Fujifilm introduced a new film simulation with the GFX100 II called Reala Ace. Fujifilm says that it “combines faithful reproduction with hard tonality,” showing it with a little higher vibrancy than Classic Negative paired with a tonality more similar to Provia. Some have described it as being true-to-life. Photographs that I have found captured with the new film simulation have a Classic Negative look, but with an increase in color, a reduction in contrast, and significantly more blue. I think this new film sim could have been called Classic Negative v2, but Fujifilm named it Reala Ace instead.
Fujicolor Reala 100 was Fujifilm’s first Superia film, even though initially it did not have Superia in the name. Superia films shared Fuji’s “4th layer technology” and Reala was the first to have it, but Reala was marketed towards “pro” photographers while Superia was marketed towards “consumer” photographers. Eventually, though, Fujifilm added Superia to Reala’s name. There were several different versions of Reala manufactured, including a high-ISO Tungsten one made for motion pictures, but Reala 100 was the most popular. Reala was very similar to Superia, but Superia was intended for “general purpose” photography while Reala was intended for portrait and wedding photography. Colors are rendered a little differently between the two films, especially blue, which is deeper and more saturated on Reala, despite Reala being overall slightly less saturated than Superia 100. Fujifilm discontinued Reala in 2013. I have a Film Simulation Recipe that replicates Fujicolor Reala 100, which uses Classic Negative as the base, since Classic Negative is closely modeled after Superia film.
On occasion, Fujifilm named certain film stocks differently in Japan than the rest of the world, and there were several film stocks made available only in Japan. Fujicolor Reala Ace 100 was a color negative film sold only in Japan. Some speculated that it was the exact same thing as Fujicolor Superia Reala 100 just sold under a slightly different name, while others said that Fujicolor Reala Ace 100 was a unique film similar to the Reala sold worldwide except fine-tuned for Japanese skin tones. There doesn’t seem to be any consensus on which is correct, but I’d bet that the latter is true. It was said for decades that Fujifilm kept their best emulsions in Japan. For whatever reason, Fujifilm went with the name Reala Ace for their new film simulation, and not simply Reala. Not all film sims are accurate reproductions of the emulsions that they’re named after, but Reala Ace seems to have the right vibe for replicating actual Reala film.
I have never used the new Reala Ace film simulation. There aren’t a lot of examples of it, but there are some; however, it’s impossible to know if those images are straight-out-of-camera factory-default Reala Ace JPEGs, or if the photographer adjusted some parameters or post-edited the pictures in some way. Trying to emulate new film simulations when there’s not a lot known about it is tricky, and the results are often wrong. For example, my attempt at Classic Negative was way off, and I stated that it would likely be—I was hesitant to publish it for that reason. Nostalgic Negative was a near identical story, and I stated, “…this Recipe will likely turn out to be an inaccurate facsimile to the real Nostalgic Negative film simulation.” I was right about that. This time, though, is different, as I am confident that this Reala Ace film simulation is a close approximation of the real thing. It might not be perfect, but it is definitely in the ballpark. I bet that it is a 95% match—if not closer—but it’s impossible to know for certain until more samples come out, and (even better) it trickles out to other models and I have a chance to try it myself. It’s definitely close enough that I feel quite good calling it Reala Ace.
Fujifilm said of the new film sim, “As an approach to rich gradation expression, the new sensor for the GFX100 II is the best fit for it. Without this sensor, we are not able to realize the Reala film simulation in it.” They talked about silver halide and signal-to-noise ratios and stuff. You might think this means that Reala Ace won’t make its way to the X-series; however, Fujifilm said something very similar about Nostalgic Neg., yet it is now available for X-Trans V generation models, including the X-S20, which has an X-Trans IV sensor. I think this is just Fujifilm’s way of saying that it’s not coming to X-Trans right away. I, of course, believe that this is a big mistake, because the majority of GFX users don’t use Film Simulation Recipes and won’t really care about this new film sim, while a whole lot of X-series owners do use Recipes and do care a lot about new film simulations. Fujifilm is letting what could be a big promotional opportunity just slip through their fingers, which is exactly what they did with Nostalgic Negative. I hope someday they learn this lesson, and stop making the same mistake over and over. Fujifilm: seriously, and I cannot state this any louder or more clearly, you need to introduce new film simulations with significant X-Trans releases, and not GFX. We can all see through the bogus it-has-to-be-100mp excuse, because I did in three days (and with much more limited resources) what you said wasn’t possible, and made Reala Ace available to all those with X-Trans V cameras. Please don’t hate me for rectifying your mistake, as this Recipe will likely influence more people to buy an X-series camera than Reala Ace will cause people to buy the GXF100 II. For those looking for an excuse to upgrade to an X-Trans V model, this Reala Ace Film Simulation Recipe might just be it for you, because it is that good.
I love this new Reala Ace Film Simulation Recipe, and for me it’s an instant favorite! It is kind of like a cross between the Fujicolor Reala 100 and Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled Recipes—you could consider it a “v2” of either of those two, although it has a much stronger Reala vibe than NPS 160. The Recipe is soft yet colorful, highly versatile, and has a clear analog-like aesthetic. It’s just as Fujifilm put it: suitable for all subjects and situations. If you have a fifth-generation X-Trans camera, which (as of this writing) are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20 (yes, the X-S20!), I invite you to try this Reala Ace Recipe today! If you have a fourth-generation X-Trans camera with Classic Negative and half-point Highlight/Shadow adjustments, which are the X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II, you can also use this Recipe, but know that blues will be render slightly less deeply (try it anyway). For the X-Pro3 and X100V, consider Highlight set to -1 in low contrast situations and -2 in high contrast situations.
Film Simulation: Classic Negative
Grain Effect: Weak, Small
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong
White Balance: Auto, -1 Red & +1 Blue
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlight: -1.5
Shadow: -2
Color: +2
Sharpness: 0
High ISO NR: -4
Clarity: -2
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Reala Ace Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
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Fujifilm X-T5 in black: Amazon B&H Moment
Fujifilm X-T5 in silver: Amazon B&H Moment
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The new Reala Ace film simulation is particularly different in rendering green. Classic Negative has a pthalo green( copper green) shift, while this new one has more accurate, yet filmic greens, kinda similar to the scans at Lomography for Fujicolor Reala.
Also, Reala Ace has stronger cyan hint. There are some videos with new Reala Ace online on YouTube but for some reason the video output is not as accurate as JPEG. In particular, the contrasty look of Reala Ace is not captured in video. I hope someone uploads ton of Reala Ace JPEGs. Reala Ace can be thought of as a cross between Classic Negative and Pro Neg Hi, taking vintage feel from former, with contrast and skin tones from latter (Classic Neg really ruins skin tones many a times). I think with some JPEG tweaks, Reala Ace will come close to the real Reala Ace. Cyan skies, light greens, magenta dawns, Japanese type gardens in rainy season – I think these kind of subjects will fit well with Reala Ace. Hope they bring it in X100Z or X-Pro4.
What is your reference for how the Reala Ace film simulation looks? Have you shot with the GFX100 II? Are you looking at the actual film stock, or do you have experience with the new film sim? If it’s experience with the film sim, I’d love for you to share with me your pictures. If it’s the film stock, I’d take with a grain of salt how accurately the film sim mimics that, especially since one film can produce many looks, depending on a host of factors (and if it’s Lomography scans… that should most definitely be taken with a grain of salt).
I found every picture I could of the new film sim on websites, YouTube, and social medias, and studied them all closely. I found approximately (I didn’t count) 20 examples that were for sure the new Reala Ace film sim, and probably another 12 or 15 that were likely but didn’t say. There are some obvious variances between the examples. I attribute this to several things: 1) not all (and potentially not any) are straight factory default Reala Ace, but have had some parameters adjusted (I found one instance where the photographer said they adjusted parameters… maybe they all did, who knows?); 2) even if it is factory default Reala Ace with no parameter changes, it could be post-edited (one photographer admitted to such, but I suspect many could have, since none of them as far as I know are strictly JPEG photographers who use Recipes); 3) the light and exposure can affect the outcome, and one can only guesstimate what exactly that was. Until I see a lot more examples, and especially once I have a chance to use it, there’s no way to know if this Recipe is truly accurate or not, but from what I’ve seen, it sure seems to be. Some specific images of mine in this article look nearly identical in rendering to some specific pictures (in similar light and color situations) that others have shared on the internet of the actual film sim.
I hope they bring it to the next X100 and X-Pro iterations. It took awhile for Nostalgic Neg. to make it to the X-series, so it might not, but Fujifilm absolutely should.
Best place to look is Takashi’s Instagram (a Fujifilm product manager. He has appeared in some of the interviews/ X summits). He has two recent posts, comparing Classic Neg with Reala Ace.
https://www.instagram.com/u.takashix/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxILgtpPJlW/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxP4X_rPgbw/
Here’s a relatively good scan of 120mm Reala Ace
https://www.instagram.com/p/CwmwCkwhk9d/
Yeah, I definitely looked at those… in fact, briefly showed and talked about it last week in the SOOC Live broadcast last Thursday:
https://www.youtube.com/live/WJ-kumactiA?si=u2VhgPKlBq9TINJ_
His Reala Ace photos are overexposed in the background… and backlit… and if you look carefully at a couple of my pictures, namely “Fish out of Water” and “Flowing Fountain”, you can see a similar rendering in the overexposed backlit places (at the very top of both pictures). Granted, I don’t have significant examples of it, only a couple of small instances, but it’s not hard to recreate with an overexposed backlit-leaves scene. For example, you can see it slightly more in the background of this picture that I didn’t include in the article, captured with this Reala Ace Recipe:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53196241082_bbad1e47c8_h.jpg
Yeah, my instant favourite, too! Well done, Ritchie.
I’m currently using Fujicolor Negative on my T5 in 1 of the custom slots and am hesitant to replace it with this recipe. There’s something special about this Reala Ace.
Thanks.
Yeah, of course, that’s the trouble. Wish there were more than 7 options. You can move one to the “8th slot”… by programming it into the IQ subset of the menu.
Hey Ritchie, stumbled on this after struggling to fit all these film sims on my x100v. Could you explain this alittle more or maybe point me to a video on this? Cheers!
On the latest cameras, I believe beginning with the X-E4, Fujifilm did away with the confusing “Base”… in its place, right in-between C7 and C1, are the settings programmed into the IQ Menu set (marked by the mode you are in: P, A, S, or M). So on the latest cameras, you get a “bonus” 8th preset. It’s just whatever you have programmed into the main menu. I hope that all makes sense. I’m unaware of any video that demonstrates it, but it’s pretty straightforward.
Some from my recent trip to Japan. Looks best in full sun but it wasn’t always very sunny on most days.
Beach/Snorkelling/Completely overcast: https://i.imgur.com/4pOAwoJ.jpg
Sun star in the afternoon: https://i.imgur.com/PC1PEtL.jpg
Green(&blue) peace: https://i.imgur.com/0AuaaOI.jpg
Kikaijima coral island: https://i.imgur.com/15wwHm8.jpg
Post box: https://i.imgur.com/FytMAhq.jpg
Mangrove forest: https://i.imgur.com/RY9CwmO.jpg
Empty beach (is the best beach): https://i.imgur.com/XJ8FoVv.jpg
Pre-wedding photo shoot: https://i.imgur.com/Vy0elyV.jpg
Omnipresent Mt. Fuji (Fujinomiya town): https://i.imgur.com/OoNaRFB.jpg
Wow, thank you for sharing! So jealous. Visiting Japan is on my bucket list. Again, thanks for sharing your pictures!
I’m definitely going to try this one on my X100v. I just love everything about nostalgic neg 🙂 But maybe more blue in this new one, as well as that new Real sim, isn’t for me. Let’s see.
All the talks about the GFX “the second”, and my general dream of shooting with sth like a Hasselblad x2d triggered a nagging question though:
Is there a Fuji x recipe that is really good with green tones, plus a max in dynamic range?
Call it a “Hasselblad mimic” recipe. Any advice, Ritchie?
What examples are you looking at? I’m not especially familiar, but the pictures I found with a quick Google search were obviously heavily edited. So, if there’s some images that you have in mind, could you post a link so that I can take a look? Much appreciated!
Tried it. Great results. Now it’s my favorite from this site. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for letting me know!
I will definitely try this out, as I’ve been switching between Classic Neg, Eterna and Nostalgic Neg to find one that best captures the *feel* of Michigan Beach towns.
Yeah, give this one a try for sure! 😀
What option should be left in the xt5 in the skin softening section? thx
I don’t use the skin softening option personally (leave it Off). I don’t think it matters what you set it to, but I don’t use it at all. The first time I saw it was on the X-T200, and I wasn’t impressed by it. Basically, it just applied a heavier noise reduction over skin colors so as to slightly blur them (smudge the fine details). I haven’t even tried it on the X-T5 to see if they’ve improved it or not, but I was so unimpressed with it in the first place that I have no desire to try it. I hope this answers your question.
I instantly liked the recipe. I got my new GFX 50s II and stored this recipe. Here are few sample pictures that came out of this recipe.
https://500px.com/photo/1078330315/autumn-is-coming-!!!-by-yogendra-athalye
https://500px.com/photo/1078330241/walking-in-woods-by-yogendra-athalye
https://500px.com/photo/1078330406/cityscape-view-by-yogendra-athalye
Oh, nice! Looks great! Thanks for sharing 😀
Hi, I cannot set clarity on my X-S20, it is grey.
That’s #2 in this list:
https://fujixweekly.com/2023/07/13/answers-to-the-10-most-common-fujifilm-how-to-questions/
“The drive mode must be set to Single frame (S) in order to use Clarity. Your camera will disable Clarity for any continuous shooting (burst) mode, HDR, or bracket. If you find Clarity greyed out, set your camera’s drive mode to Single frame (S).”
I hope that helps!
Thanks!
Love this one!
it makes me want to request a look by a certain photographer: Pia Riverola
I think she primarily shoots Portra, but there’s something to the greens here that brings her to mind.
Would you consider creating a film simulation recipe to recreate her look? Think its colorful look would be fun to use!
Have you tried the Kodak Max 800 Recipe? I don’t think it’s an exact match, but it’s what I’m reminded of.
https://fujixweekly.com/2022/08/23/fujifilm-x-e4-x-trans-iv-film-simulation-recipe-kodak-max-800/
Hi, could you compare this recipe with X trans IV’s? Is that look same? I own XT-30ii.
Blues won’t be quite as deep/dark on X-Trans IV. Otherwise, it will look the same. So it will be a very similar (but not quite 100% identical) rendering on your X-T30 II.
https://fujixweekly.com/2022/11/25/ive-got-the-fujifilm-x-trans-v-blues/
Fellow X trans IV user here. Would you recommend setting Color Chrome FX Blue setting to Weak?
You’d have to go the other way: CCEB Extra Strong. Unfortunately, that setting doesn’t exist. So the best that you can do is use the Recipe as-is knowing that it won’t render blues quite as deeply.
Oh Wow, this one looks awesome!
Unfortunately, I’ve sold my Fuji gear for a Canon R6 and already regretting the swap…
As you said, maybe this recipe will me get back to Fuji, looking out for a used X-Pro3.
Thanks a lot Ritchie!
Looks like you’ll have to get a Fuji…. 😀
This has become my favorite recipe, placed it in my C1 slot on my X-T5 Thx! 😀
Awesome! It’s a favorite of mine, too. 😀
Hi… I love this Film Sim. Great job. I’m curious how does it compare to the new Reala Ace sim that the new X100VI has ( and the XT-5 soon to have.) Have you had a chance to compare as yet?
I have a XT-5 so I guess i will find out for myself soon enough but wont be replacing my current X100V. Anyway keep up the great work on a great website, Fujiweekly is at the top of my bookmark list. 🙂
I have never used Reala Ace, still waiting for my X100VI to ship… might not be for awhile. I’ll be sure to do all sorts of comparisons with it once it arrives. I appreciate all of your kindness!
I guess Fujifilm realized that it was a mistake to base the “Classic Negative” recipe only on bad digital scans; giving back the real attributes of the Fujicolor emulsion is a huge step ahead. Thankfully, there probably were a lot of Japanese customers that requested for a well made recipe base. Nostalgic Negative base is almost perfect, a counter part as “Classic Negative 2” was a must. Especially for portraits. X-Trans V processor becomes a must… now we need the 26Mp sensor to come back…
It will definitely be interesting to test out the Reala Ace film sim, whenever I get the opportunity to do so.
It will also be interesting to see if the upcoming X-T40 will be 26mp or 40mp. I’m hoping 26mp.
When looking at your recipe for this, I see you are using the classic negative as the base film simulation. Is this a recipe that is meant to mimic the look of Reala Ace which is available on the X Trans V sensor? Or have I just terribly understood the goal. I was hoping to see Reala Ace itself as the base with some recipe tweaks to it.
Anyways, that aside, your work here is incredible and has been immensely useful as I start my hour into the world of Fuji.
This Recipe predates the Reala Ace film sim on X-Trans, and uses Classic Negative. This article explains it a bit:
https://fujixweekly.com/2024/03/23/the-new-reala-ace-film-simulation-is-actually/
This is the Film Simulation Recipe that you are looking for:
https://fujixweekly.com/2024/03/27/pro-negative-160c-fujifilm-x100vi-film-simulation-recipe/
Hi to all!
It is spring and there is lot of green in the parks and outside of the cities.
I tried to play with some simulations and at least for me the recipes based on Classic Negative are not a good option for places with lot of green. The green in them is so muted, so boring.
Ritchie mentioned some of those films like Reala Ace were kept only for Japanese market. And somewhere (may be here or not) I read the Asian people prefer cold colors, and west people prefer warm colors (this explain different film boxes for different markets). Can this be the reason Reala Ace and other CN based recipes looks so cold, Ritchie, because Fuji targeted Asian market?
Of course in case there is not lot of green, but let’s say blue (or just overcast) I like Ace results. I can’t wait go to the seaside and test CN recipes there!
But for the moment in places with lot of green I will use the good old Astia or Velvia 🙂
Anyone else with similar opinion?
Regards!
The funny thing is, Fujicolor C200 had beautiful greens, true to nature, but with one condition: you had to use an optical projector/enlarger to impress the photographic paper and not digitally scanning the film. But it had that shifting in color when there were not enough sunlight.
Classic Negative resembles the digital scanning of the film and also reproduces that shift in color, unfortunately only for a certain part of the color palette. By example, the original C200 film had a shift from indigo to almost magenta. I don’t see that in the Classic Negative simulation… And not so great skin tones but they modeled it after Asian skin tones that had to be colored a little to the pink side.
This aside, it still has a strong filmic look, use it for portraits in urban scenery and for street photography. Try it also at the free market, you might get interesting results.
Well, in Arizona Ritchie can imagine the greens as he likes them, the tonality change of the local greens when using the Classic Negative is quite nice. But probably not great in e.g., Arkansas, were the greens don’t need any touch to look as they are meant to look.
I’m shooting a Canon EOS 100D, the greens there are amazing. It is said that closely reproduces the Fujifilm colors, those organic ones, not the digital disaster (it even has that shift in color from a certain blue and indigo to magenta!!!)… But I guess Fujifilm considered that there is a market for the scanned film. As Ricoh is considering that making a classic camera that has portrait as a default orientation has a good chance to be a success. I don’t believe that, but I am not Japanese.
This Recipe shows some Classic Negative greens in Arkansas:
https://fujixweekly.com/2023/08/21/magenta-negative-fujifilm-x-e4-x-trans-iv-film-simulation-recipe/
It’s a very good point, though, of how a film (such as Fujicolor C200) is processed—whether scanned or printed, and how scanned (which brand? what corrections? etc.) or how printed (which paper? freshness of chemicals? etc.)—plays a big role in the exact rendering. One emulsion can produce a whole host of looks; unfortunately, that variety is a little more difficult to replicate digitally from one film sim, or especially for just one Recipe. Thankfully, there are a good number of film sims, and hundreds of Recipes, so hopefully there’s at least one that each photographer can appreciate. Maybe not all of them are good for the greens in the Ozarks, though, or maybe even Japan.
Well, I would say this: if you want the “greens of summer”, than Kodak-inspired Recipes are your best bet. Fujicolor films tend to be less warm than Kodak, and that certainly plays a role in the rendering. With that said, Velvia and (especially) Fortia are the two films with the most vibrant greens of any emulsion, and those were made by Fujifilm, and Fortia sold in Japan-only.
Also, I do like the way Classic Negative renders greens in many Recipes… Fujicolor Pro 400H, Color Negative 400, Pacific Blues, Fujicolor 100 Gold all come to my mind. So it might be simply divergent tastes (what I personally like, another might dislike), or perhaps whether a particular Recipe matched well with the specific light and subject at that moment. I hope that all makes sense.
Thank you for the comments, guys! It is always a pleasure to read them!
As you know I do not have film experience and I am not a pro. It is just fun to try different recipes in different situations. And last days I decided to play with CN recipes – Reala Ace and C200 v2, and may be I prefer C200, because it is warmer.
And as Vasile Guţă-Ciucur mention, if I use CN on some colored place (I tried with few street paintings) the results are really lovely!
Also may be I like different type of greens 🙂
Regards!
Hi Ritchie, I have just landed a new X100VI and enjoying adding sims to it while also updating my choices on the X100V which I’m v happy to keep. You mentioned the confusing ‘base setting’ which I am currently struggling with on the X-Trans IV X100V: I get a C1 base and a C1 in the Q menu. If you have a moment can you clarify what’s going on? Meanwhile I am looking forward to shooting some of your American New Color sims – if only we got American weather here in Britain to match (it’s April here so you need a different sim for every day of the week: April is famous for variability!!) Thank you 🙂
On Fujifilm cameras, “Base” simply means what you are currently shooting with. If it says “C1 Base” it means that you are currently shooting with C1. If it only says “Base” it means that you are not using any of the C1-C7, but some settings that you entered into the IQ Menu subset. I hope that makes sense. I don’t know why Fujifilm set it up this way, but I’m glad that they did away with it on the latest models.
Hello! Thank you so much for this recipe. I love this recipe so much – I notice my photos are often very cool / blue looking, can you help me understand how I can change the settings to make it look a bit warmer in photos?
Sure, if the results are too cool, simply adjust the WB Shift to be a little warmer. Perhaps try -1 Blue instead of +1.
Thank you for taking the time to respond to me I appreciate you :). I have done exactly that ^_^
😀
This is a long shot, but I assume there’s no way to adapt this for X-Trans III sensors?
There’s not a way, sorry. 😞
I’m curious, how does this Reala Ace recipe compare to the Reala Ace simulation introduced by Fuji in the newest firmware 4.0?
Here you go:
https://fujixweekly.com/2024/03/23/the-new-reala-ace-film-simulation-is-actually/
Hi Ritchie, thank you very much for this recipe, which has easily become my favourite recipe for the past two years. I was just wondering if there is any way to make this more compatible with shooting portrait (which I find people normally enjoy having more white/slight pink added to their skin colour) without compromising the way this recipe renders the green and blue?
I think in shade and similar light scenarios, it can be slightly too cool sometimes for portraits. You can always set the WB Shift to 0R & 0B in those situations, and see if that resolves it. For the most part, I’ve had pretty good luck with this Recipe and pictures of people.