My Nikon D750 has a clarity parameter in-camera - its effect looks something like dt’s local contrast module.
Here’s a recent video from FOSS Edits for getting realistic Fuji colors in RawTherapee. It’s well worth a look.
5 Likes
I may have mentioned this before (this is a really long thread), but I really don’t get the hype. I’m a Fuji shooter, and I never bother with any of the film simulations at all – I don’t much care for them (or even Fuji’s standard default for that matter), prefering to process my own colours in RT.
Having said that, I don’t see anything impressive in the Mona Lisa either, which probably tells you all you need to know. 
3 Likes
I can understand the wish to recreate Fujis pleasing film simulations.
All my attempts with existing styles or luts from web are failed. The best way that works for me is to use darktable-chart to create my own style for each camera. The style includes the modules colour lookup table and tone curve. Will say, it’s not enough to tweak colours only, you need a tone curve too. It’s the combination. The result is very close, but not 100% identical, but who cares.
I have shoot a color-checker in studio with flash light (~ 5600K), with correct exposure for jpeg files.
Second I have created a few reference jpeg files for darktable-chart. E.g. one Provia default, one with curve highlight -2, one with curve shadow -2 for special light/ contrast situations. You can create more variations if you like with available in-camera raw converter parameter.
This styles work for daylight (sunny days) and cloudy light situations too. This results are better than shooting color-checker target in the sun or on cloudy days outdoor.
1 Like
I’ve tried to match my Fuji camera output as a starting point because I think it gives a better impression of depth in most of my pictures.
@Thomas23 I don’t have a color checker to make my own style, do you share the DT styles you obtained?
I found matching the jpeg style across different situations is very hard, I guess it is because the parameters they use vary with scene detection/composition, exposure/aperture, WB, etc.
1 Like
Do you have a raw file to share and the out of camera jpeg with Std. (Provia)?
I will check the style and share the xmp file here to be sure it will work with your X-? Modell.
the style from my X-E4 doesn’t match with your X-T4 very well. The colours are not matching good enough. It’s interesting that it works better with a GFX profiling. But the image isn’t ideal for a final conclusion. Do you have a much more colorful raw/ jpeg combination, with more reds, blues, oranges, yellows… I will test again, but… the probability that a profil for one camera matches an other X-Series is not very high. All the Fuji series/ models are too different in (sensor) characteristics.
I realized I didn’t want to spend lots of time trying to refine the whole process. I have now made peace with a dual-pronged approach:
1 - Just use the JPEG when I’m happy with the out-of-camera result
2 - Use the JPEG as inspiration when developing my own raw
My life is happier because of this 
8 Likes
I use HEIF files which are:
- Lossless
- Smaller than JPG
- HDR
- Supported by
darktable
1 Like
Any downsides? I guess you need to convert them if you want to show them on the web. Any other issues you’ve found compared to JPEG? Have you shot the same scene with both JPEG and HEIF and compared the results?
Downsides are:
- a lack of wide acceptance, but
darktable,digikamand the Adobe Suite can read them. - you have to convert them to JPG for web use, same as a RAW file.
- not as much post-processing leeway as a RAW file, but Fuji Film Simulations are automatically applied as well as lens corrections and noise removal.
HEIF file shot with Acros sim, levels adjustment isdarktableFuji X-T5 + Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8
1 Like
Thanks.
I should try it some day and see what I think. Of the points you mentioned, a smaller file size and more latitude for processing are certainly interesting benefits. And when I get an HDR monitor, that will also be a consideration.
one consideration is that you can’t use 14 bit mode on fuji cameras with HEIF, max 12 bit, I made one recently as an experiment, i just tried to upload it but it is not permitted
I use as a “RAW Lite” especially if I want to use film sims. You can save RAW+HEIF same as JPEG.
1 Like
Back on to the original topic of recreating JPEG colours in RAW files, I was thinking in bed this morning how the “area colour mapping” feature in the colour calibration module works very well to define a target chromaticity for a particular region of another image. I use it sometimes between my Fuji JPEGs and RAWs to match a certain colour in the sky, ocean or trees, for example.
The problem is that it only does a single area, and so you won’t get a perfect match between the JPEG and RAW for all areas. You can use multiple instances of the module to work on different areas, but it’s a bit of a pain. So, I was thinking, could this functionality be ported to the Colour Balance RGB module in the 4 Ways tab? In that tab we already have colour pickers for the shadows, highlights and midtones. Could we do “area colour mapping” for those regions too?
So, the idea would work the same as for the Colour Calibration module. You take a measurement from a source image (e.g. your JPEG), then apply the correction in the target image (the RAW). But instead of just one correction for one area, like in the Colour Calibration module, you can apply it to the blacks, highlights, shadows and midtones.
I’m not a programmer, so don’t know if this feature can be migrated to another module. Anyone got any insight? I’m happy to draw up a feature request if it seems like a possibility, but I wanted to see if it’s already been thought of or if it’s a non-starter from the get-go.
Feature in Colour Calibration:
Possible destination for the feature:
1 Like
@europlatus I think this could be a good feature because I feel something is missing regarding color grading and precise color modifications. Color Calibration is intended for white balancing, so I think it is a dirty workaround to use it for color grading?
I have the intuition it is a job for the Color Lookup Table module. This module is powerful, but maybe it lacks a “target color” for the patches instead of just the sliders. In my experience, I’ve sometime had problems with color artifacts and banding because the output depends on the number and proximity of patches present. If some of you have tips for this module I’m interested!
2 Likes
I have also considered the Color Lookup Table module for this kind of thing, and I actually submitted a feature change request on Github to modernize the module because it currently works in LAB and isn’t suited to Darktable’s scene-referred workflow (#15295). However, I don’t think any dev really wants to tackle that particular challenge at the moment because of how complex it would be.
But in principle, I agree that this module would be a good fit for colour mapping. I love the ability to target precise colours and create your own patches. It’s just that you can only make minute adjustments before the image starts to fall apart in its current state. The ability to pick multiple source colours and then replace them with target colours sampled from another image would be great (and basically how LUTs work).
But I have a hunch that migrating the area colour mapping feature of Colour Calibration to a module like Colour Balance RGB would be an easier solution to implement. It will also be interesting to see if the upcoming Colour EQ module changes the game for this kind of work…
1 Like
The only existing module where it might make sense to put this would be color mapping. Color balance RGB is entirely unsuited, not just because the UI wouldn’t support it, but because its masking is luminance based.
Algorithm-wise, it might be possible to adapt the solver color calibration uses for matching color targets, actually.
1 Like
The UI could be adapted, surely? It might get messy without dropdows to hide the feature, but I’m not sure we can just say impossible. And the fact it is luminance based would work for a colour grading approach based on highlights, shadows and midtones, wouldn’t it?
This is not my area of expertise, so just asking questions as a user. If there’s another module where it would be easier to implement, then I’m all for it. It’s the feature that’s important to me, not necessarily where it’s located.