Exposure from Alien Skin is one of my long-time favourite processing tools and yesterday they launched Exposure X4. I’ve already got my upgrade and I can see a few enhancements and new tools. You can find out more about the enhancements on the Alien Skin website where you will also find a free trial version to download.
Despite the new tools and features, I’m not really blown away by any of them and I didn’t know if they justified the price of the upgrade. The Smart Collections is a nice addition and I can see Exposure is becoming more of a Lightroom replacement, but it’s not exciting me. Then I found the exception which is hard to quantify; Alien Skin has just described it as RAW processing enhancements.
Having processed the shot you see above with the software I thought that’s not bad. The RAW file came from a Nikon D800, so I thought I would try some RAW files from the Fuji. And that’s when I the results stopped me dead. The RAW conversions are incredibly clean. There isn’t a wiggly worm pattern anywhere to be seen and the detail is incredible. Even RAW files shot with the 18-135 lens look amazingly sharp and detailed.
If you’re a Fuji RAW file shooter, do look at the trial version of Exposure. I would be interested to know if others also like the results.
Tomorrows YouTube Video
To celebrate Exposure X4’s launch I decided to answer the question I’m often asked about Exposure “what’s a good workflow”. The video will demonstrate this using Exposure X4 and goes live around 15:30 UK time.
Here’s the link to my YouTube Channel if you haven’t already subscribed.
The Lightweight Photographer 
Yewtree tarn? Not heard of it, but a fantastic photograph, thanks. Some lovely (quiet) tarns up there – and in Yorkshire.
Thank you.
If you have ever driven from Ambleside to Coniston you will have passed it. It’s on the right of the road and often has a wonderful reflection.
Wondering about a switch from LR. Have been using LR since v2 but not gone over to the cc version and as I have just received my xt3 I doubt I will be able to process unless I go to the cc version. I have downloaded the trial for exposure x4 and will compare but interested in your view as to whether it is a suitable LR replacement for somebody who only uses LR and not photoshop. (bit nervous as this is the first time I have bought a camera on release day, but my xt1 has been brilliant and I’m hoping I don’t have any early adopter issues, so far I can tell you the viewfinder is phenomenal and the focus is almost instant with the 50mm f2, yet to try with the older lenses.
I’m sure the X-T3 will be brilliant. I love my X-T2 and the results (when not using Lightroom) are excellent.
Giving you an answer as to Exposure X4 being a viable alternative to Lightroom is a tough one. It’s hard to answer because LR covers so much and people use it very differently. What might be important to one person could be irrelevant to another. To overcome this I wrote the following article
https://lenscraft.co.uk/photo-editing-tutorials/three-great-lightroom-alternatives-for-photographers/
I would encourage you to read it and use the trial versions of the software.
If you do decide to stick with LR and it won’t process the XT3 files try using XTransformer from Iridient. It converts the RAF files into DNG files which Lightroom will process. As XTransformer does the demosaic of the RAF file the quality is excellent. I’m not sure though if they have included the XT3 RAF yet, but it might work.
I hope all this information helps.
Thanks for the comprehensive (and quick) reply, I will have a read of the article and see how we go. Cheers, and great photo of yew tree tarn, was in my undergrad mapping area {along with the drunken duck)