FUJIFILM Dynamic range DR400 in RAW??!! This feature might change your photography!

FUJIFILM Dynamic range DR400 in RAW??!! This feature might change your photography!

A common debate I stumble upon in Fujifilm photography forums; 'does the DR100-400 option affect the camera RAW file?' With lots who are adamant it doesn't, I thought id put this little video together to demonstrate otherwise.

It's a very handy photography tool, ill admit I never use it myself other than for video. but this little experiment might have changed that..

let me know in the comment if you use it?.

thanks for watching, Ga :-)

#fujifilm #dr400raw #bestfujifilmcamerasettings

[calumetdarren]

I tried using DR400 the other day when shooting a sunset. Made a huge difference. DR100 just kind of blended in all the colors together, while DR400 showed all the gradients and did a good job separating them. I liked your video and subscribed to your channel!

[Vinterloft]

Side note, if you're simply looking for what will give the least noise, it's DR200 at ISO 500

[mikefoster]

Love this. Trying to chat to people online about Dynamic Range feels like talking to flat earthers. No matter what question you ask, you get a mishmash of 'explanations' that don't seem to match the evidence. Your video (and a few others) are a major relief. Like you, I did my own tests (at ISO 800+) and couldn't see any notable loss in shadow detail, but better highlights.

[walkingmanvideo]

Thanks about Dynamic Range Priority? When it is enabled, it disables the DR settings. Would it pay to perhaps stick with Dynamic Range Priority? Your views on this other setting? Cheers

[DA-lprh]

I use this setting on a regular basis for indoor real estate photography with flambient (flash) technique. Not only do I get great dynamic range - my strobes are also essentially more powerful at the higher ISO sensitivity.

[msandersen]

I think it was Pal2Tech who pointed me to this years ago, showing that the DR setting affects the Raw file. This was a revelation as I live in Australia which in summer has very harsh light with extreme contrast. While my Canon DSLR has a similar feature, I never knew about it or used it, since it's hidden in the menu, but in my Fuji, it's front and centre and made more user friendly. I learned to trust it implicitly, when outside shooting, I ALWAYS use Auto ISO with Auto DR, as experience tells me it only activates when the highlights will otherwise get blown. And I would rather risk slightly noisier shadows than a blown sky, although I have yet to see any noisy shadows as a result. Besides, Auto DR only goes to DR200, but it is enough. I also use ETTR, which means keeping an eye on the histogram and using exposure compensation, often +2/3 or +1 depending. With my old Canon, I often would shoot a 3-bracket exposure to preserve the sky in post (throwing out the -1 exposure). It was a pain, and required a steady shot and trees not moving. I occasionally bracket with my Fuji as a precaution, but has not yet had to use them, as the information is right there in the Raw. This feature alone makes my Fuji invaluable for walkabout photography.

PS: If you wanna see what's going on in the Raw file, use Fast Raw Viewer, made by the people who make LibRaw, it is the only program (apart from their own Raw Digger) that will show you a Raw histogram. It can be very educational to see how much leeway you actually have in your file, and how much noise is in the shadows. Personally I use it to do initial filtering and rating of portrait shoots since it is so fast and doesn't require an import or lengthy thumbnail preview generation. Initial import and metadata tagging is handled by Photo Mechanic. Additional tagging by Exiftool for my manual lenses as well as Sigma & Tamron lenses for my Canon, as well as embedding metadata into the RAF files themselves (having processed tens of thousands of Raw files, I trust it implicitly)

[dude]

it's great, it's not as good as exposure bracketing, but unlike bracketing you can use it with moving subjects. It may make some images look flat, but it's just giving more range to your tone curve, you can easily get that contrast back in light room with an S curve.

[ncktar]

I always shoot at DR200 but rarely use it in post because photos really look flat after putting whites down.

[professionalpotato]

I pretty much keep DR400 always on, unless I'm using film recipes that don't use it. Pal2Tech also has a nice video that explains in a similar way.
Not to mention Fuji sensors are ISO invariant, adjusting exposure in post has barely any noticeable loss of quality. Maybe about 5% more noise or so. Negligible for social media and internet publishing.

[catvideis]

The DR200/DR400 setting simply underexposes and then the camera raises the shadows. You achieve the same with DR100 by underexposing in camera (with exposure compensation) to protect the highlights and then you raise shadows in capture one. In both cases you will find that shadows end up noisier. The question is does the camera fix the shadows better or does capture one/lightroom? DR is therefore useful for JPEGS because when you underexpose, JPEGS will have very dark shadows and no way to recover them. But if you underexpose in RAW the information is there which you can bring up in post.

[TheVFXbyArt]

You can shoot in dr400 and see the effect of dr100 & 200 & 400 in the fuji RAW app just by toggling the feature in the raw converter.

You can see the color and detail that dr400 retains in the highlights there.

[garygroves]

Hi Gareth did you know there's a focus shift/stacking menu on the Z7

[Flyback]

yes but you use ISO 800 for all 3 photos, try ISO 160 with Dr 100 and you recover almost the same data from high light and shadow..

[GlennUpgraded]

If you shoot ETTR, is DR400 recommended if you’re already saving the highlight details?

[TheVFXbyArt]

I discovered this last year, and in my street and event photography, I shoot dr400 exclusively. The reason being is that it gives a more natural roll off in the highlight. It looks way more filmic and you see detail and color in areas that would have been clipped.

I rented a Leica m11, and despite the wonderful features added to this model, it all fall short compared to how fuji handles the unpredictability of street photography. The clipped highlight on the Leica ruin an otherwise beautiful tonal range. Literally it just clips. As in sound being clipped, it just ruins the content.

And I refuse to “expose for the right of the histogram” which means to underexpose you image and walk around with dark images on your back LCD, promising your subject you will “fix it in post”… something “aughts” … from a $15k summilux/m11 combo. Meanwhile Fuji’s do it in camera, literally.


IMHO, digital camera should be tuned to this mode. Iso invariance is great in saving underexposed images… a selling point of digital for almost two decades. However these high mp cameras have been getting poorer highlight retention.

I find that the dr400 mode, along with a highlight tone of -2 gives you a very filmic image… one that can live in a high key environment if desired with little if any highlight clipping.

Even civilians react to this mode, albeit with their civilian descriptions like “retro” or “is this film” as they share at the back of the camera… 😂😵‍💫

The other thing: we are competing with smartphones immediate hdr images.

[gregheo]

Very useful having the side by side comparison here. Thanks for sharing and going through the details on the differences here!

[ICryWhenICum]

Can anyone tell me why the option DR 400 is greyed out on my camera, I’m using the Fuji x-t30ii and I can’t use the DR 400 for certain film recipes

[JohnChubbSr]

Thanks, Gareth. I've only been at this about a year, but you're making good sense. Appreciate your tips!

[ChrisGower]

Could be a stupid question but is DR200/400 similar to HDR in that it takes a few shots in quick succession, therefore wouldn't work so well with particularly fast moving shots?

[AJ-pquf]

Hey Gareth, great video - particularly as I was about to search for this very subject! I watched a YouTube video when I first got my X-H1 last year and for whatever reason was convinced to change my DR to 400 and I’ve left it there ever since. It was only yesterday that I realised I’ve been shooting at ISO 800 even in bright conditions! 🤦🏻‍♂️ in fairness, I’ve not been disappointed by the results (and in my defence we had a baby at about the same time so I’m a sleep deprived man now) so I’m thinking is there really an issue. But I notice you’ve suggested images may look flat - so now I’m intrigued as to what I’ve perhaps been missing out on! Simple solution I guess - I’ll give auto DR a go and use the actually Auto ISO settings I thought I was using. Although if Aleksander is correct, I may end up back at DR400.

Apols for length of comment guys.