Acros settings?

[fujiisfun]

Just curious to know what highlight, shadow, sharpness, etc. settings people are using for Acros?

[Photolographer]

I have left all the settings at 0 so far to test it out. Thinking of turning down those highlights a bit. Loving the contrast though, and the X-Pro2 overall!

 

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[mdm]

Check it here  - http://www.prophotonut.com/2016/02/21/acros-film-simulation-with-the-fuji-x-pro2/

[fujiisfun]

Thanks! I will try Acros G. Yesterday I snapped some shots with Acros Std with +2 highlights and +2 shadows. Here's one:

 

[mdm]

Wow! New face of Fuji... )))

[Patrick FR]

Maybe this might be useful: http://www.fujirumors.com/an-ode-to-acros-a-game-changer-my-favorite-film-simulation-by-far-and-about-the-best-acros-or-bw-settings/

[Wing0949]

I'm really liking the new Acros b&w film simulation.. and overall, the X-Pro2 is a great experience and both a fun and serious camera to use.

Going back to the topic at hand, I'm still playing with settings and I'm not sure if I have a favorite setting with Acros.

 

With regards to highlights, shadows and sharpening.. i'm not going to crazy here and push it a little.. I usually leave the sharpening alone, but +1 just for a little bit more. Same with highlights and shadows.. highlights I push a little more than shadows with +2 and shadows I only do +1.. I think it works, but still messing around to see what I like the most.  And all this can potentially change depending on what color filter I'm using, also.  It really depends on the subject and environment. I can't say one color filter works for all occasions as you may read on below on my personal experience with b&w.

I've traditionally set my monochrome profile with red filter and tweaked the highlight and shadows to add contrast.. I like to take photos of people and find red generally smooths out the skin tones and hides more blemishes which make people look better. And, in most situations, for me, I find I like the contrast more, it's not super strong, which I find the green filter to be the strongest in terms of contrast for black & white.

However, lately I've found myself adjusting the filters more depending on the situation. I admit I do like using the green filter for people photos, as well. It will define the face more, but at the same time enhance blemishes... which if you want to portray someone in the raw and honestly, it actually adds character to the person(s).

For people, I guess if you don't mind showing imperfections and maximize texture of the skin, I would use the green filter... although, I think most people would prefer to not show their skin issues and would enjoy a smoother "kinder" rendition.. myself included.  So, for that reason, I generally take photos of friends and family with the red filter... I think using the red filter also helps to lessen the appearance of wrinkles which is great for trying to maintain a more youthful look.

My general exceptions on using green filter for photographing people are:
1) If I really wanted a more harsher look and to emphasize details and imperfections of the skin.. perhaps if I'm in the mood for a more grittier look.
2) Babies and children.. they're both often free of blemishes and have very smooth and perfect skin anyways, it doesn't hurt to use green filter to add some more definition and clarity to youthful faces.

3) If your model is particular well endowed with a high degree of natural beauty and perfect skin, then the green filter could serve to enhance what's already a great basis to work from

I have to admit I've not personally found as much use with the yellow filter in the past.. it's always seemed to be too subtle in contrast over a standard monochrome look to make me want to use it. Although, I can understand and appreciate using yellow filter for that more subtle contrast just to give the image that tiny extra something to make it stand out a little bit more.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Wing0949

[bjorke]

This thread has certainly gotten me re-thinking my Acros set-up, which I'd naively based on the B&W setups I use on other Fuji-X cameras.

 

On regular B&W, I +2 the shadows & roll the highlight, sharpen harder, less noise reduction... Across looks to do a lot of that, in a more nuanced way, right out of the box.

 

And Damien Lovegrove using a green filter... well if you have faces that are young and flawless then getting extra texture is okay I guess! I've typically used red to reduce blemishes. 

 

Hmm Hmmm Hmmm (time for lots more shooting)

 

BTW, "real" Acros in Rodinal with stand processing (no agitation, leave it for two hours!) is pretty sweet (shot with a Bronica, since we're talking film!): 

 

Edited March 18, 2016 by bjorke

[bjorke]

I made a quick chart of all the film simulation modes, and compared them to Adobe's "Auto" handling of RAF, too.

 

http://www.botzilla.com/blog/archives/000884.html

 

WRT the link above, by Damien Lovegrove: he mentions "Acros B" multiple times! Perhaps his preproduction X-Pro2 had such a mode, rather than "Acros Ye"?

[nibbler]

I just got my X-Pro2 this week, and have been enjoying Acros simulation for B&W conversion. However, I find it cumbersome to convert RAWs using the camera due to the size of the screen (e.g. testing different filter/grain/highlight/shadow settings).

 

On the Fujifilm website they state: We also think that it is very unlikely that any RAW conversion software would achieve what "ACROS" achieves. We all know that there are excellent RAW conversion software in the market, but we also believe that the magic of X-Processor Pro is not so easily solved.

 

While this is marketing, I wonder if others feel the same? Is the camera itself the best RAW converter when producing Acros files, or does Adobe and others do a sufficiently good job of replicating the film simulation (including grain patterns)?