Best program for editing Fuji jpegs

[DFF635]

Hello everyone, I shoot strictly jpeg film sims w/my XT3 and wanted some feedback for members on what program they are using for editing the same. Not interested in RAW shooting or processing as I am an old school 35MM film guy and the Fuji film sims fit right in my wheelhouse. LR and C1 appear to be focused on RAW shooting so I’m not sure what would be best for my needs.

Thanks to all for your responses,

Craig

[Greybeard]

Which platform? FastStone is pretty good under Windows and Photos works well if you want to stick with Apple (especially as it allows you to easily transfer between computer, tablet and phone).

Presumably you are looking more for fine tuning the jpegs rather than major editing?

Do you just want an editor or a full system for managing the image files?

[DFF635]

Graybeard, Apple system and yes file management as well as editing. Thanks for responding

 

[Greybeard]

11 hours ago, DFF635 said:

Graybeard, Apple system and yes file management as well as editing. Thanks for responding

 

Have you tried Photos? Its the best system integrated into the Apple platform - it does a good job of basic jpg editing and allows sharing images between computer, tablet and phone via iCloud. It also includes file management (in that the images are imported into the Photos database). And its included with the operating system.

Lightroom would work for jpgs - but its extra cost for the full application.

[Sleeping Dog]

Since my laptop is a Chromebook, I've been using Snapseed and have pleased. Since the app is designed for Android and IOS operating systems, if you are using Windows or Mac, you're out of luck. One good thing, it's free.

[DFF635]

I am using Photos currently on my MacBook but wanted something more robust for editing and want to keep my iPhone photos separate from any “real”camera work (no flames from the audience please, just wanting to distinguish) . I also have an iPad so, I guess that’s a possibility for using Snapseed. I’ll take a look. Thanks to both of you.

[Ektachrome]

To my mind, if you are deliberately shooting only jpeg film sims out of a sense of “get it right in camera” like we had to in the film days (I have sympathy with this, as I too was, and am, an avid film shooter), why are you then editing the jpegs? That’s really not what shooting jpeg is about, either on principle, or technically. They’re compressed files, with the look baked in, so have very limited editing potential.

OK you could argue that’s more analogous (no pun intended) to reversal film, rather than negative stock, but even that isn’t true in the case of digital shot jpeg film sims as, unlike real film, you really can get everything right in camera, adjusting colour temperature, ISO and dynamic range at the time of shooting.

Or if you want a really “pure” experience, you can forego as much of that as possible also, and carry a tripod and a whole set of filters around…

Again, I have sympathy with this, I too love getting everything right in cam if possible. FWIW, for this reason I generally shoot Jpeg+Raw when shooting with my X-T2. If the scene is such that I have time to get everything right in camera, and the dynamic range is OK, I’ll just go with the Jpeg and not bother to edit the Raw. If the shot must be taken so quickly I don’t have time to adjust much, apart from exposure or focus, or (more likely) the dynamic range is too great for a jpeg, I’ll probably end up editing the RAW file.

If you must edit JPEG’s, you’ll find Photos is as good as any. There’s no such thing as robustness when editing JPEG’s so you might as well stick with Apple. In terms of keeping your “real” photos separate from your iPhone ones, Photos is pretty flexible - you could create different albums for each camera, etc.

Ultimately, why not just come back to the real deal and shoot film again 😁

[DFF635]

I am using Photos currently on my MacBook but wanted something more robust for editing and want to keep my iPhone photos separate from any “real”camera work (no flames from the audience please, just wanting to distinguish) . I also have an iPad so, I guess that’s a possibility for using Snapseed. I’ll take a look. Thanks to both of you.

[DFF635]

Ekta, You have some valid points and I do in fact “think transparency” when I am shooting. Step 1 IS getting it a right as possible in the camera and Step 2 is the “darkroom” if you will, to fine tune the image as I would do back in my film days. I suppose I could take the safe route as you do and do jpeg +RAW but, when shooting jpegs, as in the film days, if you blew the shot, you blew the shot and there was no RAW to fall back on. Thanks for your thoughts and recommendations.

[jerryy]

You could continue to use Photos to take care of your file management and use something such as Pixelmator or Photomator (both programs are from the same company) to make the edits.

https://www.pixelmator.com/support/guide/pixelmator-pro/634

https://www.pixelmator.com/photomator/

Essentially any image editor will let you edit jpegs as well as supported raw files. These two may give you a step up from what you are doing now.

[DFF635]

Thanks for the input Jerry.

[Ektachrome]

20 hours ago, DFF635 said:

Ekta, You have some valid points and I do in fact “think transparency” when I am shooting. Step 1 IS getting it a right as possible in the camera and Step 2 is the “darkroom” if you will, to fine tune the image as I would do back in my film days. I suppose I could take the safe route as you do and do jpeg +RAW but, when shooting jpegs, as in the film days, if you blew the shot, you blew the shot and there was no RAW to fall back on. Thanks for your thoughts and recommendations.

DFF - one thing to clarify in what I posted. I don’t use Raw to fall back on if I “blow” the shot (well, at least not often!), I use it in situations where, e.g., I already know the dynamic range is going to exceed the jpeg engine of the camera, or if it’s a fleeting shot and I won’t have time to set a manual white balance in advance, etc.

So I think of this as the equivalent of carrying two film bodies around, one with transparency film loaded and the other with negative film loaded. Or a large format camera where I would have negative and transparency sheets available for each shot.

Transparency film, you pretty much have to nail everything in camera. And completely nail metering, or bracket, due to the very narrow latitude/DR. You might often need Split ND filters. And you really need colour filters to correct for the light you find yourself in. This, to me, is like an in-camera jpeg.

With colour print film, you have a LOT more flexibility to adjust exposure and colour balance in the darkroom, and a lot more DR to play with. This, to me, is closer to a digital raw file.

So I shoot both, as I shoot both film types. I have a preference for transparency film (still getting over the discontinuation of Kodachrome!) so use that, or in-camera jpeg when the shot and circumstances allow, but there are times I’ll use the raw approach, when the scene or time constraints demand. In those circumstances I can still use the jpeg simulations in the raw processor (Lightroom) to give me the colour and look of a particular Fujifilm preset, but with the extra processing latitude that a raw file possesses.

In terms of the editing program being robust - did you mean in terms of the editing or the file-handling? In terms of editing, you can’t push jpegs far anyway, so any reasonably software will do and Photos is as good as any for that. In terms of file handling/library management, I feel if you’re going to make a meaningful step-up from Photos (which is pretty good), you would be best looking at Lightroom. It’s not a bad subscription price for that and Photoshop on the Photographers plan if you stick with the basic cloud storage…

[DFF635]

On 1/12/2024 at 11:00 AM, Ektachrome said:

So I think of this as the equivalent of carrying two film bodies around, one with transparency film loaded and the other with negative film loaded. Or a large format camera where I would have negative and transparency sheets available for each shot.

Ekta, That’s a great way to think of it and I think I will steal that idea whenever I am shooting something I absolutely cannot miss. No offense meant by the “safe route” comment. Blown shots are part of everyone’s photographic life and in fact, my past is littered with mounds of discarded film and photo paper- no delete button at that time. Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

[jerryy]

You seemed to veer towards not wanting to do any kind of raw conversion work in your original posting, so I did not mention this then, but since @Ektachrome has given you some tips to consider, it might be worth your time to consider a powerful tool built in to your camera’s playback menu, the ability to turn any raw shot into a jpeg — in camera, no external processing needed with a simple button push. I have tried it for various settings and went deep into pixel peeping the result and found no differences between the result and the same image shot as jpeg (the one from raw + jpeg).

You could save space on your card by just shooting raw and only converting the “good” shots, all done in camera no fuss, no muss.

Of course you can explore more options if you want:

https://jmpeltier.com/fujifilm-in-camera-raw-converter/

 

[Ektachrome]

12 hours ago, DFF635 said:

Ekta, That’s a great way to think of it and I think I will steal that idea whenever I am shooting something I absolutely cannot miss. No offense meant by the “safe route” comment. Blown shots are part of everyone’s photographic life and in fact, my past is littered with mounds of discarded film and photo paper- no delete button at that time. Thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

No offense taken, I assure you. Let us know how you get on if you try it 😎

[Ektachrome]

9 hours ago, jerryy said:

You seemed to veer towards not wanting to do any kind of raw conversion work in your original posting, so I did not mention this then, but since @Ektachrome has given you some tips to consider, it might be worth your time to consider a powerful tool built in to your camera’s playback menu, the ability to turn any raw shot into a jpeg — in camera, no external processing needed with a simple button push. I have tried it for various settings and went deep into pixel peeping the result and found no differences between the result and the same image shot as jpeg (the one from raw + jpeg).

You could save space on your card by just shooting raw and only converting the “good” shots, all done in camera no fuss, no muss.

Of course you can explore more options if you want:

https://jmpeltier.com/fujifilm-in-camera-raw-converter/

 

This is such a good suggestion. I’ve used this while on holiday when I didn’t want to carry a laptop and the results are fantastic.

I still tend to shoot raw+jpeg, personally, as I do prefer getting things right in camera if possible. Also if the jpeg turns out well, it saves me time editing, even in camera.

[BobJ]

Lightroom