image courtesy: soundimageplus

1) soundimpageplus posted part 1 of his first impressions and comparison pics on his website here. For part 2 click here. Among the others in the first part he says that:

“[…] when I looked at typical ‘problem’ areas for the Fuji files, dense areas of green foliage, it was a different story. The Aperture files, as you can see, are clearly superior and don’t have that unnatural look that the Adobe files have, even with the latest version of ACR. There is none of that ‘smudging’ of detail and the look that some kind of dodgy filter effect has been added. Great you might think, but this does come at a (slight) price. There is definitely some colour noise and moire present in the Aperture files. […]  So overall, I’m VERY impressed with the Aperture renditions and the colour problems I can deal with easily. Finally, this is commonly used raw conversion software (if you use an Apple-Mac that is!) that does justice to the Fuji files and I got some spectacularly good conversions using it.”

2) Also thedigitalstory posted his Aperture vs Lightroom comparison pics here. “In my opinion, both applications do an excellent job of handling .RAF files. And the fact that both Apple and Adobe had the RAW updates so quickly after the release of the new X-Trans cameras (X-20 & X100S), says that both are taking these cameras seriously. Well done.“

3) Thomas Fitzgerald also took a closer look at Aperture, and in his second part he could not confirm the the very good impressions he had in his first look. The good “Sharper in detail areas. Retains textures and fine detail well in certain circumstances. Sharpens up well with some careful edge sharpening. Good saturation. Ability to switch between Raw and Jpeg very useful.” The bad? “Unacceptable level of chroma noise. Strange mottling in the blue channel, Moire is uncontrolled and uncontrollable. Random scattering of pixels in detail areas.  Initial sharpening can be a little weak, and the raw fine tuning sharpening is not great – you need to know how to use edge sharpening to get the best results.” Check it out here.

4) Jim Gamblin compared different RAW converters: Adobe Camera RAW 7.4, SilkyPix which came with the Camera, Raw Photo Processor 64, Apple’s newest update to Aperture and the SOOC jpeg. “Given I have done nothing other then open the RAW (RAF) file in each of the RAW converters and resize them for this site, my opinion is Apeture does the nicest job.  The color and detail to me seem the best of the lot.  Opinions will vary on this, I am sure .[…]  The SOOC jpeg doesn’t look too bad either.  In fact the Apeture version and SOOC jpeg look very similar to me, so I did double check and they repersented faithfully.” See the comparison pics here.

5) A review of the new features of Lightroom 5 can be read over here at andreinicoara. His favorite feature is the new radial filter. Check this youtube video.

If you have some spare time, you could use it to read the comprehensive X20 review over here at dpreview. The X20 has an overall score of 77%. For a quick overview, read the PROS and CONS here:

“The Fujifilm X20 is a true enthusiast’s compact, with solid build quality, a fast lens, unique optical viewfinder, and sharp, high resolution photos. It offers a wide selection of manual controls, easily adjustable settings (thanks to twin control dials, the Fn button, and Quick Menu), and 1080/60p video recording. Downsides include a mediocre, hard-to-access movie mode and sub-par battery life. Good for: Enthusiasts and low light shooters who want a compact camera with high-end build quality and features. Not so good for: Users who want to get a full day of shooting out of one battery. Movie enthusiasts.”

Fuji X20: [shopcountry 10267]

image courtesy: Tony Bridge (Fujifilm X-E1, Fujinon 55-200mm)

It’s autumn in New Zeland, and Tony Bridge went with his pre-production 55-200 to his favorite place to take some pictures in the dawn. Read the in field test of Tony Bridge at his website here. I’ll post just a short extract:

“Fitted to either an X-Pro 1 or X-E1, it sits nicely in the hand and balances well, and the fit and finish is Fuji-superb […] The stabilisation really works, and I found myself able to handhold at 1/50 second in damp and unpleasant circumstances. […] The scene I photographed is rich in micro-detail, including power pylons, farmhouses, trees of various species and fine lines from intense agriculture. They are guaranteed to test any lens, and I wondered if the lens would deliver what I was the asking of it. It did. […] the lens is sharp right out to the corners, and contains a remarkable sense of three-dimensionality. The files required little or no sharpening, and micro-detail requires little or no extra work. If anything the lens is a little too sharp, and I found myself applying softening in places to create a greater sense of distance-reality. Colouration too seems a little on the cool side, but it is particularly responsive to reds and yellows. […] I was more interested in how the lens would cope in the field, how it would resolve detail, its flare and contrast characteristics, and above all whether it had that indefinable X factor, that sense of character and colour and light and space which marks a truly great lens. It has all of them. In spades.”

Preoder the lens at BHphoto, Adorama or DigitalRev.
Check the in stock status in your country: [shopcountry 10575]