I wrote an article for Moment—Why Shooting JPEGs Is So Popular (& 10 Fujifilm Simulation Recipes)—and they published it today! If you have a few minutes, click the link and check it out.
What’s the story behind this article? I had a great conversation with Moment recently, and we discussed various ways that we might be able to collaborate. Moment is the coolest camera store, so it’s really an honor to partner with them in any way that I can. And we have in the past. I wrote part of an article—Why I Never Shoot RAW — FujiFilm Simulations, Recipes, and More!—with Joshua Martin that they published back in September of 2021. Right around that same time we gave away five CineBloom filters, too. Although not a collab, I also reviewed Moment’s 58mm Cellphone Lens. The article they published today came out of the recent conversation we had.
I hope the Why Shooting JPEGs Is So Popular article will achieve several different things. First, I want to reach Fujifilm photographers who have never heard of Fuji X Weekly and Film Simulation Recipes (yes, there are some), and perhaps they will find it all very fascinating and give one a try. Second, I want to reach those who shoot Fujifilm cameras and have heard of Recipes, but perhaps have been too apprehensive to actually use them, and maybe now they will. Third, I want to convince some who shoot Canikony and are frustrated with their current RAW workflow to buy a Fujifilm camera and give Recipes a try. Fourth, I want to explain to those who just don’t “get it” why more and more photographers are choosing to shoot JPEGs and not edit their images, because some of those who have never tried it just can’t fathom why anyone would. Fifth, I want to encourage those who do shoot with Film Simulation Recipes and some grumpy stranger on the internet tells them that they’re doing it wrong; there’s a movement within photography, and you’re a part of it, which is really an incredible thing when you think about it.
There might be more collaboration opportunities between Fuji X Weekly and Moment—this article was simply the next step in a growing partnership. I don’t know for sure what the future collabs might be, but we definitely tossed around several cool ideas. We’ll have to wait and see which ones happen and which don’t, and if other new opportunities arise. In the meantime, I hope that you enjoy the article!
My only problem with jpeg only and fugi sooc is I would like occasionally to apply a bit of local adjustment. At the moment I do this with Snapseed, I haven’t ventured into the big raw editors.
There’s no right or wrong way, only what works for you. Vuhlandes, for example, has a video where he starts with a modified version of my Kodak Portra 400 recipe, and then he edits the JPEG a little in software.
One problem that I’m having currently with using film recipes on my X100V is I have to commit one of my seven available presets to being a blank slate for when I want to just use a stock film simulation with no other adjustments. Is there a way for me to wipe my Settings free of any recipe quickly without having to use one of my seven presets as a blank slate for a stock film simulation?
If you have an X-E4 or newer, Fujifilm redid the menu slightly and how it all works, and you can have an additional set of settings (beyond C1-C7) programmed however you wish, including as a “blank slate”. But on the X100V, that option doesn’t exist, so you would need to dedicate one of the C1-C7 presets for that purpose, if that’s what you want.
For me it is actually the opposite.
I was full into Filmsimulation Recipies, trying them out, programming them. But for me I found this all to be too much stress. A lot of the recipies just fit to a specific situation, you always wonder what I would look like differently and so on. I am now back to RAW only or jpegs with complete standard settings if I dont care so much and enjoy the free creativity of editing them in Lightroom.
There’s definitely no right or wrong way to do photography, only what works for you.
Because I have a front-row seat to this, I can see the momentum building. From what I can tell, there are 90%-100% more people shooting with Film Simulation Recipes on their Fujifilm cameras right now than just one year ago, and I see an increased interest in those from other brands (can I do this on my Canon? Sony? Nikon? Etc.). I think there’s a paradigm shift in photography that’s happening right now, and it’s extraordinarily fascinating to me, and also quite exciting.
Thanks for the comment!
I read it at least thrice. A very engaging article that sums much experience. At first I shot in raw and editing in camera with the recipes, but after many and many photographs playing with recipes I have found there are four main recipes I use: one for daylight photos, other for overcast days, another one for night and a last one for twilight, they express my way to see. Something I’d wish my Fujifilm had would be to bracket photos with the recipes, as they do with three film simulations, because my only reason to use raw is not a better file, but to use different recipes in any individual photo that could look interesting under an addition recipe.
I would absolutely love a C1-C7 Custom Preset bracket! That would be amazing. Which four recipes are your main ones? I’d love to know!
I have a Fujifilm X100S, two of the recipes are ektar 100 and Aged Color. Inspired by your recipes I made my own recipes for the turquoise ocean, other for overcast flowers, and for twilight and night. As I got to them trying and modifying yours and other recipes I couldn’t say I made them out of the blue, and even more I doubt they would exist without yours : )
Awesome! I’m honored to have been an inspiration. 😀