X-H1 vs X-E1 IQ Output. Old Cameras Are Better

The older cameras definitely require less PP. I shot these photos in RAW under natural light with no flash, Provia Standard. The only adjustments I did apply on the XE1 and XH1 photo was exposure, shadows and sharpness. Same amount on each.

The first photo is from the XE1. To my eyes and on my calibrated screen the XE1 definitely looks much nicer and it reminds me of that look from the old S5 Pro camera. The tones just look more natural. But the point is that the XE1 doesn't require almost anything and if I do adjust it I'm pretty darn sure the XE1 image will look even better.

This is what I got out of the more modern X-H1. The skin tones are simply out of wack. The face looks too pink, too smooth and more flat fake looking. Sorry. Again, these are straight from the raw files. Like I said, I only adjusted exposure and shadows mainly.

The look from the XH1 reminds me of the D7000 I used to shoot with, which by the way I got rid of for the S5 Pro, which it was even better than the X-E1

What I did for the XH1 is adjusted the WB and tint and had to mess around a little with the Orange color slider. The results are better, IMHO, but the XE1 still looks better to me. I applied a little more green tint and I think it looks better but now the entire image changed.

Is not bad or ugly but mmmmm is just different. I guess if I would have not done this comparison then I probably would not have cared, but the point is that newer Fuji cameras are not giving us that old awesome output with very little processing to be done. Now we have to spend more time trying to figure out why the WB or whatever came out wrong. I have shot with the XH1 for some time and I have felt that I have to fix more stuff now, and that just ain't cool because this is how Fuji "was different".

I feel very strongly about this and I hope that Fuji thinks about this and does not continue to change their IQ to worse. Personally I'm not impressed with what Fuji has done with the new cameras. Those are just my personal feelings.

Are you kidding me?

Still not happy?  How many camera switches is this for you?  So many people getting excellent results from Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Oly, Pentax....

And here you sit unable to get decent output from any of them and blaming the camera.

michaeladawson wrote:

Are you kidding me?

Still not happy? How many camera switches is this for you? So many people getting excellent results from Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Oly, Pentax....

And here you sit unable to get decent output from any of them and blaming the camera.

Is not world war III so relax man.

Did you not read what I wrote?  I am showing the two pictures from two different Fuji cameras.  I did adjust the image from the XH1 and it looks better, but look at the tones, the face, the lips.  The tones are different.  Do you not agree with that?

Is not that the picture is not "excellent", is just different compared to what we used to shoot with when we are talking about IQ.

Batdude wrote:

michaeladawson wrote:

Are you kidding me?

Still not happy? How many camera switches is this for you? So many people getting excellent results from Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Oly, Pentax....

And here you sit unable to get decent output from any of them and blaming the camera.

Is not world war III so relax man.

Did you not read what I wrote? I am showing the two pictures from two different Fuji cameras. I did adjust the image from the XH1 and it looks better, but look at the tones, the face, the lips. The tones are different. Do you not agree with that?

Is not that the picture is not "excellent", is just different compared to what we used to shoot with when we are talking about IQ.

Sorry.  Don't want to say anything that will get me banned.  I'll let others respond on this thread from here on out.

michaeladawson wrote:

Batdude wrote:

michaeladawson wrote:

Are you kidding me?

Still not happy? How many camera switches is this for you? So many people getting excellent results from Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Oly, Pentax....

Who said anything about switching?? I love my XH1 and I ain't switching.

I shot a play with my new X-H1 and the colors came out drop dead gorgeous and people loved them and so did I. What's that got to do with anything?

And here you sit unable to get decent output from any of them and blaming the camera.

-- hide signature --

Mike Dawson

Is not world war III so relax man.

Did you not read what I wrote? I am showing the two pictures from two different Fuji cameras. I did adjust the image from the XH1 and it looks better, but look at the tones, the face, the lips. The tones are different. Do you not agree with that?

Is not that the picture is not "excellent", is just different compared to what we used to shoot with when we are talking about IQ.

Sorry. Don't want to say anything that will get me banned. I'll let others respond on this thread from here on out.

-- hide signature --

Mike Dawson

And that's cool with me. This is a gear forum guys and here you go with the insults and nasty responses which is pretty sad. Don't like to hear anything "negative" about Fuji, well that is really not my problem.

Again, this is a gear forum and I'm showing you guys two pictures from the same company I love so much, that's why I have spend over $3000 for this gear, because I love it very much, but the fact is that the gear we are using now is in some way different, even other camera manufacturers keep changing things around, and the sad part is that some of you will get offended like if we are talking about your mother or something. Some of you guys do need to grow up as well.

For whatever reason you will defend your brand no matter what, and that's totally cool with me, but you guys take things way too personal around here and that's pretty disappointing.

I think you're right actually I completely agree. When I 'moved on' to more modern cameras I always felt something was wrong with the output especially skin tones. So I got back to Fuji S5 and learned to live with its shortcomings. Other people don't acknowledge this or don't care. The good thing is we have a large variety of cameras and everyone can choose what he/she likes. And yes I think the camera does matter (at least for me) - with a certain camera I can't get the image the way I want no matter what I do, including pp (of course I don't know how to use it) but with another one I get it right away without doing anything special (usually sooc).

I this a subtle joke that I don't get?

The first two images look almost identical. Too close to tell if you don't place them next to each other. According to your post those are the default outputs of the X-E1 and the X-H1. The last shot however is completely different. Gone are the nice skin tones and the skin is now pale brown and the whole image is lifeless.

Again: I don't get the purpose of your post beside the obvious desire to grab everyones attention.

First image: great, good job X-E1.

Second image: a little pink in the skin tone, but not awful by any stretch.

Third image: horrible, too much green tint and looks sickly.

How about just using the eyedropper to adjust white balance to match the first image? There's some white and grey in there.

I would agree that I much preferred the tone curves of my dead X Pro1

XT1 was harsh in comparison

Things improved a bit with the 24 Mpx sensor but still behind the XP1

That said it is easy enough to adjust shooting setting to get results according to taste

In the fist post just use ETTR (by a 2/3 EV) and you will get very similar results with blowned highlight in the background and much smoother rendition in dark areas

With most JPEG engines nowadays there is a kinnd of highlight recovery obsession easily avoided in RAW (ETTR)

I would normally agree with what you’re saying - I shoot jpegs and have very mixed feelings about the X-Pro2 output vs X-Pro1 - but weirdly in this example you’ve posted I don’t really see the issue.  As others have said, the first two images are actually very close and I wouldn’t easily be able to choose which was “best” - to be honest, I suspect in a blind test few would be able to tell which was which.

The third image on the other hand looks like neither of them, in the skintones or anywhere else, and is, well, certainly not to my taste.  If that had come out of either camera by default I’d be appalled!

Definitly an excellent suggestion SOOC raw provided in order to check whether it is may be a JPEG engine difference or a genuine raw difference

About JPEG, a lot of in camera settings can modify their aspect so before claiming one camera is better than another, a careful check about settings JPEGs is worth..

baobob wrote:

Definitly an excellent suggestion SOOC raw provided in order to check whether it is may be a JPEG engine difference or a genuine raw difference

About JPEG, a lot of in camera settings can modify their aspect so before claiming one camera is better than another, a careful check about settings JPEGs is worth..

Same can be said for RAW.  How about OP post the RAWs and see how others can help you improve your pp?

an interesting assertion ......  False but interesting.  One needs to compare apples to apples - not to avocados.   The SOOC photos of an H1 are substantially superior to old cameras like the X1.

get off my lawn ......

You can't fight entropy.