I’ve been asked a couple of times lately which Fujifilm Recipes are the best. Someone also asked which Recipes are my favorite for each Film Simulation. Of course “best” is a subjective term, making it impossible to answer; however, if you consider “best” as a synonym to “my personal favorite” then we can move forward answering these questions. Instead of compiling a list of (say) the Top 10 Best Recipes, I decided to tackle this by sharing my favorite Recipe for each Film Simulation.

Some of these were difficult decisions because I have so many favorite Recipes for Classic Chrome, Classic Negative, Reala Ace, Nostalgic Neg. and Eterna. I’m not 100% sure that I actually chose the best, and it probably depends on what day of the week you ask me. If I had written this yesterday or if I procrastinated until tomorrow, some of the selections might be different. I guess take this list with a small grain of salt.

I also included a “runners up” selection for each Film Simulation. Those Recipes were in the running as possible picks for the best, but didn’t quite make the cut. For Classic Chrome and Classic Negative, I could have made the runners up list much longer, and I still would have felt like I left some worthy contenders out. And I know that I did leave a large number of excellent Recipes out of this list, but that’s just the way it goes. So feel free to tell me in the comments what you agree with, what you disagree with, and which Recipes should have been mentioned but weren’t.

Let’s dive in!

Provia/STD — Provia Slide

Provia Slide is a Recipe for X-Trans III cameras, plus the X-T3 and X-T30 by setting Color Chrome Effect to Off. It’s probably the most ideal Provia Recipe, just really lovely. Generally speaking, I’m not a big fan of the Provia film sim, but this Recipe forces me to like it.

Runners up:
Fujichrome Sensia 100
Standard Provia
Provia 400
Provia Summer
Cross Process

Velvia/Vivid — Aerochrome v2

I love Velvia for colorful landscape photography, and there are a number of excellent options. Being pressed to choose my favorite, the obvious answer is Aerochrome v2, a Recipe for full-spectrum infrared cameras, like the X-T4 ES. This Recipe is an absolute thrill; unfortunately, most can’t use it.

Runners up:
Velvia Film
Vivid Chrome
Vivid Velvia
The Rockwell
BewareMyVelvia

Astia/Soft — CineStill 400D v2

Astia is a Film Simulation that I have to warm up to, it’s not one that I typically choose. But there are a number of good Recipes that use Astia as the base, and my favorite is CineStill 400D v2, which was collaboratively created by Nestor Pool and myself.

Runners up:
Everyday Astia
Astia Negative
Astia Azure
Indoor Astia
Kodak Ektar 100

Classic Chrome — Kodachrome 64

Classic Chrome is the king of Film Simulations. There are probably 25 or more Recipes that could have been chosen to represent the “best” but Kodachrome 64 jumped out to me as the one I should pick. There are so many excellent ones, and I feel like the five “runners up” below is a significantly insufficient selection—lots of great Recipes were unfortunately excluded.

Runners up:
Kodak Portra 160 v2
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 v2
Kodak Gold 200
Vibrant Arizona

Reala Ace — Fujicolor PRO 160C Warm

Even though this is the newest Film Simulation, there are a lot of excellent Reala Ace Recipes. I went back-and-forth a bit, but decided on Fujicolor PRO 160C Warm, which is a part of the Film Dial set. The Reala Ace film sim is essentially a “better” PRO Neg.—as Fujifilm put it, a negative for the new era.

Runners up:
Avalon Ace
Kodak Pro 400
Fujifilm Negative
Pushed Analog
PRO Negative 160C

PRO Neg. Hi — PRO Negative 160C

Between PRO Neg. Hi and PRO Neg. Std, I tend to choose the latter much more often than the former. Now that we have Reala Ace, I don’t go for either very often anymore. But there are some good Recipes to choose from, and for PRO Neg. Hi, PRO Negative 160C is my favorite.

Runners up:
Pro Film
PRO Neg. Hi
Fujicolor Pro 400H
Fujicolor Pro 160NS
Jeff Davenport Night

PRO Neg. Std — Fujicolor 100 Industrial

I have several favorite Recipes for PRO Neg. Std, but Fujicolor 100 Industrial, which is for X-Trans III cameras (plus the X-T3/X-T30), is something special.

Runners up:
CineStill 800T (X-Trans II)
CineStill 800T (X-Trans III + X-T3/X-T30)
Nostalgic Print
Fujicolor Superia 800
Analog Color

Classic Negative — Pacific Blues

Classic Negative is one of my top favorite Film Simulations. Like Classic Chrome, choosing a top favorite and narrowing to just five “runners up” was difficult, and I’m certain I left a number of excellent ones off the list. With that said, Pacific Blues seemed like a good choice to represent this film sim as the best Recipe.

Runners up:
1-Hour Photo
Reggie’s Superia
Superia Negative
Reala Ace
Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled

Nostalgic Neg. — 1970’s Summer

The Nostalgic Neg. film sim is one that seems to work very well or only so-so, just depending on the subject and lighting. Of the various color Film Simulations, I would probably rank this one fifth best. There are a number of excellent Recipes that use Nostalgic Neg. as the base, and 1970’s Summer is probably my top favorite.

Runners up:
Nostalgic Americana
Kodak Vericolor III 160
Kodak Vericolor VPS
Kodak Vision3 250D v2
1976 Kodak

Eterna/Cinema — Kodak Vision3 250D

The Eterna Film Simulation is probably most often used for video, but it is excellent for stills, too. It has a unique tonality that can be fun to experiment with. While I chose Kodak Vision3 250D as my favorite, it was a difficult decision, and any of the five below could have just as easily been chosen instead.

Runners up:
Eterna Summer
Summer of ’59
Timeless Negative
SantaColor
Vintage Color

Eterna Bleach Bypass — Ferrania Solaris FG 400

I feel like Eterna Bleach Bypass is one of the least used color film simulations, maybe even the least used. But that doesn’t mean it’s not good, because it certainly can be great. My favorite Recipe that uses Eterna Bleach Bypass is Ferrania Solaris FG 400, but the runners up below are good, too.

Runners up:
1960 Chrome
Chrome City
Kodachrome Blue
Analog Gold
LomoChrome Metropolis

Acros (+Ye, +R, +G) — Kodak Tri-X 400

When people ask what my favorite Recipe is, I often tell them Kodak Tri-X 400, which was created by Anders Lindborg. This is my favorite B&W Recipe, and one of my top Recipes, period. Acros is such a great Film Simulation, and this Recipe really makes the most of it.

Runners up:
Agfa Scala
Classic B&W
FRGMT B&W
Kodak T-Max P3200
Kentmere Pan 400

Monochrome (+Ye, +R, +G) — Ilford HP5 Plus 400

I don’t like the Monochrome Film Simulation (which is simply Provia without color) nearly as much as Acros, but it can still be a good base for black-and-white Recipes. Ilford HP5 Plus 400, which was also created by Anders Lindborg, is my favorite that uses the Monochrome Film Simulation.

Runners up:
Kodak T-Max 100 Soft Tone
Kodak T-Max 100 Hard Tone
Kodak T-Max 400
Ilford FP4 Plus 125
Dramatic Monochrome

Sepia — B&W Sepia

Last and least is Sepia. After Fujifilm introduced Monochromatic Color on X-Trans IV, which allows custom toning of B&W photos, the Sepia Film Simulation seemed obsolete. Still, it’s found on every Fujifilm camera. I haven’t created very many Sepia-based Recipes, but there are a few. B&W Sepia, which is a part of the Universal Negative set, is my personal favorite.

Runners up:
Sepia Print
Sepia

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