Capture One and the Fujifilm GFX 50S (Part 2)

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In my last post, I came to conclusion that any Capture One workflow that converts the raw files into TIFF for import isn't a viable option. Not only are the TIFF files significantly larger in size than the compressed raws, they are also far less malleable in post processing to the point of being unusable. In addition, Capture One's latest version of 10.1 still does not include Fujifilm GFX 50S support despite adding support for compressed RAF and PSD files. So much for that.

With the likelihood of official Capture One support practically zero at this point, I wanted to continue exploring alternate workflows for the GFX and Capture One. In particular, I explored the DNG conversion workflow in more depth.

Capture One Workflow Using DNG

Converting the RAF into a DNG can be accomplished via various programs, such as Irident X-Transformer or Adobe Lightroom. In my informal testing, I couldn't discern any difference in the outputted DNG files between X-Transformer and Lightroom (or more appropriately Camera Raw).

Since I am already paying for Lightroom and Photoshop CC via the Creative Cloud Photography Plan, I decided to go with Adobe for the raw conversion. However, rather than going through Lightroom, Photoshop, or Bridge, I am using Adobe DNG Converter. It functions pretty much the same as Irident X-Transformer in that it is a stand alone application dedicated to converting raws into DNG files.

DNG-Converter-settings.png

In addition to the DNG Converter, EXIFTool is also needed to change the Make field of the EXIF from Fujifilm to Fujifilm_. This is to circumvent Capture One 10's software block on importing Fujifilm GFX 50S tagged files. EXIFTool can be found here with installation instructions here.

The workflow using Adobe DNG Converter is:

  1. Select the input folder containing the compressed RAF files

  2. Change preferences if desired (you'll only need to do this once)

  3. Hit the Convert button

  4. In Terminal, navigate to the output folder and run the command: exiftool -Make=”FUJIFILM_” *.dng

  5. Import the modified DNG files into Capture One

The generated DNG files are approximately the same size as the original compressed RAF files which is very good. DNG conversion takes about 2.5 seconds per file which is acceptable. The only issue is the color. A comment by EBA made in my previous post really clued me in on where to focus my attention next: color correction.

Color: Dull

Average File Size: 52 MB

Average Time to Convert RAF to DNG: 2.5 seconds / photo

Color Correction in Capture One

One of the obvious problems with importing the GFX 50S DNG files is that they do not have the correct color profile, resulting dark and dull images. Rather than just use one of the existing color profiles, I decided to make a proper color profile for the GFX.

In my search for software to create ICC profiles, I came across DCamProf which is an open source color profiling tool. The tool itself is extremely powerful (and consequently extremely complex), but fortunately there was a section just for Capture One ICC profiles. Needless to say I followed the guide verbatim.

For my reference image, I did the following:

  • X-Rite ColorChecker Passport Photo mounted to a tripod

  • Shot the ColorChecker on a sunny patio at noon with clear skies

  • GFX 50S and 120mm f/4 macro lens at f/16, 1/250s, ISO 400

  • White balance set to 5000K

  • Color space set to Adobe RGB

  • I used a slightly different spline for the LUT curve and modified the Neutral+ look to use ProPhoto RGB color space to avoid color space compression.

This is the resulting GFX 50S ICC profile can be found on my GitHub project CaptureOneICCProfiles.

The profile was generated to be neutral and hopefully as close to real life as possible. I have noticed that it's not quite perfect, but it's close enough that a bit of editing couldn't solve. To my eye the magenta range is a bit more saturated than it should be, but I haven't figured out how to tweak that in the ICC profile yet.

Installing the ICC Profile

To install the ICC profile, copy it to the appropriate location depending on your OS.

MacOS 

/Users/<username>/Library/Colorsync/Profiles

Windows 

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\CaptureOne\Color Profiles

After copying over the ICC profile, Capture One will need to be restarted. Once Capture One is loaded, the new GFX 50S profile can be found in the Other section of the ICC Profile dropdown box. You may have to click on the Show All option first to see it.

ICC-profile-selection.png

Examples

Here are some before and after examples of the GFX 50S ICC profile at work. For the images below, the only difference is using the GFX 50S ICC profile over the default DNG File Neutral profile.

Parting Thoughts

Using a custom ICC profile for the DNG files turned out a lot better than I expected! I still think that some colors could use some desaturation, specifically the skin tones, but at least that is easy to correct while editing. At this point I'm debating whether I should continue to refine the ICC profile or to create a couple of Capture One user styles that will automatically apply the corrections that I want. I'm leaning towards the latter since that I more straightforward.

I think that this workflow is something that I can live with.

I can continue to use Capture One with only a minor penalty to file size and initial import time. The biggest downside to this approach is the slight mangling of the DNG's EXIF data to get it into Capture One. Not a huge deal, but may make any EXIF-based searching or cataloging a pain.

So far I've only run one photo shoot through this workflow. We'll see how I feel about it after another 10. For now this is good enough.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this helpful!

Capture One and the Fujifilm GFX 50S

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There's already an abundance of articles and blog posts singing the praises of the GFX 50S, and delving into its technical specs. This will not be one of those posts.

I primarily use the GFX 50S for environmental portraiture, going on location or shooting guerrilla style. Compared to the Sony A7rII, the GFX's superior ergonomics is what won me over. The transition from the A7rII to the GFX hasn't been without its hiccups though. I use Capture One Pro as my main editing and management software, and I love its workflow and rendering of images. To my dismay, Capture One Pro does not, and as of this writing will not, support the GFX 50S.

Well crap.

For my first couple of shoots, I just used Lightroom since I just wanted to edit the photos quickly and didn't really want to spend the time to fuss around with figuring out a new workflow yet. Coming back to Lightroom was a frustrating experience after using Capture One Pro for the past 4 years. However, it did do the job of importing the RAF files and had options to change the color profiles to correspond to the in camera film simulations.

I wasn't necessarily unhappy with the results, but afterwards I realized that now my catalogs were split between Capture One and Lightroom. For my future sanity I needed to tackle this problem sooner rather than later. I needed to figure out a workflow that will let me continue to use Capture One.

Finding a Capture One Workflow

Through trial and error, I learned about the peculiarities of trying to get a GFX 50S file into Capture One. I summed up my findings for Capture One version 10.0.2:

  1. RAF files are not recognized as valid files for import.

  2. Simply converting the RAF to DNG will not work. Capture One will not recognize it as a valid file to import.

  3. Converting the RAF to TIFF will work and is recognized as a valid file to import.

  4. Converting the RAF to DNG and using exiftool to change the Make of the camera from "FUJIFILM" to "FUJIFILM_" works and will import.

One interesting finding was that how the RAF is converted has a huge impact on the color of the converted image. Much more so than I would have expected. It's something that I now have to take into consideration when choosing a workflow.

What I'm Looking for in a Workflow

For evaluating workflows, I'm looking at:

  1. Color

  2. File size

  3. Time to batch process raws

Color made it to the top of the list for evaluation when I was observing the difference conversion flows. While it may not be terribly important since the colors may change during the editing process, I'd still like to have the colors as close to what I captured. At the end of the day, I'd prefer to spend less time editing and more time shooting.

File size also makes the list since things can get out of hand very quickly!

Average Size

  • RAF (compressed): 50 MB

  • DNG (compressed): 100 MB

  • TIFF (compressed): 250 MB

  • TIFF: 300 MB

While the RAF file is pretty compact, an equivalent uncompressed TIFF takes up about 6 times as much space. For an average photo shoot session of 250 photos, that's roughly going to eat up 75GB of space for uncompressed TIFF! At a typical convention where I shoot about 5 - 6 photo shoots, that's pushing 450GB for a single day.

Finally, the speed at which the batch process conversion of RAF files is another important factor. I typically shoot around 10,000 digital shots a year, so I'd very much like the process to be as automatic and quick as possible.

RFC ⟶ Capture One

Raw File Converter EX 2.0 powered by SilkyPix (RFC for short) is the RAF converter program that is supplied free by Fujifilm. Since it's the official raw file converter, I'll use this workflow as the baseline for comparison with other workflows.

Since I plan to perform all my edits in Capture One, the only purpose that RFC will be to convert the RAF files into 16-bit compressed TIFF files. I left all of the settings at default and only changed the output TIFF settings.

[justified_image_grid ids=3205,3206 thumbs_spacing=5 row_height=300 height_deviation=50 limit=0 max_rows=1]

The workflow using RFC is:

  1. File > Open folder (⌘F)

  2. Select the folder (or SD card) with the RAF files

  3. Edit > Select all scenes (⌘A)

  4. Development > Batch development for selected scene...

  5. Execute

  6. Import TIFF files into Capture One

RFC is kind of clunky (and definitely not Retina compliant), but at least there are a few keyboard shortcuts to speed up the process a bit. The colors of the TIFF look true to the JPEG files rendered in camera, which is a huge bonus. File size is not so hot, coming in around 300 MB per file on average using LZW high compression. Batch converting 100 RAF files took roughly 1 hour to finish.

Also worth noting is that the RFC conversion applies some sort of distortion correction.

Color: Accurate

Average File Size: 300 MB

Average Time to Convert RAF to TIFF: 100 seconds / photo

Adobe Bridge ⟶ Adobe Camera Raw ⟶ Capture One

Adobe Bridge CC is essentially a file browser that will let me inspect all of the RAF files in a folder (or SD card). The same mechanics can also be accomplished in Lightroom (as Bridge is probably incorporated into Lightroom), but I'd like to bypass the whole cataloging experience that Lightroom brings with it.

The real heavy lifting will be done by Adobe Camera RAW (ACR for short) which performs the raw file conversion to TIFF. ACR is only accessible via another Adobe product (Lightroom, Bridge, or Photoshop), so I chose Bridge since it's the lightest weight option.

Like the previous RFC workflow, I am really only interested in performing a quick and painless conversion to TIFF. All of the heavy editing will happen in Capture One, or Photoshop if needed. For the TIFF conversion settings, I created a preset to generate 16-bit zip-compressed TIFF files using ProPhoto RGB color space.

ACR-export-settings-1200x1365.png

The workflow using ACR is:

  1. In Bridge CC, navigate to the folder (or SD card) with the RAF files

  2. Edit > Select All (⌘A)

  3. File > Open in Camera Raw... (⌘R)

  4. In Camera Raw, select all images again (⌘A)

  5. Click on Save Images...

  6. Click on Save

  7. Import TIFF files into Capture One

Since the workflow is just using default settings in ACR, it looks like the film simulation color profile is not automatically applied and the standard Adobe color profile is used instead. It's not the end of the world, but also not really expected. From an ease of batch processing standpoint it's easy enough, but it does feel strange to have one program open another to do the real work. File sizes come in around 250 MB per file. Zip compression seems to work well.

Color: Close; no film simulation applied

Average File Size: 250 MB

Average Time to Convert RAF to TIFF: 15 seconds / photo

Iridient Developer ⟶ Capture One

Prior to obtaining the GFX, I've never heard of Iridient Developer before. It appears to be a decently capable editing program in its own right, but my interest lies in its ability to convert the GFX RAF files into TIFFs. I used only the default settings in Iridient Developer (ID for short). When exporting, I chose 16-bit compressed TIFF using the ProPhoto RGB color space.

ID-export-settings-1200x395.png

The workflow using ID is:

  1. Select the folder (or SD card) with the RAF files

  2. Edit > Select All Images (⇧⌘A)

  3. File > Batch Process Selected Image(s) (⇧⌘E)

  4. Import TIFF files into Capture One

Like the ACR workflow before, I'm not entirely sure if the film simulation color profile is being applied at all. Batch processing was very easy. All it took was a couple of keyboard shortcuts and it was off to the races. I really appreciated that! File size seems more manageable clocking in around 220 MB on average.

Color: Close; no film simulation applied

Average File Size: 307 MB

Average Time to Convert RAF to TIFF: 37 seconds / photo

Iridient X-Transformer ⟶ ExifTool ⟶ Capture One

The last workflow I tried involved Iridient X-Transformer (IXT for short). It's a single purpose tool made by the same developer of Iridient Developer that converts raw files into DNG files. However since GFX DNG files are still not importable into Capture One, the EXIF data is hacked a bit to trick Capture One.

In IXT, I changed the RAW process to smoother, turned off sharpening and both noise reductions. For the output DNG settings, I enabled lossless compression.

The workflow using IXT is:

  1. Click on Select Image(s) to Convert... and select the folder (or SD card) with the RAF files

  2. In Terminal, navigate to the output folder and run the command: exiftool -Make="FUJIFILM_" *.dng

  3. Import the modified DNG files into Capture One

While ease of batch processing is very good, color rendition is pretty terrible. I'm also not sold on the idea of mangling the EXIF data. However, the DNG file sizes are quite reasonable; averaging around 130 MB per file.

Color: Not accurate

Average File Size: 130 MB

Average Time to Convert RAF to TIFF: 12 seconds / photo

Summary

I've included the same files that were compared in the previous sections, but stacked into an animated GIF to illustrate the differences between the workflows.

DSCF0255.Compare.gif
DSCF0312.Compare.gif
DSCF0350.Compare.gif
DSCF0354.Compare.gif

Alternatives

Honestly, the alternative to this entire mess is to just give up and use Lightroom. At the end of the day it'll get the job done. No conversion of the RAF files needs to be done, smaller file sizes, and the color isn't terrible; only the editing experience is subpar.

Parting Thoughts

All Capture One workflows are not ideal, just compromises.

One of the stranger things I've experienced using the converted TIFF files in Capture One is highlight recovery and white balance do not work as expected. Highlight recovery in particular will tend to darken the entire image instead of just reducing the highlight area when compared to the DNG with the same operation. The result is that the TIFF image looks very muddy.

At the end of the day, there are just too many problems and compromises with using the TIFF versions of the RAF files in Capture One.

Thus there are really only two options left:

  1. Convert the RAF files into DNG before importing into Capture One.

  2. Not use Capture One.

For the time being, I've resigned myself to just not using Capture One for now. In the meantime, I will continue to play with the DNG workflow in the hopes that I can manage something reasonable.

I remain hopeful that a future Capture One update will have GFX support, but I must edit photos in the here and now. I hope that you found this article helpful!

Trying Out Kentmere 100 Film

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On a whim I decided to pick up a couple of rolls of Kentmere 100 film from B&H; mainly because I wanted to reach the minimum $50 mark for free shipping. At $2.95 per roll, I felt it was a good gamble. What's the worst that could happen?

I was pleasantly surprised with this bargain film!

It's no Acros 100, but it's a really good performer. The Kentmere film doesn't have that creamy smooth black that I enjoy. That being said, the film does have an exceptional tonal range, retaining details in the shadows and highlights very well.

Developing

I developed the film using my standard 1+100 Rodinal recipe. Nothing out of the ordinary that I could tell. One trait of the film that is really nice is that it dries very flat and flexible. This makes scanning the film a pleasure as opposed to Tri-X which curls and hardens.

Not much more to say other than the film develops cleanly.

Compared to Fuji Neopan 100 Acros

While I don't have a direct comparison, I have one which is reasonably close enough. I shot both photos with my Leica M6 TTL Millennium camera and Summilux-M 50mm ASPH lens. Both were shot around the same aperture of f/2 and EI 100, and both were developed together at the same time. These shots were taken in slightly different lighting conditions and locations though.

 The comparison above illustrates the slight differences in rendering. The Acros 100 film has richer blacks and to my eye more base contrast than the Kentmere 100 film. The gentler curve of the Kentmere film holds onto the highlight details much better.

Parting Thoughts

Kentmere 100 is a surprisingly capable film for the modest price. While I'm pretty set with 100 speed film at the moment, it's good to know that there exists a B&W with great value should I need to restock my supplies.