After publishing film simulation recipes for Superia 100, Superia Xtra 400, Superia 800 and Superia 1600 film stocks, as well as Reala 100 and Luis Costa’s Classic Negative (which are both in the Superia realm), I’ve been asked a few times to create a Superia Premium 400 recipe. I’ve never shot actual Premium 400 film, and had to rely on the internet, which isn’t ideal, especially since there are limited examples for this particular film, but I think these settings are pretty good.
Superia Premium 400 is a variant of Superia Xtra 400, sold only in Japan, intended to better replicate Japanese skin tones. It seems to have more of an orange color-cast. Premium 400 doesn’t have the “4th cyan color layer” that every other Superia film has, and that seems to be the biggest difference between it and Xtra 400. The way that this recipe came about is a Fuji X Weekly reader (sorry, I forgot who, and I can’t find the message) sent me his or her best guess of some settings to replicate Premium 400, and wanted advice on how to improve it. I took a look, made some changes, and sent it back, but it wasn’t right, so I kept working on it. After a couple weeks of experimenting, I settled on these settings, which I’m quite satisfied with.
There are a whole bunch of options for achieving a Superia look with your Fujifilm camera. Even though this recipe is based on a more obscure variation, the results are quite interesting, and I think a lot of people are going to really appreciate it. It’s compatible with the Fujifilm X100V, X-Pro3, X-T4 and X-S10 cameras.
Classic Negative
Dynamic Range: DR200
Highlight: -2
Shadow: 0
Color: +4
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: -1
Clarity: -2
Grain Effect: Strong, Small
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Weak
White Balance: 4700K, +4 Red & -3 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: +2/3 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Superia Premium 400 film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X100V:
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Fujifilm X100V Black Amazon B&H
Fujifilm X100V Silver Amazon B&H
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Hi Ritchie! I am very happy that finally Superia Premium 400 could see the light !!! I’m pretty sure I’m the incognito reader you’re referring to 🙂
I will proceed to make the adjustments in my X100V to have a Christmas with Premium 400 colors!
Hug!
Hi! Thanks! I’m sorry that I couldn’t find your message, but I’m so glad you were able to get it. Merry Christmas!
Enjoying the FujiXWeekly app. I have a question if you don’t mind. Most of your recipes have “exposure compensation” adjustments. Is this dialed in during capture or is this baked in using the X Raw studio software. The X Raw software has an option to “push/pull processing” which I assume is the EC.
Thanks.
The suggested exposure compensation is a general guide and not a rule. A good starting point, perhaps. Each picture should be looked at individually. If you didn’t adjust the exposure up or down during capture, and you are using X Raw Studio, the “Push/Pull Processing” option is what you want to use. I hope this helps!
Hi Ritchie, few photography articles get that different films and cameras render different skin tones differently. I roll my eyes every time an article praises a camera or film but doesn’t use a range of skin tones for test.
You know, I have this idea that I want to do: capture a group of people who have a variety of skin tones using various recipes, so that people can decide which ones might work better depending on the skin tones of the subject. I think it could be very helpful, but it would be a big project.
I think so too. I spent the morning lying on the sofa reading up on this.
https://www.nicolecaudlephotography.com/professional-film-stocks-on-dark-skin-tones/
I’ve got vertigo so couldn’t work today.
This recipe is awesome! Thank you, Mr. Fujixweekly!
You are very welcome!
How would you say this differs from the Superia 800 recipe?
This one has more vibrant colors and an orange/warm cast and is also a little “cleaner”.