Most photographers know how to edit a RAW file. What they don't know is that Fuji's X-Trans sensor — the one inside your X100VI — isn't a normal Bayer sensor, and treating it like one produces subtly mushy results. This is a short guide to what's different, and to the three or four habits that will make your RAW workflow click.
I.
What's different about X-Trans.
A normal digital sensor uses a Bayer filter — a simple 2×2 pattern of red, green, green, blue pixels that repeats across the whole sensor. Every RAW converter ever made was designed around this pattern.
Fuji's X-Trans sensor uses a 6×6 pattern instead, inspired by the random grain distribution in film emulsion. This reduces moiré (so Fuji could skip the anti-aliasing filter and keep more detail) and produces a more film-like rendering. But it confuses software not written for it.
The classic failure mode is the "worm" artifact — squiggly texture in fine detail, especially foliage. Lightroom users have complained about this for a decade. The situation has improved significantly with modern Lightroom versions and the 40-megapixel sensor in the X100VI, but the issue hasn't entirely gone away.
X-Trans files are not broken. They just ask for a slightly different recipe.
The punchline: you can get excellent results from X-Trans files in any modern RAW converter, but you need to know the one step in Lightroom, one setting in the Detail panel, and ideally give Capture One a try if you're a heavy landscape or architecture shooter.
II.
Picking your software.
There are four main options. In order of typical preference:
Lightroom Classic
What most people use. Mature, excellent color tooling, great cataloging, integrates with Photoshop. Needs one specific habit (Enhance) and careful sharpening settings, covered below.
Capture One
The connoisseur's choice for X-Trans. Better demosaicing out of the box, more precise color tools, no worm issues. Steeper learning curve, expensive (no cheap plan), less integrated with Adobe ecosystem.
DxO PhotoLab
Perpetual license, excellent demosaicing. DeepPRIME noise reduction is class-leading. One-time purchase around $200. Less polished cataloging than Lightroom.
Iridient X-Transformer
A front-end, not a full editor. Converts RAF to DNG with excellent demosaicing, which you then edit in Lightroom. Adds a step but solves the X-Trans problem entirely. ~$60 one-time, Mac and Windows.
If you're already a Lightroom subscriber, stay in Lightroom and follow the workflow below. If you're starting fresh and the Adobe subscription model annoys you, Capture One or DxO are both excellent. If you're shooting mostly at base ISO and caring deeply about foliage/texture reproduction at print size, consider Capture One.
For most people, the honest answer is: Lightroom is fine. The "Lightroom can't handle X-Trans" discourse is largely about 100% pixel-peeping. With the X100VI's 40 MP sensor, proper sharpening settings, and the Enhance feature, Lightroom output is indistinguishable from Capture One in normal viewing and most print sizes. Use what you already know.
III.
The Lightroom workflow.
Assuming Lightroom Classic (the logic is identical in Lightroom CC/mobile, and very similar in Adobe Camera Raw). Four steps, in order.
Step 1 — Enhance Details (the critical one)
Before editing, run Adobe's Enhance feature. It uses machine learning to demosaic the X-Trans file cleanly, producing a new DNG that you then edit normally. This step eliminates almost all of the "worm" complaints.
Select your RAF file(s)
Right-click → Enhance, or Photo menu → Enhance
Choose Raw Details (not Super Resolution unless you specifically want a 2× upscale)
Click Enhance
This produces a DNG sibling file in the same folder. Edit the DNG, not the original RAF. The DNG stores the improved demosaic plus your adjustments.
The catch. Enhance is slow on older computers (it's GPU-heavy) and creates a second file per image — your disk space needs doubled. For high-value shoots (trips, portraits, anything you might print) it's worth it. For casual daily snaps, stock Lightroom rendering on a 40 MP X100VI file is already better than it was on older X-Trans cameras.
Step 2 — The Detail panel, the right way
This is the panel where X-Trans files diverge from Bayer. The common advice of "set Detail to 100" was originally written for the 16 MP X-T1 and creates ugly artifacts on modern Fuji files. Use these starting points instead:
Sharpening for X-Trans V (X100VI)
Starting point for most images
Amount
40
Radius
0.8
Detail
25
Masking
30
Luminance NR
10
Color NR
0 (at base ISO)
Two non-obvious settings here:
Detail at 25, not 100. Lightroom's Sharpening Detail slider blends two different sharpening algorithms. At 100 (fully "deconvolution"), X-Trans files produce worms. At 25, you're mostly using Unsharp Mask, which handles X-Trans much better.
Radius at 0.8, not 0.5. Older guides recommended 0.5; on the 40 MP sensor, 0.8 works better for most scenes. Try 1.0 for softer subjects, 0.6 for architecture.
Masking at 30. Holds back sharpening from smooth areas (skies, skin) where it just amplifies noise. Hold Alt (or Option) while dragging to preview the mask.
Color NR at 0 at base ISO. Lightroom's default Color Noise Reduction of 25 is overkill for X100VI files at ISO 125–400 and can desaturate fine color details. Leave it at 0 unless you see chroma noise.
Step 3 — Camera Calibration (to match your C-slots)
This is where the film simulations live in Lightroom. At the bottom of the right panel, find the Profile dropdown (in newer Lightroom versions; in older versions, Camera Calibration → Profile).
Scroll to the bottom and you'll see the Fuji profiles: Provia/Standard, Velvia/Vivid, Astia/Soft, Classic Chrome, Classic Neg, Eterna, Acros, Monochrome, PRO Neg Std/Hi, Reala Ace. These match the in-camera JPEG film simulations. Applying one to your RAW gives you the same color/tonal starting point as the JPEG — then you can edit from there.
If you shot your street photos with Classic Chrome in-camera, apply Classic Chrome to the RAW in Lightroom. You'll see your edit start from essentially the same place as the JPEG, then you can refine exposure, shadows, highlights, etc.
One limitation. The Lightroom profiles don't reproduce the in-camera recipe — your Kodachrome 64 custom recipe includes grain, white balance shifts, color chrome FX, and clarity that the Lightroom profile alone doesn't capture. The RAW gives you a correct film-sim starting point; the full recipe effect requires manual recreation in Lightroom, or shooting JPEG. This is one of several reasons to keep shooting JPEG alongside RAW.
Step 4 — The usual edits, in order
White balance — if you shot Daylight or Auto, tweak here. Fuji's Daylight setting is warm by default.
Exposure — adjust the overall brightness
Highlights and Shadows — recover skies, open shadows. X-Trans files have excellent highlight headroom; push Highlights down to −40 to −70 to recover blown-out areas.
Whites and Blacks — set the tonal range. Hold Alt while dragging to see the clipping points.
Presence — Texture, Clarity, Dehaze. X-Trans files respond beautifully to +10 to +20 Texture. Avoid heavy Clarity (> +30) on faces.
Color — Vibrance before Saturation; HSL for specific hues.
Noise and sharpening — already handled in step 2.
IV.
A simple cataloging scheme.
If you haven't already settled on one, here's a scheme tuned for shooting JPEG+RAW:
Import
Both JPEG and RAF files. Lightroom stacks them automatically if Treat JPEG files next to raw files as separate photos is unchecked.
Folders
By year and month: /Photos/2026/2026-04 April. Let dates do the organizing work.
By project or theme, not date. "2026 Trip to Oregon," "Kids at the pool," etc.
Ratings
First pass: 1-star for keepers. Second pass: 2-star for edits. Rare 3-star for portfolio. Skip colors unless you have a specific workflow need.
For the X100VI specifically: the JPEG gives you a quick-share version (your in-camera film sim is already applied) and the RAF is insurance. If the JPEG is good as-is, you may never edit the RAW. That's the whole point of the Fuji workflow.
V.
Export presets worth saving.
Don't export full-resolution 40 MP JPEGs for every use. Save a few presets: