Fuji XT questions

[Themistocles]

I've always considered the XT 2,3, and now 4, to be the most beautiful cameras I've seen since the days of Contax. I have two questions about the XT cameras, which I haven't found answers to so far. The first is "why can't I find info about such popular cameras on dxomark, and the second is why do Fuji images typically appear darker than other cameras at the same iso's, shutter, and aperture's ? Thanks.

[Doug Pardee]

1. DxO refuses to have anything to do with X-Trans sensors. Until very recently, they refused to have anything to do with Fujifilm at all, even their Bayer-sensored cameras.

2. Fujifilm -- along with Olympus, Panasonic, and Ricoh/Pentax -- honors the traditional "18% gray" brightness target value. That brightness goal was set during the days of B&W photography, and we've learned that color photographs tend to look a bit "underexposed" at that brightness level. For that reason, Canon's DSLRs derate the ISO number, so that you get about one stop brighter image -- about 35% gray. Sony does the same, and Nikon changed over about a decade back. So the "Big 3" manufacturers all use an ISO rating system that produces images about a stop brighter than those produced by Fuji/Oly/Panny/Pentax.

What is measured as ISO 200 on the old "18% gray" plan is now being marked as ISO 100 by the big brands. In fact, when NIkon made the change, people commented about how Nikon DSLRs used to only go down to ISO 200 but now were going down to ISO 100. To get 18% gray on one of the big guy's cameras, you need to meter at twice the ISO that the camera is set to. [By the way, Canon tried the 18% gray target in the Rebel XTi/400D DSLR, and people complained about how dark its pictures were.]

When using in-camera metering on Fuji, the multi-zone metering runs about a stop brighter than the "dumb" metering modes. That way Fuji produces the same bright color images that the Big 3 manufacturers do -- in Multi metering mode. But the difference in brightness between in-camera metering modes catches a lot of people off-guard.

Personal opinion: the days of "18% gray" are behind us. Canon, Nikon, and Sony have long abandoned that standard, and virtually nobody has complained. It's probably time for Fuji/Oly/Panny/Pentax to make the change, too.

[Herco]

To add to that: DxO claims that their unique noise reduction algorithms would have to be completely rewritten to use the x-trans de-mosaic pattern for Fuji camera's. Which can be a pain as Adobe Lightroom after all these years still shows...

As for the darker images, thanks for the explanation Doug. Very helpful to understand what goes on. Many Fuji shooters use the Exposure Compensation (set to +2/3rds of a stop) to correct. I correct images usually and only when needed in post. It's generally easier to recover details in the shadows, than in highlights, so I don't mind a bit darker images.