For this Film Simulation Recipe I wanted to combine the beautiful blues of the new Pacific Blues recipe with the dark moodiness of the Vintage Agfacolor recipe. The result is a slightly melancholic aesthetic that can also produce dramatic results in certain circumstances. It’s great for daylight photography—delivering interesting (yet quite dissimilar) results in both overcast and bright sunlight conditions, including Low Key photography—and it also seems like a good option for some artificial light situations. Despite its versatility, it’s not a recipe that everyone will love; however, I know that a few of you will really appreciate it.

Unless your camera is an X-Pro3 or newer, you cannot save a white balance shift with your C1-C7 custom presets; however, your camera will remember one shift per white balance type, so if each C1-C7 recipe uses a different white balance type, you won’t have to remember to change the shift when you change recipes. There aren’t very many recipes that use the Incandescent White Balance, but now you have another recipe option if you are using this method.

This “Melancholy Blue” Film Simulation Recipe is intended for Fujifilm X-Trans III cameras, plus the X-T3 and X-T30. I used it on my Fujifilm X-H1 and X-T30, and it did well on both. For newer X-Trans IV cameras, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Off, Clarity to 0, and Grain size to… either Small or Large, you’ll have to decide which you prefer.

Classic Chrome
Dynamic Range: DR200
Highlight: +3
Shadow: -1
Color: -2
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpness: -1
Grain Effect: Weak
Color Chrome Effect: Off/NA
White Balance: Incandescent, +4 Red & -9 Blue
ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to -1 (typically)

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this “Melancholy Blue” Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujifilm X-H1 cameras:

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