About a month-and-a-half ago, Dan Allen sent a Recipe for me to try. It was based on Provia and was specifically intended for spring blossoms, so he called it Spring Provia. When I had the opportunity, I loaded it into my camera and tried it out. I didn’t get to use it a lot, but I did like the results. Fast forward to Fujikina Copenhagen. There was a Magnum exhibit that had a light table wall with hundreds of color transparencies displayed. It was really cool! I noticed one group of slides—I couldn’t tell you who the photographer was or what film was used or any technical information—that was reminiscent of Dan’s Recipe. I found the images I had made using his Recipe on the SD card in my X-E5, and reprocessed them in-camera to better match the slides. While I don’t think I got it completely perfect, I was very happy with the results. Then I continued to use the Recipe—a variant of Dan’s Recipe—while in Copenhagen.

My modified version, which I’ve called Provia Positive, is highly versatile. It’s hands-down my favorite Provia Recipe of all-time. As many of you may know, Provia is not my favorite Film Simulation, and I don’t personally use it often. This Recipe gave me a new appreciation for it, and is one I could see myself using regularly. It’s highly versatile, great for most subjects and situations. While portraits are probably hit-or-miss, it’s excellent for landscapes, still-life, street photography, etc., etc..

For Dan’s original Recipe—Spring Provia—use Provia, DR400, Grain Effect Off, Color Chrome Effect Strong, Color Chrome FX Blue Off, White Balance Daylight, WB Shift +1 Red & -1 Blue, Highlight -1, Shadow +1, Color +3, Sharpness 0, High ISO NR -4, and Clarity 0. I invite you to try Dan’s Recipe, it’s pretty good. My variant adds Grain (because grain was visible in the slides, and I like it personally), Color Chrome FX Blue Strong (to mimic the blue sky in some of the slides, perhaps the photographer used a polarizer filter), Auto White Priority (some of the pictures in the group were in different light situations, and Daylight didn’t match those), WB Shift +2 Red & -3 Blue (I went back-and-forth between +1 and +2 Red… +1.5 Red would have probably been most appropriate if it was possible, so I settled on +2), Color +4, Sharpness -1, and Clarity +2. I made quite a few small changes, but the core idea of Dan’s Recipe remains, so I want to give him credit for the original concept.

This Provia Positive Fujifilm Recipe is compatible with “newer” fourth-generation models—X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II—as well as all fifth-generation cameras—X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20, X100VI, X-T50, X-M5, X-E5, and X-T30 III—and “newer” GFX models, like the GFX100S, GFX100 II, GFX100S II, and GFX100RF. For the X-Pro3 and X100V, simply use Auto WB instead of Auto White Priority (outside of artificial light scenarios, it will look the same). For the X-T3 and X-T30, try Dan’s Spring Provia Recipe, which is compatible with those cameras.

Film Simulation: Provia/STD
Grain Effect: Strong, Small
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong
White Balance: Auto White Priority, +2 Red & -3 Blue
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlight: -1
Shadow: +1
Color: +4
Sharpness: -1
High ISO NR: -4
Clarity: +2
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 (typically)

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Provia Positive Film Simulation Recipe on a Fujifilm X-E5, X-T5, and GFX100RF:

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