Shooting shiny metal objects with Fuji X10, again

iso 100, F4.5 1/1.7 sec

I did a few boring test shots with the Fuji X10 yesterday. The motivation for this activity was very simple: after seeing some pictures of very nasty orbs on metal service (musical instruments) on the web I decided to check if it possible to fix this problem considering that shooting inside a building allows a greater control over the light. So, I put a red T-shirt on our dining table and used available light (fluorescent lamp mounted on the wall). The X10 was attached to the old Manfrotto 785B "digital" tripod and mounted on the table. The pictures were shot as JPEG with Auto white balance. The images displayed here were shot at medium resolution (2816 x 2112 pixels). Another set of pictures were posted earlier. 

I tested several objects, and changed some parameters during shooting. I took a couple dozens photos, and have not observed the monstrous white orbs in any image. There were regions of very harsh highlight clipping, with sharp border, and there were several baby orbs as on the silver earring in the image above. The 100% crop is provided. Dialing down the exposure compensation to -1.0 has very little / no effect on the orbs. Some highlights were clipped quite well, for example on the watch. Keep in mind that the Fujifilm X10 is a compact camera.

 Crop from the iso 100 image

Crop from the iso 100 image

The photo of the same scene taken at iso 400 and dynamic range 400% has no baby orb on the earring. Harsh highlight clipping on the spoon is almost gone. The same true for the 50 cent coin. I am not sure if the difference in the white balance is linked to high iso/high dynamic range but the colors in iso 400 shot are somewhat better (compare the watch).

It seems to me that in situation of controlled light Fuji X10 can take orb-free pictures of shiny metal objects. I guess I can get obrs in similar test photos using a stronger light but I am not interested in that. I already saw pictures of metal objects with enormous white orbs. My point is that in some cases it is quite easy not to have the white orbs on shiny surface in images from the X10. It is also very easy to get some.

Obviously, in a situation with a limited control over the light it would be harder to control the white discs, so shooting of cars in bright sun can be problematic. As far as I am aware, there is no obvious solution for this issue so far. Fujifilm has confirmed to dpreview that the firmware update aimed on fixing the orbs issue will be released soon (early February, according to dpreview).

Fuji X10, iso 400, dynamic range 400%, F4.5, 1/4 sec

 Crop from the iso 400 image

Crop from the iso 400 image

Shooting shiny metal objects with Fuji X10

Fuji X10, iso 100, dynamic range 100%, 1/1.7 sec, F4.5

It  seems that the orbs will eventually ruin my life because now I am taking mainly different test images with the Fuji X10. It is well known that the X10 can produce so called white discs with sharp border, or orbs, on shiny surfaces and in photos taken at night. I have posted some examples in one of my early posts. Today I made several pictures under artificial light (fluorescent lamp through something that looks like a frosted glass). The photos were taken as JPEGs, with auto white balance.

The photo on the top was taken at iso 100, the best conditions for orbs. As you can see, the highlights on the watch and paperclips are clipped. The highlights were clipped even with exposure compensation below -1.0. Below I posted 100% crops from this image saved at high quality in Olympus Master. As you can see, the clipping is very strong but there are no white orbs. 

 Crop from the iso 100 image

 Crop from the iso 100 image

Next, the same scene was taken at iso 400, dynamic range 400% (see image below). As expected, the clipping was less pronounced and the borders of blown highlights were not so abrupt. I have not used compact cameras for several years, and I must say that I am quite amazed with the quality of iso 400/dynamic range 400% shot from the X10.

I tookmore photos using different setting. It seems that in such conditions the orbs do not pose a (significant) problem. There were some round clipped highlights on shiny plastic toy but I can see white dot on this object with my eyes. But for me these images are quite acceptable, if we are talking about highlights. This is a compact camera, not Nikon D700 :)

I am not trying to prove that the orbs do not exist in images from Fuji X10. I am trying to figure out in what conditions the X10 can be used safely. To be honest, I have expected to see orbs in these images at least on the paperclips. Maybe the light was not very harsh. Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise. Be aware that the orbs do appear at bright sun on cars or in night shots.

Fuji X10, iso 400, dynamic range 400%, 1/6 sec, F4.5

Crop from the iso 400 image

Crop from the iso 400 image

Update: I posted a couple other images from this test.