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RAW development problem, especially with IR pictures


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Hi there! :)

Here's a problem which should primarily concern all that brave IR photo warriors including me.

Something's wrong with RAW development, at least if using with IR photos. Concerns regular and beta version.
Camera: Fujifilm X-T20, thus RAF RAW format. Lens is the kit lens, XF 18 - 55, famous for it's lovely bluish IR hotspot in the middle.

Here's it:

LR-RAW.jpg.2e6bda2856d2876ee33acda5de965cf3.jpg
This is a RAW IR photo developed with Lightroom, correct white balance already applied. Nothing else done.

AF-RAW.jpg.73c7234dead7246213bae7e4c9b1d5a0.jpg
This is the same photo, developed with Affinity Photo 1.6.5.135, white balance via picker applied.

AFb-RAW.jpg.10ea3421160a038f9ee9daaacb057bbc.jpg
That's the same photo, developed with Affinity Photo beta 258, white balance via picker applied.

Okay, does not look too critical, hmm? Just ignore the fact the LR developed picture is far brighter and crispier.

 

Now for the real ugly things ...

846579252_AFbmitLR-RAW.jpg.2e29b2ea932ae822c2530abd7ae0fbaf.jpg
Zoomed section of the LR developed photo. That's the way it should be. Uniform "colors" in the grass, foliage and tree.

AF-B-R.jpg.d98b06830db2131eac2104ab63850275.jpg
Same section of the photo developed with Affinity Photo. Browns and wrong greens everywhere.

AFb-B-R.jpg.1a103c3a973c9dcc3f866bdc75329a9f.jpg
Similar with Affinity Photo beta. Better, but still a lot of wrong greens and browns.

Those issues render the picture unusable for proper IR processing; the results with the beta are always far inferior to the results I get with using Affinity with IR photos developed with Lightroom.
Photos processed with the regular Affinity Photo version are completely unusable.
Affinity indeed manages to achieve a correct white balance if using the picker. But there's still that "impurities".
And it's not a problem of this particular picture, it's the same with all IR photos I took.

Really sorry to say - I hate creeping back to LR for RAW development. :(

So my obvious question for the developers: Anything you could do ? Shall I send you the original photo ?

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  • Staff

I cannot see any major difference, with all Lightroom and Photo adjustments OFF. The only adjustment I've done is the white balance. 

2200k / -25tint in LR, and 2000k / -28tint in Photo. 

22% zoom

Affinity Photo_4.jpg

100% zoom

Lightroom Catalog - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic - Develop.jpg

 

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Ooops, sorry @GabrielM - forum didn't notify me about your latest post.

I forgot to mention that my crops were taken after doing a channel swap (Channel Mixer, Red channel: Red 0, Blue 100. Blue channel: Red 100, Blue 0.) That's the typical thing you do with IR photos to get a blue sky.
It's easier to spot the problems after doing that swap.

But your WB is not okay, the problem won't show with that settings. You can't achieve a correct WB for IR photos using the sliders.

Please use the White Balance picker tool (the one that looks like a CD)  from the toolbar on the left side of the Develop Persona, click on one of the white spots in the gras.
This should render the sky reddish while the grass becomes grey.
Then do the channel swap - and the problem is there.

Video:

 

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I've been checking it against the latest beta, and it has improved a lot, and it may continue to improve until release. I would not consider this as a bug in the current 1.6, as it has definitely been improved in 1.7. I will move this to the 1.7 feature request thread. 

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Hello again, Gabe. :)

Yes, there's vast improvements with the beta (that's why I used the regular version in the video to clearly show the issue), but I still need to use Lightroom for Raw development of IR photos: Tweaking IR pictures further intensifies the "impurities" (e. g. if applying HSL), thus I am still forced to using LR.
And believe me - I am really suffering of a natural aversion when doing so. :D

(Maybe) interesting side note: Many Raw converters show this problem. Till now, I found just LR and Darkroom (if I remember right) mastering the challenge.

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