Attention Fujifilm users, John Beardsworth has released his brand new Lightroom X-LR plugin, and it’s exactly what we’ve been waiting for.
One of the huge limitations of Lightroom for X Series users is that once you upload your images to the Library, Adobe trashes your selected film simulation from the RAW file and applies the Default Adobe 2012 color profile.
Sure, you can always go back and re-apply the different Fuji film sims in the Camera Calibration Tab, but this is a pain, and you can only do it one image at a time. The other huge problem is that you might not even remember which film sim your originally used when you shot the photo.
Thankfully, John’s X-LR plugin has solved this problem. When you install the plugin in Lightroom, you can now select one or more photos and have it automatically re-apply your original film sim to the RAW file. John’s plugin looks at the metadata to see what the original sim was, which sounds simple enough, right?
It seems like Lightroom could easily do this as well, but for some reason, they don’t. All RAW files are switched back to the default Adobe color profile, which has a much flatter and considerably less dynamic look than what you get with the Fuji film sims.
The plugin has a few other options as well; it can apply star ratings if you’ve tagged them right in the camera during playback, and it can record your film simulation as a keyword. This makes it easier to find and sort all of your image by the film sim you’ve used, say if you want to show all of your Velvia or ACROS images, etc…
There’s even an Expert Mode which allows you to apply other presets, like your DR values or your Highlight and Shadow Tones, or even Face Detection info, but I haven’t played around with that yet. It’s a little more complicated than just checking boxes and hitting OK.
John’s X-LR plugin only costs a few bucks and it’s well worth the price! He does good work- I’m using the X-LR plugin now, and I’ve used his Open Directly Plugin for getting Fuji RAW files in and out of Iridient Developer and Capture One. By his own words, he’s gotten a whole lot better at coding since he wrote Open Directly.
If you shoot Fuji and use Lightroom, I’d highly recommend getting the X-LR plugin.