weird problem with heif import from x100vi to iphone

[d altman]

i shoot raw + fine and i switched to heif over jpeg because i understand that heif gives a little more flexibility when editing. i don’t like to spend much time editing my photos so i try to get everything right in camera. i’ve found that light edits in LR on my jpeg/heif files is generally enough. and i have the raw for photos i really like that need more than a light edit. anyway, today i shot some photos in heif and transferred them to my iphone through xapp. these were of my cats. after the transfer (didn’t downsize) and when i double tapped the photo to zoom in, my cat’s eyes were blurry. i went back to the camera and double tapped the same image to show focus point and it jumped to the eyes and they are in focus. so i then opened the photo in LR Mobile and double tapped to zoom in and the eyes are beautifully sharp. i saved that photo from LR to my camera roll as a jpeg and it’s sharp in the Photos app. kinda weird though that the original heif file appears blurry. i guess i’ll switch back to jpeg cause i never saw this problem with them. my main photo storage in the cloud is through icloud and my iphone or my mac. i didn’t have time to look on my mac to see if the photos are blurry or sharp on there. but it’s obviously an issue just with the Photos app reading the file cause LR Mobile on the same iphone renders them just fine. isn’t this weird?


this is the zoomed in heif original and it’s blurry. double tap i think zooms to 100% and i took a screenshot to show. it looks exactly the same on my iphone


this is the same photo cropped in LR Mobile and added to the camera roll as a jpeg. sharp

--
darrin.la

 

[Greybeard2017]

What are you using to view the image in the first picture? Photos?

Maybe you can share the original HIF file (from the phone)

 

[Morris0]

You are experiencing early adapter problems using HEIF so soon. While you might work this out, your best action is to go back to tried and proven RAW and JPEG.

Morris

 

[Greybeard2017]

You are experiencing early adapter problems using HEIF so soon. While you might work this out, your best action is to go back to tried and proven RAW and JPEG.

Morris

Apple has supported HEIF under both MacOS and iOS since 2017 so there really shouldn't be any problem with their software

 

[jaberg]

Apple has supported HEIF under both MacOS and iOS since 2017 so there really shouldn't be any problem with their software

it’s worth considering that HEIF is a container format and that Fuji might be using a different CODEC than Apple. There might be some support issues to work through.

 

[Jermainem]

You are experiencing early adapter problems using HEIF so soon. While you might work this out, your best action is to go back to tried and proven RAW and JPEG.

Morris

Apple has supported HEIF under both MacOS and iOS since 2017 so there really shouldn't be any problem with their software

If I'm not mistaken, MacOS and iOS have supported 8 bit HEIF since 2017 not 10 bit which is what the Fujifilm files output as, which causes the issues. So the problem here shouldn't be Fuji but Apple, and Morris would be correct in saying using the tried and true method of JPEG's is the best course of action until many more programs have full support for these containers.

 

[Greybeard2017]

Apple has supported HEIF under both MacOS and iOS since 2017 so there really shouldn't be any problem with their software

it’s worth considering that HEIF is a container format and that Fuji might be using a different CODEC than Apple. There might be some support issues to work through.

You're right of course - but I can't replicate the problem seen by the OP - even when using the XApp (both full size and resize).

 

[Greybeard2017]

You are experiencing early adapter problems using HEIF so soon. While you might work this out, your best action is to go back to tried and proven RAW and JPEG.

Morris

Apple has supported HEIF under both MacOS and iOS since 2017 so there really shouldn't be any problem with their software

If I'm not mistaken, MacOS and iOS have supported 8 bit HEIF since 2017 not 10 bit which is what the Fujifilm files output as, which causes the issues. So the problem here shouldn't be Fuji but Apple, and Morris would be correct in saying using the tried and true method of JPEG's is the best course of action until many more programs have full support for these containers.

Have you noticed this to be a problem with Apple software?

 

[jaberg]

If I'm not mistaken, MacOS and iOS have supported 8 bit HEIF since 2017 not 10 bit which is what the Fujifilm files output as,

Apple implements HEIF as 8 bit in their own cameras but supports the full bit depth of the container format. However, there may be some implementation details with the Fuji files that need work. I don’t have a HEIF capable Fujifilm camera myself so my experience is limited, but I haven’t seen the issue myself either.

 

[Jermainem]

You are experiencing early adapter problems using HEIF so soon. While you might work this out, your best action is to go back to tried and proven RAW and JPEG.

Morris

Apple has supported HEIF under both MacOS and iOS since 2017 so there really shouldn't be any problem with their software

If I'm not mistaken, MacOS and iOS have supported 8 bit HEIF since 2017 not 10 bit which is what the Fujifilm files output as, which causes the issues. So the problem here shouldn't be Fuji but Apple, and Morris would be correct in saying using the tried and true method of JPEG's is the best course of action until many more programs have full support for these containers.

Have you noticed this to be a problem with Apple software?

Not myself personally, but I've seen quite a few of these types of posts

 

[Nostorynophoto]

Hi to all.
I am a new member, i just acquired a used xs-20.

I've noticed the exact same issue as OP when i transferred the heif images to iphone 13pro with the Xapp.

Something is wrong on fuji side!

Just now i took two same pictures one heif and one jpeg and copied them on the win11 laptop direct from SD card. The heif one is significantly worse!
The corresponting RAW files were the same.

 

[TDphotography]

I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max and have the same issues with HEIFs taken from my X-T5 or X100VI so I switched back to jpegs.

 

[Meeces]

Have been using heif for probably over a year now without issue. Apple photos with or without Photomator, Raw Power, and Nitro (the new version of Raw Power) apps. I do export in jpeg most of the time, but rest of workflow is heif. I almost always import via sd card reader. Occasionally I’ll use the app.

 

[d altman]

thanks for all the feedback. the full image in the Photos app appears fine. the problem for me appears when i crop or double tap to zoom in. i might stick with heif because of the extra bits and just use LR if needed because LR renders the heif files correctly. and just export the jpeg from LR to my camera roll. do you think it’s possible to discern any difference between jpeg and heif? with the human eye?

 

[CAcreeks]

thanks for all the feedback. the full image in the Photos app appears fine. the problem for me appears when i crop or double tap to zoom in. i might stick with heif because of the extra bits and just use LR if needed because LR renders the heif files correctly. and just export the jpeg from LR to my camera roll. do you think it’s possible to discern any difference between jpeg and heif? with the human eye?

I can only speak to HEIC from iPhone, but yes -- after editing (particularly brightness) the JPEG shows 8x8 block artifacts whereas the HEIC does not.

Before editing it would depend on your display -- 10-bit may show more dynamic range.

 

[d altman]

thanks for all the feedback. the full image in the Photos app appears fine. the problem for me appears when i crop or double tap to zoom in. i might stick with heif because of the extra bits and just use LR if needed because LR renders the heif files correctly. and just export the jpeg from LR to my camera roll. do you think it’s possible to discern any difference between jpeg and heif? with the human eye?

I can only speak to HEIC from iPhone, but yes -- after editing (particularly brightness) the JPEG shows 8x8 block artifacts whereas the HEIC does not.

Before editing it would depend on your display -- 10-bit may show more dynamic range.

thanks for info!

 

[Hans Z]

My own workflow is that I...
- Capture images in RAW in X-H2s
- Import RAW images from SD card into LR Classic, automatically rename according to date/time, convert to DNG, on my MacBook
- Apply LR Enhance
- Open image in PS with some editing. Save as TIF 16-bit
- Import TIF file into Apple Photos
- Export the file as HEIF (if you use an Apple Shortcut to convert from RAW to HEIF it loses highlights as it is 8-bit)
- Import HEIF file and delete TIF file
Nowadays I archive all my files as HEIF

I don't think this workflow applies directly to your problem but I thought I'd share this anyway as it is related to HEIF files, Apple Photos, Fujifilm

 

[Fujikid]

Just perform a slight edit to the blurry picture on your iPhone, save it and see it become sharp. Shouldn't have to do this but it does work.

 

[jaberg]

Just perform a slight edit to the blurry picture on your iPhone, save it and see it become sharp. Shouldn't have to do this but it does work.

The “blurry” version is a thumbnail preview stored on the tablet. When you open an image for processing, the full-size file is downloaded from iCloud — displaying a sharp photo.

 

[d altman]

Just perform a slight edit to the blurry picture on your iPhone, save it and see it become sharp. Shouldn't have to do this but it does work.

thanks i’ll give this a try