Why do the bridge lights look red on my iPhone but pinker and less saturated on my Fujifilm X-T5?
Asked 4/11/2024
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2 answers
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I photographed the same bridge at night from nearby locations, around the same time. In the iPhone 15 photo, the red bridge lights look close to what I saw with my eyes. In the Fujifilm X-T5 photo (with a TTArtisan 35mm f/1.8), the upper part of the bridge looks pinker and the red appears more muted.
Reported settings:
- iPhone 15: ISO 800, 24mm, f/1.78, 1/25s
- Fujifilm X-T5: ISO 8000, 53mm equivalent, -1.3 EV, f/4, 1/42s
What causes this difference? Is it mainly exposure, HDR/computational processing, or something else? And what can I do with the X-T5 to keep the bridge lights looking a more vivid red?
Originally by Anthony Kong. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Anthony Kong
2y ago
2 Answers
5
IMO, the primary difference is that the iphone is implementing some version of HDR compositing of multiple exposures. It has at least two exposures combined; a lighter exposure for the sky and dark regions, and a darker exposure for the lights/highlights. Many phone cameras do this (and more) automatically without necessarily telling you; the reported exposure settings are obviously not accurate/true (maybe the average?).
The X-T5 image has metered and exposed for a single "average" exposure. This results in the dark regions being less exposed (you can't see the sky or details in the buildings), and the lighter regions to be recorded brighter. The lighter regions being brighter causes the colors to wash out and record less saturated... e.g. it is usually best to "underexpose" a sunset to get the best colors.
I don't own an iphone, so I don't know if you can disable the exposure compositing/HDR. But HDR does a better job of simulating what a scene looks like to you because your eyes also adjust to the variable brightnesses within a scene as you scan and focus on those regions.
The X-T5 does have an HDR mode, and it also has some dynamic range optimization/expansion settings you could use; but I have no experience with them. I've only ever used manual exposure blending/compositing; and that is what I would recommend for best results (but least convenience/ease).
Originally by Steven Kersting. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Steven Kersting
2y ago
0
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The biggest difference is likely processing, not just the lens or sensor.
Your iPhone almost certainly used computational photography/HDR, blending multiple exposures so dark areas stay visible while bright red lights are held back. That preserves color and saturation in the highlights.
The X-T5 shot is a single exposure. In scenes like this, bright colored lights can get pushed so close to clipping that they lose saturation and shift toward pale pink/white. At the same time, the rest of the scene goes darker.
To get a more vivid red with the Fuji:
- Expose to protect the bright lights/highlights.
- Shoot RAW so you have more room to recover color and tune white balance later.
- Bracket exposures or blend multiple shots if you want a result closer to the phone’s HDR look.
- Check the histogram/highlight warnings and reduce exposure if the lights are blowing out.
So yes: the main cause is the phone’s automatic multi-frame HDR versus the Fuji’s single exposure, with highlight over-brightness washing out the red.
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