key territory, hence faces and skin are richly exposed to make them “glow”. This also enhances tonality, as the brighter parts of a digital image contain more tonal levels than the darker parts.

While manual mode is a straightforward method to expose in controlled light, Fujifilm could do a better job assisting the photographer. For starters, I’d like to see an option that enables WYSIWYG live view in manual mode, so photographers can spot actual (as opposed to measured) over- or underexposure in manual mode even before they shoot a sample. This sould go along with a working live histogram in manual mode (the current histogram is worth- and meaningless in manual mode and just blocking part of the view). Finally, I’d like to see exposure compensation working in manual mode with active Auto-ISO (which I call “misomatic” mode). In concert with the other manual mode improvements, this would also end any debate about minimum shutter speed for different focal lengths when using Auto-ISO.

“If you got a lemon, make lemonade.”

This popular proverb also applies to studio shooting, where experimenting and failure are part of the creative process. Take this Elinchrom multi-flash setup, where Damien used a purple gel to illuminate the gray background:

Even at f/5.6, the wrinkles in the background roll are clearly visible and kind of distracting in this unprocessed SOOC Provia JPEG. It took me about a minute to blacken the purple and enhance the skin tones in Apple Aperture:

However, there are reflections of the (formerly) purple background in the model’s hair. For me, going black&white was the best and most simple solution to enhance this JPEG:

(Over-)Complicating things doesn’t automatically lead to better results, and I think one of Damien’s most formidable strengths is his talent for simple setups with just one or two artificial light sources.

To further prove my point that simplicity is good, here are two more Elinchrom samples with a simpler, unlit background (further darkened by using a small aperture of f/11):

Unlike our previous “lemon shot”, these images also look quite nice in color:

Using an aperture of f/11 isn’t optimal in conjunction with APS-C-sized sensors due to diffraction kicking in and taking away some detail. Full-frame camera users are better-off in situations like this, so Fuji should do their homework and offer faster flash-sync speeds in their focal plane shutter X-Mount cameras. A maximum speed of 1/180s doesn’t cut it all the time, and even though 1/250s can often be used in the field (at your own risk), it would be nice to have this speed available officially and guaranteed. Another annoyance is the fact that X-E1 and X-Pro1 cameras don’t “remember” intermediate shutter speeds like 1/160s (that can be set using the left and right selector keys). For example, once you review an image with the play button, the camera will automatically revert to its “hard” shutter speed dial setting of 1/125s or 1/250s.

The X100S doesn’t suffer from any of these quirks, as its leaf shutter allows sync speeds of up to 1/4000s. Even better, the X100S also remembers intermediate shutter speed (and aperture) settings, even if you completely switch-off the camera between shots. So at least part of the problem can be solved in firmware. Hope dies last.

Here’s another studio flash setup at f/11, featuring a spectacular corset by Lisa Keating. I specifically like the interplay between our model Wlada and her shadow on the wall:

Speaking of walls and stunning dresses, there’s a lot one can do with natural light—or a daylight lamp like the Lupolux 1200 HMI fresnel spotlight:

To cast the shadows on the wall, Damien used an actual potted plant from Radmila’s studio. Here it is, with Wlada looking like Jane luring Tarzan to follow her into the jungle…

As you can see, everybody was having fun, which is part of the process to get an atmosphere and energy that “works”.

Using the Lupolux, everybody could shoot away at the same time, as there was no flash refresh period to consider. Here’s a series of shots that were taken with this “pot plant” setup:

In addition to improvising with plants, Damien is also using his own “home-made” gels to enhance the quality of light from flash or Lupolights. Here’s a sample series showcasing one of his more subtle gels that’s casting soft, almost cloud-like shadows on the wall:

Using natural light for portraits is quite nice but not really an option on dull days. That’s why Damien once again set up a single Lupolight to simulate the non-existing sunlight coming through our studio window. Along with adequately rich high-key exposure, the results of this straightforward setup were quite charming:

Shooting from above (using a ladder), here’s the X-E1 with the 35mm prime:

And two more shots using the X100S:

And finally, another snap with the X-E1, this time catching Wlada while posing for another photographer:

Even at f/2, autofocus wasn’t an issue with these shots. The X-E1 and X-Pro1 very rarely misfocused, and I shot just as many pictures as my colleagues that were using two Nikon D4 and two Canon EOS 5Mk3 cameras.

Autofocus can be more of a challenge when using flashlight in dimmed ambient light. That’s why modeling lights should be set strong enough to provide sufficient contrast for the camera’s CDAF system to accurately lock onto the target.

For our final series, Damien set up an Elinchrom ring flash. Even at f/10 and f/11, the kit zoom lens on my X-Pro1 was still delivering admirable results.

By the way, Damien provided cheap no-name radio triggers (about USD 100 for a set of eight) that worked perfectly with both the X-E1 and X-Pro1 (as well as the Canikons that were in use).

Once again, here’s the full studio set on Flickr.

EXR, anyone?

Remember when I enquired about your interest in an article covering the inner workings of EXR technology? More than 1,500 FR readers have since voted for such an article, so I am happy to comply. In order to find out about the most pressing questions and issues you may be having with regards to EXR (how it works and how to use it best), I have set up a forum thread. Feel free to contribute and discuss these issues, as that will help me compile a tailored X-Pert Corner article with information that will help you better.

The next edition of this column will be published Wednesday morning with a special report about something I can’t talk about at this time. Stay tuned.

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

[UPDATE: with Speed Booster] Adapting Third-Party Lenses

Rico Pfirstinger — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 06:52:23 +0000

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – X-E1 sample images set – X-Pro1 sample images set

Last week, we had a very interesting article by Jan Vogelaar about the performance of Carl Zeiss and Leica M lenses on a X-Pro1. So I guess it makes sense to cover some practical aspects of adapting vintage lenses to your X-Mount camera in today’s X-PERT CORNER column.

One highlight of the X-Pro1 and X-E1 is undoubtedly the small flange-back distance of the X-Mount lens connector at only 17.7mm. This means you can attach practically any third-party lens from other camera systems—with the appropriate adapters—to your X-Mount camera. Manufacturers like Kipon have already announced X-Mount-compatible adapters for more than 40 third-party systems, and the high-quality German manufacturer Novoflex has also dutifully added X-Mount adapters for some 13 established third-party mounts.

The X-Pro1 is not a rangefinder camera. It’s a pure-bred autofocus camera and as such—despite its hybrid viewfinder—it is only marginally equipped to work in combination with manual focus lenses. Currently, the only tool that the X-Pro1 and X-E1 feature to assist with manual focusing is a magnified digital viewfinder. The camera also offers some kind of focus peaking when you magnify the viewfinder image: It will enhance contrasty edges, indicating that they are in-focus.

Unfortunately, there are a few further aspects that render the X-Pro1 and X-E1 not yet perfectly equipped for working with third-party lenses: When a lens is attached to the X-Pro1 via an adapter, Auto-ISO operates with a minimum shutter speed of 1/30 second—independently of the actual focal length that was set in the adapter menu. 1/30s may be too fast for many wide-angle lenses and too slow for most standard and telephoto lenses. The cameras also set the minimum flash sync speed at a fixed 1/15 second when a third-party lens is attached, which is largely useless for lenses with larger focal lengths. In other words, the cameras “know” exactly what the current focal length is, but doesn’t use this information to the benefit of the photographer.

Fuji’s own Leica M mount adapter (pictured above) includes X-Mount signal contacts as well as a function button on the adapter ring that brings up the adapter menu on the monitor or in the viewfinder. Furthermore, this adapter unlocks extra camera functions that allow you to correct several optical errors such as vignetting, distortions, or color shifts at the borders of an image. However, due to these extra contacts occupying extra space, Fuji’s own adapter is not compatible with all M lenses. Fuji maintains a compatibility chart showing which lens will fit and which will not. The adapter also comes with a gauge that will tell you if a particular lens that’s not on the chart will fit.

In the X-Pro1, the display frame for the OVF uses the selected focal length setting from the adapter menu (SHOOTING MENU > MOUNT ADAPTER SETTINGS), as long as it’s between 18 and 60 millimeters. Focal lengths less than 18mm are indicated in the optical viewfinder with yellow arrows in the corners, and focal lengths of greater than 60mm, with a red frame calibrated to 60mm.

Within the acceptable range of focal lengths for the OVF—18mm to 60mm—two frame indicators will appear in the viewfinder: one white, one blue. The white frame is corrected for parallax for objects at infinity and the blue frame, for objects at a distance of about two yards.

Third-party lenses that are attached to the X-Pro1 or X-E1 over an adapter can only be focused manually. The only exposure modes that are available are the aperture-priority (A) and manual exposure (M) modes. Other functions such as auto ISO, TTL flash, and DR extension, however, are still available.

Connecting and Recognizing Third-Party Lenses

After you have mechanically attached a third-party lens to your camera via an adapter, you should first make sure that SHOOTING MENU > SHOOT WITHOUT LENS > ON is selected—otherwise your X-Pro1 won’t take any pictures. Using Fuji’s own M adapter will automatically enable and grey-out this option for you.

Next go to SHOOTING MENU > MOUNT ADAPTER SETTINGS. Here you will have six lens settings to choose from: four focal length presets (21mm, 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm) as well as LENS 5 and LENS 6—two focal lengths that you can set manually.

If you happen to be using an M-adapter from FUJIFILM, you will also have a number of correction settings available, which I’ll cover in part two of this article.

Focusing with Third-Party Lenses

The only way to focus precisely when using a third-party lens is to use the magnified display of the electronic viewfinder (EVF) or the LCD monitor. Your camera will need to be in manual focus (MF) mode, so turn the focus mode selector on the front of the camera to M. As usual, you can magnify the digital displays by pressing the command dial.

The sample shot above was taken with a (probably) at least 20 years old Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 180mmF2.8 MM-G C/Y lens and a no-name C/Y > XF adapter. It’s an OOC JPEG shot with an X-E1 (using the internal RAW converter as described here) and post-processed with Apple Aperture. To preserve and enhance the pleasing vintage look, colors and gradation of such “analog” lenses, I often use film simulations from VSCO (available for Lightroom, Photoshop and Aperture) as starting points. I took the picture at open (or almost open) aperture and focused with the 3x magnifier tool. Click on the image for a higher-res view and more exposure parameters.

To focus as exactly as possible, you’ll want to open the aperture as wide as possible. The reduced depth of field will help you to find the correct focus point. After you’ve found it, you can then close the aperture to your desired setting. The focus point should not move, but the depth of field should become larger. You can observe this effect in the EVF. The viewfinder’s distance and depth of field indicators will be nonfunctional. Of course, you need be careful with this method when using a lens that shifts its focus plane on changing the aperture. This often occurs in spherically under-corrected lenses that feature nice background bokeh (and harsh/swirling foreground bokeh). With such lenses, you may be better off focusing with the actual working aperture of your shot.

To refine your focus at any time you can always reactivate the magnified digital display. Well, almost at any time: the magnified display will not be available while the camera is transferring data from the buffer memory to the memory card. As soon as that finishes, you can activate it again. Let’s hope that Fuji takes care of this annoying quirk in future firmware updates. In the meantime you can make do with a bit of patience and a super-fast memory card.

The image above is a sample shot with a Voigtländer Heliar F1.8/75mm with M Adapter. It was shot with a Kipon M adapter and developed from the RAW in Silkypix 5, no further post-processing and no VSCO Film. Click on the image for larger views and more exposure parameters. Here’s another sample with the Voigtländer, shot at f/2.8 with a single studio flash from above:

Exposing Correctly with Third-Party Lenses

When a third-party lens is attached, the X-Pro1 works exclusively in the aperture-priority (A) or the manual (M) exposure modes. However, neither of these modes functions exactly as they do with Fuji’s own XF lenses.While X-Mount lenses don’t set the aperture until the shutter button is pressed halfway in A and M modes, third-party lenses reduce the aperture immediately after setting a larger f-number. This not only causes the depth of field to increase in the EVF display; it also causes the live view image to get darker, since less light is able to enter the lens and reach the sensor.

The camera attempts to counteract this loss of light and enhances the display in the viewfinder. This works, but only up to a point.

With current firmware, that the live histogram doesn’t relay any useful information in M mode. With a very dark subject, however, the live histogram also can’t deliver any useful information in the other exposure modes (P, A, and S). Using a third-party lens with a narrow aperture is similar to creating “a very dark subject,” because we’ve reduced the amount of light that reaches the sensor and darkened the effective viewfinder display. This causes “dusk” to become “night” quickly in the live image, which in turn renders the live histogram useless because it relies on the live image for its data.

Keep these relationships in mind when you want to expose precisely with third-party lenses in combination in aperture priority mode (A) with the help of the histogram. A simple solution for this problem is to use a very large aperture when setting the exposure for your shot. Then you can use the histogram and the exposure compensation dial to optimize your exposure settings. Finally, you can stop the aperture down once you’re satisfied—this will change (shift) the aperture and the shutter speed, but won’t change the overall exposure of your image.

You can get the best exposure preview of your image in poor lighting conditions in the EVF or on the LCD monitor by pressing the shutter button halfway. The camera then enhances the live image display as much as possible.

Special Features of the FUJIFILM M Adapter

In principle, FUJIFILM’s own M adapter functions in the same way as other third-party adapters. But it offers a few additional features that are contained in the camera’s firmware and unlocked only when you attach Fuji’s adapter to the camera. So basically, Fuji’s M adapter is acting like a dongle. Fuji’s adapter also sports a dedicated little Fn button on the barrel that, when pressed, will automatically bring up the lens adapter menu.

When you use the Fuji M adapter with your X-Pro1, this adapter menu for each of the six lenses expands to include three additional settings:

DISTORTION CORRECTION corrects pincushion or barrel distortions caused by the lens. There are three correction levels available for each of these distortion types.
COLOR SHADING CORRECTION counteracts color shifts near the edges of an image, which occur most often with wide-angle lenses. Each of the four image corners can be independently corrected.
PERIPHERAL ILLUMINATION CORRECTION reduces (or increases) vignetting. There are five levels available to decrease or amplify vignetting effects.

You can set correction values separately for each of the six focal lengths available in the adapter menu (SHOOTING MENU > MOUNT ADAPTER SETTINGS). You’ll need to handle all of these corrections manually—they aren’t automatically applied. Also, you have to set the correction settings for each lens individually, which will require you to take test shots and compare the results.

If you don’t exactly know what these three correction options actually do, there is an illustration at FUJIFILM’s international product site.

The corrections you apply in the adapter menu are applied during the RAW conversion. In other words, the JPEGs will be corrected according to your inputs. Furthermore, the external RAW converters Silkypix, RAW File Converter EX, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Camera RAW and Capture One can recognize the correction settings in the RAW file’s metadata. For technical reasons, however, they are only able to apply the distortion and the vignetting corrections when developing the RAW file. The correction for the color shading unfortunately gets left by the wayside, which means you’ll need to refer back to the camera’s JPEGs.

Quality Considerations

If the sensor of the X-E1 or X-Pro1 was “full-frame” as in 35mm, it would sport a resolution of more than 36 megapixels, just like the Nikon D800E, which, like the X-Trans sensor, is built by Sony and doesn’t use an anti-aliasing (AA) filter. On other words: If you crop a shot made with a D800E to match APS-C sensor size in Photoshop, you will get a 16 MP image cut out from the center of the frame that will very much match the image you get when you put the same lens on an X-Pro1 or X-E1 and use the full APS-C image area.

We all know that vintage analog full-frame lenses were not made to take advantage of the resolution of a 36 MP D800E. In those days, not many people thought about digital photography. This means that such lenses weren’t engineered to take full advantage of current APS-C sensors with 16 MP or even higher resolution, either. So please dial back your expectations, even when you are adapting vintage analog lenses from legendary brands like Leica or Carl Zeiss. Some of these lenses may be works of art, but that still doesn’t make them state-of-the-art.

There is another consideration to be made: Analog lenses were built for 35mm film emulsions that absorb and reflect light differently from digital sensors. This means that your results can vary, depending on which particular lens you are using on a particular camera and sensor. For example, with the X-E1 and X-Pro1, users of Voigtländer’s 15 mm F 4,5 Super Wide Heliar report some smearing in the corners of their images, while users of Voigtländer’s 12mm F5,6 Ultra Wide Heliar report crisp results over the entire image frame.

My suggestion when using vintage lenses: Don’t peep pixels at 100% magnification and don’t hunt for maximum resolution. Use these lenses like you still had an analog film camera. Embrace their colors, their bokeh and all their flaws, as those flaws are part their distinct character. Don’t show-off their weaknesses, instead shoot them in a way that emphasizes their strengths and makes them (and you) look good. Here are a few more examples shot with my vintage Zeiss Sonnar. Maybe they can help to illustrate my point:

If you are interested in further reading about lens bokeh and depth-of-field, I recommend this white paper from Carl Zeiss. It is a 1.7 MB PDF download. And if you are uncertain about what adapted “full-frame” lenses are actually doing (and not doing) to your APS-C image (there are quite many myths and legends surrounding this topic), you may be interested in reading this standard article on equivalence.

Speed Booster

Did you read the article on equivalence? Good, because you might need that knowledge to immediately understand what Speed Booster is all about. With Speed Booster, adapter expert Metabones recently introduced a quite innovative solution for APS-C and MFT cameras, including Fuji X-Mount cameras.

This illustration shows the Contax/Yashica SLR mount to XF mount version of Speed Booster. As you can see, it comes with its own tripod mount (quite practical for adapting heavier optics). However, at USD 399 plus shipping, it’s certainly not cheap.

With its hefty price tag, Speed Booster isn’t your regular adapter. Instead, it converts full-frame format SLR lenses into APS-C format lenses by reducing their focal length by a factor of 0.71. At the same time, maximum aperture is increased by the same factor, which equals about 1 stop. So my F2.8/180mm Carl Zeiss prime for Contax cameras turns into a fast F2.0/128mm APS-C format X-Mount lens. Here’s what dpreview had to say about Speed Booster in their initial “First Impressions” article. And here’s a white paper PDF from Metabones that explains even more.

Since you can attach a (D)SLR lens to either Speed Booster or a regular adapter, you can now get two lenses for the price of one. When I bought my vintage German-built Zeiss F2.8/180mm Sonnar, I did that with Speed Booster in mind. Here are two JPEG samples from last week:

Click in the images for larger viewing options. There is a little corner vignetting (the shots were taken one stop down at f/2.8, meaning a setting of f/4 on the lens aperture ring), but apart from that, I am quite happy with these results. After all, this is an analog lens that was built more than 20 years ago. Speed Booster lets me use this classic tele prime with its original full-frame field of view, speeding it up to F2.0 in the process, so ISOs can stay low even when shooting action. Of course, you need to focus carefully with those analog lenses in order to actually nail it. Here’s a crop:

Due to the thickness of the adapter and the resulting longer flange-back distance, it’s not possible to adapt Leica M lenses (or similar rangefinder style formats). However, there are versions for several SLR formats. For Fuji X-Mount, you can currently get Speed Boosters for Leica R, Contax/Yashica (Zeiss), Contarex and Alpa.

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

Using the X100S

Rico Pfirstinger — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:31:50 +0000

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – X100S sample images set – X100S/X100 comparison images set

The X100S has hit the shelves, and it appears to be quite popular. It’s an evolutionary camera, improving the very successful “classic” X100 in many fields and aspects. Following the lead of last week’s “Using the X20” article, here’s a compilation of tips and tricks to get you started with the new “S”. This article is partly building on my earlier “X100S vs. X100” text, so it assumes that you have read it. Let’s once again begin with…

Auto-ISO

The X100S features an improved Auto-ISO function that is based on the classic X100. In Auto-ISO, you can set the ISO base (minimum ISO / default sensitivity), the ISO limit (maximum ISO sensitivity) and the minimum shutter speed. Different Auto-ISO settings can be saved in each of the camera’s three custom shooting profiles (C1 – C3). For more information on shooting profiles and how to use them, access them and configure them, please have a look at my very first X-Pert Corner article. Like with the X-E1 and X-Pro1, you can change settings and select shooting profiles in the Quick Menu by pressing the Q button. Remember that BASIC is just a funny acronym for the camera’s currently selected/active settings. BASIC is neither a preset nor some default profile. Sadly and contrary to statements in the owner’s manual, the X100S features not seven, but only three custom shooting profiles.

If you plan to use the DR (dynamic range) function (DR Auto, DR200% or DR400%) you should set the camera to Auto-ISO. You may also want to consider reading this X-Pert Corner article to learn more about how to expand dynamic range. In order to work with DR200%, the X100S needs an ISO setting of at least 400. For DR400%, it needs an ISO setting of at least 800.

Auto-ISO is now also a part of the ISO menu when you use the Fn button to change ISO settings. This is quite useful and an improvement over the X100, where you had to dive into the shooting menu to (re-)configure Auto-ISO settings.

Autofocus

The X100S offers the same AF modes as the X100: AF-C and AF-S, with two AF-S submodes:Area and Multi. AF-C is basically behaving like AF-S and known to be very effective in low light situations with bad contrast. This also means that AF-C is no real object tracking mode (unlike the Hybrid-AF systems in the Nikon 1 or Sony NEX 6). So when you are shooting objects that quickly move towards the camera, better use the famous “Autofocus Trick”, also known as “shutter mash technique”: Set the camera to AF-S or AF-C (use AF-S if you want to assign a particular AF field, use AF-C if you are okay with the center spot or area) and press the shutter all the way through in one quick, swift motion (no half-pressing!) while keeping the AF field trained over the area of your subject that you want to be in focus. Since the X100S operates with Autofocus Priority, it won’t take the shot until it has actually locked focus (or until it gave up, in which case the shot will probably be wasted). This cropped example of a horse trotting directly towards the camera was shot at open aperture (f/2) using the Autofocus Trick, with the AF frame trained on the pony’s head:

Please remember that the X100S features a new hybrid autofocus system: a mix of CDAF (contrast detection autofocus) and on-sensor PDAF (phase detection autofocus). PDAF is quicker, but only works in good light, such as 5 EV or better. More importantly, PDAF is only available in about 40% of the sensor area, covering the center 9 (3 x 3) AF fields. So for best (fastest) AF results, shoot in good light and use the center 9 AF fields. You don’t have to worry about which of the two AF methods to use. The camera will take care of that for you.

Shutter Lag

While the Autofocus Trick will obviously introduce some shutter lag (defined as the time between you pressing the shutter and the camera taking the shot) due to the camera’s AF Priority operation, you can significantly reduce this time period by priming the camera during normal shooting (= shooting without tricks). All you need to do is half-press the shutter while anticipating the actual shot.

Mirrorless cameras like the X series have a distinct way of operation: During Live View, they are constantly adapting the lens aperture to the brightness of the ambient light that’s entering the lens. However, for exposure measurement and focusing purposes, the camera has to fully open up the aperture. Then, right before actually taking the shot, the aperture has to be closed again to reflect the chosen “working aperture” settings. Half-pressing the shutter button performs this sequence and primes the camera to minimize any shutter lag. If you don’t half-press the shutter button before actually taking the shot, shutter lag will increase even if you are using manual focus and manual exposure. When the camera isn’t primed before taking the shot, smaller apertures will also induce a longer shutter lag than wide-open settings, as the aperture blades have to travel a longer way from their wide open measuring position to their final working aperture position.

Shortcuts

The X100S features an impressive list of shortcuts that can make your life much easier:

Press and hold the Q button for a few seconds to clearly increase the brightness of the LCD. This can be quite helpful when operating the camera in bright light, like on a sunny day.
Press and hold the MENU/OK button down to lock or unlock the arrow keys and the Q button.
A long press of the Fn button will bring up the Fn button’s configuration menu, where you can assign one of several functions. I typically assign ISO to this button, because I like to be able to quickly change my Auto-ISO configuration (minimum shutter speed). Another popular option for this button is enabling the camera’s built-in ND filter.
Press and hold DISP/BACK button to activate (or deactivate) the camera’s Silent Mode. When this mode is turned on, the X100S functions quietly and inconspicuously. It won’t make any artificial noises and it abstains from using both the flash and the AF-assist lamp.
Pressing the DISP/BACK button while selecting an AF field in AF-S Area mode will immediately select the central AF field.
Press DISP/BACK in shooting or playback mode to change the view of the currently active display. This means that in order to change the view of either the OVF, the EVF or the LCD, either the OVF, EVF or LCD must be active when you press the button. You can select the display you want to change with the VIEW MODE button. Alternatively, use the eye-sensor to activate a display by looking through it, then change its view with the DISP/BACK button. The X100S can’t read your mind, you need to tell it which display’s view you want to change.
Finally, to check (or upgrade) the firmware version of the camera, press and hold the DISP/BACK button while switching on the camera.
In manual focus mode, press the AE-L/AF-L button to initiate an autofocus run.
Also in manual focus mode, press and hold the command dial to cycle through the camera’s different MF aids: standard, digital split image and focus peaking.
Press (but do not hold) the command dial to enlarge the current image to inspect its sharpness. This works in both MF and AF modes.
Rather than selecting a function in the shooting menu by pressing the OK button, you can press the shutter button halfway down. Pressing the shutter button halfway down while in playback mode switches the camera directly into shooting mode. You can wake the camera by pressing the shutter button halfway down as well.
Double-tap the macro button to switch between normal and macro modes.

Hybrid Viewfinder

Like every non-TTL (mirrorless) optical viewfinder camera, the X100S is prone to parallax error. This means that the image you see in the optical viewfinder doesn’t always reflect the image that is actually recorded by the camera. Even worse, the focus field you have selected may not point to the area of the frame that the camera is actually focusing on. This is unavoidable, as the lens/sensor and the OVF are located on different optical axes and see things from slightly different angles. Parallax error is negligible for objects that are far away, but it can be quite strong when shooting (and focusing on) things that sit close to the camera.

Luckily, the X100S is trying to compensate parallax error in the OVF by illuminating parallax-corrected AF frames once focus has been locked and the X100S “knows” the camera-object distance. In order activate this function, make sure that CORRECTED AF FRAME is set to ON in the shooting menu.

How does it work? The X100S displays two AF boxes in the OVF, a solid one, and a second box with dotted lines. The solid box represents AF at infinity, the dotted box represents the AF target at the camera’s OVF minimum focus distance (MFD). Once the X100S locks focus, a third (green) box)will appear in the OVF, showing you the actual parallax-corrected AF field position based on the calculated distance between the camera and the in-focus subject. If this green box covers the part of the image you intended to be in focus, all is good. If not, you should reframe and try again. Alternatively, you can quickly switch from the OVF to the EVF using the viewfinder selector at the front of the camera. This convenient lever is there for a reason, please use it to quickly switch between the OVF and EVF to get the best of both worlds. In the EVF, there is no parallax or framing error, so even hardcore OVF shooter can temporarily use the EVF to perfectly frame and focus a shot. Before switching back to the OVF, you may want to lock focus with an appropriately configured AF-L button.

Try to avoid the “focus and reframe” method known from DSLR cameras. In order to minimize focus plane shift, it’s better to select one of the camera’s 49 AF fields. While adjusting/selecting AF fields, you can reset their size by pressing the command dial and jump to the center frame by pressing the DISP/BACK button (see shortcuts).

Happy Easter, everybody!

X100S: BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / AmazonDE / AmazonUK / AmazonITA / DigitalRev / your ebay / your Amazon
X20: BHphoto (black – silver) / Adorama (black – silver) / AmazonUS (black – silver) / AmazonUK (black – silver) / AmazonDE / AmazonITA / DigitalRev / your ebay / your Amazon

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

Using the X20

Rico Pfirstinger — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 06:15:41 +0000

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – X20 sample images set – X20/X10 comparison images set

So you have pulled the trigger on a new X20? Let’s compile a few tips and tricks to get you started!

Auto-ISO

The X20 has a new Auto-ISO function that is based on the classic X100 and mimics the functionality of the new X100S. In Auto-ISO, you can set the ISO base (minimum ISO / default sensitivity), the ISO limit (maximum ISO sensitivity) and the minimum shutter speed. These settings can also be saved in different customer profiles (C1 and C2).

If you plan to use the DR (dynamic range) function (DR Auto, DR200% or DR400%) you should set the camera to Auto-ISO. Unlike the X10 with its EXR sensor, the X20 needs to raise the ISO sensitivity to a minimum of ISO 200 for DR200% and ISO 400 for DR400%. You can read this X-Pert Corner article to learn more about how to expand dynamic range.

Auto-ISO’s minimum shutter speed can be augmented by the optical image stabilizer (OIS) of the X20 when you set the OIS to one of its two “motion” modes. In these modes, the camera will scan the scene for motion and crank up the shutter speed (and along with it the ISO setting) accordingly. Of course, the camera can only do this when Auto-ISO is active. For example, my X20 chose ISO 400 and 1/320s (instead of ISO 100 and a slower shutter speed) when I shot these horses trotting directly towards the camera:

Once the horses had come to a stop, I took another pic, but this time, the camera reverted back to ISO 100 and a more moderate shutter speed of 1/150s:

Aperture was kept at f/5.0. Both shots were taken in Aperture priority (A) mode.

Autofocus

The X20 offers two basic AF modes, AF-C and AF-S, with several AF-S submodes: Tracking, Area and Multi, plus optional Face Detection. Face Detection is quite practical, but when it misses (because there is no face in the picture or because the camera can’t recognize one), the X20 will revert to Multi mode or Area mode, using only the central of its 49 AF fields in Area mode. Obviously, this may not lead to the desired result. Tracking mode is a little known but quite practical and powerful way to ensure correct focusing on a particular part of a scene. To use it, activate it (you can easily do this in the Quick menu), position the tracking frame over the subject of your choice (like a face) and press the arrow-left button. Your X20 will keep its focus on the selected subject (using pattern recognition), even when the subject is moving around or when you are panning the camera to reframe your shot. Don’t pan too fast or swiftly, though. Keep things smooth and everything will be alright.

What if your subject is moving towards the camera? Sure, there’s AF-C, but AF-C is no “real” object tracking mode. Better use the old “Autofocus Trick”, also known as “shutter mash technique”: Set the camera to AF-S or AF-C (use AF-S if you want to assign a particular AF field, use AF-C if you are okay with the center spot or area) and press the shutter all the way through in one quick, swift motion (no half-pressing!) while keeping the AF field trained over the area of your subject that you want to be in focus. Since the X20 operates with Autofocus Priority, it won’t take the shot until it has actually locked focus (or until it gave up, in which case the shot will probably be wasted). This cropped example of a horse running directly towards the camera was shot using the Autofocus Trick:

Please remember that the X20 features a hybrid autofocus system: a mix of CDAF (contrast detection autofocus) and PDAF (phase detection autofocus). PDAF is quicker, but only works in good lighting, such as 5 EV or better. More importantly, PDAF is only available in about 36% of the sensor area, covering the center 9 (3 x 3) AF fields. So for best (fastest) AF results, shoot in good light and use the center 9 AF fields. You don’t have to worry about which of the two AF methods to use. The camera will take care of that for you.

Shutter Lag

While the Autofocus Trick will obviously introduce some shutter lag (defined as the time between you pressing the shutter and the camera taking the shot) due to the camera’s AF Priority operation, you can significantly reduce this time period by priming the camera during normal shooting. All you need to do is half-press the shutter while anticipating the actual shot.

Mirrorless cameras like the X20 (and the rest of the X series) have a distinct way of operation: During Live View, they are constantly adapting the lens aperture to the brightness of the light that’s entering the lens. However, for exposure measurement and focusing purposes, the camera has to fully open up the aperture. Then, right before actually taking the shot, the aperture needs to be closed again to reflect the chosen “working aperture” settings. Half-pressing the shutter button performs this sequence and primes the camera to minimize any shutter lag. If you don’t half-press the shutter button before actually taking the shot, shutter lag will increase even if you are using manual focus. Smaller apertures will also induce a longer shutter lag than wide-open settings, as the aperture blades have to travel a longer way from their wide open measuring position to their final working aperture position.

To reduce shutter lag in “unprimed” shooting (as with the Autofocus Trick), it may be smart to set the camera’s OIS to one of its two “continuous” modes. That way, the OIS will already be up and running when you take the shot, saving a few milliseconds. For primed shooting (with a half-depressed shutter before taking the shot), this isn’t relevant, because the OIS will spin up as soon as the shutter button is half-pressed.

This also explains the four different OIS modes of the camera: You can combine the “continuous” and “shooting only” options with motion detection either on or off, giving you a total of four options.

Shortcuts

Like all X series cameras, the X20 features a variety of shortcuts that can make your life much easier. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a difference:

Press and hold the Q button for a few seconds to clearly increase the brightness of the LCD. This can be quite helpful when operating the camera in bright light, like on a sunny day.
Press and hold the MENU/OK button down to lock or unlock the arrow keys and the Q button.
A long press of the Fn button will bring up the Fn button’s configuration menu, where you can assign one of several functions. I typically assign Face Recognition On/Off to the Fn button, as I want to use this feature only in situations where I expect the camera to recognize and focus on a face. I want to be able to quickly turn this feature on and off.
Press the DISP/BACK button for a couple seconds to activate (or deactivate) the camera’s Silent Mode. When this mode is turned on, the X20 functions quietly and inconspicuously. It won’t make any artificial noises and it abstains from using both the flash and the AF-assist lamp.
In addition to that, pressing the DISP/BACK button while selecting an AF field in AF-S Area mode will directly select the central AF field.
Finally, to check (or upgrade) the firmware version of the camera, press and hold the DISP/BACK button while switching on the camera.
When using the camera’s playback mode, you can press the command dial to enlarge the current image as much as possible to inspect its sharpness.
Rather than selecting a function in the shooting menu by pressing the OK button, you can press the shutter button halfway down. Pressing the shutter button halfway down while in playback mode switches the camera directly into shooting mode. You can wake the camera by pressing the shutter button halfway down as well.
You can switch the camera on and off by simply pressing the playback button on the back of the camera—no need to turn the lens. The camera will enter playback mode, and only the playback and setup menus will be available. So if you want to take new pictures, you have to use the traditional way to switch-on the X20.

Optical Viewfinder (OVF)

Like every non-TTL (mirrorless) optical viewfinder camera, the X20 is prone to parallax error. This means that the image you see in the optical viewfinder doesn’t always reflect the image that is actually recorded by the camera. Even worse, the focus field you have selected may not point to the area of the frame that the camera is actually focusing on. This is unavoidable, as the lens/sensor and the OVF are located on different optical axes and see things from slightly different angles. Parallax error is negligible for objects that are far away, but it can be quite strong when shooting (and focusing on) things that sit close to the camera.

Luckily, the X20 is trying to compensate parallax error in the OVF by illuminating parallax-corrected AF frames once focus has been locked and the X20 “knows” the camera-object distance.

Let’s have a look at the AF field grid of the X20 OVF:

This is just a schematic, as you can’t actually see the black grid in the viewfinder. It’s invisible, but the camera will illuminate different AF fields in green once focus has been locked, showing you where or what it has actually focused on.

Like the X100, X100S and X-Pro1, the OVF of the X20 only supports the camera’s inner 25 (5 x 5) AF fields. Let’s assume you have selected the central AF field with the AF button. You can’t normally see your selection in the OVF, but you can make it temporarily visible (in blue) by pressing the AF-L button. Here we go:

This is also where the camera would focus without parallax error. For example, if you are shooting a far away landscape, parallax is not an issue and the X20 will confirm focus in the central AF field with a green rectangle like this:

I used the red circle to illustrate the area the camera is actually focusing on. All is nice and dandy here.

But what if you are focusing on a nearby object? In this case, the AF frames in the OVF may look like this:

Here, the camera tells you that it’s actually focusing on an area slightly below the central AF field.

The view may also look like this:

In this example, the actual AF area is located slightly below and also slightly right of the central AF field.

Here’s another option:

In this example, the actual AF area is offset one full AF frame below as well as slightly to the right of the selected central AF field.

On order to achieve correctly focused results, you have to make sure that in the OVF, the actual AF area (as illustrated by my red dots) is located above the object you want to be in focus. If this is not the case, reframe and try again.

If the object you are focusing on is too close for the camera to correctly indicate parallax error in the OVF, it won’t illuminate an AF field at all and instead display a blinking green flower symbol:

In this case, better use the LCD to focus.

If you select one of the 24 outer AF fields on the LCD that aren’t fully supported in the OVF, the OVF display will change to reflect this selection. Here are a few examples, each indicating that one of three possible outer AF fields is currently active:

Offering parallax-corrected AF field frames in the OVF makes the X20 quite unique and its viewfinder pretty useful. It’s notable that this powerful feature is barely mentioned or explained in the X20 owner’s manual. Maybe this is Fuji’s way of telling me to write more camera books? Scroll down to the very end if you also shoot with a X-Pro1 or X-E1—my book “Mastering the Fujifilm X-Pro1″ may be right up your alley.

To wrap things up, let’s have a quick look at the X20′s RAW options. As explained here, it’s smart to always shoot in FINE+RAW. Here’s a practical example. The following scene was shot with default settings (Provia):

It is okay, but it’s somewhat flat and a bit underexposed. Using the built-in RAW converter of the X20, it only took me about 30 seconds to redevelop this shot with Push +2/3 EV, Astia film mode, White Balance 5300K, Color +2, Sharpness +1, Highlight Tone -2 and Noise Reduction -2:

Call me old-fashioned, but I like this one better.

In my X20 vs. X10 comparison, I said that I considered the X20 better suitable for external RAW workflows than the X10. So if you are into Silkypix or Lightroom, the X20 may be a great camera for you. Here’s how I’ve developed this series of shots in Adobe Lightroom, with a few additional tweaks in Apple Aperture:

Click on the images for full-size viewing options.

Enjoy your new X20!
Next week, we’ll look into some tips for using the X100S.

[ US residents can now purchase the X20 at ebayUS here.
X100S: BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / AmazonDE / AmazonUK / AmazonITA / DigitalRev / your ebay / your Amazon
X20: BHphoto (black – silver) / Adorama (black – silver) / AmazonUS (black – silver) / AmazonUK (black – silver) / AmazonDE / AmazonITA / DigitalRev / your ebay / your Amazon ]

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

X100S vs. X100

Rico Pfirstinger — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 04:14:27 +0000

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – Sample images set – Comparison images set

The X100S is an evolutionary camera, improving the classic X100 without taking away what most users valued in the first place. Sales of the original X100 (about 130,000 units globally) did beat expectations. The camera also inspired competing manufacturers to enter the mirrorless fixed-lens compact market, and it served as a blueprint for Fuji’s own line of mirrorless system cameras. Without the X100 and its (then revolutionary) hybrid viewfinder technology, there wouldn’t be an X-Pro1. Make no mistake: The X100 is the foundation of Fuji’s X series.

Alas, it’s foundation with some flaws—many of which have been addressed with numerous firmware updates. However, firmware can’t fix everything, especially not hardware oversights, and even though the X100S very much looks like an “old” X100 at first and second glance, it is a different and better camera thanks to extensive user feedback.

Let’s have a look at some of the changes and improvements that have been made regarding operation, features and design of the new X100S vs. the classic X100.

Speed

The X100S is not only faster, it’s also more responsive. Startup time and writing speed to SD cards have been accelerated. Of course, you need to use the fastest SD cards available (such as SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-1 95 MB/s) cards to fully take advantage of this feature. The X100S shoots a maximum of 6 frames per second (vs. the X100′s 5 fps) in FINE+RAW, with no actual limit in the number of frames that can be continuously recorded. The X100S never locks up in burst mode, it just slows down. Unlike the X100S, the classic X100 needs an actual break after 8 frames and locks up until all 8 images have been transferred to the card.

With the X100S, the shooting interval in single frame (still image) mode has been reduced from 0.9 to 0.5 seconds, and you can immediately playback an image directly from the buffer, even while the camera is still saving shots to the SD card in the background. Image display (preview) options have been changed from 1.5 and 3 seconds to a more suitable 0.5 and 1.5 seconds. Of course, “off” and “continuous” preview modes are still available. Oh, and the eye sensor now also works when image preview is engaged.

Autofocus is has become more responsive, too, both in the classic contrast detection (CDAF) and even more so the new phase detection (PDAF) mode. On-sensor PDAF is now available in an focusing area roughly as large as the center 9 AF fields, and it will automatically engage at suitable light levels of about 5 EV or higher. PDAF is also available in Movie mode (which now offers Full HD at up to 60 fps), as are all three focusing modes (AF-S, AF-C and MF). In manual focus (MF) mode, the MF ring is more responsive and actually quite usable. The AF distance range for the EVF and LCD has been improved from 40cm-∞ (X100) to 21cm-∞ (X100S), and the shooting range in the OVF has been expanded from 80cm-∞ to 50cm-∞, so you will have to switch to macro mode less often.

Like the X20 and X100 (and X-Pro1 and X-E1 with current firmware), the X100S operates with AF priority: When you fully depress the shutter button in one swift motion (vs. first half-pressing it to lock focus and exposure), the camera will take the picture immediately after it has acquired focus. This “trick” can be used to catch moving subjects, like this pony trotting towards the camera:

Focus was directed at the horse’s head, with open aperture (f/2) to minimize the depth-of-field (DOF). As you can see in the cropped image above, the pony’s head is perfectly in focus. Click on the image for larger viewing options.

Split Image

Another notable improvement are the camera’s new manual focus aids: Digital Split Image and Focus Peaking. The former uses PDAF pixels on the sensor to simulate split image focusing as you may know it from older MF SLRs. Click here for a demo: http://youtu.be/_fJDX1hzUIg. The latter, called “Focus Peak Highlight”, delivers classic focus peaking over the entire image frame by outlining/highlighting those areas of the image that are currently in focus. This is a software feature, so I’m confident we will also see it in future firmware releases for the X-Pro1 and X-E1. Click here for a demo: http://youtu.be/PMdQpgOzd4o. By pressing the command dial for about a second, you can easily rotate between the different manual focusing aids.

Smart

The X100S is smarter than the classic X100. For example, it remembers your in-between aperture (like f/6.4) and shutter speed (like 1/80s) settings even after you switch-off the camera. Once you switch it back on, it will continue with those settings. In full manual mode, the Live View display will now actually simulate the brightness of the resulting image once you half-press the shutter button. Auto-ISO is now part of the ISO menu, it works up to ISO 6400 and it allows you set the ISO floor, maximum ISO and minimum shutter speed. Even better, these Auto-ISO settings can be stored in custom user profiles, so any of the camera’s three custom profiles can contain a different Auto-ISO configuration.

When you update the firmware, the X100S will remember the camera’s settings instead of performing a reset like the classic X100 did. Also, inserting a memory card that hasn’t been properly unmounted from an Apple iPad or Macintosh computer won’t slow down the startup of the camera, anymore. Fuji has also improved intelligence and accuracy of Auto Exposure (AE) metering (especially Multi mode) and Auto White Balance (AWB). Take a look at these two ISO 6400 shots (taken with AE and AWB). One is from an X100 and one from an X100S:

Whoa! Speaking of AWB: White Balance Shift is now available in every shooting mode (even Movie or Motion Panorama). There’s also direct support for Eye-Fi cards and an odometer-like frame counter (Fuji rates the shutter beyond 100,000 shots). There’s now an option to connect an external microphone (MIC-ST1) to the camera’s tiny USB port, and the input levels for both internal and external microphones can be manually adjusted in the camera menu.

Simple

The X100S offers a significant number of small and simple improvements that quickly add-up to an “all new” camera. For example, a protective coating on the surface of the viewfinder window is supposed to prevent fingerprints and smudging, and the shape of the viewfinder window has been changed to prevent dust build-up. The strap attachment rings are now double coated with a stainless steel layer to reduce wear and tear. The shapes of the Viewfinder Lever, the OK button and the Q button (formerly the RAW button) have been improved to enhance their usability, and the layout of the Focus Mode Switch has been changed to “MF/AF-C/AF-S”, which is more useful than the “MF/AF-S/AF-C” layout of the classic X100. The improved Exposure Compensation Dial has more torque, so it is harder to involuntarily rotate it, and the layout of the Shutter Speed Dial has been modified to better separate A(utomatic) mode from manually set shutter speeds. However, the most important change in this department may be swapping the AF and the DRIVE buttons. Changing AF fields is now much more convenient and can be performed solely with the thumb of your right hand, while the left hand is supporting the camera.

Another major improvement is the higher-resolution EVF with 2.35 million dots, now matching the EVF of the X-E1. However, there’s some blurring in the EVF and LCD display while panning the camera at very low light to quickly track laterally moving objects—even when the shutter button is half-depressed. The classic X100 does not exhibit this behavior, but practically, one would use the perfectly lag-less OVF for this kind of shot, anyway.

By the way, Fuji redesigned the EVF and LCD displays to reduce information clutter and scene obstruction. Take a look:

X100:

X100S:

Pressing and holding the Q button for a few seconds brightens the LCD and EVF, a shortcut that comes in very handy in glaring ambient lighting. Tapping the Q button opens the new Quick Menu where one can quickly set or select all common JPEG parameters (including white balance), ISO and dynamic range options, the self timer, AF modes, flash modes or LCD/EVF brightness. Speaking of flash modes: Everything, including settings for third-party external flash units, is now part of one single flash menu, and the regular Shooting, Playback and Setup menus of the X100S are now multi-tabbed to make it easier to navigate through them.

There are two new film simulation modes: Pro Neg. Std and Pro Neg. Hi. Both are great for portraits as they deliver pleasant skin tones. Speaking of which: Fuji enhanced the gradation of some of its film simulations, notably Provia. Provia’s shadow contrast is now pretty much identical to Astia’s, resulting in crisper images. In order to simulate the “old” Provia, you may try to set Shadowtone to -1 (medium soft).

There’s also a simple multi-exposure function to merge two consecutive shots into a composite, and there are several effect filters such as Toy Camera, Miniature, Partial Color, High-Key and Soft Focus. Like the X20, X-Pro1 and X-E1, the X100S also offers a new aspect ratio 1:1 option for shooting square images.

Sensor

For some users, these above-mentioned features alone could justify upgrading from a classic X100, but there is more, of course: The X100S contains an APS-C-sized X-Trans sensor with increased resolution (16 MP vs. 12 MP). Like in the X-Pro1 and X-E1, this sensor can do without an optical low-pass filter thanks to its more random 6×6 pixel color filter pattern. Fuji also claims a much improved signal-to-noise ratio, and indeed: The X100S is fully usable up to ISO 6400.

Let’s take a look at two sample images, one from the X100S and one from the X100, both developed in-camera with matching white-balance and standard noise reduction settings.

Here’s the X100:

And here’s the X100S:

As usual, click on the images for additional remarks, EXIF information and a choice of high-res options, including full-size.

Since Adobe Lightroom/ACR finally offers decent RAW support for X-Trans sensors (it always offered great support for the X100), we can also compare noise and detail using that external RAW processing option. I applied Lightroom’s standard import settings for noise reduction and sharpening, and I adjusted the white balance of the X100 shot to the settings chosen by the X100S. I also adjusted exposure and activated Adobe’s lens profile in the X100 shot.

X100:

X100S:

Again, click on the images for larger views. But honestly, you can already spot some differences here—in sample images as small as 640 x 427 pixels! Apart from noise, artifacts and banding, the X100 also displays a tendency to a cooler and slightly more magenta look than the X100S, even with identical white balance settings.

Please don’t use Adobe’s dedicated X100 lens profile for shots that were taken with an X100S. Like other current Fujifilm cameras, the X100S stores lens correction profiles as metadata in the RAW files, which are automatically interpreted by RAW converters like Lightroom, Silkypix or Capture One. Adding Adobe’s custom X100 lens profile would effectively add up two lens profiles and thus correct an already corrected image. That’s definitely overkill!

Like the X20, the X100S features a new and faster image processor, dubbed “EXR Processor II”. In the X100S, this processor outputs larger RAW files with 14 bits of color depth. According to my Mac (OS X 10.8.3), an X100 RAW requires 19.9 MB of hard disk space, whereas an X100S RAW file occupies between 33.5 and 33.9 MB (yes, the size is somewhat variable). Keep this in mind when purchasing new SD cards and allocating storage space on your computer or on backup media. A 16 GB SD card is good for 405 FINE+RAW images shot in aspect ratio 3:2 at size L.

Another feature of the new processor is the so-called Lens Modulation Optimizer (LMO) that is supposedly reducing diffraction effects at small apertures by means of sophisticated deconvolution algorithms. Unfortunately, this feature only works with JPEGs coming from the camera. In theory, Fuji could also store LMO data as metadata in the RAW file (for external RAW converters to interpret and apply), but as of now, that’s not the case.

Here’s a series of SOOC JPEG shots taken at f/8, f/11 and f/16 with the X100S set to minimal noise reduction (-2):

Here’s the same scene shot with my classic X100, also at f/8, f/11 and f/16, with NR -2 and Shadow Tone +1 (to match the “new” Provia):

Click in the images for larger viewing options. Once again, we see that the X100 offers a “cooler” tone and white balance. As for recognizing the effect of the new LMO, I leave that happily to you.

Shall I upgrade?

For me, the answer to this question is clearer than in last week’s “X20 vs. X10″ comparison. I can hardly think of any situation where I’d prefer using my classic X100, when I could also use a new X100S. Don’t be fooled by the rather subtle changes on the outside—on the inside, the X100S is an all-new camera: it is faster, more responsive, easier to handle and simply more convenient than its predecessor. It delivers better exposure and AWB, more resolution, improved colors, and it is significantly more capable in high-ISO situations. It’s also compatible with legacy accessories such as Fuji’s wide-angle conversion lens (WCL-100), TTL flash units, lens hoods or (protective) filters, batteries and chargers.

While I intend to use my proven X10 in concert with the new X20, now is the time to retire my beloved classic X100.

Click here for my slowly but surely growing set of X100S sample photos.

Click here for the full set comparing different aspects of the X100S and the X100.

Please scroll to the bottom of this post if you’d like to consider reading my book “Mastering the Fujifilm X-Pro1″ in English or German.

X100S: BHphoto / Adorama / AmazonUS / AmazonDE / AmazonUK / AmazonITA / DigitalRev / your ebay / your Amazon

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

X20 vs. X10

Rico Pfirstinger — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:54:37 +0000

by Rico Pfirstinger

Talk to Rico (questions & feedback) – Sample images set – Comparison images set

Same, same, but different! That’s what Fujifilm’s new X20 compact camera is for those who know its predecessor, the X10. From the looks of it, the X20 and X10 are quite the same, so X10 users will immediately feel at home. However, it’s a new and different home, one with a more conventional X-Trans sensor. Yep, compared to EXR even an X-Trans sensor is pretty old-fashioned. So in order to get the best results from an X20, you might want to shoot it less like an X10 and more like a X100(S), X-E1 or X-Pro1.

In order to compare the image quality of the X10 and the X20, we have to shoot with image resolution M, aka 6 megapixels. That’s because the X10 is an EXR camera with a split-sensor of 2 x 6 MP. Sure, you can also use it in HR mode to get full-size 12 MP output, but why would you buy an EXR camera in the first place if you weren’t interested in its unique features, such as hardware-based DR expansion, or pixel binning to reduce noise and artifacts under low light?

So I took both cameras and shot a series of samples. Click here to open the X20 vs. X10 shootout set on Flickr. While you are at it, you might also want to take a look at my ever growing X20 samples set.

In order to get comparable results, I put both cameras in 6 MP (size M) mode, set DR to Auto (or DR100% for some shots) and also used matching film simulation modes (Astia, Provia and Velvia). Noise reduction was set to -1, the rest was all default settings. After completing the series, I redeveloped each X20 image in 12 MP resolution using the camera’s internal RAW converter. This way we got two versions of each shot from the X20, one with 6 and one with 12 MP.

Looking at the full-size samples, you will recognize that even at 6 MP, the X20 is able to resolve better midtone and highlight detail while keeping noise levels lower and the image cleaner. Have a look at this example:

X10:

X20:

However, it’s a different situation when you look at dark shadow details in images that were shot with DR200% and, even more so, DR400% dynamic range expansion modes:

X10:

X20:

This doesn’t come unexpected, as the X20 has to rely on conventional DR expansion, aka “underexposing and tone mapping”. You can have a look at this X-PERT CORNER article if you want to learn more about the basics of dynamic range expansion. In any case, the typical drawbacks of conventional DR expansion don’t apply to the X10 with its EXR sensor, but this comes at the cost of losing half of the sensor’s pixel resolution.

What does this practically mean? It means that you should not shoot your new X20 exactly like you shoot an X10. Instead, apply DR expansion more carefully! You often will not need it, anyway, and if you do, DR200% will mostly be sufficient. If you decide to use DR expansion, make sure that the main subject (the part of the scene that’ shows plenty of detail and is in-focus) isn’t dark and in the shadows. DR200% and DR400% work great if your main subject belongs to highlights or upper midtones of an image, like in clouds, a white face, or a snowy mountain top illuminated by sunlight. These are typical situations where conventional DR expansion will perfectly work its magic and deliver great results.

However, if you encounter a lighting situation like the one shown below, you might be forced to push the camera (with its compact 2/3″ sensor) beyond its technical limits. Take a look:

This image shows how the camera will record the subject in DR400% mode in order to preserve the sunset with a pleasing orange sky in the background. As you can see, the main subject (horse with rider) is literally in the dark, as the immense dynamic range of this scene is well beyond the capabilities of any normal camera sensor.

The automatic DR400% processing of the camera’s JPEG engine will turn this image into something more presentable:

We can now actually see the horse and the girl in the scene, and the sky in the background is still intact. The camera has successfully expanded its dynamic range, but this comes at a cost, which you can spot once you click on the image and select a full-size view in Flickr. Obviously, there are noisy artifacts in shadow areas that were pushed up by the camera by roughly 2-3 EV. Why 3 EV? Well, 2 EV come from DR400%, as this means the shot was underexposed by 2 EV, and this underexposure must be compensated by tone-mapping shadows and dark areas. The remaining 1 EV of shadow pushing comes from using a Shadow Tone soft (-2) setting in the internal RAW converter.

If you load this RAW file into Lightroom (or another RAW converter), you can literally push things even further. Like this:

Wow, the things you can do with RAW! But handle it with care! When you inspect this image in a larger view, you will notice heavy noise and artifacts within the main subject of the shot. At the same time, the sky in the background remains spotless and noise-free. It was rescued by the DR expansion function of the camera, but at a heavy cost to our much darker subject in the foreground.

Be advised that if you apply this kind of extreme tone mapping to shots from any APS-C or full-frame sensor camera, you will experience similar effects and artifacts, but often to a lesser degree thanks to the larger sensor. Please bear in mind that the X20 is a compact camera, not a Nikon D4.

In order to extract the best quality from an X20, I recommend shooting RAW using DR100% and exposing to the right (ETTR) with the help of the camera’s live histogram, then process the RAW externally with Lightroom, Silkypix or another RAW converter of your choosing. If you want to use JPEGs from the camera (or the camera’s internal RAW converter) instead, I recommend shooting (or processing) with a noise reduction setting of -1 or even -2, depending on your actual scene.

While you can’t get noise-free results from Lightroom or Silkypix without sacrificing detail (especially when processing high-ISO shots), both RAW converters feature a welcome habit of presenting X20 luminance noise like analog film grain. In other words: The kind of noise from these converters can actually look quite pleasing, at least to some of us (like me). For example, if you have a look at the following ISO 1600 / DR100% shot that was once custom processed with Lightroom & Aperture and once developed in the camera with Provia and noise reduction set to -2, I personally prefer the grainy and more detailed look of Lightroom (with minimal NR) over the look offered by the camera’s JPEG engine.

Lightroom & Aperture RAW treatment:

OOC JPEG (Provia):

Click on the images for a choice of larger views. Obviously, any kind of CAs (chromatic aberrations) can easily be dealt with in Lightroom, as well. By the way, here’s what happens when you take the “grainy look” thingie too literally….

I agree, that wasn’t half as funny as I thought it might be.

Moving on.
Here’s another example comparing an OOC Astia JPEG with minimal NR with a custom Silkypix 5 rendering.

OOC JPEG (Astia):

Silkypix 5 treatment:

In my opinion, the X20 is a bit more of an enthusiast camera (like the X100) and a bit less of a point & shoot camera. While the X10 enjoys only limited external RAW support, Silkypix and Lightroom/ACR (version 4.4RC and beyond) already offer decent RAW support for the X20. Not bad for a new camera that is still barely available in most parts of the world.

RAW shooters may actually fall in love with the new X20, as it offers them the same control over the files as an X100S or X-Pro1. You could think of the X20 as a compact version of an X100. Of course, the X20′s new optical viewfinder with exposure and AF field information overlays also points in this direction.

Compared to the X10, the new X20 offers improved speed and better handling. The camera shoots 9 fps in FINE+RAW quality, and it only takes a few seconds to write a full burst of 9 such images from the buffer to the card—but only if you are smart enough to use the fastest SD card available (like a SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-1 card with 95 MB/s). Autofocus is very reactive, but I have to admit that am just as happy with the AF of my “old” X10. For me, it just works, and I have yet to experience a distinctive difference between PDAF and CDAF focusing with this camera.

There are several other improvements, like Fuji exchanging the AF button and the DRIVE button to facilitate moving the AF field around. Or take the light metering scale in manual mode: It didn’t really work with Auto-ISO in the X10, but does so now in the X20. Another improvement: When you magnify a portrait image in playback mode, the camera will now use the entire display area. Additionally, the X20 features the same Auto-ISO implementation as the X100S, so you can now select your own minimum shutter speed (up to 1/125s). Previous limitations regarding slowest possible shutter speeds in AE modes have also been lifted thanks to the omission of an EXR sensor. Some users will also appreciate the fact that unlike the X10, the X20 doesn’t squeeze JPEG images when it applies digital lens corrections to a scene. This also means that there aren’t be any notable size differences between JPEG output from the camera and output from external RAW converters such as Lightroom or Silkypix.

On the other hand, being forced to use conventional DR expansion (or manual exposure compensation) to preserve highlights can, at least in bright daylight, quickly lead to shutter speeds that are beyond the camera’s scope at wide-open aperture. At f2.0, the X20′s fastest shutter speed is 1/1000s. It will increase up to 1/4000s once you start stopping down the lens, which is perfectly normal behavior for cameras with leaf shutters. But throw in DR400%, which translates into an ISO 400 exposure, and you may quickly start to miss the built-in ND filter of the X100 and X100S.

Should X10 users upgrade to the X20? It depends! If you are happy shooting JPEGs with only 6 MP image resolution and very good hardware-based dynamic range expansion, the X10 could very well remain your favorite P&S camera, even though you can’t extract the same amount of detail from its EXR sensor that the X-Trans sensor (without an AA filter) will offer you. If you are into larger files, more resolution and fine detail, the X20 will give you just that, plus an external RAW conversion workflow that will actually supersede the quality of the camera’s JPEGs. Also, if you never fully understood how to master EXR in the first place, the X20 offers you a more conventional approach.

It’s notable that while X10 RAWs in Lightroom (or Silkypix) cannot really outperform the camera’s JPEGs with regards to detail resolution, it’s quite the opposite with the X20. Here’s a 12 MP sample shot from the X10 that has received the full Lightroom treatment:

And here’s the same scene shot with an X20, once again processed for maximum detail in Lightroom 4.4RC:

If you care to look at full-size versions of these shots, you can hardly miss the differences. However, don’t forget that pixel peeping isn’t as important as using a camera with a sensor concept that “just fits” your individual needs and preferences. Personally, while I’m looking forward to more shooting with my new X20, I’ll also continue to use my trusted X10.

By the way: The good old “AF trick” (also known as “shutter mash”) that I’ve described in “Mastering the X-Pro1″ seems to work with the X20, too. So shooting objects that quickly move towards the camera ain’t no rocket science. Just press the shutter all the way through (no half-pressing). This works in AF-C and AF-S.

Of course, that’s just about IQ. Leaving pixel peeping aside, the X20 handles faster and better than the X10, it features a much improved optical viewfinder, and it neatly integrates in an existing RAW workflow. And, as you can see, its AF will capture moving objects.

A few more current X20 shots, developed from RAW with Silkypix 5:

Next week: X100S vs. X100.

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles:

RAW, JPEG, Silkypix and “Fuji Colors”

Rico Pfirstinger — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 06:50:28 +0000

by Rico Pfirstinger

Since pretty much everybody wrote about Lightroom 4.4RC in the past few days, I won’t. After all, what’s the big story? It took Adobe a full year to get their paying customers what the free RAW File Converter EX software and Fuji’s internal JPEG engine delivered from day one: decent X-Trans demosaicing quality. Big deal! But for those who are still interested in LR4.4RC, I have updated my RAW converter comparison set on Flickr with several new renderings.

Let’s take a look at colors, so-called “Fuji Colors” in particular. It’s often noted that Fujifilm’s built-in JPEG engine is one of the best in the entire industry. Obviously, people either love it, hate it or are just plain ignorant about it, but if you belong to the “I love it” crowd, there’s a good chance that “Fuji Colors” have played a role when you made your decision to buy an X-series camera.

The heart of these colors are the different film simulations Fuji’s cameras are offering in either the shooting menu or in the camera’s internal RAW converter. X-Trans sensor cameras feature five different color film modes, named after famous analog slide and negative FUJIFILM brands: Provia, Astia, Velvia, Pro Neg. Std and Pro Neg. Hi. Make no mistake: These aren’t accurate recreations of analog films. Instead, you get modern, state-of-the art color gradations that feature key qualities of their vintage role models: Provia is a more-or-less neutral all-purpose film mode, Astia delivers more distinct “Fuji Colors” with added pop in the shadows and smooth highlights, while Velvia offers high-contrast JPEGs with strong, saturated colors. Pro Neg. Std and Hi deliver accurate and pleasant skin tones, with “Std” acting as the neutral option and “Hi” as the one giving additional pop and contrast.

Here’s a practical example illustrating the five different film simulation modes:

This example was shot with an X-Pro1 and the Fujinon XF 60mm Macro prime lens at f/4.0, 1/480s and ISO 200. The top row is showing Provia, Astia and Velvia, the bottom row shows Pro Neg. Std, Pro Neg. Hi and a Lightroom development that looks like something in-between Provia and Pro Neg. Std. You can click on the image for a hi-res view, but even if you don’t, you can clearly see that Fuji’s different film modes can deliver quite distinct results. Remember, this is all the same shot, just developed with different film simulation modes in the camera’s internal RAW converter (aka JPEG engine).

Let’s decide for Astia at this time, as it offers a very distinct purple-red rendering of the flower, with smooth highlights and nice contrast in the darker shadows. A typical problem of mono-colored subjects like this one are overflowing RGB color channels, in this case the red color channel. Here’s a magnified view of our Astia shot, showing three different color saturation level settings that can be applied either in the shooting menu or when (re-)developing the RAW file in-camera:

The color settings used here were -2 (left), 0 (center) and +2 (right). Clearly, too much color saturation in the reds goes at the cost of image detail, so we are better off using a saturation setting of -2 (aka “low” when you are using the internal RAW converter). Here’s the less color saturated Astia JPEG of this shot, straight from the camera’s built-in RAW converter:

As usual, click on the image for a full-size view. This was a hand-held macro shot, so I used the smallest available AF field size and moved it precisely over the area I wanted to be in-focus.

So far, so good. We now have an image with quite distinct “Fuji Colors”. Some people may like it, some may not, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that many of those who like their own JPEGs with Fuji colors would often also like to achieve similar looking results with external third-party RAW converters like Silkypix or the free RAW File Converter EX (which is an older version 3 of Silkypix).

How can we do it? Let’s play it through! Here’s the RAW file as it looks in Silkypix 5 with the software’s default settings:

Uh-oh! While this default rendering proves that claims about X-Trans sensors being incapable of delivering saturated reds are wrong, this is obviously not the result that we had in mind. In order to emulate the Astia rendering of the in-camera JPEG engine, we need to make some changes. But there’s more! If you click on this image for a full-size view, you will see ugly artifacts in the deep reds, almost like dirt soiling the colors of the flower. Here’s a zoomed-in view of this phenomenon, just click on it to see it in full size:

This doesn’t look nice, not to mention that the red is somewhat over-saturated and obscuring image details. So let’s correct this, shall we? After a few modifications in Silkypix, the image looks like this:

To make the comparison a little easier for you, here’s the original Astia JPEG again:

It’s not exactly the same, but it’s close enough for me. Of course, you could achieve a perfect match with a few further adjustments in Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture or any other powerful image editor, but maybe an exact match wouldn’t really improve the image, anyway? Also note that the “dirt” and other color artifacts in the red flower are now gone.

So what exactly did I do to make it work?
Well, buy my next book to find out.
Good night, and good luck!

Just kidding.
Here’s a screenshot with the settings I have used:

I didn’t change exposure or white balance. I also didn’t apply any dodging or HDR. So not only Silkypix 5 users, but also those using RFC EX could basically apply these changes. I did change Silkypix’ film mode from Standard to Memory Color 1, tough. Typically, I switch the color profile to “Version 4 compatible” in order to get rid of a green color cast—but not this time! Instead, I left the color profile at “Natural”, as it simply came closer to what I wanted to achieve. I made minor adjustments to contrast and tone, such as adding gamma (brightness), moving the contrast center a bit to the left and adding black to shadows by moving the Black Level slider to the right.

Obviously, the most important changes had to be made in the color department, so I opened the Fine Color Controller panel to adjust the reds and greens. The screenshot above shows the changes I made to the reds, and the three images below show what I did to orange/yellow and the two green sectors. By the way, Capture One offers a quite similar “color sector tool”.

Finally, I opened the Highlight Controller panel and moved the Chroma/Luminance slider to the left while adding some dynamic range by moving the DR Expansion slider to the right from 0.40 EV (which is the default setting for DR100% RAWs) to 1.60 EV. This basically emulates the softer highlight color transitions of our Astia JPEG.

To get rid of “dirty” color artifacts, we need to move the “Demosaic Sharp” slider in the Development module. At ISO 200, Silkypix 5 uses a default setting of 80, but for this shot, we need to slide it all to the left to Zero. And bingo! The ugly artifacts are gone. To compensate for any loss of image sharpness, I increased Outline Emphasis in the Sharpness module and used Pure Detail as my sharpening method in order to preserve maximum detail in areas that are actually in-focus. Since Pure Detail also minimizes artifacts in areas that are out-of-focus, this method lends itself to this particular shot. For the same reason, I also added some False Outline Control. Noise Reduction was kept at Silkypix’ default settings.

The following screenshot illustrates what reducing Demosaic Sharpness from 80 to Zero did for us. All remaining settings stayed the same in this direct comparison:

What a difference a slider makes! I’m not sure how many RFC EX / Silkypix users have been unaware of its existence—until now!

If you take a closer look at the in-focus part of our image, you’ll see that Silkypix (left) was able to extract more fine detail than the camera’s built-in JPEG engine (right). Click on the image for a magnified view:

Our Silkypix image can now be saved in a robust, lossless 16 Bit format (like TIFF) for further post-processing, printing or display.

For your convenience, here’s a TOC with links to my previous X-PERT CORNER articles: