Another contender has entered the relatively small ring of Raw converters that can work with Fujifilm's X-Trans sensors: Photo Ninja. Version 1.2.0 of this already-capable image editor now has 'preliminary' support for X-Trans Raws.

Prior to the release of Photo Ninja 1.2, there were very few Raw converters out there for X-Trans. This $129 software, available for Mac and Windows, gives photographers one more option. The software can be downloaded for free and a two-week license code is available on-request from PictureCode.

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Back in February, we did a comparison between ACR, Capture One and the camera's JPEG engine on a pair of Raw images from an X-Pro1. We used those same photos to see how Photo Ninja compares to the latest version of ACR.

Photo Ninja 1.2 vs ACR 8.2: Real-world Sample

Photo Ninja 1.2: Default settings Adobe Camera Raw 8.2: Default settings
100% crop 100% crop
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Photo Ninja 1.2 vs ACR 8.2: Studio scene

Photo Ninja 1.2: Default settings Adobe Camera Raw 8.2: Default settings
100% crop 100% crop
100% crop 100% crop

The Photo Ninja output shows slight hints of the 'paintbrush' style artefacts we've become used to seeing from X-Trans conversions but it also does a pretty good job of conveying fine detail. In our old studio scene you can see the cost of this - pronounced moiré in the fine repeating patterns of the printed samples. However, this is something of a 'torture test' - it's unlikely you'll often encounter these high-frequency repeating patterns in the real world. So, while it's not a stand-out winner in this preliminary guise, it looks like a credible extra option for X-Trans shooters.