Two Quick Capture One Tips for Fuji Shooters
Here are two quick tips for those working with Fuji Files and Capture One. The first is based on a question I got from a customer, regarding working with Jpeg files in Capture One. The second is about a quirk of the lens correction module and how to address it.
Working with Jpegs in Capture One
When I wrote my Fuji Jpeg book a few years ago, I didn't include Capture One in it, as at the time, I felt that the majority of people who were using Capture One to process their Fuji Files were doing so to work with RAW files. However, since then Capture One has become more mainstream, and so now I can see people wanting to process Jpegs with it too.
In the next release of my Fuji Jpeg Guide I will include a full section on processing Jpeg files in Capture One too, but in the meantime, here is a quick guide to how I would go about sharpening Jpeg files.
For those who don't have my Jpeg guide, in it, I suggest that it might be of value to turn down the in-camera sharpening and instead add sharpening in post-production, as it gives you more control. I won't go into the full reasoning here, but that's the gist of it. Anyway, if you do go with this approach, and you want to sharpen the Jpegs in Capture One, here are my suggestions:
First of all, you should only need a little sharpening. If you turn down the values in-camera, it's still applying a little sharpening, so it's not the same as shooting RAW. I'm basing these guidelines on matching the results I would get when working with RAW files, and creating a reasonably natural-looking result.
So here are the values I suggest.
| Paramater | Suggested Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | 50-100 | You should keep this as low as possible. You don't need that much sharpening. |
| Radius | 1 | This seems to work better with Jpeg files than the default |
| Threshold | 0.2 - 0.5 | Lower for lower ISO files. You may need to raise this for higher ISO files. |
| Halo Supression | 10-20 | Helps soften the edge artefacts slightly |
This is just preliminary work on this. For the second edition of my Jpeg book (which will hopefully be later this year, but it depends on a few things - like the lockdown lifting, and me getting hold of a new Fuji camera) I will have more details on this and other aspects of working with Jpegs.
Inconsistencies in Lens Distortion Correction with Fuji Raw files and how to fix it.
Another thing that I have seen discussed recently is an inconsistency between the distortion correction with specific lenses in Capture One compared to the Jpeg Counterparts. What do I mean by this? If you import both Raw and Jpeg files into Capture One, you may notice a significant difference in the lens correction between the RAW and Jpeg files. The distortion may look slightly different, or the image may appear cropped. This depends on several factors, including the lens used, the focal length, and so on. But why is this happening?
There's actually a straightforward explanation, and an easy(ish) fix. For some lenses in Capture One, the software has both its own lens correction profiles, and can use the Raw files metadata for correcting lenses. In some cases, it defaults to using Capture One's own profiles, and these won't necessarily match what is coming from the camera. To fix this, simply go to the lens correction tool, and under Profile change it from the lens profile to "Manufacturer Profile". Having this selected uses the lens metadata in the file rather than a separate profile.
There are some disadvantages to this, though. Sharpness falloff correction isn't available in the metadata profile, so that is one reason to go with the lens one. Also, and I know some people will be angry at me for saying this, but don't assume that the Fuji profile is "correct" (as it depends on your definition of "Correct".)
The software profiles in Capture One are calibrated independently of the harware manufacturer, in this case Fujifilm, and so the engineers analyse the distortion of the lens and create a profile to provide correction so that horizontals and verticals are straight.
While the manufacturer profile will be more accurate to what Fuji includes with their cameras, this isn't necessarily 100% accurate either, and so, it's down to a matter of personal preference. If you prefer to match the in-camera results as best as possible, then you need to use the Manufacturer Profile. If you prefer the extra features then use the lens profile. The differences are generally not massive, so in some cases, this won't be a huge deal, but some people are sticklers for keeping their RAW files as close as possible to the in-camera Jpegs, and in this case, this is what you need to do.
Capture One Spring Sale
Just a reminder that Capture One is currently offering a 25% discount on Capture One for Sony or Fujifilm. Just use the Code SPRING25 at the checkout. The sale ends on April 30th and is applicable to either the Sony or Fujifilm versions of Capture One, either a subscription or perpetual license. If you don’t already have Capture One, this is a good way to save on the software.
There is also a discount on the full version of the Software. Use the code PRO25 at the checkout. This is only valid until April 30th. Visit the Capture One Site for more info.
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