Fujifilm has 20 Film Simulations on their latest cameras, and one of my favorites is Nostalgic Negative (also called Nostalgic Neg.). I thought it would be worthwhile to discuss this Film Simulation and compare a few different Recipes. Let’s jump right into this.
Nostalgic Negative is one of Fujifilm’s most recent Film Sims, first appearing in 2021 on the GFX100S, and now found on all of the fifth-generation X-series cameras. Inspired by American New Color photographs of the 1970’s from William Eggleston, Stephen Shore, and Joel Sternfeld (among others), it aims to replicate the look of prints from that era. The result is an aesthetic that feels like a warm memory pulled from your grandparent’s photo album or a shoebox full of old pictures.
In practice, Nostalgic Neg. sits somewhere between Classic Chrome and Eterna. It carries some of the subtle tonal gentleness of Eterna while achieving a Kodak-esque palette kind of similar to Classic Chrome, but with a unique shadow rendering and warmth. This Film Simulation doesn’t aim for true-to-life results; it’s more like a memory, giving your photos an instant sense of history and emotion.
So far, I’ve published 22 Film Simulation Recipes that use Nostalgic Negative as the base. You can achieve various looks with this Film Sim., and you may not know which one is right for you. I thought it would be a good idea to compare a handful of them directly, which might help you to decide which one(s) to program into your Fujifilm camera. The images below are all camera-made JPEGs from my Fujifilm GFX100S II, reprocessed in-camera using various Recipes, plus one with factory-default settings (no Recipe). I’m considering publishing a whole bunch of similar articles, so let me know if you appreciate this type of comparison.
Definitely appreciate this type of comparison 👍
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback!
Which one of those would you say is your favourite/most used, out of interest?
Nostalgic Americana and 1970’s Summer are probably my two most used. Not included in this list is Nostalgic Film (part of the Film Dial set), which I also use somewhat frequently.
I think my favorite version about is the Nostalgic Americana recipe. It has a warm look that preserves more of the reds (at least to me eye).
Awesome! I like that one a lot, too.
My favorite recipe is Jo D’Agostino’s Nostalgic negative
I’m not familiar with that one. A lot of people are making Recipes nowadays. There was a time you could count them on one hand and have fingers to spare, but there are literally hundreds now, if not thousands. It’s really fascinating how big this whole thing has become.
Photo is light so, out of interest for me. 2000€ for this kind of photos 🤔
Photography is indeed the recording of light, but it is also so very much more than that, which is common knowledge.
I assume (although it wasn’t particularly coherent …what’s 2000€ got to do with literally anything in this article?) that your second sentence was intended as an insult to me, which, if so, was not very kind of you. That should never be someone’s first reaction, and it really speak volumes about the one saying it. I hope that wasn’t the case, and something just got really lost in the translation. Feel free to set it straight if that’s not what you meant.
I also appreciate these comparisons. Your amazing app has so many recipes that it can be a bit difficult to choose and compare them. These topics are a great tool to bring order and to better understand the differences between the recipes, as well as the purpose and history behind each Fuji film simulation.
Thanks so much, I will continue to make more in the coming days and months. 😀
I’d appreciate reading about Classic Chrome simulations. This post has been very interesting.
Classic Chrome is definitely going to happen. I look forward to putting it together, will probably have to be much more robust than this one. Thanks for the feedback! 😀
Hello Ritchie,
First time posting here, It sounds like you need a bit of encouragement 🙂 YES, this is exactly what I was missing in all those otherwise great recipe descriptions!
BTW in your previous post about 20 Fujifilm sims, there is a small picture with all of them in 5×4 matrix. Is there a chance to publish this matrix in a bigger resolution so we can compare thoroughly all the subtle details?
Thank you for all the energy you invest into our community! Even for the folks lurking from underexposed shadows.
Here’s the full-size image:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54782525861_3f8e78ebf2_o.png
I appreciate your encouragement! Sometimes I get an idea for a series, and then it basically flops, with nearly nobody interested. I wasn’t sure if this was going to be one of those are not, but the feedback has been largely positive. Thank you for all of your kindness!
Thank you very much Ritchie! This helps. Even if I’m still using my old X-E3 that does not have all the sims on the picture.In a way it may also help to speed up decision process on when to upgrade 😀
And regarding series and sim comparisons: I do not expect you to jump on this and create tons of articles right away. I know it’s a lot of work, this one was a good start though. Perhaps only now I got your idea better: so many times I was thinking – how that particular scene might look like before applying the recipe, if there only was one sample to compare – say with Provia sim and zeroed settings. Even this isn’t an easy ask. But now comparing one picture taken with a particular sim on all zeroes and throwing more developed with that sim-based recipes, this is so great idea!
I appreciate the feedback, it means a lot. Thanks!
Any version of this for the x-t3/30?
Nostalgic Negative is only available on the fifth generation X-series cameras and recent GFX: X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20, X100VI, X-T50, X-M5, X-E5, GFX100 II, GFX100S II, and GFX100RF. It’s also found on the X half; however, you can’t use Recipes with that camera. The GFX Eterna 55 has Nostalgic Neg., but I have no idea the specifics of that camera for still photography. The upcoming X-T30 III should also have this film simulation.
Hi Ritchie – found this ‘variations on a theme’ both interesting and helpful. It’s great to have so many recipes for Fujifilm cameras but it can end up like a library with all its books in a pile on the floor – everything’s there but finding what you want can be difficult!
Hopefuuly you’ll follow this article with similar ones for other film styles.
Regards,
Keith.
Thanks so much for your feedback and encouragement!