Fujifilm dynamic range and tone curve, and how they interact

Dynamic range and the tone curve both decide how bright and dark tones are drawn in a Fujifilm JPEG, which is why recipes that look alike on paper can come out very differently. DR decides how much highlight detail survives. Highlight and shadow tone then decide how hard the contrast is at each end. This post covers both and how they combine. For the rest of a recipe, see Fujifilm film recipes, explained setting by setting.

What DR200 and DR400 do

The dynamic range setting protects highlights by underexposing the sensor and then brightening the midtones when the JPEG is made. DR100 is the normal exposure. DR200 underexposes by one stop and DR400 by two, and the JPEG comes out at the same overall brightness in all three, with more room before bright areas such as sky or a white shirt clip to pure white.

Underexposing the sensor and pushing it back up needs headroom in ISO, so each DR setting has a minimum ISO. On bodies with a base ISO of 160, which covers most of X-Trans IV, DR200 needs at least ISO 320 and DR400 at least ISO 640. On the X-T5, X-H2, X100VI and other bodies with a base of 125, the floors are 250 and 500. If you pick DR400 at ISO 160, the camera either raises the ISO or won't let you select it.

DR Auto picks between DR100 and DR200 per shot, depending on how contrasty the scene is. It's convenient, but it means the same recipe can render two shots of one scene differently, which works against the whole point of a recipe.

What it costs

The price of DR200 and DR400 is the noise of the higher ISO, pushed a stop or two in the shadows. On X-Trans IV and V sensors that's small at 320 or 640 and rarely visible once grain is on. It shows more at night, when the base ISO is already high and DR400 adds two more stops of push.

RAW files show the underexposure too. The camera writes the RAW exposed for the DR setting, so a DR400 RAW opened in Lightroom looks two stops dark until the software applies the matching correction. This isn't a problem, but it can be a surprise.

Highlight and shadow tone

Highlight and Shadow shape the tone curve after DR has done its work. Each runs from -2 to +4 in half steps on X-Trans IV and later bodies, and in whole steps on the X-T3 and earlier. Positive values make that end of the curve harder, so +2 Highlight pushes bright tones towards white sooner and +2 Shadow drops dark tones towards black. Negative values soften them.

Recipes use these to fix what the film simulation does by default. Eterna is flat, so Eterna recipes often add a step of Shadow to bring back some weight. Classic Negative and Classic Chrome already have dense shadows, so their recipes often take Shadow down a step and add a little exposure compensation.

How they combine

DR and Highlight both act on the top of the range, which is where combinations go wrong. DR400 has already compressed the highlights. Add Highlight -2 and they're compressed twice, so bright areas turn grey and the image looks foggy. A recipe that uses DR400 usually keeps Highlight at 0 or even +1 to put some sparkle back.

The reverse also happens. DR100 with Highlight +2 clips a bright sky fast, and nothing in the JPEG can bring it back. That pairing works for high-contrast monochrome, where blown highlights read as intentional, and badly for colour in sun.

A middle setting of DR200 with Highlight -1 is the most common pairing in recipes because it protects the sky without flattening the picture. It also suits the way most people shoot recipes, walking around in changing light with no time to adjust.

D Range Priority

Newer bodies also have D Range Priority, with Weak, Strong and Auto settings. It combines a high DR setting with a soft tone curve for very contrasty scenes, and while it's on, the camera locks the DR and highlight and shadow settings. A recipe that sets DR and tone values needs D Range Priority off, or none of them apply.

Checking a recipe's DR against its ISO

Before saving a recipe to a custom slot, check that its ISO range clears its DR setting's floor on your body. A recipe that says DR200 with an Auto ISO range starting at 160 will start at 320 on an X-T4, or 250 on an X-T5. It's a small thing, but it explains why a recipe's darkest shots can look noisier than expected.

Luma writes a new Fujifilm recipe every morning with DR, highlight and shadow as separate fields, and lists the bodies each recipe is written for. For how each simulation's own contrast changes what these settings need to do, see Fujifilm film simulations compared, and for the colour side of a recipe, Fujifilm white balance shift.

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