Higher-resolution files allow more precise editing but what about wide dynamic and colour ranges? The GFX enables us to use RAW data like no other camera. We can achieve a more unique and personal look with more flexible tone and colour editing options.
When I first opened GFX files in Capture One in 2017, I could not believe my eyes. The shadows I’d normally expect to become noisy if I do High Dynamic Range shadow recovery allowed me to push them up to a 1.5 stop of exposure without any issues! It was the same with the highlight recovery: there was no usual flatness and I was getting a good amount of detail in those lighter areas. However, what was most important to me was that I could play with that Luma curve, which we normally use for adding contrast, almost invert it and still have all the details in place and not get an HDR look. That was the first a-ha moment for me.
Impressed by the flexibility of the dynamic range of the GFX files, I started experimenting with colour. The Color Editor tool in Capture One allows for an impressively precise colour selection with one click, so I wanted to see how far I could shift that colour without getting any colour noise or chromatic aberrations. Changing a colour to its analogous pair was not a problem at all; I could do it seamlessly. I credited it to the amount of colour information raw GFX files contained as I had not seen that with any other cameras. Having acquired that knowledge, I started working on giving my images a special touch.
This is an excerpt from an article by Kristina Varaksina in issue 101 of FUJILOVE MAGAZINE (August 2024). Subscribers, you can find this article by downloading this issue from your subscriber area.
You will find the remaining part of this article in FUJILOVE MAGAZINE.
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