Daniel Robben

I'm fed up with Atomos, I wasted a huge amount of time doing tests for them for the stuttering issue in ProRes RAW. They didn't even try to replicate it. I reported the problem at the 8th of February, since then I provided tons of test material. And where are we now? They still think it's my unit, or my SSD or my HDMI cable even when I told them I tested with multiple units, multiple cables and SSDs. Unbelievable.
In the meantime some other guy asked BlackMagic about the same issue (so apparently this is related the the X-H2s), and they sent it to their engineering team right away, they reproduced it and notified Fujifilm about it. HUGE difference between the two supports. Seriously, even Fuji is better than Atomos, because they don't reply at all, so you won't waste your time with them 🙂

I analyzed the raw data in the DNG converted from ProRes RAW and now I know exactly how it's messed up.
I adjusted my tool and I think I have a working fix now. It fixes the raw data itself, so the result will be perfect in every software that reads DNG.
Before (see the broken line in the middle):

After:

 
I'm still testing my tool, it can read 12/16bit DNG, uncompressed, or lossless compressed, the lossy formats are not supported. It uses multiple threads, on my recent i7 laptop it converts with 25-35fps.
It's a pain to convert twice but at least I got it working, and learned a bit of C++ on the way.
If only I could fix the framerate issue as well, but no chance for that.

Remember we discussed earlier that X-H2s 6.2K ProRes RAW has a hot pixel at the exact same location for everyone?
I spent days to create an executable in C++ that removes that hot pixel from the DNG raw file created from ProRes RAW.
I was just about to post it here but then I noticed that this is not a hot pixel issue at all! All pixels in the same row right from the hot pixel are shifted towards the right.
See here:

It starts with the hot pixel, and it goes all the way to the right edge.
Or here (this is the right edge of an image, you don't see the hot pixel here, it's somewhere in the middle):

 
Atomos says it's Fuji's fault, and as usual, Fuji couldn't care less.
Atomos is also silent about the framerate bug I discovered. A new firmware was released just now and it's not fixed, it's not even listed in the known bugs.
Stuff like this makes me really disillusioned.
 

For the moment, I have found peace with x-h2s color smoothing. If you shoot Prores 422 or HQ in 6.2K standard film simulation, you will get color detail that is at the border to what the sensor is able to deliver. There is smoothing, but less smoothing would soon tend to unpleasant color noise. I saw that also in comparison with my G85 4K, which seemed richer than fujifilm 4K, but having a closer look also revealed "false richness" by delivering color where there is none.
Regarding 4K and if you don't want prores blow your memory card, shoot h265 longGop ~200Mbps, also in standard film simulations, and you get great footage where you will not notice any lack of color detail, unless you really look for it.
And you are right, you will mostly only notice lack of color detail (if any) in nature shots with little color contrast.
f-log2 is less good for such shots. Along with higher dynamic range, the chroma channels are compressed as well, which might be one of the reason that f-log2 has less color detail.
if you want specific modes to compare in advance to your purchase, let me know, I am happy to help.
Apart from color detail discussion, what is definetly great is the 4K 120p (always record at 720Mbps LongGoP, which convert to a 140Mbps Clip, if you want best quality). According to dpreview Video Stills Comparison Tool, its even better than A7SIII in terms of details captured. I saw only GH6 might beating it a little here.

The magenta cast in the reds I also noticed and don't like so much, but I understood fujifilm did that on purpose to please skin colors (see interview link below). You can easily correct in post if you want (hue vs hue curve in resolve for example). Also some of their film simulations don't have it as strong (I think also eterna tends more to red compared to provia)
For skin color captures I believe there is nothing to complain. Here the smoothing tends to even give advantages. My G85 skins are clearly worse, especially at higher ISOs, where X-H2s keeps colors under control pretty well.
Unfortunately I don't have its real competitors in my hand so I am limited in comparing them.
The link to the interview:
https://www.fujirumors.com/fujifilm-managers-talk-film-simulations-origins-evolutions-goals-misunderstandings-bold-classic-negative-and-much-more/
 

Well, just got reply from Atomos about the bad pixel issue in 6.2K raw:
Please note that our engineering has gone over your case and replicated and tested your setup.
Unfortunately, the issue lies with the camera as it is outputting the bad pixel in 6.2 k RAW.
We would love to help you fix the issue but as it is on the camera end our hands are tied.
Please contact the camera manufacturer to get this issue resolved.
Fuji doesn't give a shit about my emails, so I wouldn't expect a fix anytime soon. This, and the framerate issue, and also the fact that Fuji's ProRes RAW has noticeably less dynamic range than F-Log, not to mention F-Log2, makes me loose faith in this company, they do a lot of things right but they always have to fuck up little things like this.
 

Concerning chroma details, I tested a bit, and noticed a jump of increased color details at ISO 3200 in standard profiles. Further, h265 All-I is a bad choice vs longGOP for such detailed not moving scenes. Prores has advantage as well here, even if its Intra frame encoding. f-log2 also worse than standard profiles.
So the best I could get (and almost completely get rid of smoothing) is with Prores HQ at ISO 3200 in standard profile. 
See comparison of best and worst (below is one of its chroma channels):