A few weeks ago, I wrote a post showing how Sony has improved its color engine to achieve better white balance and color accuracy, especially in mixed-lighting situations.
Today I wanted to do a very quick comparison between the colors of the Sony A7r III and the Fujifilm X-Pro 2.
As most know, Fujifilm is legendary at handling colors, but since nobody talks about camera colors, I thought this would make an interesting discussion.
This comparison is pretty rough. I was running out of light, and my daughter was just waking up, so it was the perfect time to shoot a comparison before I lost light.
Since I currently only have Fujifilm triggers for my lights, I can’t use a studio strobe to get accurate lighting. However, that’s not really the point of this test anyway. The point is to see how each camera handles color in real-world settings.
So consider this an uncontrolled, real-world comparison. I used the same lens, the Handevision 35mm f2.4, with the Leica Mount adapted to each camera. This rules out any color shifts due to lens design, and these two shots were taken probably no more than a minute apart, so ambient lighting should be about the same.
Sony A7r III vs Fujifilm X-Pro 2 Color Samples
For these samples, I shot my daughter with the Sony A7rIII with everything set to Auto except my aperture with the camera in APS-C crop mode. Then I switched over to the X-Pro2 and shot with everything set to Auto.
I had a modeling light (tungsten) in the background for some fill to mix things up, but most of the lighting is coming from our balcony right next to her.
My minimum shutter speed on the A7r III was set to 60, and it was set to 80 on the X-Pro2. So that’s why the ISO and shutter speed are slightly different. The Fujifilm also shot a touch brighter, so I lowered the exposures to match.
Auto White Balance / Natural Lighting / RAW with Adobe Standard
Here, you can see the Sony A7r III really missed the white balance.
The Sony shot is on the left; the Fujifilm shot is on the right.
Matched White Balance / Natural Lighting / RAW with Adobe Standard
For this test, I matched the white balance in Lightroom. Since the X-Pro2 nailed it, I matched the white balance to those same numbers, and the Sony is looking a lot better, but the Fujifilm image still has much more life.
Matching White Balance / Natural Lighting / RAW with Provia and CameraPortrait
Here, I matched the white balance but also loaded the camera profiles in Lightroom. For the Sony A7r III, I loaded camera portrait, and for the X-Pro2, I loaded Provia. Unfortunately, the Sony is pretty hideous.
Sony vs. Fujifilm Color | Conclusions
This is a quick and dirty test in an uncontrolled environment with an uncontrolled subject, but I guess you could say this simulates the real world, and this is pretty much how the camera performed when shooting my daughter in my living room, so I feel the test is fair.
Maybe if I spent a little more time shooting with the A7r III, it would have eventually found the correct white balance, but I did shoot 17 shots. There were a few shots with the A7r III that got closer to getting the correct white balance, and there were a few Fujifilm X-Pro2 shots that were worse, but my two-year-old wasn’t in as good of a position to get her face and skin tones in either shot. Regardless, the Fujifilm always outperformed the Sony with AWB.
Clearly, Fujifilm is superior at rendering color and nailing AWB, at least in this dirty comparison. But in my personal experience of using both systems in parallel for 4-5 years, I can say Fujifilm cameras are simply better at rendering color than Sony.
This makes sense as Fujifilm has been involved in color science while making film for over 80 years, while some computer nerds probably design Sony colors. That being said, when matching the correct color balance, the Sony is by no means terrible; it just lacks a little bit of life compared to the Fujifilm.
As always, I’m not biased in my reviews. I’ve owned just as many Sony cameras as I’ve owned Fujifilm cameras, and even today, I own three Sony cameras and three Fujifilm cameras.
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Thank you very much for this comparison!
Wow, that does show quite starkly my fears about trying Sony again. I still think I’d be frustrated after using Fuji for a while and getting used to their fabulous colour science.
Sony still has that slight yellow-green tinge in the shadows which only gets worse when you try to warm up the otherwise ‘grey’ looking results.
Maybe I’ll look to Canon for full frame, their colour science is great and they have a good lens selection since I last used them years ago.
I was just talking to a friend today who shoots video with the Sony A7s II. I asked him, where is your Sony? He said, “I’ve given up on Sony for still photography and use my old Nikon again.” Here is some stuff he does just for fun with the Sony. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_yE3MBIfUg
It seems people are finally catching on to Sony’s poor color science. I think it’s fine for video and production photography where a lot of work goes into grading, but for street and casual stuff it’s just not good enough.
That’s fun footage, and nicely shot. I still prefer the shots of cars to the people.
Yeah I agree, although I’ve spent a long time trying to grade Sony stills shots and still not quite got where I want to be colour-wise. And that’s all time I could be doing other creative work. For me the problem is worse in video, as the colour is much more baked-in than when shooting raw, and the 8-bit 4:2:0 codec doesn’t allow much of a serious grade.
Part of the useage for this cam is for a short film which I won’t have to light myself as I work in the industry and have a mate who’s a very good DP. He uses pretty much everything from Arri and Red on down to DSLR/mirrorless depending on the client/director and thinks the 5Dmkiv is a lot better in real world footage than people give it credit for, especially the colour science, but the overall look is very pleasing.
A consideration is that we’ll be a very small micro budget production, and DPAF means he can operate solo even avoiding a remote follow-focus and operator when on a gimbal. That’s overlooked with Canon but really can be a game changer under the right circumstances.
Have you heard about the Fujifilm X-H1 that is video focused that will come out this year? It’s going to have a new film simulator “Eterna.” Still all rumors but it’s getting closer to being a reality.
Yes, I’ve been watching the rumours!
I’m hoping the X-H1 video specs have been a little underestimated, as 8-bit 4:2:0 on what’s supposed to be a video focused camera seems a little uninspiring these days. That said, Fuji’s colour science is nice so we wouldn’t have to grade that much, just settle on which simulation suited the project and tweak slightly from there.
The IBIS would be very nice for stills, but I’m genuinely still torn with the Canon DPAF which is genuinely useful for video work. I must admit, if I could stay with Fuji, just in terms of size/weight I’d be happy for my stills work, though.
So, what to do when you don’t have the OOC fuji WB to use as your marker? … I’ve had some luck with capture one, but it definitely takes longer to get everything just so.
You just have to eyeball it and adjust in Lightroom or Capture One. If I’m outside in direct sunlight it usually nails the white balance, but it does struggle in clouds or indoors a little. For landscape or studio lighting I usually go with manual white balance.
yea, that’s what I’ve found as well — although when it gets it right it’s perfect and from what I’ve read better than the rii. you kind of just have to forget it while shooting and address later.
have you noticed any disparity with AF-C between the xt2 and a7riii?
I think the AF-C might be better on the A7rIII but I don’t really use AF-C too often.
Thanks for the replies! I took matters into my own hands … XT2 is coming back home along with the 23 1.4 — I’ll just be that guy with both around my neck chasing 3 kids at the beach for some unscientific tests this weekend.
lol. Sounds like my life. When you’re doing your tests, keep in mind the 23mm f1.4 doesn’t have the new microcomputer the 23mmm f2 has, so it will focus a little bit slower with contrast detect autofocus.
Ah yes, that’s good to know thank you! I’ll have to try the f2 as well. And the next test will have to be 56mm f1.2 vs 90 mm f2.
I was recently talking to a friend about this choice, and I was saying many of the same points. In the end I said if you edit your photos a lot, then the sony might be the better choice (resolution, high ISO, battery life, larger sensor), I said if you don’t want to edit a lot, and find settings that meet your needs OOC then Fuji was for sure the better choice.
Agreed. I’ve been doing something new and cool that I’ve really been liking. I got this app on my iPhone called DarkRoom. I can now just send the JPEG files right out of my X-Pro2 and do a pretty nice edit with them in DarkRoom for Instagram or for friends. It’s pretty fun. And since Fujifilm cameras have that those build-in film simulators, half the work is already done.
only a small amount of testing done so far but I blind tested my wife and she chose the fuji .every. single. time.
lol, yep. Fujifilm lenses are also really nice as well. Some of the best high contrast primes out there.
A nice and quick review, loved your blog as I am also a Sony shooter but unfortunately I have sold all my Fuji cameras as I don’t use them as much nowadays. Based on this test, what would you recommend as white balance settings in order to achieve a more life-like colour out of the 7R3? I mean if you were to shoot JPEG only in this case.
You could always carry around an X-Rite color checker and calibrate to that. Or just shoot one shot of it for each scene then adjust in post. The A7rIII isn’t usually off by enough to hurt image quality with JPEGs.
Funnily enough, I’ve just sold my Fuji xpro2 and lenses for the a7r3 and I’m really disappointed so far with the white balance and colours in general.
When reviewing an image on the LCD I’m getting a strange yellow/orange colour cast in the mid tones of skin. When I view the same image in the EVF it’s still there but not as bad. Then when I upload to C1 or lightroom it’s better again (raw) but the JPEG’s are just downright horrible! I very rarely use JPEG’s but still….
I switched due to shooting in the studio more. I have my next shoot booked next week so I will reserve judgment till then.
I’m super disappointed right now. I want this to work out as besides the mentioned problems the camera functions amazingly.
Have you found it better when using with studio lights? I just set white balance to daylight when using my strobes and it seems to be fine. Although I don’t do studio portraits so I’m not shooting skin tones.
I definitely have something wrong with the LCD. I switched it over to B&W mode and I’m getting a yellow colour cast! In black and white mode!!! When I view the same image in the viewfinder it’s not there!
oh no. that sucks. I’ve been shooting a lot in B&W mode because it helps me shoot with manual lenses, but I don’t have any color shifts like that.
I have my shoot next week. I’ll let you know how it goes
Any thoughts about which is better for black & white? I’m hesitating between A7ii and x-Pro2. Thanks.
It’s tough comparing the two with B&W photography because they both are very nice when you subtract color rendering. The Sony is 42megapixel full frame so that has its advantage, mainly better low light and way more resolution. The Fujifilm has more black & white film simulators and options like Arcos, which is amazing, plus you can pick your B&W filters like +R +G or +Y. This is especially nice if you shoot JPEG but with RAW you can also add them back with the camera profile in Lightroom. If you’re shooting with manual lenses in B&W mode, you’ll also find the focus peaking to be better with Fujifilm. Sony focus peaking is nice but it’s a little too broad and I find I miss manual focus with the A7rIII a lot more than with Fujifilm. Now, I do really have fun shooting B&W with the Sony A7rIII especially with that really fast continuous autofocus and I do like the extra resolution. But for street shooting or just casual B&W, the X-Pro 2 has more control and the camera caters to you a bit more.
And one more very important thing, aside from a few Sony lenses like the Zeiss Sonnar 35mm f2.8, and the Sony 50mm f1.8 and maybe a few more like the Zeiss F4 zooms and that Sony 85. Fujifilm lenses typically are less expensive, built better, and have better microcontrast which is extremely important to B&W. Like that 35mm f1.4 and the 23mm f1.2 lenses are fantastic B&W lenses. The APS-C body of the X-Pro2 also opens you up to more affordable third party lenses like the Mitakon 35mm f0.95 which is also fantastic. I hope that clarifies things for you. 🙂 I personally only buy the Sony A7r cameras for landscape photography and occasionally some studio work.
I’ve moved from Fuji XT2’s to Sony A9’s recently and everything about the A9 is better IMO except for the rich, creamy skin tones that Fuji jpegs and Lightroom simulations give. If you happen to find an editing mix (eg HSL, vibrance, saturation) or calibration profile that gets the Sony colours closer to Fuji it would be very interesting. With the A9 having IBIS, a full frame sensor, silent shooting with no banding, eye detect AF that works brilliantly, AF-C mode that can be used 100% of the time, dials that don’t move about by accident, much more customisable buttons, a dial with access to 3 full shooting memory setups, a crop mode that can be assigned to a custom button and equally excellent lenses I can live without the Fuji colours but I still miss them.
Very cool. I haven’t played with that A9 much, but I do love the Continuous AF with the A7rIII. I’ve been slowly trying to rebuild Fujifilm profiles for the Sony, but the A7rIII changed colors a little it seems so I have to make some new adjustments.
This is close to a Classic Chrome I built for Sony. Still needs work but it’s getting there. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/17ac30a6724e69ce3b934015ee1a082aefa21e19bfcafdcc591c7a6322bc1002.jpg
That looks good :). I always used Astia profiles with my XT1’s, XPro2 and XT2’s as the skin tones were so nice. I found classic chrome to be a bit desaturated for my liking, losing the rich creamy look that Astia gives. The A9 in its favour seems to add a tanned look to everyone like they have been on a sunbed for just the right amount of time and as I am in Ireland and our skin tone is mostly pale blue with a hint of red veins the A9 colours actually work fairly well especially for the men (having no makeup to disguise this pasty look) to make them look healthier. So that was a nice surprise – some of the brown skin tone colours of the VSCO/ Oregon mountaintop wedding brigade where the grooms wear braces on their trousers and no shoes and everyone looks a bit orange/ brown but without the hassle of weird colours that these lightroom presets bring.
There is an issue people are reporting with the Sony A7rIII where if you add back in the color profiles in Lightroom they are off. Sony has changed the color science in this camera and I don’t think Adobe’s updated the profiles yet. It might be the same deal with the A9 which is why everything looks tan / yellow with the profiles added in Adobe. I think the Adobe Profile looks pretty nice though. I usually just desat the yellows a bit and it’s good unless I’m using VSCO. The Provia VSCO actually looks great with the Sony.
That’s great thanks! I will check out the Provia VSCO – any particular VSCO set these are in?
I was using the Provia in Film Pack 4 100F but they all look good, It’s the same pack Astia is in. I actually used Astia for this posts with the A7rIII. https://alikgriffin.com/going-cinematic-sony-a7r-iii/
Here is a sample of Provia on The a7rIII. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dca3131c1f3f2cb065b0c5efd587319adfc58e7c7f3e3b25f2d523e754e199a6.jpg
Very useful thanks Alik. I will check it out.