Part 2 — X-Trans IV, Part 3 — X-T3 & X-T30, Part 4 — X-Trans III, Part 5 — X-Trans II, Part 6 — X-Trans I
I frequently get asked: which seven Film Simulation Recipes should I program into my camera first? I’ve published over 300 on this website and in the Fuji X Weekly App, and the choices can become overwhelming. I’ve attempted to help out with this dilemma several times, including the Which Film Simulation Recipe, When? series, Try These 3 Film Simulation Recipes No Matter Your Fujifilm Camera, The 10 Best Film Simulation Recipes on the Fuji X Weekly App, Top 25 Most Popular Film Simulation Recipes of 2023, and many others. My hope is that these types of articles help you to find some good Recipes to try, in case you’re not sure where to begin or what to use.
This is Part 1 of what will be a series of articles on this topic. I actually attempted to do this back in the summer, but got sidetracked, and never made it beyond the first post. So those with an X-Trans V camera get a little bonus. My hope is to make it all the way through X-Trans I, so if you have an older model, don’t worry—we’ll get to your camera soon.
The list of Film Simulation Recipes below are my “Essential 7” for X-Trans V cameras. If you are not sure which Recipes to program into your C1-C7 Custom Presets, these are my suggestions for you to begin with. These are the ones that you must try, in my opinion. You might love all of them, you might only appreciate some of them, or you might not like any of them. Each person has their own styles and tastes, and there’s no one single Recipe that’s universally loved by everyone (although a few seem close). Still, give these seven a try—keep the ones you like, and replace the ones that you don’t.
An important side note here: this list isn’t necessarily made up of versatile Recipes. Like film, most Film Simulation Recipes have specific use cases, such as sunny daylight, so not all of these option will be good for night photography, for example, or perhaps other situations. Be sure to visit my Which Film Simulation Recipe, When? for a more comprehensive list of options for various use cases.
This list is specifically for X-Trans V cameras, which (as of this writing) are the Fujifilm X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20. The X-S20 is a bit controversial to be included here because it has an X-Trans IV sensor paired with the X-Trans V processor, but since it seems to render more similar to X-Trans V than X-Trans IV, and has the X-Trans V JPEG options, it is included in this list. Also, use this list for the upcoming X100V successor, once it comes out (in February or March, most likely). Next up in this series is X-Trans IV.
The Essential 7 Film Simulation Recipes to program into your X-Trans V camera first:
C1 — Kodachrome 64
C2 — Kodak Portra 400 v2
C3 — Vibrant Arizona
C4 — Pacific Blues
C5 — 1970’s Summer
C6 — Reala Ace
C7 — Kodak Tri-X 400
Find these Film Simulation Recipes and many more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Awesome selection!
Thanks!
I like all those. In fact I keep four of them in my X-T5 and X100V at all times and rotate a couple others. Kodachrome 64, Portra, and Tri-X went on and never come off.
Awesome! Those are my favorites, too. Thanks for sharing!
Reala Ace has become my favorite simulation 😉
David.
Belgium.
Am I the only one that prefers the Portra 160 V2 over the 400 V2? I’ll be honest and say I never shot them on film. I just feel like 400 renders more green and yellow in the images. It’s definitely warmer looking to me with an unnatural amount of green and yellow added to the images to my eyes. I thought Portra was made to be a natural looking portrait film. I can’t imagine anyone wanting green and yellow tones for portraits.
Kodak Portra 160 v2 is pretty new. I think a lot of people haven’t tried it yet. Give it time and it will become much more popular. I’m glad that you like it!
One film can produce many different looks (depending on a host of factors, including how shot, developed, scanned, etc.). In the case of Kodak Portra 400 v2, a certain photographer provided me with actual Kodak Portra 400 film scans and some shots from his Fujifilm X100V that were captured side-by-side. I was then able to get them to match nearly identically, and that’s how that particular Recipe came to be. It won’t match every Portra 400 picture, but it is pretty darn close to some. In fact, I’ve seen some images online that I was certain were captured with that particular Recipe, only to learn it was actual Portra 400 film. 🤣
Just go my new XT5 so this website has been a godsend. Can’t wait to experiment with different recipes. Many thanks.
You are welcome! Glad that you found it, and I hope that you enjoy your X-T5 😀