I love black-and-white photography. Kodak Tri-X 400 is my favorite monochromatic option, and (unsurprisingly) it’s by far the most popular B&W Recipe. For whatever reason, color Film Simulation Recipes tend to be a lot more popular than monochrome, so there are quite a few more of them; however, I really enjoy publishing a good B&W Recipe, and I’m quite excited about this one in particular. It’s really good, in my humble opinion.
The story behind this Classic B&W Recipe is unusual. While leading a photowalk in Manitou Springs, Colorado, with Mike’s Camera, someone asked me to explain the process of creating a Recipe. So I walked him through the process right there in Manitou Springs on a Fujifilm X-E5, and created this JPEG settings combo while doing so. I remember thinking that it looked nice, but pretty much forgot about it until after I returned home and reviewed the photos. After using it a little more, it quickly became one of my favorite B&W Recipes. Kodak Tri-X 400 still ranks a little higher in my book, but this one is easily a Top 5 for me.
While I only used this Classic B&W Recipe on a Fujifilm X-E5 and X100VI, it is fully compatible with X-Trans IV (except the X-T3 and X-T30) and X-Trans V cameras. For those keeping score, that’s (as of this writing) the X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, X-T30 II, X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20, X100VI, X-T50, X-M5, and X-E5. You can also use this on the latest GFX cameras, including the GFX100S, GFX100 II, GFX100S II, and GFX100RF. For the Fujifilm X-T3, X-T30, and X-Trans III models, consider trying the Analog Monochrome Recipe, which isn’t too dissimilar.
Film Simulation: Acros+G
Monochromatic Color (Toning): WC 0 & MG 0 (Off)
Dynamic Range: DR200
Grain Effect: Strong, Large
Color Chrome Effect: Off
Color Chrome FX Blue: Off
White Balance: Incandescent, -9 Red & +9 Blue
Highlight: +3
Shadow: +4
Sharpness: +1
High ISO NR: -4
Clarity: +3
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 12800
Exposure Compensation: 0 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Classic B&W Film Simulation Recipe on a Fujifilm X-E5 and X100VI:
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Cool 😎 Ritchie 👌
But infeex, the Kodak Tri-X 400 recipe you brought us, and thanks again to Anders Lindborg for creating it 🙏👌👍 is one of my top 5 favorites 🤩
The Tri-X & T-Max recipes are programmed by “default” on all my Fujifilm cameras along my own special version recipe of the Ilford Delta 3200 😉
Those 2 are gorgeous to use when wanting to do B&W photography…
Thanks! Tri-X and TMax are both tough to beat, no doubt about it.
Nice…but, please mention that using the Clarity parameter will affect shooting speed. Most Fujifilm users know this, but newbs may not.
Thanks for the reminder that not everyone may be aware of: Clarity set to anything other than 0 causes a short “Storing” pause.
Thanks for the heads up! I just loaded a recipe and figured it was because of the recipe, but now I know specifically what’s causing it.
As a lifelong user of Kodak Tri-X film in both 35mm and 6×6 I have to say that those images are close, but lack the “bite” of film. Close, but no cigar.
This Recipe doesn’t mimic Tri-X.
In all my years using film I’ve never heard it described with the term “bite” so I’m not sure what that means. Digital cameras are obviously not film, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both. It’s surprising just how close one can get to the look and feel of film with Fujifilm cameras, despite their differences and the limitations of the JPEG parameters. All thing considered, “close” from a lifelong film photographer is something I’ll take as a compliment.
I love the green filter option for monochrome photography in Fuji cameras, it’s easily my favourite of the three available.
I have tended to avoid it for landscape photography (often opting for +R instead), but it can be really good, and definitely deserves more love. Thanks for the feedback!
Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I’m probably the only one who’s a bit confused about why the parameters for two recipes with the same name differ so much.
You published a recipe for Kodak Tri-X 400 on June 18, 2020, and its parameters were quite different from the current one.
Is this latest recipe a new, improved version of the original Kodak Tri-X 400?
Sincerely,
Igor
I guess I wasn’t very clear, my apologies. This Recipe is NOT intended to mimic Tri-X. I only mentioned the Tri-X Recipe because it is my favorite for B&W photography. So this isn’t a “v2” or anything like that. Sorry for the confusion.
Hey Ritchie
I just loaded this recipe into my X-T4 and I think it’s going to stay there for awhile…Thank you for this one…it’s really good.
Awesome! Glad that you like it.
I tried the new B&W recipe 👍🏽👍🏽.
Awesome! What did you think of it?