Part 1 — X-Trans V, 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 post is Part 2 of the series.
The list of Film Simulation Recipes below are my “Essential 7” for X-Trans IV cameras (except for the X-T3 and X-T30, which will be found in Part 3). 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? article (this one, too) for a more comprehensive group of options for various use cases.
This list is for X-Trans IV cameras (except for the X-T3 & X-T30), which include the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II. The X-S20’s exclusion is a bit controversial 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’s not in this list, but with the X-Trans V cameras.
The Essential 7 Film Simulation Recipes to program into your X-Trans IV camera first:
C1 — Kodachrome 64
C2 — Kodak Portra 400 v2
C3 — Reggie’s Portra
C4 — Vibrant Arizona
C5 — Pacific Blues
C6 — Fujicolor Superia 100
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.
My first 4 “C slots” are almost fixed, and 3 of them are in these 7 simulations, in order: Kodachrome 64, Kodak Tri-x 400, Reggie’s portra. Then comes the vivid one, Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v2. The other 3 are normally set depending on what I’m going to do… I often keep a “night” recipe, Serr’s 500T, in C5. C6 and C7 often keep the recipes of the current SOOC contest!
Awesome! You’ve got a very good selection. Thanks for the comment!
Interested to know when part 3 is out? Or is it out already? Thanks
It will be out soon, probably tomorrow.
Why do you say these aren’t for the xt3? It has the xtrans IV same as the XT4.
“my “Essential 7” for X-Trans IV cameras (except for the X-T3 and X-T30, which will be found in Part 3).”
It has the same sensor and processor, but Fujifilm did not give them the same JPEG options, and that’s why they’re not compatible. The X-T3 and X-T30 are on an island. Specifically, the X-T3 doesn’t have Color Chrome FX Blue, Clarity, Grain size, .5 Highlight/Shadow adjustments, Classic Negative, or Eterna Bleach Bypass. Because of this, almost all Recipes that are fully compatible with the (for example) X-T4 are not fully compatible with the X-T3. If a Recipe for the newer X-Trans IV cameras has Clarity set to 0, Color Chrome FX Blue set to Off, doesn’t have a .5 Highlight/Shadow setting, and uses Grain size Small (and doesn’t use either Classic Negative or Eterna Bleach Bypass), then you can use it on the X-T3, simply ignoring those settings that the X-T3 doesn’t have. Unfortunately, there are very few of those Recipes (only a few). Fortunately, there are a bunch of Recipes that are fully compatible with the X-T3. I hope this all makes sense.