RAW editing in Apple Photos feels weaker than I remember Lightroom being. Is it me, the X-E5, or the app?
Hey all, looking for some honest feedback from people who actually edit RAWs in Apple Photos regularly.
Quick context: I haven't touched a proper RAW editor in close to 6 years. Recently picked up a Fujifilm X-E5 and I'm shooting Fine JPEG + lossless compressed RAW. My workflow is to import into Apple Photos, switch the original to the RAW file, and edit from there.
The thing is, I'm not really satisfied with what I'm getting out of it. I'm no pro colorist, but I can see that when I lift the shadows, there's just not a lot of detail coming back. Moving the black point seems to help a little, but overall it doesn't feel like the RAW latitude I remember from my Lightroom days. Back then it felt like I could pull a lot more out of a file before things broke down.
So a few questions:
- Is the X-E5 even properly supported in Apple Photos yet? It's a newer body so I'm wondering if the RAW pipeline is still catching up.
- Is this just how Apple Photos handles Fuji files in general? I know Fuji RAFs can be tricky.
- For anyone who's been in the same spot, did switching to something like Photomator actually improve things noticeably?
I'm specifically looking for something with a perpetual license, no subscriptions. Capture One is on my radar but the upgrade-per-camera-model thing rubs me the wrong way.
Would love to hear if anyone has had similar frustrations, or if I'm just missing something obvious in Apple Photos. Recommendations welcome.
Thanks!