Fuji S5 Pro post-processing comparisons (love Cameras, hate Computers (software))

fPrime wrote:

Apologise if I revive this old thread but at the actual date which is the RAW processor which does the better Fuji S-CCD conversion taking into account both R and S pixels and rendering the full size image (even tho it's an interpolation) rather than the "just" 6MP one (which I have been printing up to A3 with no visible artifacts at all)?

Grazie

My vote still goes to Hyper Utility, Goivanni. It has Fuji's color science, it knows how to best demosaic the Super-CCD sensor, and how to best interpolate it to 12MP.

I know but, unfortunately, it's not supported since long by MacOSX and even back then it was so very much slow not to mention the interface being ugly compared to the majority of raw converters

Remember that the Fuji S5 has a diagonal sensor readout which helps it boost its otherwise ordinary 6MP resolution. Most users agree that the S5 Pro achieves a "practical" resolution of around 8MP provided that the demosaic and sharpness are both optimized and finely balanced in the conversion.

Never found the "limited" resolution to be a problem, I had labs print for me 4MP files from my very first digital camera to A4 size and they were perfect and the S5Pro ones are still hung at my walls in 12x18 and show no pixelation, the MP race is a big marketing instrument but I won't give away my D800 😉

Beyond color science this is where I think Hyper Utility still has a quality advantage over Lightroom. HU can convert the S5 Pro RAW's with the fewest demosaic artifacts and thus the most natural sharpness. I also find its sharpening routines are specifically optimized for the S5 Pro whereas in Lightroom the sharpening tools are generalized for ordinary Bayer sensors.

Does HU have any limitations? Yes, it has an outdated user interface and no highlight recovery tools beyond Fuji’s own DR tool. It also does not offer automatic hot pixel removal, CA removal, or lens profiles. All of these tasks must be done via post processing.

But other RAW conversion packages have their own limitations for S5 Pro files too:

• Lightroom has good highlight recovery tools, automatic lens corrections, Adobe colors and tonal curves, and a modern user interface, but only offers 12 MP output. If one absolutely can't use HU, Lightroom is the second best choice.

I agree on this since I use LR since a while and even tho am not an experienced user or do lot of post processing it comes very handy and even if to burn highlights with the S5Pro is a very though job that slider comes very handy...

• Capture One Pro can convert S5 Pro RAW files, but only at 6MP output. Even worse, it disables lens correction profiles which prevents C1’s chromatic aberration tool from working.
• DxO Optics Pro can convert S5 Pro RAW files into 6MP output with lens corrections, but it produces odd image artifacts like mottled blue skies and crushed fine color detail. I believe DxO Photolab has dropped support for Super CCD since then.
• Photo Ninja produces exceptional artifact free 6 MP renderings for the S5 Pro, but it doesn’t correct for Fuji’s diagonal sensor output and frequently misinterprets the camera’s WB settings.

I know Hyper Utility isn't certified for OSX on the Mac side, but do you have any virtual backwards compatibility modes on your Mac? Here on the Windows side I run Hyper Utility on Win 7 x64 in Windows-XP compatibility mode. Maybe you have something similar or can dual boot your Mac into Windows to run the Windows version of HU there?

I dunno if the HU are supported by an old MacMini I own but I guess so, it's a machine from 2007 (and still doing great when needed!), I gotta give it a try just for the sake of experimenting, thanks for your suggestion.

fPrime

Grazie mille fPrime, good conversation which wants me to get the S5Pro out to take some shots