Last week I shared with y´all how various RAW converters render the Fuji X-Pro2´s new X-Trans III sensor´s hi-lights & shadows, see here. Now for the second (and last) part, I´m looking at details & sharpening - I must say, very interesting ! Please read on if curious - again I start with the SOOC JPEG, showing how the camera interpreted the scene:
Park with Lake - Fuji X-Pro2, WR 35mm/f2, JPEG SOOC: not bad at all, but a bit too dark !
Here an enlarged portion of this SOOC image:
Crop of above SOOC JPEG, observe some "watercolor" artifacts in the background bushes !
Serves me right, at this extreme magnification level (300-400%) I managed to identify the famous "watercolor" effect in some areas of finest low contrast foliage detail ! Now this is a special feature of Fuji´s X-Trans sensors, developed to punish "pixel peepers" ;-)
Believe me, if you focus your photography on developing the best image content, rather than searching for artifacts at crazy magnifications you'll never need to bother about it. This effect is definitely NOT visible at normal viewing magnifications, nor in print ! As this "watercolor" effect remained visible with all RAW converters, I believe it´s caused on pixel level by interference between finest details and Fuji´s proprietary demosaicing pattern (designed to maximize sharpness by not needing an AA filter for moiré prevention). I also get the impression that it´s less evident on Fuji´s new 24 mp sensor compared to the previous 16 mp sensors (where i could make it visible already at lower magnifications)
Having said that now let´s look at how the different RAW converters perform on details & sharpness:
1. Photo Ninja:
Apart from the missing lens correction the "watercolor" effect is less prominent as it´s masked by a kind of "smearing":
Park with Lake - Fuji X-Pro2, WR 35mm/f2, RAW developed in Photo Ninja
Here the enlargement, showing quite good details & sharpening, but for my taste too harsh micro-contrast ...
Crop of the above Photo Ninja rendering, less visible "watercolor" but harsh micro-contrast
2. Iridient Developer:
From my point of view detail & sharpening are better balanced here (less "smearing") & better sharpening in contrasty details:
Park with Lake - Fuji X-Pro2, WR 35mm/f2, RAW developed in Iridient Developer
See here the enlargement:
Crop of the above Iridient rendering, excellent details & more balanced sharpening
3. Adobe Camera RAW (included in Lightroom & Photoshop):
Last but not least here the rendering of Adobe Camera Raw, with some tweaking of sharpening in Lightroom nearly as good as Iridient !
Park with Lake - Fuji X-Pro2, WR 35mm/f2, RAW developed in Adobe Camera Raw
Details, see here:
Crop of the above Adobe Camera Raw rendering, nearly as good as Iridient !
Conclusion:
From my point of view based on detail & sharpening alone Iridient wins, but with some tweaking Adobe Camera Raw can come quite close !
So, overall combing this with last week´s conclusion I´m gonna try "survive" ;-) without an external RAW developer (i.e. see if I can limit myself to just Lightroom) !
Will keep y´all posted, please feel free to visit me here soon & see how it "develops" (pun intended !)
Many thanks for looking by & for your interest, please feel free to contact me via my contact page & drop me a message, I´ll be most happy to answer your questions as good as I can !
Best regards & wish great imagin(in)g !
Hendrik
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