Mostly Photos

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Capture One Pro 11 Fujifilm VS Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC Ver 8

Apples Vs Oranges

I know what you’re thinking, how many more articles and videos do we need comparing Capture One Pro with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom?

The debate between which RAW converter does the better job has been running for years and there are many in-depth articles and comparisons available.

Why do another comparison?

I’m putting this article together as much about demonstrating to myself the merits (or not) of either switching entirely to Capture One Pro, incorporating it into my editing workflow or ignoring its existence.

Fuji X-T3 RAW Files

I decided to trial Capture One Pro Fujifilm while waiting for Adobe Lightroom to support the RAW files coming out of the new Fuji X-T3. I was intrigued by the recent partnership between Phase One and Fuji and wanted to see for myself just how good Capture One might be for processing Fuji RAWs

This article is not intended to be a scientific comparison but more of a real world test of RAW processing. I decided to take eight Fuji RAW Files (Fuji X-T2 and Fuji X-T3) and spend 15 minutes editing them in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC (ver 8) and later another 15 minutes (actually less!) editing the same eight RAW files in Capture One Pro Fujifilm

I have included galleries of the processed images at the end of the article for reference. In each case these were output as sRGB JPG’s with a longe edge resolution of 2048 pixels and sharpen for web applied (Defaults for both Lightroom and Capture One)

Fuji X-T3 ‘Worms’

I presume that if you are reading this article then you will be familiar with the Fuji ‘Worms’ effect.

Adobe Lightroom struggles to sharpen Fuji X Trans RAW files without introducing some wormy artefacts. Adobe has not addressed this issue and it looks likely that they may never do so. Sadly the issue persists in the latest release (Version 8) of the software

The simplest solution to avoid the worms is to disable sharpening completely in Lightroom and sharpen either when exporting the file e.g. sharpen for web sharing or sharpen in Adobe Photoshop using unsharp mask filter.

Capture One Pro Fujifilm RAW Processing

I investigated using Capture One Pro a few times in the past but to be honest I never really got past the initial hurdle of the learning curve until now.

I got the Fuji X-T3 on day of release and the delay in support from Lightroom and the arrival of Capture One Pro Fujifilm on the scene was enough for me to invest the effort in learning if only to get to see the X-T3 RAW files appear!

I can recommend the excellent course ‘Capture One Pro 11 Essential Training’ by Derrick Story which is available through Lynda and gives a useful introduction to the application

Professional RAW Processing

Capture One Pro is quite different in use than Adobe Lightroom. It definitely has a learning curve to overcome and it will take you a day or two to get up and running. Overall it feels like a tool aimed at professionals which is not surprising given its origins.

It is easy to re-configure the layout to more closely mirror the feel of Lightroom, but I found that this was not necessary to help with my transition. I quite like the way it is laid out and once you learn the shortcut key (option + Command + v) to switch from thumbnail grid to image edit it works well.

The image below shows 100% crops of an image processed in Capture One Pro on the left and Lightroom Classic CC on the right. (Click on the image for a larger view)

The Capture One render in this case has more punch than Lightroom and overall is sharper. This is partly caused by the worm effect in Lightroom and the subsequent need to back away from sharpening too much (or at all) in Lightroom.

The output of the applications is of course subjective. I am sure that I could match the output in Lightroom with further editing but the point of the exercise was to compare how 15 minutes of processing delivered ‘blindly’ across the two applications

One RAW, two very different renders

I edited a Fuji X-T2 RAW file of a misty scene taken in late afternoon light. The processed images are quite different in how they look. I was surprised by the differences but again the rendering is subjective.

I think that the Capture One render more closely matches the original scene and also has more mood. It feels (subjectively) more ‘Fuji with punchy color and impact.

Capture One Pro Vs Adobe Lightroom Classic CC - Conclusion

I found it a useful exercise spending some time editing the images in both applications. The renders are very similar in most cases but quite different in others.

Sharpeness

Capture One Pro produces sharper results out of the box. Sharpening does not result in the artefacts that are present in Lightroom and as such can be pushed further as required.

Speed

Lightroom is well known for being slow and Capture One was far quicker at importing and managing files. I understand that a number of these performance improvements have come with the recent version 11 release

Ease of Use

I was surprised how easy it was to achieve good results once I had picked up the basics of the application. I think it might be a case of 2 days to learn and a lifetime to master.

Features

Capture One Pro has features easily on par with Lightroom, in fact it spans the features of both Lightroom and Photoshop. The Layers feature has been well implemented and works extremely well (although I didn’t use it in the processing of the images in this article)

I found common standard editing such as cropping and straightening to be more cumbersome to use in Capture One and while exporting files was less intuitive initially it is full featured.

Switching

There are a few options available when considering switching from Lightroom to Capture One. I plan to incorporate Capture One into my existing workflow and will likely move processing of my Fuji photographs over entirely in the coming weeks.

NOTE: Phase One have made an express version of Capture One available for free which has reduced features but the fundamentals of the RAW processing of the Fuji files are included.

I would recommend anyone who shoots Fuji to at least give this solution a try. It is worth the time to learn the basics of the application to see the results on your photographs. It is likely that the collaboration between Fuji and Phase One will bring further Fuji tailored features and enhancement such as Fuji Film Simulation profiles.

Image Galleries

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC (ver 8) - Image Gallery

Capture One Pro Fujifilm - Image Gallery

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Grey Days (at Millenium Bridge)

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Fuji X-T2 - A Face in the crowd

Digital Photography Challenge (DPC) 

DPChallenge (DPC) run regular photography competitions on-line. They have a good community of photographers and the photography challenges are not only good fun to enter but also add that extra incentive to go out and shoot. I highly recommend checking them out here

A Face in the crowd

One of the challenges last week was to shoot a photograph that represented a Tom Petty song title or lyric. This is quite an open brief but I decided on a photograph representing the Song 'A Face in the Crowd. I spent some time walking through Spitalfields Market looking for candid street style photo opportunities.

Click on images for a larger view

Spitalfields Market

I work near to the famous Spitalfields Market in Brick Lane, London. I figured that I could head out during my lunch break and try and capture a face in the crowd for my entry.

Candid Photography

I had an idea of the type of photograph that I wanted but obviously it's a challenge open as much to luck as to technique to find and shoot a decent shot in a 30 minute window. I must admit that I felt a little creepy trying to find and candidly capture a suitable subject that fitted the song. 

Technique

The Fuji X-T2 is perfect for candid street photography in crowded places such as Spitalfields Market. The 56mm f1.2 is not the smallest lens in the Fuji range but taking off the lens hood helps to make the set up a little more subtle.

Shoot from the hip

I tend to flip the LCD screen and shoot from waist height when trying to capture candids in situations like these. I set the focus to central focusing point and frame using the LCD. I set the camera to continuous low to capture a sequence of frames. This gives a better chance of capturing the right look. 

Out-takes

I spent some of my break practicing and trying to capture images around the market. It really is a treasure trove of characters and there is seldom a shortage of subjects to capture.

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Valley View, Yosemite National Park. Edited in #aurorahdr2018 (at Yosemite National Park)

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London Southbank taken with Fuji X-T2 and Lensbaby Trio 28 lens @fujifilm_photouk @lensbaby_love @lensbaby @fuji_xt2_shooter #lensbaby #acros #london #graffiti (at South Bank London)

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Milky Way over Church Rock, Wales #milkyway #wales @milkywaychasers (at Stackpole, Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom)

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Fuji X-T2 and 18-135mm - Examples

Fuji 18-135mm Super Zoom

I swapped the excellent Fuji 'kit' 18-55mm for the 18-135mm 'super-zoom' after reading a number of strong reviews of this lens.

I came to the Fuji X-T2 from Nikon and I've shot with the Nikon D3 and D800 with Nikons excellent 24-70mm f2.8. I am frequently tempted to invest in the Fuji 16-55mm f2.8 which is the closest APS-C match to the 24-70mm on full frame.

Versatile

The trouble is that the 18-135mm is so damn versatile. It's hard to replace in my workflow. It's not small but is compact enough to sit nicely on the X-T2. The combination fit nicely into my ONA Prince Street Messenger along with the items that I need to take on my commute to the office.

I guess I could invest in the 16-55mm and keep the 18-135mm but wonder if I don't think that I would find a place for both lenses in my workflow.

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Fuji X-T2 - MIOPS Triggers - Laser Trigger

I set up a little bit more of an aesthetic test of the MIOPS Smart Trigger. I dropped a small strawberry onto a spoon of milk

Strawberry Splash

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Fuji X-T2 - MIOPS Smart Trigger - Laser Triggering

MIOPS Smart Laser Trigger

I spent about 10 minutes setting up a quick test of the MIOPS Smart Laser Trigger functionality. Please excuse the use of my bathroom sink for the test shots :)

I attached the MIOPS via it's standard screw thread to a Tripod to the left of the sink and used a lighting clamp (Anwenk Super Clamp w/ 1/4"-20 and 3/8"-16 Thread) to hold a laser pen in place on a second tripod to the right.

The X-T2 and 35mm f2 was mounted on a third tripod.  I focused on the water in the sink below the line of sight of the laser.

I connected the MIOPS to a hot-shoe adapter connected to my Cactus V6II and placed two RF60 flashguns either side of the sink to provide the light.

As with previous flash tests I turned out the lights in the room and took a 3 second exposure whilst firing the laser pen at the MIOPS sensor. I dropped a strawberry from around 6 inches above the water and as it broke the beam the flashes fired. I experimented with various delay options but found zero delay worked well for this set up.

The MIOPS worked consistently in this test (after I charged it up properly) and I was able to easily achieve the right timing for multiple drops. I made about 5 attempts and I think that the shot above is the best capture. I shot in RAW and brought the color temp in to a blue tone in post processing. 

Gallery of additional Test shots

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Fuji X-T2 - Wet and Windy London

It was a wet and windy start to the day in London this morning. I used the Fuji X-T2 and Fuji 35mm f2 to capture some of my fellow commuters struggling with their brollies :)

I shot these images in RAW and converted to JPG in Adobe Lightroom and NIK Silver Efex Pro 2

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Fuji X-T2 - Balloon Burst

I have been evaluating the MIOPS Smart Trigger and have been experimenting with the sound trigger feature.

I set up a small water-filled balloon with a Cactus RF60 Flash behind to backlight. The RF60 was triggered via a Cactus V6 II plugged into the MIOPS Smart.

I burst the balloon with a shot from an air gin.

The MIOPS Smart has done a good job of triggering the flash at about the right time. The gun was fired about 4 feet from the balloon which would have introduced a short delay.

This shot has caught an odd moment where the pellet can be seen entering the balloon but the burst has not kicked in

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Fuji X-T2 - MIOPS Smart - Examples

The MIOPS Smart Trigger can be set up to trigger a Flash Gun when a sound is detected. I set up a test for the MIOPS Smart Trigger this evening with a single Cactus RF60x Flashgun and some party poppers (The small plastic capsules that fire streamers)

Flash and MIOPS Setup

I connected the Flash gun directly to the MIOPS Smart via the connection cable and angled the flash head up and towards the X-T2. The X-T2 was set to take a 5 second exposure and the room had to be dark to ensure no ambient exposure.

I triggered the camera and fired the popper from a position around 6 inches above the flash gun.

Example exposures

The MIOPS Smart allows adjustments to how loud the sound needs to be to initiate a trigger and any delay between detecting the sound and triggering.

I experimented with delays of between no delay and 30ms for the shots shown below.

With no delay set the MIOPS has captured the streamers almost before they have begun to unravel.

Please excuse the soft focusing through the range of images. This was a quick timing test and I was not paying too much attention on the depth of field. 

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Fuji X-T2 - Trigger Trap Vs MIOPS - Sound Triggering

Trigger Trap Alternative

Trigger Trap recently announced the news that they are going out of business. I have been a long running user of the Trigger Trap system and participated in the early Beta Testing of the product.

One feature that I particularly liked was Trigger Traps ability to trigger a flash gun when a sound was made. This allowed for some creative captures for example when a water filled balloon is burst and captured at high speed (short flash duration)

I did some research for similar products and contacted the folks at MIOPS who where kind enough to supply me with a MIOPS Smart Trigger to review and compare.

I thought I would initially evaluate the MIOPS Smart Sound Trigger feature compared to my Trigger Trap Solution

Ping Pong Ball Bounce Test

I decided to set up a simple bounce test to compare the lag of the Trigger Trap Vs the MIOPS Smart.

Trigger Trap Setup

I connected the Trigger Trap Dongle to my iPhone SE via the Headphone Socket and to my Cactus RF60 Flash via the Trigger Trap Flash Adaptor 

I set the X-T2 to take a 5 second exposure and the Trigger Trap Mobile App to Trigger when a sound is detected. I turned the lights out in the room to avoid any ambient exposure and dropped the ping pong ball from two feet.

As the ball hits the matt it triggers the RF60 which freezes the ball in flight. The height of the rebound corresponds to the lag between the sound of the impact and the flash firing.

Trigger Trap Sound Trigger - Test Photo

MIOPS Smart Setup

The MIOPS Smart connects to flash via a PC Sync lead. I don't have this port on my Cactus RF60 so had to grab a hot shoe adapter from Amazon (I went for a JJC JSC-9 which works fine)

I set up the sound mode on the MIOPS to 'listen' for noise and set the sensitivity down to around 50%.

It is useful to set lock mode on to prevent the MIOPS from triggering every time the ball bounces rather than just the one time.

As with the Trigger Trap I set up in a dark room with the X-T2 taking a 5 second exposure. 

MIOPS Smart Sound Trigger Test Photo

Conclusion

I realize that this is a rather un-scientific test but from this initial test you can clearly see that the MIOPS Smart fires the Flash with significantly less lag. The Ping Pong Ball has not cleared the top of the base of the measure.

I will be continuing to test and review the MIOPS trigger in the coming days and will post my efforts.

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Fuji X-T2 - 10 Stop Neutral Density Filters

Hoya 77mm Pro ND 1000

The Neutral Density Filter is used to uniformly reduce the amount of light that reaches the Camera Sensor. In the case of the Hoya 77mm Pro ND 1000 that's ten stops of light (NOTE: en stops, 3.0 density, 1000x and #110 all refer to the same extreme density)

Each Stop of light reduction is equal to a doubling of exposure time which equates to an unfiltered shutter speed of 1/100th being increased to 10 seconds. 

Focusing

The Fuji X-T2 does a pretty good job of focusing when an ND filter is attached. I have found that with exposures up to around the 30 second mark the camera can 'see' enough to lock.

It is however generally a good idea to compose and focus before attaching the Filter. This is perfectly practical with a screw on filter as long as care is taken. You might find a filter system to be a better choice as it is easier to add and remove the filter from the filter holder (see the Lee Filter System later in this article)

Screw on Vs Square Filters

There are a couple of options to consider when choosing an ND filter. Screw on type such as the Hoya 77mm Pro ND 1000 or 'Square' Filters such as the 100mx100m Lee filters.

Screw-on Filters

The Advantage with the Screw on Type is size. I have an iGadgitz case which can hold up to three 77mm sized filters. I tend to use this for the Hoya 77mm Pro ND 1000 and a selection of step-up rings.

Square Filter Systems

The Advantage of a Square System such as the 100mm filter system by Lee Filters is that it is easy to add and remove filters. The Filter Holders have spaces for 3 square filters. It is possible to stack ND filters and/or add graduated Filters.

It is sometimes helpful when taking very long exposures to 'balance' the scene with a Graduated ND filter. This means that you can capture the scene in one shot rather than having to bracket for foreground and sky. Not much of an issue for a 30 second exposure but painful if you are exposing for 5 minutes.

Step-Up Rings

It is an idea to buy your ND filter in a size to fit your largest lens. This way you can save money by buying Step-Up Rings to adapt the 77mm thread to various lens sizes. 

Some Challenges

The Camera can't calculate correct exposures above 30 seconds so you will need to do some math (or utilise a handy phone App such as NDTimer)

The ND filters can add some color casts to the photograph. These are fairly easy to remove in Post Processing but should be taken into account. 

Internal reflections of light can cause some un-wanted effects. This is more common with the square systems where there is a space between the filter and the lens

Vignetting can sometime occur when using wide angle lenses. The only answer in this case is to zoom in slightly or edit in post.

Examples

Here are two example JPGs taken with the Fuji X-T2 showing the difference in color cast between the Hoya ND filter and the Lee 'Big Stopper' 

Shopping

You can check out the products mentioned on Amazon

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Fuji X-T2 - Fuji Velvia Film Simulation - Tower Bridge

I started a new job in January and my new journey in to London has given me the opportunity to explore some new areas. I took the Fuji X-T2 to London Bridge at dawn to capture the sunrise over the iconic Tower Bridge.

I utilised the Fuji Velvia Film Simulation option to create some punchy, high saturation images of the colorful sunrise.

Luminosity Masks

The bright orange of the dawn sky created a silhouette of the bridge and HMS Belfast. I decided to blend two bracketed exposures together in Photoshop to bring some detail back into the shadows. I used the exposures below, opening them as layers in Photoshop and using a luminosity mask to blend them. 

I use Photoshop actions developed by Jimmy McIntyre to create a range of masks which can be applied to the image. I recommend checking out his tutorials for more information.

I took a number of images around Tower Bridge and made sure to capture the famous Girl and Dolphin fountain on the North Bank of the Thames.

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How Robust is your camera?

Condensation Prevention?

I've read a few articles recently that warn of the dangers of damaging your camera equipment when taking it from a cold environment into a warm one. The difference in temperature and humidity can cause condensation to form.

I don't see a big problem with the front lens element fogging up but some people have mentioned condensation forming on the inside of a lens and even on the camera sensor itself!

I couldn't find a definitive answer to the question on how important it is to be aware of this issue. Many people seem to suggest that a camera should be sealed in a zip-loc or similar bag and allowed to warm up to room temperature before being removed!

I regularly listen to the excellent Tips from the Top Floor Podcast by Chris Marquardt and decided to send in this question to his show. Click here for a link to the episode and his response.

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Fuji X-T2 - Traffic Trail Tip - Blending Multiple Photos

Regents Street Traffic Trails

One trick that I like to use when photographing Traffic Trails is to blend multiple exposures into a single frame. The result is a composite photograph that features the best of the light trails from the individual images.

The three photographs shown below are JPGs taken in Fuji Velvia Film Simulation mode on my Fuji X-T2 and the location is London's Regents Street.

I mounted the X-T2 on a tripod and framed a composition to capture the beautiful Christmas lights and the road and buildings to the side of the central reservation.

I took three images with the same exposure settings (f22, 8.5-9 seconds) and aimed to capture interesting traffic trails for both sides of the frame.

Regents Street presents many challenges due to the busy traffic and high number of pedestrians passing through the frame. The sequence of the traffic lights meant that rarely was traffic moving on both sides of the frame at the same moment so separately timed exposures were necessary.

I wanted to keep some light in the sky and as I didn't plan on using an ND filter I was limited to fairly short (around 9 second) exposures as minimum aperture of f22.

I opened all three JPG's as layers in Adobe Photoshop. Selected them all and changed the layer blend mode to 'lighten' you can see this step in the vide clip below

Adobe Photoshop Layer Blending

The resulting image is shown here with no additional editing

Photoshop has done a good job of blending. The Traffic Trails are better than I was able to capture on a single 9 second exposure.

I think that the color version looks a little busy so have converted to black and white in NIK Silver Efex Pro and used the transform tool in Adobe Lightroom to straighten the tomb-stoning of the buildings. A 16x9 crop brings more focus to the Angel Lights.