All Fujifilm X cameras have a feature called Film Simulation Bracket. Select three different film simulations, and the camera will process each exposure as three different images using whichever film simulations you selected. Unfortunately, with Film Simulation Bracket, you cannot change any other parameter, only the film simulation. This means that the camera will not apply three different Film Simulation Recipes. When Fujifilm designed this feature, I’m sure that they were unaware of how people would be using their cameras, and Film Simulation Bracket definitely demonstrates that. Instead of what it is, it should be Custom Preset Bracket—you pick three different C1-C7 presets, and the camera will generate an image using each with every exposure. That would be amazing! But, sadly, that’s not an option. I’ve never really liked or used Film Simulation Bracket until recently, and I discovered that it can sometimes be a useful tool.

In this article we will look at what Film Simulation Bracket is, how to use it, and when it is a useful feature.

Note: this was a Creative Collective article that required a subscription, but it is now available to everyone!

Every Fujifilm X-series camera has Film Simulation Bracket built-in, but how to access it and set it up is different depending on your model. If your camera has a Drive button, push it, then scroll down to Film Simulation BKT. Next, push the Menu button, go to the Shooting Menu, and find Film Simulation BKT, then select the three film simulations you want to use. If your camera has a Drive Mode Dial on the top plate, select BKT on the dial. Next, push the Menu button, go to the Shooting Menu, choose Drive Setting, then BKT Setting, then BKT Select, then Film Simulation BKT, and then select the three film simulations that you want to use. If you are having trouble, I recommend Googling your camera’s users manual. Fujifilm has made it pretty easy to navigate their digital manuals, and you shouldn’t have much trouble finding it. For example, if you search for the Fujifilm X100V user manual, you’ll quickly locate it. Under The Shooting Menus, you’ll see Shooting Setting, and when you click that you’ll find Film Simulation BKT.

Once your camera is in the Film Simulation Bracket Drive Mode, and you have your three film simulations selected, you’re good to go shoot. Well, sort of. What about all of the other settings? We’ll talk a little more about this in a bit, but I wanted to touch on a few things first.

RAW is only available when using Film Simulation Bracket on X-Trans III and newer. So some cameras, like the X-Pro1 and X-T1, can only record JPEGs when using this function. On newer cameras, you’ll not only get one RAW file, but you’ll get three! That means for every exposure, you’ll have six images recorded to the memory card: three RAW files plus three JPEGs. This is an odd quirk of Film Simulation Bracket.

Another thing to note is that Clarity (for those cameras that have Clarity) is disabled when using Film Simulation Bracket. If you shoot RAW+JPEG, you can reprocess the RAW files in-camera (or using X RAW Studio) to apply Clarity after-the-fact if you’d like.

You can program one film simulation recipe into your camera when you use Film Simulation Bracket, and one image captured will be of that recipe, and the other two images will also be that recipe, but with a different film simulation applied. Sometimes this can produce good results. For example, Kodachrome II and Ektachrome 100SW are essentially the same recipes, just with different film simulations (Classic Chrome and Velvia respectively). Sometimes this can produce not-so-good results, like when Omar Gonzalez accidentally used Classic Chrome instead of Classic Negative on the Agfa Vista recipe. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this:

In the first set, I used the Vivid Color recipe as the base, setting the three film simulations to bracket as Velvia (which is what the recipe calls for), Provia, and PRO Neg. Hi. In my opinion, Provia and PRO Neg. Hi produced so-so results—not terrible, but not great, either. In the second set, I used the Kodacolor 200 recipe as the base, setting the three film simulations to bracket as Classic Chrome (which is what the recipe calls for), PRO Neg. Std, and Monochrome. I thought that Monochrome looked pretty good, and that is certainly a good companion to the Kodacolor 200 recipe. PRO Neg. Std was alright, and I can see some people liking it. With this experiment, the second set was more of a success than the first.

What’s great about this experiment is that you can accidentally stumble into great looks by simply applying a different film simulation to an already existing recipe. For example, this is how I discovered the Elite Chrome 200 recipe. Using Film Simulation Bracket, I programmed the base with my Fujicolor Superia 800 recipe, which uses Classic Negative, and I set Classic Chrome and Astia as the other two options. I didn’t care for the Astia version, but I really liked the Classic Chrome images, and it quickly became an official recipe. It’s really fun when you get an unexpectedly good result while experimenting with this feature.

I really wanted to have three good pictures produced from using Film Simulation Bracket. I wanted each of them to have a unique look. The film simulations aren’t always that much different from each other, and the subtle differences aren’t always immediately obvious. What’s the point in producing three only slightly different images? Since all of the settings (aside from film simulation) were going to be identical, I needed to carefully choose three film simulations that were obviously different. But each also had to look good with those otherwise identical settings.

I knew exactly where to start: Kodak Portra 400 v2. Why? Not only because it is one of my favorite recipes, but because another favorite recipe of mine is identical to it except for the film simulation: Vintage Vibes. Kodak Portra 400 v2 uses Classic Chrome while Vintage Vibes uses Classic Negative, and aside from that they are identical. I just needed to figure out which film simulation would look good with these same settings. I tried a couple, but didn’t care for the results. Then I programmed Eterna Bleach Bypass into my Fujifilm X-E4 as the third film simulation. Bingo! That’s the winner! I call this new recipe Ferrania Solaris FG 400.

The three photos at the very top of this article are examples of using these three recipes with Film Simulation Bracket. The first is Kodak Portra 400 v2, the second is Vintage Vibes, and the third is Ferrania Solaris FG 400. Let’s look at a couple more examples:

Of course, there’s still the issue of Clarity. I have to reprocess the RAW files in-camera to apply Clarity. If I didn’t use Film Simulation Bracket, and simply captured one image using the Kodak Portra 400 v2 recipe, I could just as easily reprocess the RAW in-camera to create a Vintage Vibes and Ferrania Solaris FG 400 version. So what’s the point?

There are two circumstances where I feel that Film Simulation Bracket is actually useful. First, if you have an X-Trans III, X-T3 or X-T30 camera, and if there were three recipes that used different film simulations but were otherwise identical (there’s not currently), this would be a good way to get three different looks from the same exposure—creating these recipes is something that I’ll challenge myself to do. This is also possible with older sensors or Bayer, but it’s maybe just a little less practical. For newer X-Trans IV cameras, ignoring Clarity (or, in the case of the three recipes mentioned above, maybe using a diffusion filter in lieu of Clarity) might be a good strategy. Second, Film Simulation Bracket is great for discovery. The Elite Chrome 200 and Ferrania Solaris FG 400 recipes are direct results from experimenting with this tool. It’s something I’ll definitely do more of in the coming days, weeks, and months, just for the fun of it.

I enjoyed trying Film Simulation Bracket for the serendipity of it. You don’t know what you’ll get when you use a different film simulation with a recipe until you try. A lot of times the results are mediocre. Sometimes the results are terrible. Occasionally the results are great, which makes experimenting with Film Simulation Bracket worth it. I invite you to try it yourself, just to see what you get.