JPEG Quality Of FujiFilm FinePix S5Pro

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JPEG Quality Of FujiFilm FinePix S5Pro

Hi, do you have any experience with JPEG files of S5Pro in Aperture 2.1.1?
How's the overall image quality of Aperture with OOC JPEG & RAF converted to JPEG?
I'm interested in JPEG quality only, cause i'll use OOC JPEG or RAF converted by FujiFilm proprietary program in JPEG.
I wish i could use Aperture, to handle these files, but at first it seems not on par with the basic FinePix Viewer in terms of image quality (although it's far superior every other sides).
Particularly the OOC JPEG (at the moment i've only tried this way) is softer, warmer & reddish compared to the OOC JPEG opened with FinePix Viewer, which is sharper, clear & seems to get more out of the file. Any comments & experiences to share about?
It could be that Aperture is not particularly suited to handle the files of Fuji cameras?
Any experience & tips to share about Aperture / S5Pro? is it a good bonding or isn't worth to spent time to work on this "couple" and i should use Fuji own software to get the best out of it?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4), iMac 20" (3) + iMac G4 + MacBook (2)

Posted on Sep 7, 2008 9:02 AM

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Answer 1

Ian Wood

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Sep 7, 2008 9:22 AM in response to bondbond

OOC JPEGs should look near-identical. There may be interpolation issues when you don't view at 100%, but colours and tones should be identical.

Ian

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Answer 2

bondbond Author

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Sep 7, 2008 9:44 AM in response to Ian Wood

Well, that's what i thought, but they aren't identical at all.
I checked out several photos, @ different ISO, as well @ 100%, color & tones & sharpening are definitely different and not by few.
JPEG quality is considerably better in FInePix Viewer (which is really poor by all other meanings compared ot Aperture).
This surprised me, since i was expecting very similar results with JPEG; this should have been my ideal workflow.

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Answer 3

Ian Wood

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4,350 points

Sep 7, 2008 9:50 AM in response to bondbond

If you're looking at OOC JPEGs, you are looking at the same file in both apps.

Are you sure you are talking about JPEGs, and not RAW files? Can you upload a screengrab of the two apps side by side?

Ian

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Answer 4

bondbond Author

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Sep 7, 2008 10:10 AM in response to Ian Wood

Come on Ian, of course it's a OOC "FINE JPEG"; i wouldn't bother if it was a RAF (Fuji RAW) which understandably will have differences due to DR.
S5Pro has different JPEG settings, i shot FINE JPEG Large (12M).
I can't upload now a screengrab, i'll try another day (too late).

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Answer 5

bondbond Author

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Sep 7, 2008 10:55 AM in response to bondbond

Ian, you can see the two grabs at the following link:

http://gallery.me.com/cesare.g#100048&bgcolor=black&view=mosaic&sel=0

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Answer 6

Ian Wood

Level 5

4,350 points

Sep 7, 2008 11:41 AM in response to bondbond

Assuming no adjustments made in either app, there's definitely something wrong.

A few things to check:

Is your monitor calibrated?
Is there any kind proofing turned on in Aperture?
Is there any kind of proofing turned on in the Fuji software?
What do the JPEGs look like in other software such as Preview/QuickTime/Photoshop etc?

Ian

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Answer 7

bondbond Author

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Sep 7, 2008 4:14 PM in response to Ian Wood

Ian,
- no adjustment has been made in either app of course (in FinePIx Viewer you even do not have... basically you can just rename, view, rotate and crop); i've no time to loose (and i don't want make loose to anyone here) making joke out of 2 different files asking why they are different... i just want to understand why the same JPEG file who's supposed to look the same is displayed differently (and on the original file the difference is greater than in the posted smaller file);
- monitor not calibrated, but is at the same condition for both apps therefore is not suppose affecting the final result;
- i've not turn on any proof in Aperture, FinePIx Viewer neither;
- in Preview / iPhoto the file looks the same to and is constant with the rendering of Aperture, these software share clearly the same engine (haven't tried in QT and i do not have PS);
- if i try to invoke the print menu from FinePix Viewer, in the option of the printing page i can preview the file and the preview is of course wrong!?! my meaning the preview shows the photo same as Aperture not as FinePix Viewer... these is really annoying (i've never print out);
- one more thing, the difference is there of course not only on my MacBook Pro 15", but even on my iMac 20" (they display in the exact same way the pics);

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Answer 8

Ian Wood

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4,350 points

Sep 7, 2008 4:45 PM in response to bondbond

bondbond wrote:
- monitor not calibrated, but is at the same condition for both apps therefore is not suppose affecting the final result;

Yes, this should just mean that they are all wrong by the same amount.

- in Preview / iPhoto the file looks the same to and is constant with the rendering of Aperture, these software share clearly the same engine (haven't tried in QT and i do not have PS);
- if i try to invoke the print menu from FinePix Viewer, in the option of the printing page i can preview the file and the preview is of course wrong!?!

The only thing that Preview or iPhoto will be doing is reading in the colour space of the image (probably sRGB or Adobe 98) and adjusting them according to the ICC profile of the monitor so that they display correctly. In this case the default profile that the machine shipped with. It sounds like FinePix Viewer isn't doing this, especially from what you say about previewing before printing.

In other words, Aperture, Preview and iPhoto are showing the image correctly, and FinePix Viewer is not doing it's colour management right when displaying images.

Are the images in Adobe 98? There's a particular look of low saturation, low contrast and slight posterisation in the shadows that is characteristic of Adobe 98 images being shown as sRGB, and your screengrab of the Fuji software is showing that look. 😟

Ian

P.S. I downloaded the FinePix Viewer manual, and it makes no mention of using colour management anywhere, not even in the glossary.

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Answer 9

bondbond Author

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Sep 7, 2008 11:45 PM in response to Ian Wood

Ian, first of all thank you for your cooperation; really appreciate.
Yes, the monitor not calibrated is a simple way to say that they are all correct or wrong by the same amount.
Yes, iPhoto & Preview are constant with Aperture, using the same colour management.
All the shots are sRGB not Adobe98 therefore i don't think it's the case that you mentioned of an Adobe98 image showed as sRGB, because they are native in camera sRGB, moreover honestly the screengrab quality is quite poor compared to the original files.
Yes i confirm, FinePix Viewer doesn't mention any colour management at all in the manual, nor in any option is possible to set it; as i said it's merely a batch, rotate & crop (it's really crappy for speed and functions) just everybody who have been watching the photos tend to prefer the OOC pics showed by FPV compared to Aperture.
Since i can't select the colour profile make me think that it works accordingly to the native in camera selections; there is any way to check from Mac which colour profile is actually using FPV.
I just would like to use FPV to convert the RAF file to TIFF or JPEG, not to handle as well the native JPEG, because i would like to use Aperture.

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Answer 10

Ian Wood

Level 5

4,350 points

Sep 8, 2008 2:48 AM in response to bondbond

bondbond wrote:
Yes, the monitor not calibrated is a simple way to say that they are all correct or wrong by the same amount.

Sort of. 😉 The chances of it being 'correct' is slim to non-existent. This means that colour managed apps will all be wrong by the same amount, while unmanaged apps will all be wrong by a different amount - but will still be wrong (by a different amount again) once the monitor is calibrated.

All the shots are sRGB not Adobe98 therefore i don't think it's the case that you mentioned of an Adobe98 image showed as sRGB, because they are native in camera sRGB, moreover honestly the screengrab quality is quite poor compared to the original files.
Yes i confirm, FinePix Viewer doesn't mention any colour management at all in the manual, nor in any option is possible to set it; as i said it's merely a batch, rotate & crop (it's really crappy for speed and functions)

It sounds like FPV isn't doing ANY colour management, not even assuming that everything is sRGB like some apps do.

just everybody who have been watching the photos tend to prefer the OOC pics showed by FPV compared to Aperture.

If FPV isn't colour managed, that's just a coincidence of your uncalibrated monitor. If you want to work with images in any kind of consistent way, you WILL have to get a hardware monitor calibrator of some kind, and use it on a regular basis.

Since i can't select the colour profile make me think that it works accordingly to the native in camera selections; there is any way to check from Mac which colour profile is actually using FPV.

No, there isn't. 😟

I just would like to use FPV to convert the RAF file to TIFF or JPEG, not to handle as well the native JPEG, because i would like to use Aperture.

If it's not colour managed, I'd be wary of using the software for anything but cropping.

Ian

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Answer 11

bondbond Author

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Sep 8, 2008 3:41 AM in response to Ian Wood

Dear Ian, thanks again for the support & reply to such a boring thread.
Well yes i know i need a monitor calibrator, i just postponed the annoying purchase, you know I'm a "photo enthusiastic" has they call who's passionate of photography who loves take pics but doesn't get a cent out of it 😉
I just i think S5 Pro is not so well supported in Aperture; but the quality of this program is out of question; i'll probably batch a standard pics change to mimic the FPV effect in Aperture to let automatically apply (honestly Aperture is a bit too saturated & "reddish", i prefer a natural feeling), guess this is the best solution, moreover I'm a Mac addicted and Aperture is a joy to use 😉
When i'll shot RAW the best solution to handle the RAF is going with FinePix Studio i wrote FPV by chance, but this is the Fuji program to handle the RAW.
In fact you open the RAW in FPV but once clicked the RAW file FPV open FPS.
FPS is color managed (but it can't open JPEG), it can handle the S5Pro wide dynamic range, Aperture can't do a proper work, once converted in TIFF i'll move the file in Aperture.

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