Leaves in the Forest – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200 – “Kodak Tri-X 400”
The number one black-and-white film simulation recipe that I’ve been asked to create is Kodak Tri-X 400, but I’ve never been satisfied with my own attempts. Thankfully for you, Fuji X Weekly reader Anders Lindborg (Instagram) was able to do it! This is brilliant, and I’m sure you’ll love it. It’s the only B&W recipe I’m using on my Fujifilm X100V right now.
Kodak introduced Tri-X in the early 1940’s, and in the 1950’s they began selling it in 35mm format. Ever since, it has been the “standard” high-ISO black-and-white film for photographers. It’s been made in ISO 160, 200, 320 and 400 versions; this recipe is based on Tri-X 400. Kodak re-engineered Tri-X 400 in 2007 with finer grain and lower contrast, but it’s still nearly identical to the old stock.
Anders actually made three recipes in one: low-contrast, mid-contrast, and high-contrast. Tri-X, like most films, can be made more contrasty or less contrasty based on how it’s developed (chemicals used and/or development times) or printed (contrast filters). The recipe further down this article is the mid-contrast version. For low contrast, set Highlight to -1 and Shadow to +2. For high contrast, set Highlight to +1 and Shadow to +4. This film simulation recipe was designed for the X-T3 and X-T30, but I changed a couple of things for the X100V: I set Clarity to +4 (which isn’t available on the X-T3 and X-T30) and Grain to Strong & Large (on the X-T3 and X-T30, Grain is set to Strong). Because it adds contrast, setting Clarity to +4 actually makes this look more like the high-contrast version. If you are using this on the X100V, X-Pro3 or X-T4, feel free to try all three contrast versions, with or without Clarity, to see which you like better. For X-Trans III cameras, which don’t have Color Chrome Effect, you can still use this recipe; while it won’t look exactly the same, it will still look very similar. In other words, even though the title says “Fujifilm X100V Film Simulation Recipe” you can actually use it on any camera with the Acros film simulation—I’ve tried it on an X-T30 and X-T20, and it looks great!
Forest Edge – Fruit Heights, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600 – “Kodak Tri-X 400”
I found that this recipe looks best when set to ISO 1600 or higher. From ISO 1600 to 3200, the results more resemble newer Tri-X 400 film. From ISO 6400 to ISO 12800, the results more resemble older Tri-X 400 film. I want to give a big thank-you to Anders Lindborg for creating this recipe, sharing it, and allowing me to publish it here—you are appreciated! Thank you!
Acros (+Y, +R, +G)
Dynamic Range: DR200
Highlight: 0
Shadow: +3
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: +1
Clarity: +4
Grain Effect: Strong, Large
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Off
White Balance: Daylight,+9 Red & -9 Blue
ISO: ISO 1600 – 12800
Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Kodak Tri-X 400 film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X100V:
Fallen Trunk – Fruit Heights, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
The Forest – Fruit Heights, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Light in a Dark Canopy – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Sunlight & Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 12800
Monochrome Backlit Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Drops on a Window – Fruit Heights, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Half Leaf In The Road – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Footstep – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Barrier – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Corner Benches – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 6400
Drinking Fountains – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Feel Like A Kid Again – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Walking at an Amusement Park – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 1600
Waiting at the Exit – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Diagonal Light Boy – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 12800
FED 5c Film Camera – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Coffee Grounds in a Filter – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Rainbow Feet on the Floor – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Girl in Zebra Shirt – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 12800
Rainy Day Siblings – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Level Up – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 12800
Wet Leaf in the Grass – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 5000
Wet Tree Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Leaf of a Different Color – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Emptiness – Roy, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Empty Boxes in an Abandoned Home – Roy, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 12800
Nobody’s Home – Roy, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
White Truck – Roy, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 3200
Dead End Night – Roy, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 12800
Trolley Bus – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 12800
Wrong Way – Centerville, UT – Fujifilm X100V – ISO 12800
See also:
Film Simulation Recipes
Tri-X Push-Process Film Simulation Recipe
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I love this set of images, the forest ones.
Thank you! I appreciate the feedback!
Lovely photos, have you tried the toning feature with this recipe? I’ll mess around with it when I get the chance.
I have not tried toning, but a subtle warming or cooling should look quite nice. Probably no more than +/- 5 in any direction.
Hello Ritchie,
I have two questions.
First, as it is a B&W recipe, I don’t understand the WB shift : why is it necessary ?
Second, compared with the Tri-X Push Process recipe, what are the differences in terms of use ?
Denis
(Paris, France)
The white balance and the white balance shift affect the grey tones. It’s not necessarily a huge difference, but there is a difference.
This recipe is a little less contrasty, less bold, but still similar.
Hi , is the secret also the WB push????
The WB Shift does seem to be the secret!
Yeah. That seemed to be clutch. I now want to use that and see if I can get a closer HP5+ look. This was a good call!
Give it a try and see how it goes. If you do, be sure to report back!
Could you post or tell us the original X-T3 recipe for Tri-X? I like the look of the images you posted and can’t wait to have a go at it with my X-T3.
Thanks!!
It’s the same recipe, except disregard Clarity and set Grain to Strong.
This is awesome Ritchie. Tri-X was the first, and only, film I learned to develop and print, I used it for many years. I’ve wanted to shoot it again for years, but just never got around to it. Looks like now I can “load” a roll in my X-T3 and have at it. Thanks for this!
You’ll have to report back what you think of it once you have a chance to shoot it.
I put this recipe into my camera and shot with it indoors and outdoors. I really liked the results, I can see this becoming one of my favorites very quickly. I’m going to Yosemite this weekend, I’m really looking forward to the smaller crowds and also trying this recipe out.
It should be great for Yosemite! B&W always seems appreciate there. I love Yosemite, definitely enjoy your time there!
My favourite recipe, thank you so much for sharing this! With Clarity set to +4, my X-Pro3 takes a good half a second to “store” the photo. Do you also encounter this? Or perhaps I just need a better card? The issue doesn’t happen with any other recipes you have posted
It’s Clarity that causes that. Fujifilm recommends, if you shoot RAW or RAW+JPEG, adding Clarity after the fact by reprocessing the RAW file. I just let the pause slow me down, but if I needed to shoot fast I would set it to 0 and add it later.
If you want a quick way to go from Clarity to no Clarity is to set the camera into a burst mode – CL or CH. That will disable Clarity and when you go back to S it will start to apply the clarity again.
I’m personally trying to use the OVF and Clarity to slow down and treat it like a film advance – advice from Ritchie himself 🙂
That’s a great way to quickly turn Clarity off if needed. Thank you for the suggestion!
What is Acros (+Y, +R, +G) – this indicates all three filters are applied – I can only seem to choose 1 of them on my XT-3?
Each option represents using a colored filter on B&W film. You can only choose one. Pick which one you want, if you want one at all. This explains it more:
https://fujixweekly.com/2019/03/07/understanding-acros-film-simulation-options-on-fujifilm-x-cameras/
Tried this, but I shoot RAW, do you have a recipe to do this in Lightroom ?
No, I sure don’t. I don’t use Lightroom. Sorry that I can’t be more helpful.
Thank you Ritchie, your blog is full of useful information and insipirations to experiment with new formulas!
Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement!
I’ve noticed when I add the clarity/sharpening/curve my images now say “storing” and there’s a blackout time between shots on my X100v. Anyone else have this issue?
It’s Clarity that slows the camera down. Fujifilm suggests setting Clarity to 0, shooting RAW or RAW+JPEG, and adjust Clarity after the fact. I just use the pause to slow myself down. Also, ensure Boost Mode is enabled, that helps a little.
Hello, this is absolutely amazing. I loved the Tix400 preset and its probably going to live on my xpro3 as an everyday preset. Thank you.
I was wondering if you’ve seen this guys work – https://www.instagram.com/visualsbypreet/ – I understand its his own look, not a fim simulation in particular, but any idea what he’s doing to achieve these colors? I would assume there’s a lot of post processing involved, but anyway to do this sooc?
Thank you! I hadn’t previously seen it, but it looks interesting. I think it’s probably possible to get that out of camera, I will look into it.
Thank you, that would be really unique and cool. Cheers.
Hi Richie thanx a lot for your recipes. I am a proud owner of a x-t4 since last night and I’m wondering about one thing in this recipe: I can not change the value for clarity, at least not in Acros. In other film simulations this is not a problem… Do you have any idea what I have done wrong?
Cheers Alex
Somebody told me about this same issue they had (but I think it was Classic Chrome that Clarity didn’t work on). They called Fujifilm support and it was an easy fix, but I don’t think I was ever told what the exact problem was. You may want to give Fujifilm support a call.
Hi again,
I’m not sure what I’ve changed in the settings but somehow it seems to work now 🙂
Thank you anyway!
I’m glad it works correctly!
Hi Ritchie, i finally found out about the issue I mentioned here on Sept 12th.
As long as the drive is set to ‘CL’ or ‘CH’ and not on single shot the camera can’t process ‘clarity’ because it takes some processing time (‘storing’ – screen) and therefore you can’t set it in the menue 🤷🏻♂️
Cheers Alex
Thank you for reporting back! Next time I hear of this issue I’ll know the answer. I appreciate it!
Hey, you are the best! Thanks for all this invaluable information. Please explain the the Grain Effect setting of “Strong, Large”. I was under the impression that Acros has a built-in grain effect that automatically increases the graininess of the photograph as the ISO increases and that setting the Grain Effect for anything other than ‘Off’, as is the setting with the Kodak Tri-X Push Process simulation recipe, would negatively impact the film-like quality of the grain. Thanks again, all the best. Jason
Acros has built-in “grain” that increases in strength as the ISO increases. So Grain (in this case, Strong, Large) is “grain” that’s in addition to the built-in “grain” (at least, that’s how I believe it works, I’ve never seen an official explanation). I don’t think it negatively impacts the film-like quality of the picture. In fact, I would say that the built-in grain is pretty weak, even at high-ISO, compared to actual film, outside of low-ISO medium format film that’s not been pushed.
This or your Classic Monochrome…they are pretty similar in my initial use. Which is becoming your go-to now that you’ve been using them both for a while? And why? Thanks for your hard work!
This one! I use it regularly. Classic Monochrome is, like you said, quite similar, but I just love how this one looks. It might be the most “perfect” B&W recipe for Fujifilm, at least to my tastes. Thanks for asking!
Has anyone been able to translate this into a lightroom preset? I love using it on my camera and I would love to adjust photos I took before I found this recipe! Thanks so much for sharing it, it makes a beautiful image.
This is my favorite recipe. I haven’t personally attempted to replicate it on Lightroom. I appreciate your kind words!
Are you planning on making an Ilford hp5 simulation for the xt4 by any chance brother?
It’s on my to-do list. Hopefully I can make some good improvements with the new JPEG options. Thank you for the suggestion!
Hi / I’m looking at this version of the simulation as I have the X100F but I can’t find the ‘toning’ option in the camera that is in the recipe.
The X100F doesn’t have Toning, so just ignore that setting. This recipe doesn’t actually call for toning, so I just want to make sure you’re not asking about White Balance Shift (+9R, -9B). If you are, that’s accessed through the White Balance Menu (and not Save/Edit Custom Settings). In the White Balance Menu, select Daylight, then arrow to the right to open the WB Shift menu.
https://fujixweekly.com/2020/08/19/fujifilm-white-balance-shift-what-it-is-how-to-use-it/
Great! Thanks.
Hi Ritchie,
Thanks for this recipe and all the others. Your website has really helped me as I’m trying to get into photography. I have a question that I can’t find an answer to online. In this recipe and some others (Kodak Ultramax 400), my X-E4 will apply a crop to the image (from L to M) when I use the mechanical shutter. With the electronic shutter, I’m able to choose the image size (and I keep it large). Could I ask you if you know why this is and if there’s a way around it? Thank you so much again.
That’s really strange. Do you have it programmed to Medium in the Custom Preset? I’ve never encountered this issue myself. I don’t think it has anything to do with the shutter, because I most often use the mechanical shutter, and always use Large JPEG. I would double check the preset and make sure it is all set how you want it to be, since on the X-E4 you literally can program everything into it. If you figure out the solution, be sure to report back. If you can’t figure it out, I recommend contacting Fujifilm customer support.