X-Trans 1 (X-Pro 1 / X-E1) – Amazing colors/colours?

Raymond L wrote:

My Personal Findings

There is a difference.

X-E1 has more “punchy” colours

X-E1 has more contrast

X-E3 is better at reflecting what the real scene looked like

So.. how did I get there ?

Background

There have been countless number of content creators/photog community members praising the image output from the X-Trans 1 (X-Pro1/X-E1…).

Some may say there is a “cult” following for cameras with the X-Trans 1 sensor, these are sought after on the used market (eBay) as they have been more difficult to find used in mint condition.

So when an opportunity to purchase a “near mint” X-E1 (kit) – I didn’t hesitate and pulled the trigger, as it would be a great opportunity to form my own opinion, and share / contribute my findings with the "innerwebs".

Purpose

Compare out of camera RAW image for a few “Real world” scenes (I did take FINE JPEG as well), I wanted to see if there was a difference compared to my X-E3 (X-Trans3) OR if this was all made up.

What's been frustrating is individuals sharing amazing photos taken with X-Pro 1/ X-E1 .. during their ownership. Touting it's "unique" properties of X-Trans 1 had somehow added some additional magic property to their photos to make it even more amazing. However the argument could be made that the same scene could be reproduced with any camera, by the same photographer.... basically...I was missing a direct real world comparison for a given scene.

Raw files + out of camera JPEG will be provided, so you can use your tool of choice if you would like to perform further analysis.

Additional Clarification on "Compare camera raw image"

“Compare camera raw image” = What I find more pleasing between the two images from a colour perspective prior to moving any sliders in your editor of choice.

You're not comparing the difference then between the two sensors you're comparing the difference between Adobe's rendering. If you think because you haven't moved any of the sliders in LR/PS that Adobe is treating the two sensors the same, you'd be wrong. Adobe develops input profiles for each camera and that's what your comparing.

(The light changed on your sunflower photo between the two camera shots -- that invalidates the test.)

Here's your XE-1/XE-3 of the traffic sign and you can compare the rendering difference produced by Capture One.

If you're interested in the differences between the two cameras you compare JPEG output -- that's the camera's rendering.