Lightroom Classic CC 7.3: Here are the Fujifilm Presets

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After updating to the current Adobe Photoshop Lightroom version, I did not find the famous Fujifilm presets like Velvia, Classic Chrome etc. anymore. As Adobe changed and extended their own Presets, I was eager to find the Fujifilm ones – and found them.

Let’s quickly look at where they are now in three easy steps.

First, go to the Develop module. On the right pane, open the Basic tab:
Second, you will find the Profile option, default is Adobe Color. Here you click on Adobe Color and a small menu opens:Third, click on the Browse option and then you found it again. Now open the Camera Matching tab and you will find the specific Fujifilm color profiles:

Best regards and have fun with the settings.

Apple Wireless Keyboard

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Hups, didn’t know that – my old wireless keyboard is updatable for some years and I missed that? Not really, as it happened already automagically. Here you can check which device you have: How to identify.

My firmware version of the 2011 wireless keyboard is already up-to-date: Firmware Version: 0x0050

Needs update: gfxCardStatus

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gfxCardStatus is used to manually switch between integrated and discrete graphic cards on the MacBook Pro. My 2011 model had some issues in the past (before fixed by Apple) and I prefer turning off the discrete graphics card if not required. The app does this automatically (f.ex. no external monitor at work).

After using gfxCardStatus for quite some years, the app seemed to stop working after my latest OSX update run. As the latest version 2.3 by CodyKrieger has not been updated for years. However, steveschow updated and optimised it and that version works with OSX High Sierra.

Mixing Fujifilm X-T2 with Minolta MC and MD lenses via mount adapter

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Fujifilm offers a Leica M mount adapter for the X-Mount cameras including the X-T2. As I am currently not in possession of a M mount lens this might be a bit impractical. However, the idea is quite a good one and a short web search brought me to K&F Concept who offer a vast amount of different adapters to camera systems. I opted for the Minolta MD/MC to Fujifilm X mount adapter to use my available lenses. Benefit of using the Minolta lenses: as the adapters make the lenses only manually usable the Canon lenses without manual aperture ring would not work in a practical way (change setting on Canon camera, move it to Fujifilm camera) and also the benefit of the lightweight system would be absurdly dispensed with.

The test subjects

I have three Minolta lenses, which all fit perfectly on the adapter. Now to a sample picture per lens. Please note that the first sample picture has one of the famous settings by Fujifilm applied, Classic Chrome.

  • Minolta MC ROKKOR-PF 58/1.4
    • excellent bokeh
    • focusing takes some time
    • looking forward to portrait work (87mm equivalent to full frame)

  • Minolta MC W.ROKKOR-SG 28/3.5
    • focus ring easy to use
    • fast to focus
    • not so fast regarding aperture, but sharp and for the sunshine
    • almost a default lens (42mm equivalent to full frame)

  • Minolta MD TELE ROKKOR 200/2.8
    • long focusing time
    • steady hand required
    • quite a tele (300mm equivalent to full frame)

Color Profile: Camera Calibration section in Lr

Adding a Color Profile after shooting with RAW is still possible via Lightroom in Develop mode, Camera Calibration section on the right hand side:

Alternatively you can use the Fujifilm RAW Studio which does the job with the camera processor.

Conclusion

So far I am extremely pleased with the K&F Concept adapter and the Minolta lenses on the Fujifilm X-T2. It is quite some joy to use the old Minolta lenses and the results are very good indeed. Combined with the Fujifilm Color Profiles, this is just wow. The adapter is solid, no wobbling, no nothing and just works as expected. With the Minolta lenses the camera is also not front-heavy, they fit in size quite well (maybe except the 200/2.8). Despite that the 58/1.4 is of course quite a fast one and the 200/2.8 is like a good tele but requires a bit setup time – probably tripod mandatory.

Fujifilm X-T2

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Thoughts, then actions. Quite pleased with the Fujifilm X-T2 so far.

Here are my initial comparisons to the old Canon 5D Mark II:

Video

Amazingly easy to use and crisp results – such an advantage. Autofocus is extremely helpful.

Display

Really useful, sufficient for many pictures especially fast street photography.

Battery/Akku

By far less time to shoot than the Canon. Maybe because there is always a display on (auto-turn off after 2mins selected)? Also the battery has less capacity (1200mAh vs. 1800mAh in the LP-E6).

Lightroom

Initially I thought the lens was not recognized correctly, however the correction profile is already included in the RAW-File – nice:

So I don’t have to manually click on EnableProfile Corrections.

The Tether Shoot Plugin for Fujifilm cameras costs 29$.

Otherwise tethering does not work with Lightroom:

RAW Studio

Tried the new Fujifilm RAW Studio, it has a nice feature: the camera converts RAW to jpg while attached via USB, so computer does not calculate and it’s quite fast. Despite that I saw nothing of interest to me. So if you are planning to mass-convert images, go for it.

Firmware

I updated the provided firmware to current versions:

Body Version 2.11 to 3.00
Lens (18-55 Kit) Version 3.21 to 3.22
Download from Fujifilm, for the update  just put the files on a formatted SD Card and hold DISP/BACK button while starting the camera.

Photography thought: is it too heavy?

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After our recent trip to Berlin I started overthinking my photography equipment and habits. I came to the conclusion that the current setup might not be the optimal one.

Basically the Canon 5D Mark II is too bulky for me to snap quick food blog posts in restaurants (probably even with tripod), also the process of developing pictures via computer is usually not an option there. For that task I use my iPhone SE, modify the pictures with the Lightroom app there and post them directly to Instagram. However, especially in low light conditions I like to be more flexible without getting too much attention of other guests and staff.

My thoughts now go to the Fujifilm area where I already had some test runs at several Photokinas, latest talk and hands-on at the 2016 Photokina with the top X series models which were quite impressive. Basically it seems the system provides everything I need in that area: crisp and excellent picture quality combined with easy dial-based change of camera settings. More and more I look into easy to carry and small equipment with a low profile to the surrounding crowds. As always: the best camera is the one you have at hands.

So if more areas (street and travel photography, especially offroad) might benefit of the more compact Fujifilm equipment I might start using it for work.

Reactivate old RasPi

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As my first Raspberry Pi catched some dust I found a new project involving it.
Researching current procedures regarding backup old image and add new image to the SD Card, here it is:

Backup

  • Putting the SD Card in my reader in my Mac
  • Utilities > Disk Utility
  • File > New Image from boot
  • Choose as type CD/DVD image and save it

New Image

The really cool and minimalistic tool Etcher is suggested by the RasPi homepage.
I chose the current Raspbian 9 to be put on the SD Card by Etcher.

Etcher in use

Once the copy/install process was finished I opened a terminal session, navigated to /Volumes/boot and used touch ssh.

This will enable ssh on the RasPi, directly enabling it to be contacted by a terminal session instead of putting a usb keyboard on it.

  • User: pi
  • Password: raspberry

Any changes can be done with sudo rasps-config – especially password and network name of system

Now the old RasPi can be used again, this time without extra ac plug but on the new Bestek Steckdosenturm.

Netgear GS716T v3: Firmware update to V6.3.1.19

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After one and a half year with the Netgear GS716T v3 I’m still pleased. A bit late as the update is around for a while I updated the switch as some bugs were fixed.
Over here you find the download.

You find in this previous article how I did it: Netgear GS716T v3: update Firmware

2018-06-19 Update: for our convenience the general download link to GS716T v3.

Audio Update: Testrun

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After testing with multiple devices we have some more answers.

With my Mac I use the included tool Audio MIDI Setup to set the output format to an appropriate value (eg. 32bit, 384 kHz). Interestingly the Audinst device had the most sophisticated settings:

Headphones: beyerdynamic DT 1770 PRO

DACs:

  • Grace m9XX: still sounds awesome, current drop: massdrop: Grace m9XX
  • Aune X1s: right behind the Grace m9XX for half the price
  • Audinst HUD-DX1: a bit behind Aune X1s

In general the Grace m9XX just has the bass to keep you pushed and a magic clarity with which every song sounds different than before without it. Also the dynamic range is just more present and larger.

Software: Pine Player

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If you want to go for high quality data music on a Mac, use the Pine player which is available for free on the app store.

It allows to play existing digital audio forms such as MP3, FLAC, APE, AAC, M4A, WAV, AIFF, OGG, WMA, DSD etc. and it also has a strong playing capability for listening to CUE files in the most convenient way.

Especially FLAC and DSD are iteresting for the best possible output on a DAC/AMP combo for headphones.

Example hires files are to be found at 2L.no so you can check them with the Pine player on a Mac with external DAC.