I am considering moving from Sony (A7cr) to Fuji (X-e5). I read and hear a lot about the Fuji recipes. I am a dedicated raw shooter, and I wonder, how many Fuji shooters shoot raw? Correct, you must shoot jpeg to use the recipes? Without the recipes is the switch worth it? Any thoughts helpful at this point.
I shoot raw. As far as simulations go, it is very easy to apply a preset to the raw file and come up with an image similar if not the same as what you get in camera. There are many sites out there that you can download free as well as pay for presets. I used free Chatgpt to come up with my presets such as Reala,Classic Chrome and others that I use in Adobe Camera Raw and then later in Photoshop. Simply ask or enter what Fuji preset you want to emulate and what Fuji camera you have. Chatgpt will then generate the settings to enter manually or generate the preset you can download. I like applying the presets to the raw file as there is much more latitude for tweaking the image to your liking.
Daves3222 wrote:
I shoot raw. As far as simulations go, it is very easy to apply a preset to the raw file and come up with an image similar if not the same as what you get in camera. There are many sites out there that you can download free as well as pay for presets. I used free Chatgpt to come up with my presets such as Reala,Classic Chrome and others that I use in Adobe Camera Raw and then later in Photoshop. Simply ask or enter what Fuji preset you want to emulate and what Fuji camera you have. Chatgpt will then generate the settings to enter manually or generate the preset you can download. I like applying the presets to the raw file as there is much more latitude for tweaking the image to your liking....Show more →
I shoot raw. Lightroom has profiles that mirror the stock recipes for your camera. Also, fujifilm has an app that uses your camera's processor, so you can process raws later with any recipe you can make for your camera in case you want that after you shoot.
It's really not different from shooting any other camera if you use RAW. Just tweak to your liking and save as a "recipe" (or preset or whatever you want to call it) in your editing software.
What is different is that the profiles (in those editors that support the same "look" as you get with Fuji JPG's) are there in the editor to begin with, which gives you a good starting point. If you like the Fuji color handling, which I personally don't (oversaturated highlights = "pastel" look).
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Regarding "recipes" in-camera, I don't see the point. There are very little you can change anyway. One profile will still looks like that profile even if you tweak contrast, saturation and white balance. I know that many disagree though.
I don't think there is a one size fits all to how you use film sims or not. I don't because I don't want to make color adjustments based on looking through the EVF. But I have old eyes and limited patience for menu diving. To me, easier to adjust the RAW as others have described. But I get that some want a viewable/sharable file straight out of camera and they are comfortable with making the choice in the EVF. Its great to have options.
SGinNorcal wrote:
That's great for film sim/jpg shooters. For the rest of us, they wasted a dial. Use it how you like, I'm just not interested.
That's my perspective on that dial. I'd rather have an ISO dial like on the XT5.
I imagine that there are a few people out there who constantly switch recipes/sims as they shoot. A very few. For them, it would be fine to let them dedicate some other controller to switching sims.
I'm betting that a whole lot of use don't use the sims/recipes in the camera at all while shooting, and among those who do it is more likely that they pick a favorite and shoot with it, only rarely changing.
gdanmitchell wrote:
That's my perspective on that dial. I'd rather have an ISO dial like on the XT5.
I imagine that there are a few people out there who constantly switch recipes/sims as they shoot. A very few. For them, it would be fine to let them dedicate some other controller to switching sims.
I'm betting that a whole lot of use don't use the sims/recipes in the camera at all while shooting, and among those who do it is more likely that they pick a favorite and shoot with it, only rarely changing.
And I would bet you are wrong - the ability to save and switch recipes using a dedicated dial is one of the selling points of the X-E5.
SGinNorcal wrote:
I don't think there is a one size fits all to how you use film sims or not. I don't because I don't want to make color adjustments based on looking through the EVF. But I have old eyes and limited patience for menu diving. To me, easier to adjust the RAW as others have described. But I get that some want a viewable/sharable file straight out of camera and they are comfortable with making the choice in the EVF. Its great to have options.
Not sure what you mean by making color adjustments through the EVF. You can develop your recipes on the computer against RAW files and upload to the camera for future use.
I shoot raw, been shooting Fuji since the X Pro 1 came out. The whole "recipes" thing strikes me as no different from influencers hyping anything else.
AZ Photo wrote:
Fair enough - you mentioned menu diving as one reason you don't use film sims - but it sounds like you wouldn't use them anyway.
That's true. I just don't want to consider a film sim when I'm shooting. Even if the action, one click, is easy enough, I don't think about it while shooting. To me that's a post-processing step. I'm slow enough as is.
RoamingScott wrote:
Not sure what you mean by making color adjustments through the EVF. You can develop your recipes on the computer against RAW files and upload to the camera for future use.
I was referring to using a film sim as a color adjustment. I guess most people that use them decide on a film sim look based on their knowledge of the specific film sim rather than an on-the-spot evaluation. I suppose there are different ways to implement. But again, for me, that's something I address in post processing and keep my options open. I don't download JPG's at all.
