When the Nikon Zfc was announced in 2021, I preordered it, and waited a long time for it to come. When it finally arrived, I pulled the Zfc out of the box and began to use it, and I was quickly disappointed. I said that it was most similar to the Fujifilm X-T200, yet significantly bigger, heavier, and more expensive. Still, I put the camera through its paces, and even created 11 Nikon Z Film Simulation Recipes using the Zfc. Then the camera went back into its box, and I strongly considered selling it.
After months and months of none-use, and after moving to a different state, I decided to give the Zfc one more try, but with a significant modification: I ditched the lousy Nikkor 28mm lens in favor of the TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4. Why? Because the TTArtisan lens has an aperture ring, and the Nikkor doesn’t. The TTArtisan lens is better optically than the Nikkor, too—I’m much happier with this setup. I then made three more Nikon Z recipes!
Right now I’m working on my full-review of the TTArtisan 35mm f/1.4 lens (coming very soon!), and that means using it. In the process, I made four more recipes—I guess I couldn’t help myself! Three of these are black-and-white and one is color. If you add these four to the 14 others, I now have 18 Film Simulation Recipes for Nikon Z cameras!
Obviously, I made these JPEG recipes on the Zfc, so it will render differently on the full-frame models, but I’m not sure exactly how differently, as I’ve never used a full-frame Z camera. The reports have been positive, though, so I assume that they work well, including on the more expensive bodies—I just have no first-hand experience myself.
For those who might not know what “Film Simulation Recipes” are, they’re JPEG camera settings that allow you to achieve various looks (mostly analog-inspired) straight-out-of-camera, no editing needed. It can save you a lot of time by simplifying your workflow, and it can make the process of creating photographs more enjoyable.
These will be the last Nikon Z recipes that I create, as I decided not to keep the Zfc. If you are interested in buying it (bundled with the 28mm pancake and TTArtisan 25mm lenses), let me know. It’s gently used, and has spent more time in its box than out of it. Just send me a message if you are interested. Why am I selling the Zfc? Partly because I have never been fully satisfied with it, and partly because I’ve yet to figure out where it makes sense in my photographic process—it seems out of place in my bag. If sometime in the future Nikon makes a better effort on a similar camera, I’ll certainly consider buying it; however, the Zfc was just not the one for me.
Dramatic Monochromatic
Similarities to using a red filter with B&W film.
Picture Control: Monochrome
Quick Sharp: 0.00
Sharpening: +3.00
Mid-Range Sharpening: +2.00
Clarity: +1.00
Contrast: +1.00
Brightness: +1.00
Filter Effects: Red
Toning: B&W
Active D-Lighting: High
High ISO NR: Low
White Balance: Cloudy
WB Adjust: B6.0 G6.0
ISO: up to 6400
B&W Push-Processed
Resembles the contrast of B&W film that has been push-processed.
Picture Control: Graphite
Effect Level: 100
Quick Sharp: 0.00
Sharpening: +2.00
Mid-Range Sharpening: +2.00
Clarity: -2.00
Contrast: +2.00
Filter Effects: Yellow
Toning: B&W
Active D-Lighting: Extra High
High ISO NR: Low
White Balance: Direct Sunlight
WB Adjust: A0.0 G0.0
ISO: up to 6400
B&W Film
Reminiscent of black-and-white negative film.
Picture Control: Carbon
Effect Level: 100
Quick Sharp: 0.00
Sharpening: +1.00
Mid-Range Sharpening: +1.00
Clarity: -2.00
Contrast: +1.00
Filter Effects: Orange
Toning: B&W
Active D-Lighting: Extra High
High ISO NR: Low
White Balance: Natural Light Auto
WB Adjust: A0.0 G0.0
ISO: up to 6400
Vintage Agfacolor Fade
Reminds me of Agfacolor slides from the 1930’s
Picture Control: Graphite
Effect Level: 50
Quick Sharp: 0.00
Sharpening: 0.00
Mid-Range Sharpening: +1.00
Clarity: -2.00
Contrast: +1.00
Filter Effects: Red
Toning: Blue Green 0.00
Active D-Lighting: High
High ISO NR: Low
White Balance: Incandescent
WB Adjust: A6.0 M1.0
ISO: up to 3200
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Nikon Zfc — Amazon — B&H
TTArtisans 35mm f/1.4 — Amazon — B&H
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Thanks again for all your efforts Ritchie I will be putting your Z recipes this fall for sure as I’ve truly fallen in love with my z50 and my Voigtlander lenses. My FujiXpro3 is a little jealous but they complement each other. Next for the Fuji will be a Leica M mount adapter and the 35mm |1.2
You are welcome! I think adapting the Leica glass will be amazing.
The rendering of this lens is indeed more pleasing. I try to be not a gearhead but that Pentax looks quite sexy : ) The ZFc, while acknowledging that digital cameras have video and many other functions, looks crowded with dials and controls; the Pentax is cleaner. My Canon EOS 7 film camera has a lot of options but, in part for not having a display in the back, its body looks as clean as the Pentax, which is what I like from my X100s as well, one set a film recipe, set aperture, set shutter speed, or have one in automatic, and just photograph.
The Pentax is a classic, for sure! I think that less is often more, and it is demonstrated with that camera. The X-E4 is a good example, although I do wish for two things: M/C/S switch and an ISO dial like the X100V has on the shutter dial. That would be perfect. 😀
Thanks again for these recipes, Ritchie. Like you, I’m in the process of selling my Z fc for similar reasons. Nevertheless, I do really like how the Nikon Z sensors render SOOC black and white images. I’ve mentioned before that I really like Omar Gonzalez’s Nikon Noir recipe. I also like your Dramatic Monochrome version in this post. From your experience, what Fuji custom film sim comes closest to your DM recipe for the Z fc?
I think Acros Push Process (using Acros+R) is probably the closest. That recipe has a little more contrast and (of course) Grain, but that’s the one most similar in my opinion. I don’t believe any are identical.
Great! I’ll give it a go. Thanks for your help.
You are welcome!
Thanks for your efforts ! I really hope you don’t sell your Z-fc and post some more recipes, as you are the only one to my knowledge doing this for Nikon system !
I second that!
😀
I haven’t found a buyer yet. Maybe I’ll keep it a little longer, but I’m not sure. I appreciate your encouragement!
Hi again, really thank you for sharing your recipes. Sorry my ignorance but I have some queries:
– For example the following settings I cannot find in Picture Control Utility as Active D-Lighting ; High ISO N; White Balance; WB Adjust: B6.0 G6.0. So my query is if the mentioned settings need to be set every time I use a custom picture control profile? Or there is a way to save it with the custom profile ?
Sorry again and thanks for the help.
I’ve never used Picture Control Utility. The recipes are programmed directly into the camera, no software or computer used or needed. On my Zfc, there are not recallable custom presets (not sure what Nikon calls them—picture control profiles?—as my camera doesn’t have that option), but it’s my understanding that the other cameras do have the ability to save them; however, I have zero experience with that, so you probably know more about it than I do. I’m sorry that I’m not more helpful, but I hope this does somehow help.
Nikons use a menu item called “Manage Picture Control”
https://onlinemanual.nikonimglib.com/zfc/en/09-03-12.html
You can load and save “picture controls” (similar to Fuji’s naming of film simulations) to and from the memory card. You should have 9 slots on the camera where you can store your custom picture controls, completely separate from the ones that come with the camera.
One of the big advantages is that you can adjust the tone curve directly (with up to 20 points) in Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 or with even more flexibility on the website https://nikonpc.com/ (you can load and save picture control recipes here).
I’ve found the ability to load/save/adjust recipes A LOT easier on the Nikon’s which is ironic because of the effort put into marketing the Fuji film sims! The X-Trans sensor is awesome though, especially for grain, but I guess that’s not very marketable.
I’m really hoping Fuji and/or Nikon will some day allow us to also adjust the RGB tone curves individually via the app for in camera use, that would be a game changer and would get us VERY close to real film simulations.
I hope you’ll continue to support Nikon recipes here, it’s awesome that we get a small part of your world! By the way, check out Kodak Ektachrome P, it’s a very fun color recipe for Nikons.
I’ve heard of Nikon Picture Control Utility 2, but I think because it involves the extra steps of creating (using software) and/or downloading (from the web) files, then transferring them to an SD Card, then loading them onto the camera… it’s never caught on (like Recipes for Fujifilm). If Nikon could simplify it a bunch it might be used a lot more. I mean, it’s easier to update the firmware than to load those custom picture control profiles. It needs to be simple. And not require the use of a computer.
The Picture Control settings in-camera are somewhat similar to Fujifilm, but I feel as though the options are less inspired and the quality is a decade or so behind Fujifilm’s. At least on the Zfc.
Thanks for the comment!
The good news is you only need to use the computer if you want to effect the tone curve directly (this is a huge “knob” to turn and what got be excited about RGB curves someday, maybe). I hope Fuji allows this in the future (tone curves in general or RGB as well).
OR if you want to use someone else’s recipe (being able to load YOUR recipes from an SD Card into our Fuji’s would have been nice!). — Plug for Kodak Ektachrome P again — it’s awesome. Any chance you could recreate recipe that for Fuji?
Everything else can be done in camera and shared readily. I could even share a recipe with you on the street if you liked it, just load my card for a 5 second procedure.
And forget about the printed cards (they were awesome, I made a bunch myself). I could have every single recipie ever created pre-loaded onto a tiny SD Card and choose any of them to load into one of the 9 slots on the camera at any time. Not only is that convenient, it’s very fast and easy.
Would love to hear more details comparing the settings we have available for recipes especially with your experience creating so many. Thanks!