It’s time for the rains in Portland, so that means the Ricoh GRIIIx has to stay inside, the fun little Instax cameras are best not carried around, and my really, really good Fuji primes that aren’t weather resistant have to stay on the shelf. I put together a little weather-resistant “grab-n-go” kit with an X-Pro3 and the Fuji 16, 23, and 27mm WR lenses.
I also z’d out my X-Pro3’s presets and made just three:
- Neutral
- Muted
- Hard
The basic setup is:
All presets 🔗
- Drive mode: Photo simulation bracketing with Classic Chrome, Acros-R, and Astia.
- File type: raw + fine JPG
- Storage: card 1: JPG, card 2: raw
Muted 🔗
_It’s rare that I go here. It’s just not my style. But sometimes there are opportunities to capture that classic “WPA black and white photography” look.
- Chrome Blue and Color Chrome: Off
- Sharpness: 0
- Color: 0
- Shadow and Highlight tones: -2
- DR: 400
Neutral 🔗
When I’m not sure what’s going on, this is the closest to letting go and letting Fujifilm’s software development team.
- Chrome Blue and Color Chrome: Off
- Sharpness: 0
- Color: 0
- Shadow and Highlight tones: 0
- DR: 200
Hard 🔗
I pretty much live here. It’s hard to push Fujifilm over the top, and this setting provides a workable JPG for a standard deviation off of any given setting.
- Chrome Blue and Color Chrome: High
- Sharpness: 3
- Color: 3
- Shadow and Highlight tones: +3, +3
- DR: 100
Why 🔗
I really like Fujifilm’s way of looking at the world where its presets are concerned. You can get some lovely images straight out of the camera. Try as I might, though, I can’t shake the urge to have the flexibility raw images confer. The problem is that raw processors like Lightroom don’t all honor Fujifilm’s presets. Yes, there are equivalents, but I just haven’t sat down to figure out a Rosetta Stone for all the settings. Fujifilm itself provides software for a raw post-processing workflow, but you have to connect your camera and use it as a sort of fuji coprocessor. Cumbersome. No good for the field, where I work off of tablets.
So setting up three very general presets, then using simulation bracketing gets me a usable JPG right away, with the raw files tucked away if there’s something I want to do some real work on.
A variant approach that saves some sorting is to get rid of the simulation bracketing and just keep the three presets, then assign film simulation to a button as your mood dictates. Some days are Acros days, some days are Classic Chrome days, and either way the raw is sitting there if the urge to really edit strikes. If you just assign film simulations to a button, you’re a thumb-press away from any you choose.
#fujifilm #photography #cameras