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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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.
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.