The Fabulous Fuji X owners thread

[Raymond Lin]

Bah, it turns out getting the official Fuji hood from B&H from New York with DHL shipping (£47) cost LESS than getting Squarehood from Square Hood (£63).

The only thing is the Fuji one doesn't come with a lens hood cover but I already have a spare one of that as it's the same size as the 35/1.4.

 

[colourofsound]

I've been looking into Fuji's X Raw Studio and am compiling a load of sims that I'll have a play about with at times but it got me thinking about the DR setting and whether converting the raw after the event would be exactly the same as doing it in camera at the time. What I mean is that changing the DR setting changes the exposure by bumping up the ISO and then doing some voodoo magic to give the final picture and so if this was not applied to the raw file at the time of shooting how can it be applied retrospectively? For example, I used a recipe yesterday with DR400, it was shot at ISO 500. Without DR (or should I say DR100) the shot would have been at ISO 125, converting this retrospectively in X Raw Studio wouldn't give the same result would it?

Am I missing something obvious

You are missing something, but its far from bloody obvious. It's not documented anywhere; but various Youtubers have basically figured it out.

Essentially it works like this:

DR100 - No Change
DR200 - The camera under exposes by 1 stop; and then raises the shadows by 1 stop
DR400 - The camera under exposes by 2 stops, and then raises the shadows by 2 stops

The DR setting exists to protect (prevent blown) highlights; and as its essentially applying a two-phase process to your images it affects the RAW files permanently. How it chooses to under-expose the photo will likely depend on which setting you are shooting in - if you're in Aperture Priority it will (probably) use ISO; if you're in Shutter Priority it might use Aperture; but this is just a guess. Logic would dictate it uses ISO every time.

Basically, if you're shooting RAW I'd recommend keeping DR on Auto or 100. Auto never uses DR400.

EDIT: Sorry; didn't see a Youtube vid had already been posted! Oh well, now you have it in writing too

 

[snerkler]

wOw - superb set of quality images !

Regards;
Peter

Thanks, very kind.

You are missing something, but it’s far from bloody obvious. It's not documented anywhere; but various Youtubers have basically figured it out.

Essentially it works like this:

DR100 - No Change
DR200 - The camera under exposes by 1 stop; and then raises the shadows by 1 stop
DR400 - The camera under exposes by 2 stops, and then raises the shadows by 2 stops

The DR setting exists to protect (prevent blown) highlights; and as its essentially applying a two-phase process to your images it affects the RAW files permanently. How it chooses to under-expose the photo will likely depend on which setting you are shooting in - if you're in Aperture Priority it will (probably) use ISO; if you're in Shutter Priority it might use Aperture; but this is just a guess. Logic would dictate it uses ISO every time.

Basically, if you're shooting RAW I'd recommend keeping DR on Auto or 100. Auto never uses DR400.

EDIT: Sorry; didn't see a Youtube vid had already been posted! Oh well, now you have it in writing too

Thanks, I’ve not had time to watch the video yet. Do you mean over exposed as it’s raising the ISO?

 

[colourofsound]

Do you mean over exposed as it’s raising the ISO?

No - Its not changing the ISO to over-expose the image; its changing the ISO to give it range to under-expose the image

Dynamic Range settings above 100 don't kick in until ISO400. So, if you set it at Auto then you either set your ISO below 400, or the camera assesses that the ISO is best below 400, essentially nothing happens (the DR setting will be 100).

If you set both DR and ISO to auto and the camera assesses that the scene will have blown highlights, it will set the minimum ISO possible to initiate DR200, under-expose the image by 1 stop and raise the shadows by 1 stop. Depending on the mode you're in (Aperture or Shutter Priority) it will adjust those settings to maintain its ideal exposure.

If you force the DR setting to either 200 or 400, and your camera is set to automatic for ISO, then it changes the ISO to the lowest setting that the DR setting will allow, to give it the range to under-expose the photo and then bump up the shadows by 1 or 2 stops.

Now - if you force DR to 200 or 400, and then configure your ISO - the camera will always respect the exposure triangle before it applies other processing, so if you set your camera manually to DR400 and ISO 125; you're actually getting DR100. The camera will illustrate this by turning the DR icon yellow.

Simples

PS: The minimum ISO could well be different depending on the camera. I think for DR to kick in on my X100F, the ISO has to be above 400. On my X-T5, I think its 500. Which would make sense, as the newer, 40MP sensor probably inherently has more dynamic range before it needs to start applying processing.

 

[snerkler]

No - Its not changing the ISO to over-expose the image; its changing the ISO to give it range to under-expose the image

Dynamic Range settings above 100 don't kick in until ISO400. So, if you set it at Auto then you either set your ISO below 400, or the camera assesses that the ISO is best below 400, essentially nothing happens (the DR setting will be 100).

If you set both DR and ISO to auto and the camera assesses that the scene will have blown highlights, it will set the minimum ISO possible to initiate DR200, under-expose the image by 1 stop and raise the shadows by 1 stop. Depending on the mode you're in (Aperture or Shutter Priority) it will adjust those settings to maintain its ideal exposure.

If you force the DR setting to either 200 or 400, and your camera is set to automatic for ISO, then it changes the ISO to the lowest setting that the DR setting will allow, to give it the range to under-expose the photo and then bump up the shadows by 1 or 2 stops.

Now - if you force DR to 200 or 400, and then configure your ISO - the camera will always respect the exposure triangle before it applies other processing, so if you set your camera manually to DR400 and ISO 125; you're actually getting DR100. The camera will illustrate this by turning the DR icon yellow.

Simples

PS: The minimum ISO could well be different depending on the camera. I think for DR to kick in on my X100F, the ISO has to be above 400. On my X-T5, I think its 500. Which would make sense, as the newer, 40MP sensor probably inherently has more dynamic range before it needs to start applying processing.

I think I need to read that a few times for it to sink in

What I’m struggling to understand is that I set the camera to Aperture priority with DR400, aperture was set at f8, and the camera chose ISO 500 and a shutter speed of 1/1500.

Normally in aperture priority it would have chosen ISO 125 and a shutter of 1/375 (or whatever the closest shutter speed is to that), this means that choosing DR400 made the camera use a 2 stop higher ISO than it needed to, if it’s deliberately under exposing why use a higher ISO

I’ll hopefully watch that video at some point this weekend and it’ll all make sense

 

[Craikeybaby]

Those are wierd looking bycicles Lewis, presumably sport specific?

Yes, no gears or brakes. Sadly not made any more either. It is a fun sport to photograph though as it is lots of fast action 1 minute races.

 

[skullfunkerry]

wOw - superb set of quality images !

Regards;
Peter

 

[Craig1912]

Yes, no gears or brakes. Sadly not made any more either. It is a fun sport to photograph though as it is lots of fast action 1 minute races.

We used to make our own in the 70’s. Straightened the forks and built our own wheels. It was when there were a few independent bike shops where you could buy everything you needed at cheap prices.

 

[colourofsound]

if it’s deliberately under exposing why use a higher ISO

Because it can’t under-expose at low ISOs. You can’t under-expose ISO125; there’s nowhere to go. In order for the camera to capture a wide dynamic range, it needs some leeway.

So on DR400, the minimum ISO will always be 500; and the shutter speed will increase to account for that.

I like to think of the dynamic range setting as a less aggressive HDR. DR takes one photo and essentially does a quick and dirty edit; HDR takes 3 photos at 3 different exposures and combines them.

For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t worry about it. Stick to DR100 if you’re shooting RAW. I had a quick look at your website and your images are really rather good, I don’t think DR is something you should worry about!

 

[snerkler]

Because it can’t under-expose at low ISOs. You can’t under-expose ISO125; there’s nowhere to go. In order for the camera to capture a wide dynamic range, it needs some leeway.

So on DR400, the minimum ISO will always be 500; and the shutter speed will increase to account for that.

I like to think of the dynamic range setting as a less aggressive HDR. DR takes one photo and essentially does a quick and dirty edit; HDR takes 3 photos at 3 different exposures and combines them.

For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t worry about it. Stick to DR100 if you’re shooting RAW. I had a quick look at your website and your images are really rather good, I don’t think DR is something you should worry about!

Ahh that makes sense. And thank you for the kind words.