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Fuji X Series

It really is a beautiful camera to look at.

I’ve been pondering a V or VI vs a Ricoh GR IIIx. I want something pocketable that I can always have with me. The Ricoh is winning on size but the X100 keeps tempting me.
 
It really is a beautiful camera to look at.

I’ve been pondering a V or VI vs a Ricoh GR IIIx. I want something pocketable that I can always have with me. The Ricoh is winning on size but the X100 keeps tempting me.

The Ricoh is really nice, but I love me some retro styling, EVF and all these physical dials.
 
Jessops confirmed £405.56 for the X-T30 I paid £379.99 for from LCE, which is a good result.
 
Absolutely love the Portra 160 recipe. Pastel colours, perfect skin tones. A little over exposure and I don't need to do anything. SOOC family pics straight to our private Flickr folder. Works well with sunny weather, in particularly abroad.

It isn't suited to UK light. I prefer Provia with reds and blues muted a little and temps a little warmer.

I am currently in Asia and wanted to trial a few similar but alternative recipes:

Reggie's Portra and Fujicolour Pro 400h have been loaded straight into the x100v using the fujiweekly app. Will report back if I don't auto default to Portra 160 :-p

Edit - forgot to say. They've finally fixed the Fuji X App. Transferring images are straight forward now.
 
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Is there a way yet to automatically load recipes onto the camera rather than having to enter them in manually?

I'm off to Japan soon and going to start looking at recipes again as all the ones on my camera are summer focused and a bit bored of them. Although that said I think for Japan I'll go with the old school RAW + Lightroom work flow and do it all manually.
 
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Is there a way yet to automatically load recipes onto the camera rather than having to enter them in manually?

I'm off to Japan soon and going to start looking at recipes again as all the ones on my camera are summer focused and a bit bored of them. Although that said I think for Japan I'll go with the old school RAW + Lightroom work flow and do it all manually.

Yes, download the fujiweekly app. Connect camera via USB-c to phone. Click recipe and viola
 
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Reggie put out a video saying he doesn't like these recipe apps, apparently there are loads now that have been vibe coded or something... says it stops you learning how each settings affects the image. I agree with him but after years of this I'd rather just take the convenience now.
 
Reggie put out a video saying he doesn't like these recipe apps, apparently there are loads now that have been vibe coded or something... says it stops you learning how each settings affects the image. I agree with him but after years of this I'd rather just take the convenience now.

No idea who that is, but end of the day its a tool, its a choice whether to use it or not, it's not stopping anyone doing anything.
 
He is some YouTuber who is famous for his "Reggie Porta" recipe about 3 years back.

The same reason people using these recipes is why they use LR presets. There is no difference really. The good thing is most LR presets from creators are behind a paywall, the Fuji X weekly is free at least and made by the community, think of it as seasoning that you want to experiment. The people who uses recipes or wants to use it because they don't want to process the photos later, it goes hand in hand with the whole "I don't care about editing, just give me that look" mindset. Look at any Fuji forum/groups, 99% of people when they see a photo they like, the question they ask is

"What recipe is that?"

Almost every single one of them. They get super annoyed if you tell them "I didn't." Trust, me, I have done that. I like to edit in LR, I like to do small area spot edits, clean it up a little, things you can't do with a recipe. So when you tell them that "I use LR", you get downvoted on Reddit because they think you are gatekeeping some secret recipe. So when I screenshot them my Edit History in LR showing all the steps, they downvote that too because they can't copy it. Spot brush +30% means nothing to them.

...got a bit ranty at the end, sorry!
 
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He is some YouTuber who is famous for his "Reggie Porta" recipe about 3 years back.

The same reason people using these recipes is why they use LR presets. There is no difference really. The good thing is most LR presets from creators are behind a paywall, the Fuji X weekly is free at least and made by the community, think of it as seasoning that you want to experiment. The people who uses recipes or wants to use it because they don't want to process the photos later, it goes hand in hand with the whole "I don't care about editing, just give me that look" mindset. Look at any Fuji forum/groups, 99% of people when they see a photo they like, the question they ask is

"What recipe is that?"

Almost every single one of them. They get super annoyed if you tell them "I didn't." Trust, me, I have done that. I like to edit in LR, I like to do small area spot edits, clean it up a little, things you can't do with a recipe. So when you tell them that "I use LR", you get downvoted on Reddit because they think you are gatekeeping some secret recipe. So when I screenshot them my Edit History in LR showing all the steps, they downvote that too because they can't copy it. Spot brush +30% means nothing to them.

...got a bit ranty at the end, sorry!

There’s no pleasing some people.

Recipes can be fun but I honestly feel like I’m done with it now. The most popular recipes are all warm and look very similar, usually taken with diffusion filters too, the look is fatigued. I also find the JPGs still can look quite sharp and processed - not always but I have been disappointed before on many occasions.

Nothing beats the creative power of RAW + Lightroom for me.

If social media is the game, Instagram is similar to what you described above, tag a recipe and your engagement goes up but sometimes people will repost good work you’ve done regardless and that helps.
 
There’s no pleasing some people.

Recipes can be fun but I honestly feel like I’m done with it now. The most popular recipes are all warm and look very similar, usually taken with diffusion filters too, the look is fatigued. I also find the JPGs still can look quite sharp and processed - not always but I have been disappointed before on many occasions.

Nothing beats the creative power of RAW + Lightroom for me.

If social media is the game, Instagram is similar to what you described above, tag a recipe and your engagement goes up but sometimes people will repost good work you’ve done regardless and that helps.

It's the new thing. Before it is "What camera is that?" They think if they get the same camera they can take the same photo. Or it is "what settings did you use?" Now is "What recipe is that?"

They think it will fix everything about a bad photo.

They are asking the wrong question anyway, the better questions would be "What is the intention?", "How long did you wait for that shot?" or "How did you prepare for that shot?" or even "Is there any local adjustments like clean up done?".
 
It's the new thing. Before it is "What camera is that?" They think if they get the same camera they can take the same photo. Or it is "what settings did you use?" Now is "What recipe is that?"

They think it will fix everything about a bad photo.

They are asking the wrong question anyway, the better questions would be "What is the intention?", "How long did you wait for that shot?" or "How did you prepare for that shot?" or even "Is there any local adjustments like clean up done?".

Exactly and I strongly suspect some of the popular recipe influencers are actually using Lightroom anyway to enhance their photos. One of them even admitted it to me. As you say, a recipe does not solve for lacking a creative eye.
 
He is some YouTuber who is famous for his "Reggie Porta" recipe about 3 years back.

The same reason people using these recipes is why they use LR presets. There is no difference really. The good thing is most LR presets from creators are behind a paywall, the Fuji X weekly is free at least and made by the community, think of it as seasoning that you want to experiment. The people who uses recipes or wants to use it because they don't want to process the photos later, it goes hand in hand with the whole "I don't care about editing, just give me that look" mindset. Look at any Fuji forum/groups, 99% of people when they see a photo they like, the question they ask is

"What recipe is that?"

Almost every single one of them. They get super annoyed if you tell them "I didn't." Trust, me, I have done that. I like to edit in LR, I like to do small area spot edits, clean it up a little, things you can't do with a recipe. So when you tell them that "I use LR", you get downvoted on Reddit because they think you are gatekeeping some secret recipe. So when I screenshot them my Edit History in LR showing all the steps, they downvote that too because they can't copy it. Spot brush +30% means nothing to them.

...got a bit ranty at the end, sorry!

Sounds like the same people who use the recipes online then are probably the same people that love vibe coding and use bambu 3d printers. The tools themselves aren't the problem, its the tools that use them. :cry:
 
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Interesting discussions. I leave editing for projects e.g. wildlife, architecture, street. I've done it all from publications, distinctions and competitions.

But when you just want to pick-up and go, enjoy time with your family or travel, rather than faffing around with lens, bags, tripods and worrying over the perfect shot - recipes are useful. Lets you be in the moment.

When you combine a little experience with a recipe, you can get 90-95% of what you need and that's sufficient for me. It's also a good way to spark that interest in photography again if you've gone off the hobby. You still need to think about your composition and light.
 
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Interesting discussions. I leave editing for projects e.g. wildlife, architecture, street. I've done it all from publications, distinctions and competitions.

But when you just want to pick-up and go, enjoy time with your family or travel, rather than faffing around with lens, bags, tripods and worrying over the perfect shot - recipes are useful. Lets you be in the moment.

When you combine a little experience with a recipe, you can get 90-95% of what you need and that's sufficient for me. It's also a good way to spark that interest in photography again if you've gone off the hobby. You still need to think about your composition and light.

Yeah I get that. I did this yesterday, beautiful autumnal day in London so just grabbed the X-E5 with the pancake and took some shots using a warmish recipe.

When I'm in Japan though, not a chance in hell I'm using recipes. Going to Lightroom everything and enjoy the process end to end.
 
He is some YouTuber who is famous for his "Reggie Porta" recipe about 3 years back.

The same reason people using these recipes is why they use LR presets. There is no difference really. The good thing is most LR presets from creators are behind a paywall, the Fuji X weekly is free at least and made by the community, think of it as seasoning that you want to experiment. The people who uses recipes or wants to use it because they don't want to process the photos later, it goes hand in hand with the whole "I don't care about editing, just give me that look" mindset. Look at any Fuji forum/groups, 99% of people when they see a photo they like, the question they ask is

"What recipe is that?"

Almost every single one of them. They get super annoyed if you tell them "I didn't." Trust, me, I have done that. I like to edit in LR, I like to do small area spot edits, clean it up a little, things you can't do with a recipe. So when you tell them that "I use LR", you get downvoted on Reddit because they think you are gatekeeping some secret recipe. So when I screenshot them my Edit History in LR showing all the steps, they downvote that too because they can't copy it. Spot brush +30% means nothing to them.

...got a bit ranty at the end, sorry!
Loads of us were using "Reggies Portra" or something damn close long before he put his name to it. All the popular recipes pretty much follow the same formula. Classic Chrome, -H -S, +Color, CC Strong, CC FX Blue weak, -Sharpness, WB Auto +R -B, NR -4. Then there will be the people who push it too far and go full-on Mexico filter.

I had to disengage from all of those groups because the same formula would be posted every so often with a cheesy cliche name.

My personal settings which I use for almost everything in daylight is:
  • Classic Negative
  • WB auto R-1 B-1
  • Grain off
  • Color Chrome off
  • Color Chrome FX blue weak
  • DR200
  • H-2 S+0.5
  • Color +3
  • Sharpness +1
  • Clarity 0
It took a while to get there but I'm currently happy with it. I tend to edit raws in LR more often now though. When I edit in LR I almost always use a Classic Negative profile unless I'm intentionally going for another look. When shooting monochrome it's usually Acros +Ye unless there's a reason to use something else.
 
Yeah I get that. I did this yesterday, beautiful autumnal day in London so just grabbed the X-E5 with the pancake and took some shots using a warmish recipe.

When I'm in Japan though, not a chance in hell I'm using recipes. Going to Lightroom everything and enjoy the process end to end.

Yep. I always save F + RAW just in case I get those one or two shots that stand out.
 
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