Fuji looking for xe-2 postprocess workflow - help or suggestions anyone?

J

jochen121

Regular
ok, i have been reading and watching videos for several days now. i am looking for a workflow to import and process my beautiful images the xe-2 generates.
i want to have minimal necessary work- but am willing to put some work in if it is worth it ;)
up until now i used jpg ootc, imported in aperture and then sorted and put some in my fotostream and some on flickr. done.
then i started processing some pics in aperture (yes, only jpg) but was amazed that the images got better. so i want to dig in deeper.
1) the next easiest step would be to still shoot jpg and use some VCSO presets integrated in aperture- nice effects, not that much more work- and according to some sites even less postprocessing time.
would shooting raw improve the results dramatically?
2) a alternative would be adding NIK tools. also includes some film presets and is easy to work with. price is not that much higher (and even less if i bought both film packs from VCSO) but also includes some other powerful tools. drawback: generates a large tiff file and opens in an extra window. the tiff would then be exported as jpg and then imported again. then i would have to delete the tiff - some extra work. could maybe even be automated somehow in aperture

but it seems VCSO also takes some processing that would still need to be done using the NIK collection

3) use LR - has RAW capability (for the xe2), has good features to work on pics - but i prefer the easy way of aperture

4) more work - convert to dng, then import in aperture, then process using only aperture
4b) use silkypix- but the design is ugly and the resolution of the font makes my eyes hurt

5) use photo ninja- can read and process the raw file and seems to have some nice noise reduction capabilities. then export as jpg and import the jpg into aperture. aperture is only to manage and share the files

any feedback on how other users set it up or recommend setting it up for my purpose?
thank you all
jochen
 
I use the JPG where it's about right, sometimes use DXO Filmpack 3 on them. Have a few other plug ins, rarely use them though.

When I process RAW I either use Lightroom RAW (not sure how Aperture is with it) and then use Filmpack if I like the look for the photo. Most are just processed in LIghtroom which would be Aperture for you.

BUT: some photos with Fuji's need a better RAW processor to really bring out the detail. For you with Apple you could use Iridient -- for me it's Photo Ninja (my workflow is Windows based). Basically for critical shots I can really get a great "pseudo RAW" in TIFF form which I can finish off in Lightroom.

All that being said though, if you don't print large or sell full sized digital images, you probably don't need an external developer. Most aberrations of the X-Trans RAW development by Lightroom/Aperture won't be seen at reduced resolution.
 
i plan to print a few pictures soon (my first ever), but don´t expect do do it more often than 5 times a year. and i am not selling anything, most of the pictures are just packed into a photobook or watched at my computer.
i completely forgot i already own DXO Filmpack 3 ;) that gives me some film modes- i i saw that i am able to remove the grain (which i don´t like on my pics) - so thank you for your reply!
 
jochen121 said:
i plan to print a few pictures soon (my first ever), but don´t expect do do it more often than 5 times a year. and i am not selling anything, most of the pictures are just packed into a photobook or watched at my computer.
i completely forgot i already own DXO Filmpack 3 ;) that gives me some film modes- i i saw that i am able to remove the grain (which i don´t like on my pics) - so thank you for your reply!
Click to expand...

You are welcome.

Flysurfer also replied and he is the Fuji guru -- his name is Rico and don't call him Rudi as he hates that (inside joke, lol...)

You should search out some of his excellent comparisons of different Fuji RAW converters that include 100% crops as they will show you what is possible. Through him I discovered Photo Ninja.
 
flysurfer said:
I use either the internal RAW converter or Lightroom, Photo Ninja or Iridient Developer für my X-E2 files.
Click to expand...

as a professional user that may make sense, but not for an amateur user like me ;) i would buy an additional program if it is worth it! but i would rather save the money and time and use that for shooting if the improvements are not substantial. but i don´t want to own and learn to use 3 different raw converters ;) i never tried the internal one- it just seems too odd somehow
 
Strange, the built-in is the most simple, most useful and most effective one. And sadly, I'm an amateur, too, but I'm also curious, so that doesn't keep me from trying different options. :)

Of course, if you don't like the JPEG look that comes out of your camera (some don't), forget the internal converter and go for an external solution. There are plenty of options and pretty much everything is available as free trial software.
 
it´s not that i don´t like the look- i think the jpg look good most of the time sooc. and for display resolution i even get most of the things done in aperture when i am not satisified. but if i could get more i am willing to take some extra steps
 
You can always get more, and there are plenty of extra steps one can take.

OTOH, you have already expressed reluctance to use the built-in RAW converter, even though it is the simplest, easiest, quickest and most effective method to improve JPEG results coming from the camera (pretty much no learning curve, as the settings are identical with the JPEG settings in the shooting menu).

In the end, it's entirely up to you which workflows, RAW converters or additional plug-ins suit you best. The good thing is: Almost everything is out there as free trial software, so you can try before you buy. However, this won't spare you an effort to try and find out for yourself what you think is best.

To keep things simple, folks usually start with the built-in RAW converter and then Lightroom (or whatever RAW converter they already know, like and use).
 
i guess i will go that way ;) just saw even though i only have lr3 i still would qualify for a update price. maybe i could do the processing in LR or in the camera and only import the jpgs into aperture...so i still have aperture to manage my files and share. even though that adds some steps ;) thank you for your thoughts!
 
good to know- does it make sense to buy the "xe-1 and x-pro1" book and then your next book, too? otherwise i am scared i ask to many stupid questions ;) is workflow covered somewhere in your book, too? right now i try to figure out how to use LR5 and Aperture together with less possible trouble ;)
 
I am not aware of a single source. I have seen plenty of discussions in various forums.

Sadly, there are always people who are fooled by Adobe into thinking that DNG was some kind of "standard" format. In reality, it's just a container that decreases compatibility and increases potential problems. I'd never delete my original RAW file.
 

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