Fujifilm HS-V3

Fujifilm HS-V3

In almost any other ‘review’ there is always one defining target that the product must excel at and if it manages to do that you can forgive most any other annoyance - its the end result or performance of course. Let’s start with the good news, Fujifilm HS-V3 gives excellent results, I have tried just about every other RAW converter with my Fujifilm S5 Pro RAW/RAF files and the Hyper-Utility V3 (or HS-V3 as I’ll refer to it from this point on) simply gives far and away the best image files. So we have one huge positive in its favor, the problem is it has about 10 negatives that all add up to zapping your enthusiasm for using this software.

I will say straight off that I have tried using the HS-V3 software on both a Windows XP box plus a Mac and it gives just about identical results/performance on either system. Therefor the below applies no matter which type of computer you are using - Intel Mac users are perhaps a little more effected as Fuji still hasn’t bothered to release a universal binary.

HS-V3 is really a fairly limited RAW converter, it does not offer many of the features you will have come to expect after using other applications. The settings it does offer are often pretty basic too, it does afford some control of noise reduction of course, but its basically on or off (there are actually 3 settings - Camera setting, STD or ORG!!). Here is the flip side though as is often the case with this software, they may be basic settings but I think most people would recognize that the noise reduction performance of this software is excellent. It gives commendably noise free images at higher ISO’s whilst retaining all important detail in your shot. On a more evenly positive note the white balance adjustment settings are a little more comprehensive and match those of your average RAW converter, albeit a little on the clunky side as far as the interface goes. Don’t bother looking for fine control of CA reduction, it isn’t there.

Befitting the company that brought us enhanced dynamic range to dSLR’s, you do get to control the dynamic range of the image, although it offer’s the same settings already available in the Fujifilm S5 Pro camera menu. Unique to Fujifilm, HS-V3 also offer’s you the chance to change the film simulation settings which somewhat match various Fuji films. Do note however that the film simulation names are as cryptic as ever, with such helpful hints as F3b! You do eventually get to know the strange names however, but it would of been a lot more helpful and logical if the names matched those that are available in the S5 Pro. I can’t image what the thinking was behind giving two different cryptic naming sets, one for the camera and one for the software. The important thing though is that you do have control over the unique features that buying the Fujifilm S5 Pro (and S3 etc) affords you. In case you are wondering, just like the camera, you choose to use either the film simulation or enhanced dynamic range - its one or the other, not both.

One aspect I do really like about the HS-V3 software is the tethered shooting availability. It is both easy to setup and strangely for this software, relatively responsive too as I find the images are displayed quite quickly on the monitor once taken. If you work in a studio setting, it maybe worth buying the HS-V3 software just for this feature as it plays right to the strengths of Fujifilm camera’s.

Now the really maddening aspect of this application which I’ve saved for the end so I could try to point out its good features before bringing this up. I simply cannot remember using software that has such a problem with speed. To say that doing even the simplest change in this application is slow would be to hugely underestimate it. I just don’t know how to put this into words that will illustrate the point sufficiently, it is slow, slow, slow and will drive you absolutely nuts. As I mentioned at the beginning, I’ve used the HS-V3 application on a Windows XP Intel Core Duo 2GHz system with 2GB RAM in addition to an iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM system and it makes no difference, it is simply the slowest application I can ever recall using. It is a real shame as the HS-V3 software maybe a little basic in some of its settings but it does offer terrific results whilst giving you access to the unique features of Fujifilm’s dSLR camera’s. Fuji simply has to get a handle on this, performance like this would be annoying with included software but is totally unacceptable for an application that costs £80/$120. Their software programers clearly have a grip on what they want the application to accomplish, so they have a great start with the results you are able to get. I think it is likely however, you will simply stop using the application as nobody can build an efficient workflow based around its current state. If you want the best your S5 Pro can deliver though, it may be worth consideration. Regardless, I think you may end up saving its capabilities for those very special shots you simply have to get every last ounce of image quality out of and don’t mind spending an age getting there. I use it for the quality it delivers, but only when I absolutely have to.