Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

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den
Posts: 856
Joined: April 25th, 2009, 6:33 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Canon EOS-350D/Fuji X100T
Location: Birch Bay near Blaine, WA USA

Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by den »

I am not so sure even when 'dcraw' supports the X20 that 3rd party software will have sufficient desire to invest in development alogrithims for this non-traditional sensor array as even 'dcraw' seems to have difficulty when traditional wavelet noise reduction [-n 100] and 3x3 median bluring [-m 2] are applied...

Illustrations...

A DPReview X Pro-1 test image RAF file converted with dcraw v9.17 with minimal options: -v [messages]; -w [camera white balance]; -6 -T [output a 16 bit tiff]...
aDSCF2008_dcraw9_17-v-w-6-T_400px.jpg
aDSCF2008_dcraw9_17-v-w-6-T_400px.jpg (46.66 KiB) Viewed 20768 times
Image area zoomed 1:1: left, base conversion and right, base conversion with added luma/chroma noise reduction...
bDSCF2008_1-1 Zoom Factor.jpg
bDSCF2008_1-1 Zoom Factor.jpg (47.66 KiB) Viewed 20771 times
Image area zoomed 2:1: left, base conversion and right, base conversion with added luma/chroma noise reduction...
cDSCF2008_2-1 Zoom Factor.jpg
cDSCF2008_2-1 Zoom Factor.jpg (47.06 KiB) Viewed 20758 times
Note particularly the visual element edges and the apparent difference in camera white balance color casts...

...den...
frankpix
Posts: 25
Joined: April 24th, 2009, 2:30 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Fuji X-E3
Location: Bowie, MD, near Washington DC, Baltimore and Annapolis

Re:Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by frankpix »

I think you're right. The X-Trans sensor might just be too non-traditional to garner any widespread support among 3rd-party vendors. Too bad - I like the X20 for its size and weight; also, its JPG's are pretty good, once you understand how to set the camera's many options.

This leaves me a few alternatives:

- take only JPG's, not Raw files. PWP has no problem handling these.

- use the Silkypix Raw converter (supplied with the X20) to do the conversion and then save the output as a 16-bit TIFF. From then on, use PWP for my editing. The Silkypix conversion has been well-received in the community, although the program's workflow requires more learning time than I'm willing to invest.

- wait longingly for the X-Trans sensor to be widely supported. (I hear Capture One 7 does an excellent job with the sensor, but it's too expensive for me.) I'm not holding my breath, tho.

Fortunately my main camera is a Nikon.

Frank
den
Posts: 856
Joined: April 25th, 2009, 6:33 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Canon EOS-350D/Fuji X100T
Location: Birch Bay near Blaine, WA USA

Re:Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by den »

- take only JPG's, not Raw files. PWP has no problem handling these.
Jonathan, Kiril... perhaps you would consider having PWP support the Extract-ion of the 'embedded' JPEG's of RAF raw files for Fuji cameras with X-Trans sensors... ...and later, providing the raw conversion development...

Illustration...

A 400x400 1:1 zoom factor image area of the 1920x1280 embedded JPEG [DSCF2008.RAF (full size = 4952x3288)] previously illustrated...
DSCF2008.thumb-1920x1280_400x400 1-1 image area.jpg
DSCF2008.thumb-1920x1280_400x400 1-1 image area.jpg (47.91 KiB) Viewed 20560 times
Obviously, camera settings for a full sized JPEG, [perhaps similar to Canon's EOS-350D "RAW+JPEG" setting], are needed and the resolution is limited to 8-bit color depth containing JPEG compression artifacts... ...the in-camera resulting conversion is really not all that bad if the scene is captured with good exposure...

...den...
den
Posts: 856
Joined: April 25th, 2009, 6:33 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Canon EOS-350D/Fuji X100T
Location: Birch Bay near Blaine, WA USA

Re: Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by den »

FYI...

DCoffin's dcraw v9.18 and v9.19 has "3-Pass X-Trans interpolation" that does a creditable interpolation of the X-Trans sensors... ...comes with a price... ...it took 2 minutes to convert to tiff the Fuji X-Pro 1 DSCF2008.RAF file with options: -v -w -6 -T...
DSCF2008_1-1_ZoomFactor_400px.jpg
DSCF2008_1-1_ZoomFactor_400px.jpg (44.24 KiB) Viewed 20450 times
Should see more 3rd party software appearing perhaps with multi-threading...

dcraw v9.19 supports the X20...

...den...
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tomczak
Posts: 1367
Joined: April 25th, 2009, 12:56 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Fuji X-E2
Contact:

Re: Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by tomczak »

Den,

Is a Windows compiled new dcraw from Helicon, or is there some other version that should be tried? Do you have a link?

Also, is the new dcraw raw interpolation method described somewhere? Do you know what it actually does?

Cheers!
Maciej Tomczak
Phototramp.com
den
Posts: 856
Joined: April 25th, 2009, 6:33 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Canon EOS-350D/Fuji X100T
Location: Birch Bay near Blaine, WA USA

Re: Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans SensorBeta

Post by den »

Helicon's Windows dcraw compilation remains v9.16 as of this date.

A Win7/Vista 32 or 64 bit compilation for dcraw v9.19 that DCoffin released on 06-16-2013 may be downloaded from:
http://www.centrostudiprogressofotografico.it/en/dcraw/

Did not investigate "3-pass". By default dcraw uses "3-pass X-Trans interpolation" for the X-Trans sensors and seems to ignore any other interpolation method option [-q <num>] if specified. Using dcraw's wavelet noise reduction and 3x3 median blur during conversion still produces un-satisfactory results... ...probably best to do chromatic aberration, luma/chroma noise reductions with post-conversion edits of the dcraw RAW converted to tiff file...

...den...
den
Posts: 856
Joined: April 25th, 2009, 6:33 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Canon EOS-350D/Fuji X100T
Location: Birch Bay near Blaine, WA USA

Re: Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by den »

...Update for a Windows dcraw.exe, version 9.19...

Sebastian Nibisz has made available today a dcraw9.19 windows update for SNS-HDR linked here:
http://www.sns-hdr.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 2974#p2974

This compile will execute in 30 seconds vs. 2 minutes for the previously linked dcraw9.19 files... ...and can be used to update the dcraw.exe file in the SNS-HDR program folder(s) if you have the SNS-HDR program...

The following illustration compares the dcraw conversions of an 1:1 image area of the X-Pro 1 RAF file...
DSCF2008_dcraw917_vs_dcraw919_1-1_ZoomFctr.jpg
DSCF2008_dcraw917_vs_dcraw919_1-1_ZoomFctr.jpg (47.62 KiB) Viewed 20373 times
...den...
Charles2
Posts: 225
Joined: November 24th, 2009, 2:00 am
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Fuji X-Pro 2
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Re: Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by Charles2 »

Adobe tackled raw files from Fujifilm's X-Trans sensors and did not do well at first. Some people say that finally Lightroom is more or less okay now.

You can get reasonably large (4 to 7 MB) JPGs from the APS-C-sized X-Trans cameras like the XE-1, plus a raw file. There are many easy ways to save the JPG, then open it in PWP.

The Fujifilm Raw File Converter is a restricted variant of Silkypix. The workflow does not need to be complicated. Once you know where the control window is, you work down its short list of adjustments: exposure, white balance, contrast, optional film color simulation and other color modes, sharpness and noise reduction. Ignore most of the secondary sliders under each of the items on this list. Ignore the toolbar across the top of the window.

Watching the histogram, I generally adjust exposure, white balance, and contrast to avoid clipping. This usually means a low level of contrast. Then I do the real work on an exported 16-bit TIFF.

Currently, I experiment with one of den's techniques for saturation (raise HSV-S curve near the high end, holding it fixed or at lesser increase near the low end) by using a diagonal or inverse diagonal brightness mask. I also run the TIFF file through Raw Therapee for its LAB curves; a couple of simple curves can do amazing things to pop colors without extreme saturation.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41790885@N08/9031103094/
frankpix
Posts: 25
Joined: April 24th, 2009, 2:30 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Fuji X-E3
Location: Bowie, MD, near Washington DC, Baltimore and Annapolis

Re: Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by frankpix »

Charles -

I'm about where you are. I use the Silkypix-derived software to correct white balance and possibly exposure, and then save the results as 16-bit TIF files which I process in PWP.

Frank
den
Posts: 856
Joined: April 25th, 2009, 6:33 pm
What is the make/model of your primary camera?: Canon EOS-350D/Fuji X100T
Location: Birch Bay near Blaine, WA USA

Re: Demosaicing Fuji X-Trans Sensor

Post by den »

If of interest and you would like to 'pixel peek' the difference between a DCRAW9.17 "Bilinear/VNG interpolation" and a DCRAW9.19 "3-pass X-Trans interpolation" with Mouse On/Off comparisons for a Fuji X-Pro1 dcraw converted camera raw file...

... you are welcomed to visit: http://www.ncplus.net/~birchbay/tutoria ... /index.htm ...

...den...
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