Among Fujifilm’s 20 Film Simulations, Eterna Bleach Bypass might be the second least popular, only ahead of Sepia. In my opinion, it is the most underrated and under-appreciated option. Introduced on the Fujifilm X-T4 in 2020, Eterna Bleach Bypass remains exclusive to newer-generation cameras, so those with older models don’t have it available to them. Of the recent Film Simulations—Reala Ace, Classic Negative, Nostalgic Negative, Eterna, and Eterna Bleach Bypass—this one seems to get the least love, which I think is a bit unfair.
To understand the Eterna Bleach Bypass Film Simulation, it helps to first understand what it’s trying to replicate. Bleach bypass is a film processing technique in which the bleach stage is reduced or skipped during development, leaving silver in the emulsion along with the color dyes. The result is an image with higher contrast, muted colors, and a gritty, dramatic tonality—almost as if a black-and-white and color frame were combined together into one. It’s a more common darkroom technique for motion pictures than still photography, but it has been used for both. If you have ever watched the movie Saving Private Ryan, you’ve seen actual bleach bypass. Fujifilm’s Eterna Bleach Bypass Film Simulation is essentially an approximation of their Eterna motion picture film processed this way. It has strong contrast and is the lowest saturated of all the color Film Simulations.
Eterna Bleach Bypass is not a “works for everything” type of Film Simulation like Classic Chrome, Reala Ace, etc.. It’s more for when the subject and situation are “right” for it. Because of that, many never try it, or if they do, it’s once or twice and never again. When used intentionally, it can create cinematic images with a moody character. If you want to add drama to urban environments, partially cloudy or overcast sky, mountain scenes, and much more, this Film Simulation will do it.
Technically, you can get pretty close to factory-default Eterna Bleach Bypass by using the Eterna Film Simulation and increasing both Highlight and Shadow while also lowering Color and making a WB Shift adjustment. But there are straight-out-of-camera aesthetics that are only possible with the Eterna Bleach Bypass Film Simulation. It has its own look that’s immediately recognizable once you become familiar with it. Eterna Bleach Bypass is way underrated and deserves more fanfare. If you’ve never tried it, below are seven really good Fujifilm Recipes that use Eterna Bleach Bypass. I invite you to try one today!
The aesthetic of the 1960 Chrome Recipe comes from several photographs in various 1960’s issues of Arizona Highways magazine (I collect old copies of Arizona Highways, there’s so much great photography inside), so it has a vintage feel to it. This Recipe has compatibility with fourth and fifth generation models.
The Ferrania Solaris FG 400 Recipe is simply Kodak Portra 400 v2 with Eterna Bleach Bypass instead of Classic Chrome. Most Recipes don’t look particularly good when you change the Film Simulation, but in this case it does. This Recipe is compatible with “newer” X-Trans IV cameras (X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II); for fifth-generation models, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Off.
The very first Recipe that I created using the Eterna Bleach Bypass Film Simulation was LomoChrome Metropolis. This Recipe is compatible with “newer” X-Trans IV cameras (X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II); for fifth-generation models, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak.
“Essentially black-and-white for color photography,” is how I described the Eterna Bleach Bypass Recipe. It’s compatible with “newer” X-Trans IV cameras (X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II); for fifth-generation models, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak.
Chrome City is found in the Universal Negative Recipe set, and is one of my favorite Recipes for dreary, rainy days. It’s intended for fifth-generation cameras.
The Kodachrome Blue Recipe mimics improperly scanned Kodachrome slides. Due to its unique design, Kodachrome is the most difficult slide film to accurately scan, so there are a lot of examples of the film with a blue cast, including some of my own that the lab did a poor job scanning. This Recipe is compatible with “newer” X-Trans IV cameras (X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II); for fifth-generation models, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak.
The Pushed CineStill 800T Recipe was intended for daytime photography, but is actually most well suited for nighttime situations. This one is compatible with X-Trans V cameras; for “newer” X-Trans IV (Fujifilm X-T4, X-S10, X-E4 & X-T30 II) use this version, and for the X-Pro3 and X100V use this one that has Eterna as the base.
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I love it for urbex photography!
I can see this film sim being especially great for urbex. Now I need to find some abandoned place to explore….
It deserves a chance, as you rightly say… it’s one of those simulations that boasts a truly unique aesthetic from the start. Not for every situation, as you say, but when it does, the result is fantastic.
In my opinion, everyone should at some point give it a try for a series of photos. If, after that, they determine that it’s not for them and never use it again, that’s fair; however, I suspect that many would discover that they really like it for some circumstances, and would continue to use it here and there. Thanks for the input!
I’ve digitised several thousand Kodachrome slides using a macro lens on an X-T2, some of them taken by my grandfather in the 50s and therefore the original Kodachrome 1, some from the 60s and 70s on Kodachrome 2 and later ones, including my own, on Kodachrome 64 (and also a few 25 and 200).
I found that for the 2/64/25/200 I got perfectly acceptable results with the standard Provia simulation but that Velvia works better for Kodachrome 1. The big advantage with digitizing slide film is that you can see exactly what the original looks like and if I had the time and patience I could probably tweak the settings to get a closer match.
I have heard of so many people being unhappy with lab scans that I’m not sure it’s worth even having it done if you have the necessary equipment to do it at home. I assume there are genuinely professional labs who have the expertise to get the best out of every film but who would be out of reach of hobbyists or people like me with thousands of very old slides.
Obviously there will never be an official Kodachrome simulation because the name doesn’t belong to Fujifilm but maybe one day they will come up with something cunningly disguised under another name!
I know of several people who use Fujifilm cameras as scanners. I think the “issue” (for lack of a better word) is that whatever film sim you use, that affects the outcome. It’s kind of like if you print the same frame on Kodak paper (perhaps Ektacolor) or Fujifilm (Crystal Archive), you’ll get divergent results. If you “scan” with Classic Chrome you’ll get different results than Velvia, etc., etc.. But, as you said, at least you can examine the slide on a light table and compare, and make whatever adjustments are necessary to better match.
This is one of my all time favorite simulations. I’ve used it many times and still do. Trying to replicate it on my X-Pro 2.
This will work on your X-Pro2:
https://fujixweekly.com/2021/11/11/fujifilm-x-trans-iii-x-t30-x-t3-film-simulation-recipe-eterna-bleach-bypass/