You might have a favorite Film Simulation Recipe, but when the light changes you’re disappointed with the results. This is a pretty common problem, and not unique to Fujifilm or even a new issue to photography. This happens because many of my recipes are modeled after or are inspired by analog film, and this is a long-time film problem.

With a few rare exceptions, film is either daylight balanced (usually around 5500K) or tungsten balanced (typically 3200K)—one for use in daylight, and the other for use in artificial light. If you encountered light outside of the temperature that the film was intended to be shot in, you would either accept the results or use a color correction filter (described in this article) to fix the imbalance. Many Film Simulation Recipes have this same issue: they’re intended to be used in a specific light condition, and outside of that they might not produce the best results.

When shooting film, your best option is to use the correct film for the situation; with recipes, I think this is also the best solution. Sometimes this isn’t practical, and so you could use color correction filters (both with film and film simulations), although carrying around a bag full of filters isn’t an especially convenient option. With digital, you have an added solution: adjust the white balance, which is essentially the digital equivalent of using color correction filters. For the sake of this article, we’ll focus on the first option, which is selecting a Film Simulation Recipe that does well in the light situation that you find yourself shooting in.

With over 250 Film Simulation Recipes on this website (and the Fuji X Weekly App), it can be hard to know which ones perform best in which light. In this article (and hopefully additional articles in the future), we’re going to compare how 10 recipes perform in various light conditions. It should be enlightening, and hopefully you’ll have a better understanding of when to use which recipes.

Before we jump into it, I think it’s important to briefly discuss Kelvin. The measurement of the temperature (warm or cold) of light is called Kelvin, and the scale is pretty large, ranging from 0 to 20000—the lower the number, the warmer the light, and the higher the number, the cooler the light. The typical temperature of a candle flame is 1900K. Artificial light (incandescent lights, halogen bulbs, fluorescent tubes, etc.) is usually between 2800K and 4300K, depending on the specific bulbs being used. “Golden Hour” light (sunrise and sunset) is around 3500K. Morning and afternoon sunlight (outside of golden hour) is typically between 4500K and 5000K, while midday sunlight is typically 5600K. Overcast sky often ranges from 6000K to 9000K, and shade can be 8000K to 10000K. Your camera’s white balance is designed to “balance” these temperatures so that white is white—a warm light will need a cool white balance, and a cool light will need a warm white balance.

With that prerequisite understanding, let’s take a look at how 10 different Film Simulation Recipes handle various Kelvin temperature light conditions.

Note: This was a Creative Collective article, but now it’s available to everyone.

The 10 Film Simulation Recipes we’re going to look at today are Kodak Royal Gold 400, Agfa Vista 100, AgfaChrome RS 100, Melancholy Blue, Fujicolor NPL 160T, CineStill 800T, Serr’s 500T, Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled, Reggie’s Portra, and Everyday Astia.

I photographed a little scene illuminated by one Phottix Nuada R3 II LED lamp (which has an adjustable temperature), plus one warm incandescent bulb that was both dimmer and further from the scene (its impact was very minimal, but still worth noting). The Phottix light can be set from 3200K to 5600K. I attached my Fujifilm X100V to a tripod, and photographed the scene over and over, adjusting the Kelvin temperature of the lamp in-between shots.

We’re going to look through a whole bunch of pictures, then we’ll analyze the results afterwards, making a few observations and conclusions at the end. We’re going to start with the coolest light and end with the warmest. The Kelvin value above each set is the temperature of the light source.

5600K

4700K

4200K

3700K

3200K

I’m going to give a quick word about each Film Simulation Recipe, although I’m sure you’ve drawn some of your own conclusions already just from observing the pictures.

The Kodak Royal Gold 400 recipe is warm. It’s intended to produce warm results in daylight (which, remember, is actually a cool light). If you are photographing in cool light and want to combat that (or “balance” it), this recipe is a good choice. Look carefully at the picture at the very top of this article, and you’ll note that this recipe wasn’t quite warm enough to prevent all of the shadows from rendering blue. This recipe isn’t a good match for warm light situations, and is probably best avoided when photographing with artificial lights.

Agfa Vista 100 is another recipe intended for daylight photography. It’s not quite as warm as Kodak Royal Gold 400 (so it does a little better in warmer light), but it’s definitely meant to be used in cool light. If you (for some reason) encountered purple light that you wanted to “balance” (not render purple), this would be a good recipe to use due to its green cast. I wouldn’t choose this recipe for warm light situations.

Because the AgfaChrome RS 100 recipe has a slight cool cast, even though it is meant for daylight photography, it does well in some warm light situations, although it certainly depends on just how warm the light is. This wouldn’t be my first choice for artificial light, but it’s definitely not the worst recipe to use, either.

Melancholy Blue is similar to AgfaChrome RS 100 in that, while it is intended for daylight photography, because it has a cool cast, it does well in artificial light, even more so than the AgfaColor recipe. I wouldn’t purposefully set out to use this recipe in artificial light, but if I were using it in daylight and then the light changed, I wouldn’t likely be too disappointed with the results.

You might be surprised by the red cast in the Fujicolor NPL 160T recipe. After all, isn’t it supposed to be Tungsten balanced? This recipe is intended for and really shines in “blue hour” light, and that’s when I recommend using it.

CineStill 800T is a great option for artificial light (particularly in the 3700K and 4200K examples above). It has a strong blue cast when used in daylight situations.

Serr’s 500T is similar to CineStill 800T: great for artificial light (particularly in the 3200K and 3700K examples above), but it has a very strong blue cast in daylight situations.

I’m going to lump the last three recipes—Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled, Reggie’s Portra, and Everyday Astia—together in one paragraph. What these three recipes have in common is that they use Auto White Balance, which adjusts to the light, whatever the light is. If you use an Auto White Balance recipe, you can know that the results will be good whatever light you encounter because it has that versatility. If you are a Patron on the Fuji X Weekly App, you can find these recipes quickly and easily using the Filter by White Balance tool.

You can choose a recipe to match the light, such as Kodak Royal Gold 400 in daylight or CineStill 800T in artificial light. You can choose a recipe and just accept the results you get with it, even if they look a little strange. You can use an Auto White Balance recipe and not worry about the light. There’s nothing wrong with any of these approaches—find the one that works best for you, or maybe use each of them at different times and in different scenarios. If you are not sure which recipe to use, I recommend either using it as an opportunity to experiment, or take the less risky route of selecting a recipe that uses Auto White Balance.