You need to do this to your Fujifilm XT5! Noise reduction settings (X100V, XH2 & XS10 MORE!)

[@GeoffGrant2010]

lamtongue- can you comment on these comments that refer to LR adjusting the raw files on import based on the import settings? I’d appreciate your take on this. Tanks. Geoff

[@Iamtongue]

hey geoff, ya I've been looking at my LR right now for an hour, I'm looking at my "Apply During Import" and everything is unchecked..."Developer setting" is set at "NONE" So i'm pretty sure it's baked in..

[@URSENIORUTUBER55]

Thank you for enlightening us…….to this very significant issue affecting NR with the new sensor on certain Fujifilm models including the XT5 …….I reset my NR to -4 and saw an immediate improvement.

[@Iamtongue]

Glad I could help! Thanks for watching

[@truebro77]

this. It has literally ruined so many of my jpegs

[@DJKomoi]

Why did not you put side by side 0 and -4 noise reduction when you switched the photo? This way it was bit pointless... You shown that there might be a big differente between extremes, but you maybe should have shown why we should switch from 0 to -4. Otherwise good video.

[@TonyNomadic]

mind blowing! I just got an xt5 and I was wondering what was happening, now I have to go test this out on my next shoot! game changer! thanks

[@Iamtongue]

THANKS for watching! good luck!

[@zalkindi]

Thank you for highlighting this very important topic. I tried but was unable to reproduce your results with my X-T5, 23mm LM WR lens, taking 3 images with ISO 1250 in low ambient light, SS 1/40, Aperture F2.8 with High ISO NR set to +4, 0, and -4 respectively. The JPG's certainly do clearly show the effect of NR and the smearing and detail loss with high NR exactly like you showed, however all 3 RAF's were identical to my eyes and do not show the effect of the NR settings. I set up my Lightroom CC in Preferences>Presets to apply my own camera specific default X-T5 preset where I turned sharpening to 0, colour NR set to 0, and apply lens and chromatic aberration corrections. I wonder if what you observed is related to how your LR presets processes your RAF's. It's also quite possible that I did something wrong. I would be interested if others have tried the same exercise and what results they got.

[@samtsuichannel]

I tested it on my XT3, same as your test, ISO 640, NR+4, then 0, then -4. Camera was on tripod and tether shot from Capture One so there won't be any shaking blur. I compared the raw files both in lightroom and capture one, I really didn't see any major different between those raw files in 100% between NR+4, 0, and -4. Not in lightroom, not in Capture One. I'm going to test my X-H2S later, I doubt there will be any different result though

[@BrianBoycePhotography]

I’m not sure but what you are seeing on the raw could be because of you Lightroom import options. If you chose to have Lightroom apply the camera settings to your raw on import it will attempt to apply the settings you had active to the raw - I believe. Am going to test it and change my import settings

[@Iamtongue]

Okay please let me know

[@AnuGraphy]

Due to the embedded preview shows in Lightroom it seems that NR has also applied on RAW files as well. Try to compare it again in Capture One, you must notice the difference. After watching your video I've tested it with my XT4. So, no worries .... RAW files are untouched from in camera NR. 🙂

[@jeroentune333]

this is an eye opener for me where i was almost returning the new XH2. lets test this ! thank you !

[@Iamtongue]

Thanks for watching!

[@madhatter42o]

I do bird photography with xt5. Was getting terrible image quality with no details, so much so image looked mushy out of focus. Went thru a long list of reasons why it's happening. Was ready to either smash it or return it. Went to another camera shop, cause where I bought it from was sick of me complaining about it. Dude there brought this noise reduction issue to negative 4. And it seems to help alot. That's Was terribly annoying.

[@Iamtongue]

Ya I don’t blame you man. I was annoyed too.

[@TheWorkerAntColony]

This chalks down to having a variable that really makes a difference, in that non native glass produces way more noise, especially this type of fast and cheap third party lens. So, my guess is that you would get significantly better results with native glass.

[@massimobernardoni8741]

I can confirm what you say. I did the tests with XT5 and 30 mm 2.8 in low light conditions, changing the three different parameters (sharpness, clarity and iso) and those with less grain were those with iso-4 and the other parameters at 0. I noticed that in conditions of good brightness at high iso the grain is less noticeable.

[@Iamtongue]

Cheers!

[@herasimovich]

By the way, after the shot have been already taken you always can render another JPG with any NR setting you want using in camera RAW editor.

[@Iamtongue]

thanks

[@ericthestone]

If this NR affects RAW, I wonder what about the other settings, like highlight, shadows and sharpness?

[@Iamtongue]

That’s what I’m wondering as well!

[@ericthestone]

@@Iamtongue looks like you will have more testing to do for us lol! Thanks 🙏

[@matt88169]

On XT3 the defaults I set for JPEG affect the raw conversion (even though I shoot raw only, so for awhile I ignored these settings). Basically, the saturation, film sim, noise reduction, white balance etc. are on the “default” that I set up myself but can still be changed before finalizing the JPEG in-camera. If I somehow set the default perfectly, in theory I could spit out jpegs super fast after selecting exposure, quality and size. The raws are the raws. When importing the raws into C1, my NR reduction settings seem to have no impact, C1 has its own defaults for sharpening and noise. I wonder if Lightroom is loading up the “default” settings and applying them on import. Can you change the NR setting after importing the raw? Seems weird that you could screw up a RAW file.

[@marleenvandam6931]

This is what I call a useful review!! Thanks for this.

[@Iamtongue]

Thanks marleen 😀

[@marksychannel]

Thanks for this video, will adjust my NR to -4.

[@SummersSnaps]

Yeh Fuji are a little weird. I recall hearing their Dynamic Range feature (100, 200 or 400%) is baked into the RAW so I'm not surprised to hear that the NR is also. And its interesting to note that the default for NR is 0, but can be -4 to +4, so 0 is basically saying that Fuji feel SOME NR is default, I dunno... it feels an odd way to label that setting. My brain thinks a scale of 0 to +8 makes more sense, with 0 being no NR and +8 a lot. And that's what -4 is basically, no NR. But I guess it doesn't make sense with some other things like Colour and Sharpness to label the same, you kinda want to be able to reduce colour or sharpness so it makes sense that 0 is the mid way happy place and that you can go either more or less (+4 or -4 etc). Ha! I'll stop talking now.

[@Iamtongue]

the way they label their NR, shadow and hilight is a little sus lol i agree wiht you it should be more of a scale...

[@Iamtongue]

DID you guys know about this? IF SO... WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!?!?!😤🥲

[@morii9651]

I also do this for video when shooting eterna. dr400 , -4 sharpness, and -4 nr.

[@Reggiebphoto]

Reggie’s Portra recipe woulda told you this.

[@Iamtongue]

But I didn’t know it affected the raws 😭

[@Reggiebphoto]

@@Iamtongue you seem to not know many things about the fuji system. jk LOL

[@Iamtongue]

@@Reggiebphoto I don’t read manuals and that’s one of your tips lol

[@rickshapiro63]

I understand this video is a bit old, but I've run a similar test with RAW files, XT5 and XT3 ,ISO 1000 and DR at -4 and one at +4, in LR, LR Classic, and C1, and there is absolutely no difference in sharpness. JPG is running as expected, you give up some sharpness for noise reduction.

[@AshesOfArcadia]

That's because he's wrong. You are right, it does not affect RAW files.

[@GrandadsReviews]

It will most likely be your Lightroom import settings as you can tell Lightroom to use the cameras raw metadata to set lightrooms sharpening and all its other settings like camera profiles or set it to ignore that raw metadata and set everything to Lightroom defaults as sharpening and noise reduction is not baked into a raw it is just written to the raws metadata.

[@Iamtongue]

ya you're not the first person to tell me this,. During my import settings, i didn't see an option where i can unchecked metadata from my camera raws to adobe lr. So if you can tell me how to fix it that would be great cuz i dont see it on my end.. It's like calling the cable company about an internet problem and they tell you to remove plug the modem and wait 3 minutes and then turn it back on.. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@GrandadsReviews]

@@Iamtongue it's in your Lightroom preferences under the preset tab you tick use camera settings and then you can pick any camera that has had images imported and use it's camera settings even add a preset if you wish

[@ronangsr]

dude, you a superman, i was pixel peeping on my new 33 f.14 wr lens and i wasnt impressed at all, put it down to -4 and wow the difference

[@Iamtongue]

Ohh thank god I can help! 😭appreciate you watching..

[@TheJ_G]

Super helpful! Thanks for posting this.

[@Sunrise017]

Good catch, but does the same apply to video as well? Perhaps good to have some kind of noise reduction as its base ISO is 1000 (and thus quite noisy) anyway?

[@Iamtongue]

base iso 1000 is for videos, but it affects the photos as well.

[@Ajunashy]

My guess ragarding noise reduction on RAW's: Lightroom respects your camera settings in your raw file. Bring all NR-Lightroom sliders down to 0 and your images will look the same. I tried it on Capture One and the noise looks the same as soon as I disable NR in Capture One. So it's not baked in, it just messes with your Lightroom sliders.

[@Iamtongue]

nope NR wasnt even on to begin with.

[@Ajunashy]

@@Iamtongue X-T5, 12800 iso, Capture One 23. All Sliders to 0 -> they look the same. I took 3 pictures (-4, 0, +4) just now to makes sure.

[@Iamtongue]

@@Ajunashy could be a lightroom thing then

[@indago1]

I noticed very strong focus pulsing in the background for this video. What lens where you using? Did you have autofocus sensitivity high?

[@Iamtongue]

That’s user error on my part.. I was too lazy to do a retake..right before the take I was trying to access the menu system, I didn’t want to turn my tripod around because I didn’t want to lose my composition and have to frame everything up again and I must’ve accidentally touched the screen to make it place the af to the left side of the screen.. I basically had my af point to the left and not my face in the center. So it was acting up a bit.

[@richardbriscoe8563]

In camera NR has always been a poor option on all camera platforms I’m aware of. Post processing apps are a much better option.

[@synthesaurus]

Sony is mindbogglingly amazing

[@jameschen2872]

Good to know that it affects raw files as well. I thought it was only processing jpeg. Guess I’m going to change all my NR to -4 now.

[@frankjermannphotoart]

Wow! Didn't know it! Have to check it... Maybe it does only influence the LR noise reduction standard settings at import? Hopefully. Thanks for the hint!

[@TheOldVeganDude]

WOW man! .raf file gets baked with NR. Thanks for posting this. Yes a revelation here too. Great work!

[@ronald7482]

This also applies to other models such as xt4 and x100v?

[@Iamtongue]

yes

[@AndreiDimaReviews]

Nice video! I knew that the DR:100, 200, 400 affects RAW files but not the noise reduction, thx for the info!

[@Iamtongue]

Ya dude What a surprise! 😅

[@josecolon8143]

Yikes!!! Outstanding big brother, great research!!!!

[@Iamtongue]

Thanks Jose!

[@YOUAREMYKIN]

Whaaaaat 😮 Didn’t know it affects RAWs.

[@JaymesMedia]

Turn your sharpness down to negative 4 as well for both. I do that for video too

[@Iamtongue]

thanks for the tip! imma do this from now on

[@iigal]

I got a bit scared by your comments so I went ahead and tested this thoroughly with my X-T5 and LR Classic. Both are at their latest versions of firmware and LR as of 4/8/23. That Noise Reduction setting >>>>>has no influence on the raw file

[@GeoffGrant2010]

lamtongue- Thanks for responding. That’s really important. It might help for you to make this is a general response to the comments because there are so many of them. Thanks again! Geoff

[@Iamtongue]

Thanks for the idea! I'll pin it.

[@nandysullivan3005]

Do you have autofocus problem? Some people telling autofocus still not good compare to S

[@Iamtongue]

ya thats obvious. The S has a stacked sensor that could track a bit faster to keep focus...but saying that i dont have an issuse when it comes to AF with the XT5. I shoot portraits, so i've been happy with the results so far..

[@brianw6645]

What is the youtuber's channel? Callie Sing Louie? I can't find it.

[@Iamtongue]

It’s XING LIU!

[@AufKohleGeboren]

Also useful shots for showing as the chromatic aberration of the XF 33 1.4 😅a lot of magenta and purple going on in the first shots

[@Iamtongue]

ya the 40 megapixels really amplifies that hahah

[@TCinSoCal]

First thing setting up a Fuji is turning down NR as far as it will go.

[@johnwarren6689]

Interesting topic upi presented here - I will look into this myself - Oh and, love the "F-bombs" as well.

[@Iamtongue]

HHah thanks John, I’m gonna have to cut back on my swearing though.. I forgot ppl who watch my videos have kids. It’s gonna be out of respect for them.

[@thedanwriter1]

The only problem with -4 noise reduction is that it makes my xh2 buffer longer making it a a slower camera

[@Iamtongue]

it shouldn't? How does it make it buffer longer when you are essentially telling the camera not to do any work and process any noise reduction

[@joshuachubbphotography]

I’ve noticed that even when I shoot custom film simulations in raw + jpeg the raw still has some of the effects baked in.

[@Iamtongue]

Crazy.. I have some in the comments that say they’re not affected by it..

[@joshuachubbphotography]

@@Iamtongue I just watched the video you made about the video side of the high NR. But as far as what’s baked in a raw file…. For example If you shoot in Acros film sim in raw when you upload it to your raw editor (mine is Capture One Pro) it will import as black and white. The main difference between the raw and the jpeg is you can undo the black and white and change it to provia or any other simulation. However in the case of the noise reduction, I don’t know if you can undo that in the same way.

[@Iamtongue]

@@joshuachubbphotography i dont think you can.

[@babyboy1971]

Will it be set to zero for factory settings?

[@Iamtongue]

Hey Donavan yes zero is the factory settings.. but zero has some noise reduction as well. It’s best to set it to -4

[@denis5850]

Dont Works for me using raw file in xt5 I just tried -4 and +4

[@StapediusReflex]

-4 is more like low, not “0” and this doesn’t apply to raw files either way.

[@ghostofgw7781]

Always kept mine at zero , even on my phone i dont use these NR it's just makes image softer and not in a good way. If you want a more cinematic look there are better ways .

[@simon359]

I wonder if this is the same with the XT4?

[@Iamtongue]

I'm pretty sure it is!

[@sethiphotography]

But does this affect RAW… I don’t think so?

[@Iamtongue]

Please watch the entire video lol 😂

[@BrianBoycePhotography]

Is it only affecting the raw because on import you have chosen to apply camera settings on the raw? It’s a Lightroom option

[@Iamtongue]

@@BrianBoycePhotography ohh? How do I turn this option off?

[@BrianBoycePhotography]

@@Iamtongue On the Import Dialog box there is an area for "Apply During Import", one of the options is Camera Settings. This will (I believe) try to apply the film profile, DR, possibly Noise Reduction etc) settings from your camera to make the RAW file in lightroom as close to how you shot it. It may be that this should be set to None. I must admit Ive always had mine at Camera Settings but after watching your video I am questioning whether that is the best option.

[@Iamtongue]

@@BrianBoycePhotography ya i looked it up, on APPLY DURING IMPORTANT and i dont see any of that options for me. So im pretty sure it's baked in. I looked everywhere on lightroom./

[@JaymesMedia]

Do the same in video. Part of my secret sauce 😅

[@вечная_мерзлота]

any one can tell where it's made?

[@Iamtongue]

antarctica

[@вечная_мерзлота]

@@Iamtongue designed by Santa and his little helpers! omg Santa is real!

[@Iamtongue]

@@вечная_мерзлота well if you know that then you probably know how to google your answer instead of asking around for the third time lol.

[@вечная_мерзлота]

@@Iamtongue I did. Google doesn't have that info.

[@xikefocus]

Damn, somebody needs to let Fuji know ASAP about this. This sounds like a serious software bug. It should only affect high ISO (because it the name of the setting). I’ve been complaining about the sharpness of my XT3 picture. I thought may be it’s the X-Tran sensor that cause this. Again it sound like a serious bug.

[@xikefocus]

The name of the setting on my XT3 is “noise reduction”. There’s no setting for high ISO. I’ll change it to -4 to see what happens.

[@Iamtongue]

Ya that’s probably it.. let me know how that looks for you

[@xikefocus]

@@Iamtongue For my XT3, with high ISO (tested with ISO 2000), work as intended, raw files are almost the same for -4 and 0 with a lot of noise, but JPEGs are processed with correct noise reduction, so with high ISO, raw files are not baked in. For low ISO (500, 600), with my untrained eyes, I think -4 looks a little sharper than 0, +4 looks less sharp in both JPEG and raw. For low ISO, I saw huge different between -4 and +4, just a little between -4 and 0. Remember this was just a quick test. I could be shaking hand or out of focus that caused the difference. The problem with setting to -4 is when you shoot high ISO ( for example 2000), the JPEGs have a lot of noise.

[@AshesOfArcadia]

This has NO effect on raw files whatsoever. It's false information.

[@Iamtongue]

TF I literally showed it in this video lmao...

[@sarimner]

The "HIGH ISO NR" setting is only in the X-T4 AND UPP!

[@Iamtongue]

Ohh thank god it says that in the title.

[@sarimner]

@@Iamtongue it dont say exakly that it is only X-T4 only and up.. 😏🤓

[@arafatkhan4014]

Love your videos but bro please fix your camera autofocus to focus on your face :(

[@Iamtongue]

Ya i don't know what happened here lmao... But it's been rectified

[@rüzgarınadı]

thanks

[@Iamtongue]

Thanks for watching

[@truebro77]

this setting has ruined so many of my jpegs it makes me so angry

[@smh988]

Very interesting and somewhat disappointing because you would expect raw files to be the pristine version the manufacturers and experts suggest. That being said, I think agree with comments from @Brian Boyce in that as consumers we have no idea what is going-on inside the software. I have long suspected that other photo editors, such as Capture One, apply certain, hard-baked defaults. For me, this video suggest I don't really have a clue :-\ Thanks to lamtongue for posting this

[@Iamtongue]

I’m with you Steve! I have no clue as well 😭

[@smh988]

@@Iamtongue this is a bit off-topic: I just discovered the "clarity" custom adjustment, when enabled (any positive setting above zero-have not tried negative setting), adds approximately a 1 sec delay and screen blackout while writing to the SD card (a SanDisk Extreme Pro 128 gig). This is similar to the same issue when shooting using the HDR function; it's *very noticeable and disruptive in fast and fluid action situations / quickly changing movements . Have you experienced this? I'd love to know why this seems to be so demanding of the processor.

[@smh988]

I should have added that this is with both raw and jpg enabled, the RAF file to the SanDisk 128 card, slot1, the jpg to another SanDisk card in slot2. So, I removed the jpg setting and the card in slot2, and... with clarity set at any value above 0 I am getting the delayed writing/screen blackout. If you test this pls post.

[@Iamtongue]

@@smh988 yes I’ve spoke about this on my XH2s review.. I don’t understand why this is still an issue that fujifilm can’t fix in a firmware update. I’m as confused as you are since this this a modern camera..

[@smh988]

@@Iamtongue ..and since this is a raw RAF file, I wouldn't have guessed that any demanding processing is going on, just the descriptors of any custom settings. ?..

[@shytcardz]

I’m pretty sure you can turn off noise reduction completely

[@Iamtongue]

Okay let me know when you find out 👊

[@durzog3668]

I am aware of this for quite some time, but I keep mine on -2 NR on my X-S10. Omar made a video about this few years ago ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJzQi51mqquGr9k ). Cheers!

[@Iamtongue]

thanks man i'll check it out

[@charliejg]

Was this the video from Xing Liu? @caliallstaring? Yeah, his video was interesting. His work is really nice too. I've been watching his stuff for a while now. Love it!! The notion that these settings apparently affect raw files is interesting. Have to investigate this further. Thanks for the info, have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

[@Iamtongue]

Yes it was him! happy thanks giving

[@oxeneers]

Xing (caliallstaring) is fuckin amazing dude. He’s doing the Lord’s work!!! This is great content dude. 🎉