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Photography Culture

A Dirty Confession: I Enjoy Fujifilm’s JPEGs Sometimes More Than the RAW Files

Chris Gampat
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01/16/2019
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Fujifilm GF 110mm f2 R LM WR review sample portraits Erica (2 of 6)ISO 64001-60 sec at f - 2.0

Last Updated on 10/01/2020 by Chris Gampat

The Fujifilm film simulations look great right out of the camera and there is no need to do major adjustments in post if you shoot carefully.

Despite the fact that so many photographers would rather throw their cameras away than shoot in JPEG, I’ve come to realize that I like the look of the JPEGs of many cameras–Fujifilm in particular, but the output from Canon, Sony, and a number of others is also really stunning. I’m not discouraging the shooting in RAW photo mode; I’m encouraging the shooting in RAW and JPEG mode. This doesn’t go necessarily just for Fujifilm, but I’ll admit that of the major camera manufacturers they have the single most unique JPEG photos. I’m also not even sure that’s up for debate; it’s more a fact.

I want to look at Acros as an example.

Can you honestly tell which images were shot on film and which were shot on digital? Well if you’ve been a reader of this site for a while, you’ll know that the first two photos are film scans and the other two are digital. Acros–the grain, the tones, and the overall beauty of the film–translates very well for Fujifilm. While other camera manufacturers make great black and white camera profiles, the look of Acros is honestly something special when it comes to embracing the look of Fujifilm’s high ISO noise and all. Even at the lower ISO settings, the sharpness of the film look comes through in a way that is bound to remind you sometimes of medium format film. Look closer at the film photos above and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

ISO 6400

Then there is the look of Classic Chrome. I’m focusing here on Fujifilm’s JPEGs because again, they’re unique and designed to simulate the look of film with varying degrees of success. But the look of Classic Chrome is really something that is that much different. The way certain colors and tones even get rendered tend to change when working with the film simulations. And if you’re a film shooter who likes the look of film and no VSCO, Mastin, RNI, etc. then you understand how magical it can be when you get it all right (to your eyes and your own intentions) in camera.

To that end, shooting JPEGs allows you to enjoy the look of the images right then and there for what they are. It allows you to bask in the efforts that you put in-camera to get the exposure right, the white balance right, the depth of field, the posing, etc. Having the RAW lets you experiment more later on.

And in some ways, I want to liken this shooting process to working with peel apart instant film because you get both a negative and a positive image. In the end, it’s all worth both shots.

 

acros classic chrome colors film fujifilm jpegs raw simulations
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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