Fujifilm introduced Fujicolor NPS 160 sometime in the 1990’s. It was a low contrast, low saturation color negative film intended for portrait photography. Fujifilm replaced it in 2004 with Fujicolor Pro 160S (later renamed Fujicolor Pro 160NS). I actually shot a few rolls of NPS 160 back in the day, and a picture of my parents captured with this film hangs an a wall in their house. Pulling the film, which is a technique where you overexpose and reduce development time to compensate, further reduces the contrast and saturation. This recipe looks a lot like NPS 160 that’s been pulled.
This Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled recipe was created by Thomas Schwab, who has made several film simulation recipes published on this website, including Superia Xtra 400, Urban Vintage Chrome, Kodachrome II, Kodak Portra 800 v2, Classic Monochrome, B&W Superia, and Monochrome Kodachrome. Thomas has also collaborated on other recipes, playing an important role in getting them right, including Kodak Portra 800, Kodak Ektar 100, Kodachrome 1, Kodak Portra 400, and Kodak T-Max 400. Some of Thomas Schwab’s pictures that he captured with this recipe can be found further down.
What I especially love about this recipe is that it has a soft feel that’s just wonderful. It has a film-like quality to it that’s easy to appreciate. I really love shooting with this recipe! Because it required the Classic Negative film simulation, Color Chrome FX Blue and Clarity, it’s only compatible with the Fujifilm X-E4, X100V, X-Pro3, X-T4, and X-S10 cameras.
Classic Negative
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlight: -2
Shadow: -2
Color: -4
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpeness: +1
Clarity: -2
Grain Effect: Weak, Small
Color Chrome Effect: Weak
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Strong
White Balance: Auto, -1 Red & -4 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: +2/3 to +1 1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled film simulation recipe:
Thomas Schwab
Ritchie Roesch
Find this film simulation recipe on the Fuji X Weekly — Film Recipes App!
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Hi Ritchie, these simulations are gradually pulling me further and further under their spell. I really like the skin tones with this, and that’s what I intend to try it on. I happened upon this recipe via your posting of Anders Lindborg’s 7 variations of Pro 160NS for X-trans 111processors. I’m after an excellent portrait recipe for the X100V. Do you think this recipe can stand some of Anders’ pushing and pulling? Cheers, Bill
Obviously you can’t “pull” this one any more than it already is, but you could work backwards from here using Anders approach, and see what happens. I’m sure it will be a fun experiment!
I really want to use this one for some indoor photography as your advised Ritchie, but I’m struggling with the white balance settings. Any advice? Shooting in mixed lighting (combination of warm and white lights).
What’s going on with the WB settings?
I’m photographing South Asians (lighter shades of brown mostly, some verging on pale) indoors, but their skin tones end up having a strong yellow cast. Do I need to use custom WB or a more light-appropriate WB? Some rooms have fluorescent lighting whilst others have warmer lighting. Thanks in advance!
Maybe try Auto White Priority if your camera has that. Otherwise, try -2 Blue (instead of -4).
Thanks! Both changes helped.
I also tried custom white balance since the lighting is at least the same indoors, but with the same shift and got good results.
Awesome! 😀😀
Took some wedding day photos with this after your suggested adjustments. Absolutely delightful indoors and out. Thank you so much, Ritchie!
That’s awesome! So glad that it worked out 😀😀😀
Hello again! I’ve been trying to figure out one thing regarding your recipes and exposure. Conventional wisdom has me usually at -1/3 exposure compensation. Many of your recipes suggest exposures above 0 (this one is a meaty +2/3 to +1 1/3).
Some context: I shoot in RAW + JPG, with the RAWs mostly for archival and to have something to experiment with in Fuji X RAW Studio.
For this recipe, I shot my photos at -1/3 exposure but later bumped the exposure up by approx. 1/3-2/3 in the Apple Photos app before sharing. Was that wise since I’m bumping up the exposure of a JPG, not a RAW?
Should I have just shot at your suggested exposure settings? (But what about the RAWs?) Or just dial in an exposure as the scene demands?
Thanks in advance.
Hi! The suggested exposure compensation is simply meant as a starting point. Each exposure should be judged individually since each situation is different. Fujifilm cameras do tend to underexpose slightly to begin with, but Highlight and DR settings, among other things, also affect what a “correct” exposure should be (“correct” being a subjective term, of course). If you find yourself constantly having to boost the brightness after the fact, it might be a good indication that the exposure could have been higher at the time of capture. But, you have to do what works best for you. As far as editing a JPEG (instead of a RAW), there is some latitude; not as much as a RAW, but likely enough that it’s no big deal for what you are doing. I hope that is helpful.
Hi Ritchie!!
This is such a dreamy indoor recipe.
Does this recipe work with x100vi? What will I need to modify??
Simply set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak instead of Strong for the X100VI. Works wonderfully well.