Back in August I introduced the Film Simulation Challenge, which is where you pick one film simulation recipe and shoot either 24 or 36 frames before changing settings. It’s kind of like loading your camera with a roll of film, and you are stuck with whatever film you loaded until that roll is completely exposed. This challenge is the digital equivalent of that analog issue. I thought it would be a fun experiment to encourage photographic vision while sharing the joy of Fujifilm X cameras.

The “film” that I loaded into my Fujifilm X-T30 was a 36 exposure “roll” of my new “Classic Negative” film simulation recipe. This recipe is the closest that I could come to matching the new film simulation of the same name that’s on the X-Pro3, but I have to admit, it’s not a complete match. The Classic Negative film simulation changes depending on the light and how you expose it, which is different than the other film simulations. I don’t think it’s possible to create an exact match, but hopefully my “Classic Negative” recipe is at least in the general ballpark. Or, if it isn’t, I hope that some of you appreciate it nonetheless.

My wife, Amanda, is a big fan of Ree Drummond (also known as The Pioneer Woman). She’s a famous blogger, author and television personality best known for her cooking recipes. She has a store, restaurant and bakery in Oklahoma, which my wife and I visited two summers ago. Ree has a new cookbook, and she’s been traveling the country doing book signings. Amanda insisted that we go so that we could meet her, and so we did! We stood in line for almost an hour in order to have a thirty second conversation with her. It was a very quick meet-and-greet that seemed like it was over before it even began. What you might not know is that Ree’s a pretty good photographer, and I was able to suggest that she create a photojournal book of her ranch that features her black-and-white photographs. She replied that she needs to get the pictures off her SD Card first.

I made 36 exposures using my “Classic Negative” film simulation, and most were of this event, especially while waiting in line. The lighting inside the bookstore was terrible, with some crazy mixed artificial lights, and this recipe wasn’t a good choice for it. I did reprocess in-camera the RAW image of Ree Drummond, and I’ve included that at the bottom of this article. I used a Fujinon 35mm f/2 lens for these pictures. I hope that you enjoy!

Reprocess of frame 28:

See also:
Roll 1: Kodachrome 64
Roll 2: Kodacolor
Roll 3: Eterna