A reader of Fujirumors directed our attention to a post in the dpreview-forum (click here). According to this rumor, Fuji is working with Adobe and Apple to make their software compatible with the RAW-files of the X-Trans sensor. Maxster writes: “Just came back from D-Clic photo show in Montreal and had the chance to talk with Billy from Fuji Guys. He asked me if I was happy with my X-Pro1 and I said yes, very happy BUT would like Adobe and others to better support it (or at all in the case of Aperture…). I expected him to play it safe but he actually acknowledged the problem right away and told me that they recently signed a non-disclosure agreement with both Adobe and Apple and provided them with specs for supporting the X-Trans sensor! He said he is also pushing strong with Fuji to add support for TIFF in the camera so that could be another good thing for some. Lets hope this leads to progress…”

But recently Apple released a new update for Aperture 3 and there is still no support for Fujifilms X-PRO1. And again, Fuji users were quite disappointed. Just read the comments to this dpreview post (click here). As Jaryl says: “Why nothing for Fuji X-Pro 1? Is it later or never?”

In the last months the voices grew louder, and the “RAW-problem” became a serious problem for Fuji and for photographers using the X-PRO1 (click here)  and the new X-E1 (click here).

No doubt, the jpegs of these cameras are really good, ISO is excellent, the sensor has a great potential, but many programs that work with RAW-files do not support the new X-Trans sensor technology. This is a real struggle for the normal workflow of photographers. As soundimageplus.blogspot.it says: “We have an existing workflow. We don’t want to be forced to change that workflow and our software mix to get good results from our raw files.”

Until now, the very low sales of the X-PRO1 didn’t push software companies to spend time and money to develop software solutions for the new X-Trans sensor. So sansmirror.com suggests: “Fujifilm needs to do everything under the sun to make sure that Adobe’s conversions are optimal for X-Trans, then they need to make sure they do that for the #2, #3, #4…et.al makers of converters. Failure to do that puts them in the same corner Fujifilm was in with DSLRs and never got out of: an interesting and oddball choice that has no optimized workflow most users would embrace.”

Finally, if the rumor of Maxster is correct, Fuji is really doing “everything under the sun” to make the X-Trans files compatible with the most important photo-software products. The X-Trans sensor is now in use for several months, and there shouldn’t be still such a big lack of software support. But Fuji has demonstrated to listen to feedback from photographers in developing his cameras. Let’s hope that they will do it also this time, and that rumors are going to be confirmed soon!

If you have some news or rumors to share, just contact us by email.

Are you using any software to work with X-Trans RAW pictures? if so, leave a comment.

take care, and thanks mike ;-)