Fine Tuning DxO PureRAW 5.4 for Fujifilm X-Trans 4 Sensors
In the previous article I discussed using DeepPRIME XD3 on a base ISO setting of 160 image shot on the Fujifilm X-T4 camera using the Fujinon 23mm f1.4 lens with a shutter speed of 1/800 sec @ f5.6 on a bright sunny day.
In this article I am using an image shot on the Fujifilm X-T4 with an ISO of 1,600 using the 16mm f2.8 lens with a shutter speed of 1/1,700 sec at f5.6 in the shade.
PureRAW 5.4 Preview and Process Dialog
Just in case it is a little difficult to view the processing parameters I am starting out with see below
For Denoising & Demosaicing:
DeepPRIME XD3 X-Trans
I am using the default setting for Luminance and Force details (At least the defaults on my machine).
Optical Corrections:
Lens Sharpness Optimization is set to Standard
Vignetting, Chromatic aberration and Lens distortion are all turned on.
Luminance set to 40 - Force details set to 0 Lens Sharpness Optimization set to Standard (+100).
Take a look at the umbrella. Notice the lack of noise there. This is truly amazing. Now take a look at the bark on the tree trunk. The colour noise is gone as well as the luminance noise.
Now let's take a look at what is going on with all noise reduction software. In the past, at least up until software companies started using AI to assist in the reduction of noise and probably still do, reducing the digital noise also softened or blurred the image somewhat. With AI noise reduction we are getting much better results and we now have the ability to recover some of the lost detail as well.
In some instances, removing the noise in our images may cause our images to look too synthetic in nature, so, we should try to get a balance between great noise reduction and maintaining as much detail as possible. Another alternative could be to add some grain to our image in our image editor of choice.
As far as I am concerned, the default settings as noted above may be a little too much for my liking, in this particular image and if it is for this image which was shot at ISO 6,400, then it may also be the case for all images shot with my X-T4 using this particular lens as well. Further testing will tell.
In this next example, let's take a look at reducing the Luminance value from 40 to 30 while keeping all the other values the same. This way we can gauge what the Luminance slider is doing to our image(s).
Next we will look at placing the Luminance value at 20 so we can compare at 20, 30 & 40.
Luminance set to 30 - Force details set to 0 Lens Sharpness Optimization set to Standard (+100).
There are some slight differences the Luminance value of 40 and that of 30. The areas where I have noticed a difference are the tree bark, the yellow in the umbrella and the orange part of the umbrella. The other areas I notice things is in the light coloured bricks on the wall and the blue & red patches in the windows.
Luminance set to 20 - Force details set to 0 Lens Sharpness Optimization set to Standard (+100).
Again, looking at those same areas I am liking some portions of the image set to 30 Luminance and in other areas I like where the Luminance is set to 20. As with everything we must compromise by determining which parts of the image are most important to us. Maybe setting the Luminance value to 25 is that compromise for me with this particular image.
But, before we settle on a Luminance value we must experiment with the Lens Sharpness Optimization setting. All of the above have been set to the default setting of Standard (+100).
There are four presets for this; Soft (+75), Standard (+100), Strong (+150) and Hard (+200). If you decide to choose Standard and then move the slider in either direction to say +125, the option choice changes to Custom. Unfortunately we cannot choose to create our own Custom preset here in the Lens Sharpness Optimization menu but we can elsewhere and I will discuss this in a later article.
Lens Sharpness Optimization
For the next set of images I will leave both the Luminance Value and the Force details value set to their defaults of 40 and 0 respectively and just change the Lens Sharpness Optimization options. Let's see what these changes will look like.
Lens Sharpness Optimization: Soft: +75
Right from the start I can see that the Soft Preset is not an option with this image.
Lens Sharpness Optimization: Standard: +100
The Standard Preset offers a good rendition but let's see what Strong offers.
Lens Sharpness Optimization: Strong: +150
Strong might be a bit much for my taste for this sensor / lens combination
Lens Sharpness Optimization: Hard: +200
And here I notice that the Hard Preset is way too harsh overall.
The areas to examine in my opinion are the tree bark notice that the higher the Lens Sharpness Optimization values goes, the crunchier the details get. Also, notice that the well defined edges hold up quite well as in the "Moosehead Lager" text on the smaller olive green umbrella on the right and the "Sumersby" text on the awning just above the olive green umbrella even at the higher Lens Sharpness Optimization settings but, can we say the same for other areas of interest in the image.
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My Youtube Channel Links for DxO PureRAW 5:
DxO PureRAW 5 Part 1
DxO PureRAW 5 Part 2
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