I shot a 36-exposure roll of Fujichrome Fortia 50 on my Fujifilm X100V.

Right now you are thinking one of a few things. What is Fujichrome Fortia 50? Fortia was discontinued a long time ago, and is well expired now and difficult to find. Anyway, you can’t shoot film in a Fujifilm X100V! There’s not a Fujichrome Fortia 50 Film Simulation Recipe, is there? All of that and more will be explained in this article!

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

Fujifilm made Fujichrome Fortia 50 color reversal (slide) film from 2004 to 2007, and was only available in Japan (although it did manage to slip out of the country). It was their highest saturation emulsion, even more wild than Velvia 50!

An urban legend says that someone at Fujifilm messed up a batch of Velvia 50; when it didn’t pass quality control, instead of tossing it into the trash, Fujifilm decided to package it as a new film—Fujichrome Fortia 50—and sell it during the Japanese cherry blossoms when photographers might want an extra boost in color vibrancy. It was a hit! So they brought it back the next three years during the cherry blossom season; however, it was sold under the name Fujichrome Fortia SP 50 (SP might mean “SPecial” or “Saturated Palette” or something like that). This new run of Fortia was a little different than the original, presumably because the first one was a complete accident, and the second was an attempt to recreate that accident. While Fortia was discontinued in 2007, apparently there was enough supply that it could be found fairly easily in 2008. If you are lucky to find an unexposed roll today, it will be well past the expiration date and I’m sure very expensive. If you don’t know what Fortia looks like, click here, here, and here to get an idea.

Fujifilm doesn’t have a Fortia film simulation in their cameras. The closest is Velvia, and if you go wild with it, such as The Rockwell Film Simulation Recipe, you can approach but not quite reach a Fortia look. It’s not possible to truly get a Fujichrome Fortia 50 aesthetic from your Fujifilm camera. Or is it?

Most Fujifilm cameras have what they call “Advanced Filters” which aren’t really advanced, but are instead kind of gimmicky. I’ve used Toy Camera, High Key and Low Key. They’re ok, but not something that I would choose often. There’s another that’s called Pop Color, which I never paid much attention to, until recently. Fujifilm claims that Pop Color “emphasizes contrast and color saturation.” If you want to learn more about Advanced Filters, Fujifilm has a video that you can watch about this topic.

Fortia 50 is like Velvia 50 on steroids; Pop Color is like the Velvia film sim on steroids—is Pop Color basically a built-in Fortia film simulation? Actually, yes! It’s not a perfect replication, but it’s not all that far off, either. Unfortunately, you cannot customize any aspect of Pop Color, so it’s not possible to add Weak/Small Grain, for example, or Color Chrome Effect. You get what you get, but (fortunately) what you get is actually kind of good if you are after wild colors. The best part is that it doesn’t use up a C1-C7 Custom Preset, so you can use the Pop Color Advanced Filter as a bonus option in addition to whatever Film Simulation Recipes that you have programmed.

Recently I shot 36 exposures (simulating a roll of film) of Fujichrome Fortia 50—I mean, Pop Color—on my Fujifilm X100V. Below are some of the pictures:

If the Velvia film simulation isn’t quite vibrant enough for you, Pop Color might just be a solid solution. If you have C1-C7 already set with your favorites, but want a colorful 8th option, give Pop Color a try. It’s not as gimmicky as I thought it would be, and (surprisingly) the results retain an analog soul despite not being a Film Simulation Recipe. I don’t think Pop Color is for everyone or every situation, but in the right situations it can look quite good. For those wanting to mimic Fujichrome Fortia 50 on their Fujifilm camera, Pop Color is as close as you’re going to get.