The one question that I’ve been asked the most, by far, since starting this blog last year is whether or not custom white balance shifts can be saved on the X100F. Some of my film simulation recipes, such as Vintage Kodachrome and Fujicolor Superia 800, require different white balance shifts. Auto-white-balance allows you the option to save one white balance shift that’s always on (as long as auto-white-balance is selected), but you can’t customize it for each set of custom settings.
What I’ve done, and it’s not convenient but it works for me, is simply remember what the shift is and adjust it whenever I want to use one of those film simulation recipes that require a shift. For example, I know that Vintage Kodachrome requires +2 Red and -4 Blue and that Fujicolor Superia 800 requires -2 Red and -3 Blue, so I manually make the white balance adjustment before making the exposure.
Fuji X Weekly reader Luis Costa has a different workaround, so I thought I’d share it. The X100F has the option to program three custom white balance settings. You can set the white balance shift to something different with each one. So C1 could be for Vintage Kodachrome, C2 could be for Fujicolor Superia, C3 could be for Classic Chrome and the auto-white-balance could have a white balance shift set for something else. You could have four different white balance shifts saved for different recipes that are all programmed for easy use.
The problem with this solution is that the custom white balance settings are not auto-white-balance. It’s a custom kelvin number based on a measurement by the camera. If the light changes you have to make a new measurement. If you use a grey card and don’t rely on auto-white-balance, Luis Costa’s workaround is a godsend and you should absolutely use it. If you rely on auto-white-balance, then it’s something that you may want to try, but you might find it to be just as much work as adjusting the white balance shift each time you change recipes.
Depending on how you use white balance on your X100F, this might be the thing you’ve been looking for, or it might be something to try and see if it works for you or not. I did give it a try myself and found it to be a good option if the lighting doesn’t change (for instance, shooting outdoors on a sunny day), but a little cumbersome for constantly changing light.
Another thought on how this might be helpful is that you could set a white balance shift in each of the custom white balance options so that you have a reminder of what exactly the shift should be for the different film simulations. You wouldn’t use custom white balance, but simply look at what you set the white balance shift to so that you can remember what to set the shift on your auto-white-balance each time you change recipes.
Hopefully this all makes sense. It’s a little confusing to me as I read it, and I wrote it! My suggestion is to play around with the custom white balance settings and find out for yourself if it’s something that might be helpful to you. Thank you, Luis, for pointing out this white balance shift workaround!
Thanks for the info, I didn’t realize that the custom preset didn’t use auto white balance until now, but of course it makes perfect sense.
Like you said it seems to work fine if the light doesn’t change, but your solution of using the custom presets just as reminders also sounds like a viable solution, I’ll give it a try myself!
Hi Ritchie. First off I really like the content of your website. I came across it the other week and I am really enjoying working my way through your posts. I really like your creative use of the Fuji film simulations. I have been giving them a go with my X-T2. With regards to customising the white balance and remembering it I use the cameras Custom Settings rename. I’m not sure if you can do it on the X100F but on the X-T2 you can rename each Custom slot. So I have been writing the settings in the custom name. For example: Velvia +1R -1B +2/3. I also stick your custom exposure settings. Many thanks!
Sadly, the x100F doesn’t have that feature. 🙁
Thank you so much! That’s a great suggestion, and it would work great for cameras like the X-T2 and X-Pro2, but unfortunately Fujifilm didn’t include that option on the X100F. I have no idea why they left it off. For other cameras, it’s a great idea. Thanks again!
That’s bizarre. Oh well. I thought those 3 cameras plus the X-H1 would of all had similar software features. Maybe it will come to the X100F via an update at some point then. Thanks!
It is bizarre. I think a lot of people have been hoping it would come in a firmware update.
I have the Kodachrome settings written on masking tape and taped to the underside of my X100f. Initially I didn’t realise that adjusting auto WB on Classic Chrome was also adjusting the same WB on all the film settings so it is very easy just to make the manual changes when I want to shoot in ‘Kodachrome’.
The white balance shift thing is a little bit of a hassle. Someone told me last week that they made one of the buttons open up white balance so they could access white balance shift more quickly. I haven’t tried it yet but plan to soon, hopefully it makes things a little easier. Glad that you like the Kodachrome recipe!
On my X100f I have assinged the WB setting to the AFL/AEL although it can be assigned to any of the FN settings so one press of the AFL/AEL takes me to auto WB and a second right right press takes me to WB shift where I can quickly make my new WB adjustments.
I don’t know why I never thought of this before, so I appreciate whoever it was that suggested it to me last week. It’s kind of one of those obvious things that I feel really stupid for not realizing. Thanks for the input!
There is another work around. When you make your preset add the white balance shift to the preset name. Something like Kodachrome +2R-4B. That way you have a reminder baked into the preset.
There is another work around. When you make your preset add the white balance shift to the preset name. Something like Kodachrome +2R-4B. That way you have a reminder baked into the preset.
Yes, that’s a great suggestion for those who have cameras capable of naming the presets. I did this on my X-T30, but it’s not possible on the X100F (for example). It’s definitely helpful for remembering what the white balance shift should be for a particular presets. Thank you for commenting!
It would be so much simple if Fujifilm allowed customs WB to be set to auto WB, then we would only need to change the colour shift. How can we ask Fujifilm to bring an update on this? I’m currently on X-T2!
I wish that I had a contact at Fujifilm to pitch this to, but unfortunately I have no access to the inside. Maybe if we all send them an email….
If you shoot a custom profile with a white balance shift, how does it affect the raw file in Lightroom. In this scenario I am shooting raw plus jpeg. So the jpeg is fine but what about the raw file? Do I have to reset the wb with the colour picker? I assume the shift will affect how the raw file first displays on my monitor?
I don’t use Lightroom, so I can’t speak first-hand what will happen. I assume Lightroom will apply the white balance to the RAW image until you tell it to do something else, but I don’t know for certain.
You shoot jpeg only? How do you find large print quality off a jpeg? Thanks
Yeah, I used to shoot a lot of RAW, but since switching to Fujifilm I rely on camera-made JPEGs. I have printed 2’ x 3’ from my X-T30, and it looks great! I think as long as the ISO isn’t too high and the image is sharp and there’s little to no cropping, you can pretty much print as large as you’d like.
Wow that’s awesome. Will try raw plus jpeg for a while and see what I get. Admittedly I shoot my Fuji like my previous Nikon. I spend endless hours editing in Lr. Will give jpegs a try on the side and maybe start with the Kodachrome II recipe. Which recipe would you recommend most for cinematic street? I was thinking either Kodachrome II or Vintage Agfa. Could you please make a simulation for Kodak Ultramax 400? Thank you! Having to change wb shift is not something I’m looking forward to lol so I want to try and find one simulation that works best. What about cinematic night time? Any suggestions? Thanks!
I like Kodachrome II a lot, not sure how cinematic it is. Eterna is probably a bit more cinematic. Faded Color was an attempt at a cinematic look, albeit a failed attempt. I think my CineStill recipe is good for night pictures. I have unsuccessfully attempted to make an Ultramax recipe. Kodacolor is probably the closest.
Last question…promise lol. Sorry, the stuff on your blog gets me excited to shoot! Do you do any post processing on your jpegs like white and black points and a basic s curve? Kodacolor? Haven’t seen that recipe in your list…hmmmm.
Thanks again!
I usually don’t do any editing, but I sometimes increase the brightness of an image if it’s slightly too dark or do very minor manipulation. Mostly just cropping. Most of the pictures on the blog are, aside from cropping, straight out of camera JPEGs.
https://fujixweekly.com/2019/07/19/my-fujifilm-x-t30-kodacolor-film-simulation-recipe/