I asked, you answered. Below you will find the top color Film Simulation Recipes for portraits and people, as chosen by you! I appreciate everyone who took time out of their busy day to answer the survey—I’m sure this information will be quite helpful to many people, so thank you!
What makes a Recipe good for portraits? There’s no objective answer to this, as everyone has their own unique style and taste. Probably the best answer is: ones that produce good skin tone rendering—Classic Chrome might be the best film simulation for that, but, of course, that’s very subjective, and opinions vary. How a certain Recipe does depends a lot on the exact light situation—one might be great in a specific scenario but not in another. All of that makes it difficult to say with any level of certainty which Recipes are best for portraiture, but there are clearly some that are more universal than others.
I’m not a portrait photographer myself. I’ve dabbled in it here and there over the years, but it’s just not my thing. My wife, however, does do portrait photography, and her favorite Recipe is Reggie’s Portra. In fact, all of her top Recipes for portraits and people (aside from the brand-new Fujifilm Negative Recipe that I just published yesterday) cracked the Top 10. There are definitely some good options, and the poll results confirm a lot of my suspicions about which ones are best.
The specific question asked was: which color Film Simulation Recipe is your favorite for portraits and people? I gave 25 Recipe options that either I have used personally or I have seen others use for people pictures, so I knew they were a good group. Then, I provided a space to add any Recipes that were left out for those whose favorites weren’t in the list—since there are approaching 400 Recipes, most were left out. The results were fascinating, so let’s jump into it!
Reggie’s Portra was unsurprisingly the top pick; however, what did surprise me was that it absolutely dominated the poll. Almost half of you chose this Recipe as a favorite for people pictures. According to you, this is the Recipe for portraits. And I concur. This Recipe is compatible with X-Trans IV models (except the X-T3 & X-T30); for fifth-generation cameras, simply set Color Chrome FX Blue to Off.
Kodak Portra 400 v2 is one of my all-time favorite Recipes. Portra film (as the name implies) is specifically intended for portrait photography, so it should not be a shock that this Recipe is popular for people pictures. One-in-five of you chose this in the poll, putting it in (a distant) second place. There is a version for fifth-generation models (linked above), one for X-Trans IV, and one for the X-T3 and X-T30.
Kodachrome 64 is the long-time number one most popular Film Simulation Recipe on Fuji X Weekly. For pictures with people, this one places third, which is still high, but far from the top spot. There is a version for fifth-generation models (linked above), one for X-Trans IV, and one for X-Trans II.
One film can produce many different looks depending on a whole host of factors (how handled, how shot, how developed, how scanned or printed, and how viewed); Kodak Portra 400 and v2 both produce a Portra-like look, but based on two notably divergent possible outcomes of the emulsion. There is a version of this Recipe for X-Trans IV models (linked above; for X-Trans V, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Off), one for the X-T3 & X-T30, and one for X-Trans III (although that one is significantly different).
Tied for Number 5 (with Kodak Portra 160 v2 below) is Reala Ace, which interestingly does not use the Reala Ace film simulation; instead, it is based on Classic Negative. It’s highly versatile and fairly popular, so I’m not surprised to see it ranked so high. It’s compatible with all fifth-generation models.
Also in fifth place is Kodak Portra 160 v2. This one has more of a softer rendering, and is especially great for taming high-contrast scenes. This is compatible with all fifth-generation models; for X-Trans IV (except the X-T3 & X-T30), simply set Color Chrome FX Blue to Strong.
Tied for seventh (with Kodak Portra 160 below) is McCurry Kodachrome, which is modeled after Steve McCurry’s famous last roll of Kodachrome 64. Think of it as scanned Kodachrome, while the Kodachrome 64 Recipe (a couple of spots higher) is more like projected Kodachrome. This recipe is compatible with all X-Trans IV cameras.
The Kodak Portra 160 Recipe, which is tied for seventh (with McCurry Kodachrome above), has a soft and warm Kodak color negative aesthetic. Recipes with Portra in the name account for five of the Top 8 in this list. There is a version of this Recipe for X-Trans IV (linked above), one for X-Trans III & X-T3/X-T30, and one for X-Trans II.
This was my very first Recipe that uses the Nostalgic Neg. film simulation. It’s an excellent all rounder, including for people pictures, but I am a bit surprised to see it at Number 9. Nostalgia Negative is compatible with all X-Trans V cameras.
Pacific Blues has a lot of contrast, so it’s not for every situation, but when it works, it really works. It’s tied for Number 10 with Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled (below). There is a version X-Trans V (linked above), and one for X-Trans IV (except the X-T3 & X-T30).
Also tied for Number 10 is Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled. This is a highly versatile Recipe with low-contrast and muted colors, and is especially excellent for artificial light situations. It’s compatible with X-Trans IV cameras (except the X-T3 & X-T30); for fifth-generation models, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak.
If you’re not sure which Recipes to try for portrait photography, I’d start with the 11 above. That’s a good group, and there’s enough variety that at least one should work well for you. But, in case those aren’t enough, I’ve included below the Recipes that received at least two votes in the poll (including a couple write-ins). I figure if at least two people voted one as a favorite, then it must be decent, and worthwhile to try. Also, there were a number of write-ins for Kodak Tri-X 400; this list was specific to color Recipes, but, for B&W, I definitely recommend that Recipe—it’s my personal favorite.
1976 Kodak
Cinematic Film
Easy Reala Ace
Elite Chrome 200
Emulsion ’86
Fujicolor Reala 100
Fujicolor Superia 100
Kodachrome II
Kodak Ultramax 400
Superia Xtra 400
There are many Film Simulation Recipes that weren’t mentioned in this article that are probably pretty good, so just because one wasn’t listed here doesn’t mean it won’t produce good results for portraits and people pictures. Part of the fun is in the discovery. The one that could become your favorite might be in this list, or it might not, and you won’t know until you try. I invite you to pick a couple of these Recipes, and maybe one not in this list, and shoot some portraits to see if you like the results. You can find them here, or in the Fuji X Weekly App, which is available for both Apple and Android.
I think Reggie’s Portra was an easy one for me to vote #1 without over thinking it! It’s auto white balance with soft shadows and highlights gives it maximum versatility when coming to shooting people and skin tones, in all sorts of light conditions indoor and outdoors. Great poll and article Ritchie!
I appreciate the kind feedback!
Classic chrome is the absolute worst for skin tones unless you want everyone to look like a zombie!
I know probably a dozen professional/successful photographers who use Classic Chrome for portraits/weddings. Maybe it’s just the exact light or specific settings???
I’ve been wondering for a long time. Which Fuji cameras can use custom WB settings for every “recipe”? I mean, I currently own a X-T20 and I have to share or change WB settings for every recipe that uses Auto or Sun or Shade… I cannot set Custom1 with WB Auto +2R -1B and Custom2 with WB Auto +5R-3B. I know the latests model can do it but I don’t really find a list of models or from what year they started allowing that. I can see X-Pro3 and X-T4 can do it… Are those the first cameras that allowed that?
All X-Trans IV cameras—with the exception of the X-T3 and X-T30—and all X-Trans V cameras, can save a WB Shift with each C1-C7 Custom Settings presets. So… X-Pro3 and newer. The X-T30 cannot, but the X-T30 II can. I hope that answers your question.
Hi Alejandro,
not sure about the X-T20, but my X-T30 (I. Gen) does not offer saving white balance offset in the custom preset menu. But I actually think that it is a bug, as it is possible with a workaround in my case and there’s no technical reason why it shouldn’t work (you can load the preset and change the WB offset afterwards too). So this is how it works for some:
Got to your settings – Q (Image Quality) Menu and set everything according to the recipe you want to save. You should be able to also adjust the WB offset.
At the bottom of the Q menu you can change your user presets. In my case, I go in there, choose the preset that I want to change and the first option says “Use current settings”. If you click this, it will take what you’ve set in the Q menu into the preset, including the WB offset. You can go into White Balance and check for yourself.
If you have a preset where you just want to adjust the WB offset, you can first load that one in Q menu, change the offset and save this change the same way over the one that you loaded. I did that after finding that workaround.
Hope it works out for you!
Unfortunately (and I hate to be the bearer of bad news), this doesn’t work. If you save a Recipe with Daylight WB and a WB Shift of +1R & -1B into C2, and later (using yours or any technique) save a Recipe into C5 that uses Daylight WB with a WB Shift of +2R & -5B, when you go back to C2, you’ll find that the WB Shift is now +2R & -5B and not +1R & -1B.
The camera will remember only one WB Shift per WB type.
I use your Pro Neg Hi recipe (for X-Trans IV) on my X-Trans V, as well as Thommy’s Ektachrome, which gives good results. I often use it in bracketing with three film simulations — Pro Neg Standard, Hi, Nostalgic, Provia, etc. Your “Bright Summer” recipe is sometimes pure magic when the light is just right, especially for children’s portraits. I really like Reggie Portra, but skin tones can sometimes look a bit too orange. It’s not my first choice. Kodachrome 25 and 64 are very good for more street-style portraits
Thank you for the feedback! I’m sure this will be helpful to those who read it. Much appreciated!