Shadow detail much darker in X-T2 (compared to X-T1)

[HarrisDPI]

This might have been discussed already (so apologies up front) but have others found that shadow detail in the jpegs produced from the X-T2/X-Pro 2 are a lot darker compared to those from the X-T1? I have played around with the settings enough to know that its not the dynamic range at work here. The raw files are absolutely fine by the way.

 

My not so great work around has been to push exposure comp by up to one full stop, put shadow detail to -2 and at times when provia just isn't working out at all, using PRO Neg. Std instead.

 

Anyone else having these problems as all of this fiddling is driving me nuts (especially when my X-T1 would just nail perfect jpeg exposure every time!).

[elopezso]

I've had the same problem with my jpegs.  When shooting jpegs, I look through the eve and adjust the exposure from 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop.  Then, sometimes, I need to still up it another 1/3rd when working on the jpegs after uploading the files.

 

It is a bummer but I have learned to work with it

 

Ed

[CplGumby]

I've found my jpgs to be heavier in the contrast and darker creating an unrealistic look for shooting hockey. It sounds like it might be the same thing that you are experiencing. When I shoot the image, I have my exposure about 1/3 over exposed but still find it too dark. I then need to adjust in Lightroom to lighten the shadows and tone the contrast down a bit.

 

I'll follow the post in case someone comes up with a setting change.

 

Thanks for asking

[Adam Woodhouse]

Are you working with the JPG's out of camera?  If so, play around with the shadows setting in camera for the different film modes.  I personally find the darks/shadows in provia and astia fine when left at 0, but I always have the highlights set to +1 because I like the little extra pop it gives.  Some prefer to leave highlights at -2 all the time and just adjust to their liking in software as they edit.  Others, set the shadows to -2 and then in post, adjust to a little darker if needed.

 

I shoot weddings with XT1 and XT2 at the same time, all day.  So I get a constant reminder of the differences in how the bodies perform and when I'm editing in Lightroom (editing RAF files).

 

I have my own custom preset that I apply to the RAF files as I import.  One is for XT2 and one is for XT1.  I have founds the results to be pretty close.  There are subtle differences, but they are different cameras with different sensors and different processors, so naturally there will be a bit of a difference.  But not enough for me to notice or be bothered.

 

For both my XT1 and XT2, when I import to Lightroom I have shadows set to +10 and film mode Astia.  I shoot mostly people and outdoors, so that works well.  I find a bit of a "black crush" to the darks from both cameas and this small bump helps a little. Compared to my old Nikon gear, I find the JPG's out of camera on the Fuji are more contrasty and thus have a bit more punch.  They are like a JPG out of my Nikon but the Nikon JPG (in Lightroom) would need to bump the contrast and blacks to get a similar looking image.

 

For an image where I want lots of colour pop, I'll change film mode in Lightroom to Velvia but it isn't uncommon for me to then give a bit more of a + bump to the shadows again.

 

Oh ... I should comment that at first I struggled with the XT2 and differences in exposure results compared to XT1.  I thought I had both set to same exposure mode as it was the same icon on the metering dial.  Someone on this forum pointed out that I did not have the two cameras set to the same metering mode!  I looked in the XT2 manual and saw they changed what the icons represent.  So I changed the XT2 to a different metering icon that was then the same setting as the XT1 and I have found over the months the auto-exposure on the two to be very close.  That helped me greatly.

Edited February 6, 2017 by Adam Woodhouse