While Fujifilm has a reputation for the quality of its lenses, when it comes to its primes, they may be good, but they are expensive. At the moment, while Fuji cameras are competitive, for those on a modest budget, it’s still pretty expensive to build up a collection of lenses. In some focal lengths the cheapest options are still really expensive. 

With the launch of the new free version of Capture One for Fuji shooters, I figured a lot of people would be trying the software for the first time. The software can be a little confusing at first however, especially if you’re coming from Lightroom, and some of the features may be a little hidden or not work the way you think. With that in mind I created a video to give you an overview of how to use the software.

One of the questions that I get regularly from readers and viewers is: “what the difference is between Iridient X-Transformer and Iridient Developer?” If you are considering one of these for converting X-Trans files, it may be confusing for some people as to which one to choose, so here is what I hope will be a simple guide to deciding which software to use.

I’m busy working on a project at the moment, so I don’t have a lot of time to do a full write-up, but I did want to offer a few thoughts on the latest releases from Canon and Fuji. Canon launched its full-frame mirrorless system at an event in Hawaii yesterday, and today, Fuji announced the latest in its X-Series lineup, the X-T3.

A few people have been asking me for this, so I’ve finally managed to put together a bundle of my various X-Trans eBooks that deal with Lightroom. This is a three book bundle and included my original Lightroom processing guide, the X-Transformer guide and my Fuji Jpeg guide which also covers some Lightroom topics.

Despite the fact that Fuji’s X-Trans cameras have been out for several years now, and despite the fact that the issues with Lightroom are well known, there is still a surprising amount of misinformation being spread about this. What’s worse is that some of it comes from what you would think would be reliable sources. One of the most confusing issues surrounds what people call “worm artefacts”. Here is my attempt to set the record straight.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the one lens that I wished Fuji would make, which was a 16-70f/4.  Well, today, Fuji announced their new lens roadmap, and on it is a new entry - a 16-80f/4 - which is even better than what I had hoped for!

Fuji today announced a new compact camera, the XF-10. The XF-10 is an ultra lightweight compact camera, with a 28mm equivalent lens and an APS-C Beyer sensor. “The camera also includes enhanced Bluetooth capability.” It’s fairly inexpensive, retailing at $499. I’m not really a news site, so rather than go into every detail, here are a few of my observations, about the camera and the launch.

If there has been one company more outspoken than any other on the subject of APS-C sensors vs Full Frame it has been Fujifilm. Because of the insistence of company executives that their X-Trans technology makes their smaller sensor superior to full frame, many fans of the company’s products have been active and vocal supporters of this viewpoint. It has reignited an argument that many had previously considered settled: the merits of full frame vs cropped sensor.

While there was nothing preventing you working with Fuji files on Lightroom Mobile before, now that the latest version supports presets and preset syncing, the workflow has gotten a lot easier. If you follow any of my techniques for sharpening and managing Fuji files, you can now apply many of these to Lightroom mobile as well. There are of course limitations still, but its come a long way in just one version.

I set myself a little project the other morning, and that was to venture around the streets of Dublin city looking for interesting colours I could see. It’s become something of a running gag now, that my “Street Photography” isn’t technically street photography. But then, the definition of street photography is so vague anyway, at this point it doesn’t really matter. It was an interesting exercise, and it was quite revealing to me.

A while ago I wrote about my current workflow for processing Fuji files, and how I’ve simplified it recently. However, it was important to note that the way I work isn’t necessarily for everyone. A lot of it comes down to personal choice. I still get asked all the time by people as to which application they should use, and this is a tough question to answer because so much of it is down to personal choice. With that in mind, I wanted to see if I could break it down and come up with some methodology for helping people decide. So here is what I’ve come up with. It's not perfect, and as always, my best advice is to try different applications and see what works best for you.

I discovered the other day, quite by accident, that my Fuji X-Pro 2 is two years old this week. Tomorrow in fact. What a few years it has been. I’ve had ups and downs with the camera, but it’s also been good to me. Writing about it and processing Fuji files has undoubtedly made a name for me in certain corners, and I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today if it hadn’t been for buying that camera.

Today, Fuji launched the newest camera in its lineup, the budget conscious X-T100. Its kind of a cross between an X-A5 an X-T20, and I have to say, I think this is a really interesting camera. It gives you a well-equipped body, with a high-quality EVF but with a Beyer sensor instead of X-Trans. This means that you don’t have to worry about any changes to your workflow to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of working with X-Trans files, but still, have all the other advantages of a Fuji camera.

There’s an issue that can occur with Fuji cameras when you go to charge the battery. The light on the charger flashes, and instead of charging the battery, it will drain it completely. I’ve had this problem a couple of times now, and at first, I thought there was something wrong with my battery, but it turns out that it’s a fairly common issue with the charger. I’ve googled it and researched the problem, and while it’s fairly well known, as is typical with such things, there’s a wide range of conflicting opinions as to the cause and solution. So here’s what I found works for me…

While Fuji no doubt has a great range of lenses, and it certainly has some high-quality Primes, there are a couple of holes in its lineup still, in my opinion. There is one lens, that is very popular on some other systems, and it’s the lens I miss the most from when I had it for my Canon 5d. For me, it’s the ideal walk around focal length, and that is a 24-105mm equivalent. For a Fuji X-series system, that would be a 16-70mm.

When Skylum released the latest version of Luminar last month it had some significant improvements to the RAW processing engine. This included some much-needed features such as a significant speed increase and automatic lens corrections. I wanted to see how well it could now be used as a RAW processor for Fuji files, and so I put it through its paces and came up with some basic workflows. 

Over the years I’ve covered a lot of different applications and ways of working with Fuji raw files. During the time I’ve been shooting Fuji cameras, I’ve changed and honed the way I edit and process images, and while I continue to do so, I’ve started simplifying things considerably. Whereas before I worked with many different applications, I’m now pretty much just using a few.