After Anders Lindborg shared with me his interesting discovery that D-Range Priority (DR-P) is essentially the same thing as Hypertone on Fujifilm Frontier scanners, I immediately went to work creating a couple film simulation recipes that use D-Range Priority, since I didn’t have any. Like many of you, I thought that DR-P was a feature reserved only for extreme situations, and not for everyday use, but (as it turns out) it doesn’t have to be—DR-P can be utilized all of the time if you want.
What is DR-P? It’s basically a tone curve intended to maximize dynamic range. There are four options: Off, Auto, Weak, and Strong. When DR-P is Off, the camera uses DR (DR100, DR200, DR400) instead, and when DR-P is On (Auto, Weak, or Strong), DR is disabled. When DR-P is On, Highlight and Shadow are “greyed out” so those can’t be adjusted—the curve is built into DR-P. You get what you get. DR-P Weak is similar to using DR400 with both Highlight and Shadow -2, but with a very subtle mid-tone boost. This recipe calls for DR-P Auto, and the camera will usually select DR-P Weak unless there is a bright light source (such as the sun) in the frame, such as the picture below.
This recipe was inspired by pictures I found that were captured with Fujicolor Superia 100 film scanned with a Frontier SP-3000. Of course, how the film was shot, or even the scanner settings selected, can effect the exact aesthetic of an image. Even the same emulsion captured the same way and scanned on the same scanner can look a little different if the settings on the scanner are different (more on this in an upcoming article). I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to precisely match this recipe to those scans—it was more of a quick attempt, but I liked the results so I didn’t fine-tune it any further. It has a pretty good feel, I think, that produces pleasing results in many circumstances, although it isn’t the best for artificial light, and you might consider using Auto White Balance when not in natural light situations. This recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras.
Classic Negative
Dynamic Range: D-Range Priority Auto
Color: +3
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: -3
Clarity: +3
Grain Effect: Weak, Small
Color Chrome Effect: Weak
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Weak
White Balance: Daylight, -2 Red & +3 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this “Scanned Superia” film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:
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Hi Ritchie… Lifelong Nikon shooter here who just sold ALL my Nikon gear and totally dove into Fuji equipment. I purchased a Fuji x100v and loved it, and the results of shooting with your Kodachrome 64 film simulation, so much I decided to go full bore Fuji for *everything*. So I went to MPB.COM and bought a “like new/mint” Fuji X-Pro2 (like its features better than the X-Pro3), four “Excellent” Fuji lenses, and now am *slowlyyyyyyy *learning how to use all this Fuji gear. Naturally I have a stupid question, which is this: I wish to “store” a few of your simulations, and name them for what they are, e.g., Kodachrome II, Kodachrome 64, Tri-X, etc. Do you have an article somewhere, kind of like a “Fuji for dummies” set of guidelines I can read to learn how to do what I want? Right now I just changed my settings for ClassicChrome so that sim is now set up as Kodachrome 64, and no longer Fuji’s ClassicChrome sim. Can you please point me in the right direction to be able to set, name and store *multiple* “Ritchie” simulations on both my Fuji cameras? I’d appreciate it. Thanks so much. Sending you another $10 right now…. Bob
It’s in the Edit/Save Custom Menu. Find “Edit Custom Name”
https://fujifilm-dsc.com/en/manual/x-pro2/menu_shooting/edit-save_custom_setting/index.html
I hope this helps
WOW Thank you so much, that you provide the recipe so quickly. I can’t wait to try out what is possible with it.
Cheers Torsten
Awesome! A lot more is coming on this topic, too!
Um, to try the recepies of urs with dr- p on.
Yes! D-Range Priority set to Auto.
Hey Ritchie, big fan of your film simulations, I recommend them to anyone and everyone because they’re real fun. I might try to emulate this on my X-H1, any tips?? Probably gonna use Classic Chrome to see how it looks
Unfortunately, there’s nothing that can really replace Classic Negative, it’s just so unique. But definitely feel free to try it with Classic Chrome instead, maybe it will still look good.
Hi Ritchie, thank you for this recipe.
Dumb question: my X-E4 won’t show the current shutter speed when set to Auto shutter. This happens only when using this recipe. What am I doing wrong?
That’s strange. Could it be a display setting that is saved into the custom preset? That’s where I’d look first.
thank you for te lovely recipes!
anyone know another recipe that looks like this that could work on xt3?
Your camera doesn’t have Classic Negative so you cannot achieve that look. What you can do is something like this: take a recipe with low-contrast, such as Portra 160, and use D-Range Priority Auto instead of the Dynamic Range setting. I hope this helps!
Scanned Superia is awesome! But I wonder, do you have any Classic Negative recipe that can look like Fujicolor C200 overexposed one stop and printed on Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper? I have few photos developed and printed on such paper at a Fujifilm center then photographed with a pocket Panasonic Lumix camera and posted on 500px, I’ll post the links below, in a separate comment:
So, these are the links to three of my photos overexposed at one stop (continuation from my previous comment – I think both got to the moderation queue) :
https://500px.com/photo/214531063/japanese-rose-sprouts-by-vasile-guta-ciucur
https://500px.com/photo/167417147/twig-in-the-wind-by-vasile-guta-ciucur
https://500px.com/photo/167293491/good-morning-by-vasile-guta-ciucur
The last one is taken with the 58mm f1.4 lens removed from the body, reversed and kept pressed on the body with my hand , closing to the flower until it got focused and took the photo… This one I do not know if is over or underexposed…
I would look at this Recipe:
https://fujixweekly.com/2022/11/29/fujifilm-x100v-x-trans-iv-film-simulation-recipe-fujicolor-100-gold/
Thank you for the pointer!
😀
To be honest, the Panasonic camera “cuts” a lot of the color and curves of the real image on the photo paper. In the second image with the twig, the middle leafs are almost yellow and the ones on the very tip are pink but much more vivid and a better contrast. Shadows also are darker. Almost like a “pastel” Velvia or Astia (is not like the overall look of the photo is affected by a certain green tinge or a general directive, all elements are distinct in their own colors, I don’t know hot to explain it)… On the close-up, the color of the flower is dramatically shifted by the Panasonic interpretation (and I tried my best in tuning them). There is much more warmth and saturation, in a very pleasant way. I realize is not your fault for not being able to really help me because you cannot see the real photos.
Having the photos under my eyes, I realize that Classic Negative won’t do justice – for just a stop of overexposing where you really get those golden tones under the sunlight and the greens suddenly are no longer “Classic Negative greens”, but in exchange, you also get a strong color shift in overcast situations (and in general, C200 doesn’t cope with the indigo color, it shifts towards pinkish magenta – which is reddish pink, one of these). I have another film shot at box speed (200 ISO) with a Canon EOS 300 and indeed, that palette is close to the Classic Negative simulation. And that, on the same Fujifilm Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper.
For the overexposed film I used Minolta SR-T 101 with the 58mm/1.4 Rokkor PF lens (because the lenses are also decisive in the final color palette). and for the second film exposed at box speed I used a Canon EOS with it’s kit lens…
At the end, I don’t even want to post this comment; without having my photos under your eyes is pointless (any other attempt of digital reproduction is unfair for the photo – BTW I don’t find film being flat, I’m pretty sure it gets flat at scanning).
Overall I would say that it’s a tough one to exactly emulate. If you compromise a little, you can decide which aspect is most important and focus an that, and then be ok with the rest being a little off. Of all the Recipes that I have, I do believe that Fujicolor 100 Gold is the closest (although, as you rightly point out, not an exact match for sure). Maybe I’m not thinking of one that’s closer… maybe I’m overlooking something.
I do agree that the scanning of film gives it a more flat appearance. CCD and especially Foveon are the least flat in digital. Foveon has never been used in a scanner, some scanners are CCD (it used to be the most common, but less so nowadays), and CMOS and CIS are the other two, and they’ll both give a flat rendering. CIS is pretty common in consumer scanners. Film, when viewed through analog methods (such as the physical print from the negative), has so much more depth than a digital reproduction of it.