Those of youse who been following my blog'll know I ain't the kinda photoshop geek who loves to spend his whole life playing around on his computer. No sir. I'd rather be out snappin', actually using my Fuji gear to capture the wonderful world around me! My mobile JPEG based workflow is what allows me to minimize time spent processing images. But that little voice in my head just don't give up: "wouldn't RAW still have been better?". Please read on if you're interested in the answer!

Fuji X-T2 with XF 16-55mm / f2.8, ACROS JPEG file developed in Lightroom CC Mobile

This image seems to be an appropriate guinea-pig: lots of contrast & lovely gradations of grey in-between! I always shoot RAW+JPEG, so I import:

The JPEG's to my iPad, for mobile development using Lightroom CC Mobile, Snapseed, and
Selected RAW's to my MacBook Pro, for desktop processing using Capture One Pro 11

Mobile development’s really fast, hey just 30secs max per image (only tweaking of curves & highlights / shadows). And really good results to boot (OK no sweat, everybody knows about the amazing quality of Fuji ACROS JPEG’s, which are mostly more than enough to get the job done!). This significantly speeds up my workflow & I can limit the more time consuming RAW development at a later point of time for those images where I really need the RAW file´s increased highlight headroom, see below the same image as above developed from RAW in Capture One Pro 11:

Fuji X-T2 with XF 16-55mm / f2.8, RAW file developed in Capture One Pro 11

And here some crops from the above images. Gotta say that the Fuji ACROS JPEG's are good. Really good! Can't really see a big difference between the two. OK, so the Capture One RAW has maybe a bit more definition but you really gotta do serious nitpickin' to identify it:

But what if you wanna do that serious nitpickin' (aka pixelpeepin')? Like what about the grain? Yes, GRAIN! People grown up in the digital age don't know nothin' about it. This is what makes our images come alive, giving them character and emotion. Harking back to those magic days & (especially) nights in darkrooms, where images materialized from a blank piece of paper in the developer tray under the light of a red darkroom sun. Let's just take a look at that grain for a minute now (200% crops):

Grain in Capture One Pro 11 Pro RAW crop

My adjusted Capture One Style BW-15 on the left (grain dialed down from 80 to 60) does quite a good job, but I gotta admit it don't hold up to the magic Fuji´s ACROS film simulation is doing on the JPEG (right picture). Not at All! As you can see Fuji somehow manage to vary the strength of the grain depending on tonal values, reducing the effect in the highlights and accentuating it in the darker tones (just as silver halide films do). See here an interesting article explaining how this works!

Please decide for y´self what you prefer, but for me it´s really a difficult choice. So difficult I often I print my fine-art prints off slightly tweaked Fuji ACROS JPEG´s to retain this magic film-like grain effect. I can't get that from any RAW processor! Somehow a print off a "digital" looking RAW file don't seem to create that emotional connection for me (much like music played off vinyl records comparing to a CD). Call me old fashioned but I'm afraid that's how it is ;-)

Just so y'all don't get too bored looking at the same image for the umpteenth time, I added another pic I took in a Marriott hotel lobby in a far away place:

Marriott hotel lobby, Fuji X100F with Fujinon 23mm / f2, developed in Capture One Pro 11 — Marriott hotel lobby, Fuji X100F with Fujinon 23mm / f2, developed in Capture One Pro 11

So now I'm curious what you think! Did I make a convincing pitch to use JPEG´s with Fuji´s fantastic ACROS film simulation, or d´you still prefer doctoring around for long hours glued to computer screens with your RAW´s? Hey, think of it. If that extra time spent don't deliver significantly better results it´s time lost, can't ever get it back! Ain't it better to spend that extra time out taking photos? It´s up to you. With that somewhat philosophical closing line I´ll let y'all go - Hey, at the end it´s YOUR decision ;-)

Look forward to your opinions & comments - please leave me a message & I´ll answer ASAP, many thanks for your attention & for visiting! Here's to wishing you great images & a great weekend!

Best regards,

Hendrik

I hope this post was helpful / interesting for you - If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance!

After some research I've refined my Fuji X JPEG Only iPad Workflow for on-the-go image processing & uploading to blog, social media, etc. For all you impatient ;-) readers, here the final result after transfer to iPad & post processing with Pixelmator:

I usually set-up my Fuji X100T to use the B-R film simulation, with shadows & hi-lights set to +1. Images are saved as large JPEG + RAW - This helps me to pre-visualize the image in black & white on the LCD screen and allows me to later develop a flat color "digital negative" JPEG from the saved RAW file using the in camera raw conversion. For this I use following settings: Classic Chrome film simulation, color +1, hi-lights and shadows -1, sharpness +1 and noise red. -1 (of course I always still have the RAW file as original back-up and for creating fine art prints on my PC in Lightroom, if needed !):

"Nebula man" converted in camera to flat color "digital negative" JPEG

I then import these color JPEG's onto my iPad using the Shuttersnitch App, which has an easy WiFi connection and IPTC (copyright, usage rights) updating feature. After saving the images to the iPad's camera roll I perform some basic post processing in Pixelmator for iPad, using the simple workflow explained in some screen grabs below:

"Nebula man" flat color JPEG in Pixelmator, after opening "adjust colors" menus

After opening the color JPEG in Pixelmator I go to the "adjust colors" menu & convert to black & white by selecting "B&W":

Then adjust the sliders for levels (black & white points), brightness, and contrast to your liking. The color sliders can be used to modify shades of grey depending on their original color (eg. darken blue sky, similar like you can do in Lightroom), but their effect in Pixelmator is limited (according the App developer this will be improved in a future App update):

You can adjust shadows & hi-lights by modifying curves:

For me very important to add a copyright to my image - Pixelmator is one of the few Apps which has an extensive texting option (with many fonts, styles and renderings to choose from). See the following images as example:

... and move the text block to the desired position !

Finally resize the image for upload to blog or social media:

Resize for upload to blog or social media (1500 pixel long side):

... and save to camera roll (Save to Photos):

That's it, I hope this was useful to y'all & that you enjoyed the post ! Many thanks for reading & let me know if you have any questions or comments, I'm interested to hear what approach you might have for working On-the-Go !

Have a great day & all the best wishes, best regards,

Hendrik

I hope you enjoyed reading this post - If you like you can support me by sending me a small donation via PayPal.me/hendriximages ! Helps me run this site & keeps the information coming, many thanks in advance !

Fuji Image Processing Contest: JPEG Mobile vs. RAW Desktop

Fuji X JPEG Only iPad Workflow - Refined !

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