Fujifilm cameras have long been praised for the colors they produce. Lightroom has often been criticized for its inability to process Fujifilm’s raw files efficiently. Capture One is generally recommended. Therefore, in this article, we will compare Lightroom and Capture One to see which is best for Fujifilm raw files.
Fujifilm cameras mainly use two types of sensors. The first type of sensor used in Fujifilm’s GF-mount medium format cameras, a Bayer color filter array. The latter is mainly used in Fujifilm X-mount APS-C cameras, one X-Trans . color filter array. In short, each sensor uses a different mosaic pattern for the arrangement of the red, blue, and green pixels on the sensor.
There is no clear answer as to which pattern is better between the two. However, there has been a lot of discussion about whether Lightroom is capable of managing images captured with the X-Trans sensor. For this reason, in part three of this series, we will focus primarily on Fujifilm APS-C cameras. We will also briefly cover Fujifilm’s medium format cameras.
In the gallery above you will see the pictures taken on Fujifilm GFX 50Sthe Fujifilm X-T4and Fujifilm GFX 100. The profile used is Provia Standard and at a glance there is no real difference. This is something I’ve noticed with every Fujifilm film simulation profile. In most cases, there is little difference in how the profiles are displayed in each software.
This is especially the case with Fujifilm’s medium format cameras. There is almost no difference in how each film simulation is displayed. There is some back and forth between how Lightroom and Capture One work, however, for the most part, there is no clear winner. You can see the full comparison of Fujifilm’s medium format cameras in the video linked above.
Otherwise, it’s a whole different story when it comes to Fujifilm APS-C cameras. Lightroom seems to have some problems with the X-Trans sensor. In addition, there are slight differences in the way movie profiles are displayed.
In the comparison above, you can notice that the captured image has a slightly more saturated red tone on the skin. This seems more pleasing than the Lightroom file, which is more focused on yellow tones. This is, of course, a matter of preference; however, the problem is that for Fujifilm X-Trans cameras, there is a difference in how the film profile is displayed.
The other notable difference between Capture One and Lightroom is how each manages the lens profiles. Lightroom seems to do a better job of minimizing vignetting produced by the lens. While Capture One has lens configuration features built into the software, it’s not quite as impactful.
You may have noticed in the comparison above that the Capture One file is much darker at the top and bottom of the image. This can be used creatively; however, it seems that Lightroom does a better job of preventing optical issues through the use of lens profiles.
Also, the overall look from both images is relatively close when it comes to colors. Blue and yellow tones are well represented between the two images and there aren’t any unsightly issues appearing in the files. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, as in some files a strange grainy-like texture appears in images that have been processed in Lightroom.
Before diving into issues like noise, we can take a look at the full images in the comparison above. The first thing to notice is that Capture One images appear to have more contrast and vibrancy. Because of these small differences, most people may prefer the results from Capture One. Other than that, Lightroom does a better job of managing textures, but again, some people may prefer darker corners.
Also, Lightroom seems to have problems rendering green tones from the X-Trans sensor. In the previous image, the blue and yellow tones are perfectly fine in the way Lightroom renders them; however, green seems to cause a lot of problems.
The image exported from Lightroom has this strange noise appearing in the file. This anomaly is also known as X-Trans deworming and does not appear to occur in any other raw processors. While it only renders correctly when you magnify the image at least 100%, it still affects the overall feel of the image. The file has a “raw” look even from a reasonable distance.
Take a closer look
From the images that have been tested in the last month, it seems that Lightroom is mainly struggling with green. All other images tested did not show any problems. In terms of effectiveness, this deworming will be a problem if what you shoot contains a lot of green tones, e.g. landscape photography,
If you are a landscape photographer, you will likely encounter this problem in your images. If you’re creating content for social media, this can be a forgivable problem. If you are a professional photographer, you should avoid Lightroom and use Capture One instead.
Epilogue
In this series of articles, we covered Canon, Sony and now Fujifilm. With Canon and Sony, the choice between Lightroom and Capture One comes down to personal preference. There is no clear way to determine the winner as both programs produce great results. With Fujifilm, there are objective differences that cannot be ignored.
The problem of deworming creates an undesirable variable for which there does not appear to be any reasonable solution. It basically makes images look like they have high ISO noise, no matter what ISO they were shot at.
If you shoot with a medium format camera such as GFX 100S and the new one GFX 50S II, then the difference is not significant. Capture One and Lightroom perform admirably with Fujifilm’s medium format cameras. This is also possible with some Fujifilm APS-C cameras that use Bayer sensors. However, with the Fujifilm X-Trans camera, it is clear that Capture One is the better choice.
