How do you deal with X3F files ?

Dear all,

I have recently acquired a long wanted DP1 Merrill. I shoot raw and thus have to deal with X3F files. I have been using Capture One for a little while now and am quite happy with it. However X3F files are not - to my knowledge - natively supported.

I tried SPP, but... It is clunky.

I am thus curious to know what is your usual workflow to edit X3F files : do you use SPP, do you export as a TIFF (or else...) and then use you prefered editing application, etc... ?

Your feedback would be very helpful,

Regards,

MG

MGinitials wrote:

Dear all,

I have recently acquired a long wanted DP1 Merrill. I shoot raw and thus have to deal with X3F files. I have been using Capture One for a little while now and am quite happy with it. However X3F files are not - to my knowledge - natively supported.

I tried SPP, but... It is clunky.

I am thus curious to know what is your usual workflow to edit X3F files : do you use SPP, do you export as a TIFF (or else...) and then use you prefered editing application, etc... ?

Your feedback would be very helpful,

Regards,

MG

I use SPP. It is the best program to develop X3F raw files.

There is also an official plugin for Photoshop if you don't like SPP:

https://www.sigma-global.com/en/software/sigma-x3f-plug-in-for-photoshop/

allineedislight wrote:

I use SPP. It is the best program to develop X3F raw files.

Thanks for your reply. Can you elaborate on this statement, as I find SPP not very user-friendly at all... ?

MGinitials wrote:

Dear all,

I have recently acquired a long wanted DP1 Merrill. I shoot raw and thus have to deal with X3F files. I have been using Capture One for a little while now and am quite happy with it. However X3F files are not - to my knowledge - natively supported.

I tried SPP, but... It is clunky.

I am thus curious to know what is your usual workflow to edit X3F files : do you use SPP, do you export as a TIFF (or else...) and then use you prefered editing application, etc... ?

Your feedback would be very helpful,

Regards,

MG

Welcome!

For a Merrill camera, I convert the X3F to 16-bit TIFF ProPhoto in SPP 5.5.3 with the minimum necessary adjustments. Then I open the exported file in either RawTherapee or the GIMP, depending on whether I want to use layers on not. Both apps are way better than SPP for post-processing options.

MGinitials wrote:

Dear all,

I have recently acquired a long wanted DP1 Merrill. I shoot raw and thus have to deal with X3F files. I have been using Capture One for a little while now and am quite happy with it. However X3F files are not - to my knowledge - natively supported.

I tried SPP, but... It is clunky.

and has limited functionality !

I am thus curious to know what is your usual workflow to edit X3F files : do you use SPP, do you export as a TIFF (or else...) and then use you prefered editing application, etc... ?

I currently use the Sigma Photoshop add-in to process my 
Sigma files directly for the X3F Raw files. The raw files are brought into Photoshop as a PDF file and processed in Camera Raw and then photoshop if more downstream processing is necessary,  80+% of my images are completed i Camera Raw.

Prior to the Sigma add-in my workflow was SSP to Tiff then to Lightroom or Photoshop.

Hope this is helpful to you,  

Your feedback would be very helpful,

Regards,

MG

MGinitials wrote:

Dear all,

I have recently acquired a long wanted DP1 Merrill. I shoot raw and thus have to deal with X3F files. I have been using Capture One for a little while now and am quite happy with it. However X3F files are not - to my knowledge - natively supported.

I tried SPP, but... It is clunky.

I am thus curious to know what is your usual workflow to edit X3F files : do you use SPP, do you export as a TIFF (or else...) and then use you prefered editing application, etc... ?

Your feedback would be very helpful,

Regards,

MG

I use SPP, and then I use GIMP, Aperture, or RawTherapee on exported jpegs or 16 bit TIFF files, which I export in ProPhotoRGB color space. You can get an open-source converter to make your .x3f files into .DNG files. It's called Kalpanika.

https://github.com/Kalpanika/x3f/releases

I think SPP is preferable to the Photoshop plugin when you have a batch of similar photos. In SPP you can set white balance and the basic tone controls for the first shot, save that picture as a TIF, and then the next and subsequent files will need only small changes.

I find it best to set Sharpness to -2 to avoid halos. If you want to sharpen there are better programs out there, such as Topaz.

I adjust the TIF files in my old copy of Adobe Camera Raw. The occasional file needs to go on to the main Photoshop program.

Don

Thank you all for your time and your reply !

What is striking is that there is absolutely no consensus on how to edit X3F and there are a number of different routes.

I'll give a try to to  the X3F to DNG converter as I would like to stick to Capture One, an editing application that I found to be quite capable with DNG.

Regards,

MG

MGinitials wrote:

Thank you all for your time and your reply !

What is striking is that there is absolutely no consensus on how to edit X3F and there are a number of different routes.

I'll give a try to to the X3F to DNG converter as I would like to stick to Capture One, an editing application that I found to be quite capable with DNG.

Regards,

MG

The main thing is to keep all your raw files so that you can return to them in future years when a better method of processing is available.

Don

MGinitials wrote:

allineedislight wrote:

I use SPP. It is the best program to develop X3F raw files.

Thanks for your reply. Can you elaborate on this statement, as I find SPP not very user-friendly at all... ?

Sure. I didn't say it is the most user friendly program, and I also did't say it is the best editing program. But it is the best way to develop X3F raw files.

Sigma knows best how to process the raw information in X3F files, and they have not made this information publicly available. Thus, open source software like Kalpanika does not have all the information to optimally process X3F files. I wish X3F was an open data format but it is not.

So things like changing white balance, adjusting exposure and fill light should really be done in SPP. Once that is done just save as TIFF (or even JPG with the least amount of compression) and edit further elsewhere. But the basic processing steps (white balance, exposure, raising shadows and controlling highlights) should be done in SPP for optimal results.

If you are happy with suboptimal results, just shoot JPG and that's fine too! I did this with other cameras (Fuji) but I would say with Sigma cameras you really loose out when you don't use the raw files - and SPP.

Finally, about DNG files: later cameras (Quattro) have the option to save directly in DNG format in camera. However, even for those models it seems that X3F is still the preferred format of many users because the DNGs don't seem to have all the information that is available in the X3F files.

allineedislight wrote:

MGinitials wrote:

allineedislight wrote:

I use SPP. It is the best program to develop X3F raw files.

Thanks for your reply. Can you elaborate on this statement, as I find SPP not very user-friendly at all... ?

Sure. I didn't say it is the most user friendly program, and I also did't say it is the best editing program. But it is the best way to develop X3F raw files.

Sigma knows best how to process the raw information in X3F files, and they have not made this information publicly available. Thus, open source software like Kalpanika does not have all the information to optimally process X3F files. I wish X3F was an open data format but it is not.

So things like changing white balance, adjusting exposure and fill light should really be done in SPP. Once that is done just save as TIFF (or even JPG with the least amount of compression) and edit further elsewhere. But the basic processing steps (white balance, exposure, raising shadows and controlling highlights) should be done in SPP for optimal results.

If you are happy with suboptimal results, just shoot JPG and that's fine too! I did this with other cameras (Fuji) but I would say with Sigma cameras you really loose out when you don't use the raw files - and SPP.

Finally, about DNG files: later cameras (Quattro) have the option to save directly in DNG format in camera. However, even for those models it seems that X3F is still the preferred format of many users because the DNGs don't seem to have all the information that is available in the X3F files.

My preferred format from the sdQH is DNG, because I can use the Color Checker to make a custom profile for use in ACR.

Don

larryj wrote:

MGinitials wrote:

Dear all,

I have recently acquired a long wanted DP1 Merrill. I shoot raw and thus have to deal with X3F files. I have been using Capture One for a little while now and am quite happy with it. However X3F files are not - to my knowledge - natively supported.

I tried SPP, but... It is clunky.

and has limited functionality !

I am thus curious to know what is your usual workflow to edit X3F files : do you use SPP, do you export as a TIFF (or else...) and then use you prefered editing application, etc... ?

I currently use the Sigma Photoshop add-in to process my
Sigma files directly for the X3F Raw files. The raw files are brought into Photoshop as a PDF file and processed in Camera Raw and then photoshop if more downstream processing is necessary, 80+% of my images are completed in Camera Raw.

Prior to the Sigma add-in my workflow was SSP to Tiff then to Lightroom or Photoshop.

Hope this is helpful to you,

Your feedback would be very helpful,

Regards,

MG

PDF? Amazing!

I use SPP's browse module to decide on keepers, then batch all photos to high quality JPEG, SPP set to portrait mode, Luminance NR 0 (fully left), Sharpness -1.5.

I then use any handy editor to examine in detail, crop where needed, and make any small adjustments. These go in with my general photos collection.

I also use the JPEGs to decide on favourites for further work, whereupon I return to SPP and make a TIFF and edit in detail with Affinity Photo. That was until earlier this year, when I discovered Affinity Photo suddenly had the ability to process X3F (Quattro) very nicely, so I now take favourite X3Fs directly into Affinity for editing.

cheers

joe173 wrote:

I found when I upgraded my machine with a beefier system, SPP worked so much better. You really need to try SPP on a very modern fast machine with loads of RAM. Then see if you can use it. Before, it took ages to process files. Now it is relatively quick. Also, take fewer photos, but make them higher quality. Delete the marginal ones. Ask yourself, what makes this photo special? Will I want to look at this 5 years from now? Most photos are not that special unless you are using it in a studio, etc.

I use graduated filters to cut down on the processing. Also, batch process like photos. Do a custom white balance. These things cut down on the fiddling in SPP.

I find every photo requires its own adjustments. For me, batch processing is really not practical. I shoot such a wide variety of subjects in the same day - even in the same hour - that my white balance is all over the place. For example, I remember one day I was at a beach in Washington, and I shot the roots of a log in shadow, then some rocks on the ground in sunlight, and then some birds in the sky above me, followed finally by close-ups of weathered wood in sunlight. Some of these you can see in my gallery from this trip I'm on here:

https://www.bigprintphotos.com/AcrossAmerica

TN Args wrote:

larryj wrote:

MGinitials wrote:

Dear all,

I have recently acquired a long wanted DP1 Merrill. I shoot raw and thus have to deal with X3F files. I have been using Capture One for a little while now and am quite happy with it. However X3F files are not - to my knowledge - natively supported.

I tried SPP, but... It is clunky.

and has limited functionality !

I am thus curious to know what is your usual workflow to edit X3F files : do you use SPP, do you export as a TIFF (or else...) and then use you prefered editing application, etc... ?

I currently use the Sigma Photoshop add-in to process my
Sigma files directly for the X3F Raw files. The raw files are brought into Photoshop as a PDF file and processed in Camera Raw and then photoshop if more downstream processing is necessary, 80+% of my images are completed in Camera Raw.

Prior to the Sigma add-in my workflow was SSP to Tiff then to Lightroom or Photoshop.

Hope this is helpful to you,

Your feedback would be very helpful,

Regards,

MG

PDF? Amazing!

I use SPP's browse module to decide on keepers, then batch all photos to high quality JPEG, SPP set to portrait mode, Luminance NR 0 (fully left), Sharpness -1.5.

I then use any handy editor to examine in detail, crop where needed, and make any small adjustments. These go in with my general photos collection.

I also use the JPEGs to decide on favourites for further work, whereupon I return to SPP and make a TIFF and edit in detail with Affinity Photo. That was until earlier this year, when I discovered Affinity Photo suddenly had the ability to process X3F (Quattro) very nicely, so I now take favourite X3Fs directly into Affinity for editing.

cheers

Wow! That's awesome that Affinity does a good job with the Quattro raw files. Thanks for letting us know.

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"A picture is a secret about a secret: the more it tells you, the less you know." —Diane Arbus

I cull for composition and correct focus with FastStone Viewer or, lately, XnView. Both have good comparators - up to four at a time.

I'll zoom up to 800% Nearest Neighbor or even beyond if necessary to assess pixel perfection.

Then I cull X3Fs for exposure in RawDigger by looking at the raw histogram for any selection or just the whole image.