Suburban Abstract – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Xpro”
This Xpro Film Simulation Recipe came about after some experiments with white balance and shifts. It went through several iterations before I settled on these settings. The results remind me of cross-processed Fujichrome Sensia or perhaps Elite Chrome. Cross processing film (also called Xpro) is developing it in chemistry that it wasn’t intended to be developed in, most commonly color slide film (E6) in color negative film (C41) chemistry. Different films can give different results when cross processed. I have several other cross-process inspired Film Simulation Recipes (here, here, here, and here); this one is simply a little different aesthetic.
This was a Patron Early-Access Film Simulation Recipe in the Fuji X Weekly App, available to App Patrons for over a year. It’s been replaced by a different Early-Access Recipe, so now it’s available to everyone. It’s not one that you’ll want to use all of the time, but occasionally for a different look it is great. It’s more of a “fun” Recipe. If you are a Fuji X Weekly App Patron, be sure to look for the new Early-Access Recipe!
Storm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Xpro”
This Xpro Film Simulation Recipe is fully compatible with X-Trans III cameras, which are the X-Pro2, X100F, X-E3, X-T2, X-T20, and X-H1, plus the X-T3 and X-T30. For newer cameras, you’ll have to decide on a Grain size (Small or Large), set Color Chrome FX Blue to Off, and Clarity to 0. This Recipe can also be used on the “older” GFX models (50R and 50S), but will render slightly differently.
Classic Chrome Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: -1 Shadow: +3 Color: +4 Color Chrome Effect: N/A (X-Trans III) or Off (X-T3/X-T30) Sharpness: -1 Noise Reduction: -4 Grain: Weak White Balance: 3400K, -6 Red & -9 Blue ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: +2/3 to +1 1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Xpro Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-H1 and X-T30:
Associated Fence – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Green – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Structured Abstract – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Roof & Fence Lines – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Tile Roof – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Cactus Hotels – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Barrel Cactus – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Secret Garden Gate – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Don’t, This Way – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Light Bulb – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Closed Window – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Pigeon Pipe – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Pergola in the Rain – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Arizona Architecture – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Hanging Blossoms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Dark Flowers – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Light Pink with Green – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and over 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Small Clouds Above the Roof – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30 – Pro Neg Recipe
This Film Simulation Recipe is one that I’ve been working on and have had programmed into my Fujifilm X-T30 for some time now. It’s been through a lot of iterations, with small tweaks here and there over the last several months, before I landed on the final settings. The idea was to create a generic Kodak-ish color negative film aesthetic, perhaps something similar to ColorPlus 200 or Pro Image 100. While I did look at both of those emulsions a number of times during the development of this Recipe, I didn’t set out to strictly emulate either of them. I think there can be similarities at times to those two film stocks, but generally speaking this Recipe isn’t a replication of either. I hope that makes sense. I do think it does a good job at producing a generic color negative film aesthetic that is by-and-large Kodak-like, with occasional similarities to both ColorPlus 200 and Pro Image 100.
Pro Neg is a Fuji X Weekly App Patron Early-Access Recipe. The Fuji X Weekly App is free, yet becoming a Fuji X Weekly Patron unlocks the best App experience! One benefit of being a Patron is you get early access to some new Film Simulation Recipes. These Early-Access Recipes will eventually become available free to everyone in time, including this new one. Patrons help support Fuji X Weekly and, really, without them there would be no App. So I want to give a special “thank you” to all of the Patrons!
Beautiful Bougainvillea Blooms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30 – Pro Neg Recipe
This Pro Neg Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm X-T3 & X-T30, plus all X-Trans III cameras, which are the X-Pro2, X100F, X-E3, X-T2, X-T20, and X-H1. For newer cameras, you’ll have to decide on a Grain size (Small or Large), set Color Chrome FX Blue to Off, and Clarity to 0. This Recipe can also be used on the “older” GFX models (50R and 50S), but will render slightly differently.
Find the Pro Neg Recipe in the Fuji X Weekly App! If you are a Fuji X Weekly App Patron, it’s available to you right now.
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Pro Neg Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T30:
Empty Schoolyard – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Backyard Wall View – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Hidden Triangle – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Gila River Hat – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Tree by Field 4 – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Bougainvillea Petals – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Little Cloud Between the Trees – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Twin Palms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Palm Behind Bougainvillea Blossoms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Suburban Colors – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Bougainvillea in the Sky – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Basketball Hoop at Dusk – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Hoop & Tree – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Court Cycle – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Dusk Saguaro – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
One Fallen, One Standing – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Window Reflection – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Yellow Trumpet – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Backyard Rose Blossom – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
I get asked sometimes a very fair question: why use Film Simulation Recipes when Fujifilm’s factory-default film simulations are just so darn good?
Fujifilm has, in my opinion, the best JPEG output of any brand. Their film simulations are significantly influenced by Fujifilm’s vast experience with analog film, and it should not surprise anyone that they look good without any modifications. However, Fujifilm does provide a number of tools to customize and fine-tune the straight-out-of-camera results, which I believe makes them even better.
For those who don’t know, Film Simulation Recipes are settings for Fujifilm cameras that produce certain aesthetics, often modeled after classic film emulsions. I have published over 300 of them, which you can find on this website and the Fuji X Weekly App. Recipes are intended to be shot as JPEGs (or RAW+JPEG, if you prefer), and produce out-of-camera pictures that don’t require any editing, or perhaps minimal post-processing if you like. They appear as though they were edited, or even film-like. This saves a lot of time, hassle, and possibly money. It opens up photography to those who don’t know how to RAW edit, or don’t have the desire to learn, or maybe don’t even have access to editing software. This also makes photography more enjoyable to folks (like me) who have RAW-edited for years but don’t care much for it, and would rather be doing other things (like capturing more pictures!).
Golden Light in Abandoned House – North Salt Lake, UT – Fujifilm X100V – Fujicolor Reala 100
Many photographers who own a Fujifilm camera never dive into the menu to adjust the JPEG parameters. They keep it on Provia/STD and at factory defaults, which is 0, Off, or Auto. Or maybe they try the other film simulations, but they still keep everything else set to the default settings. It’s completely understandable. The results are already good, and, besides, the options can seem overwhelming and confusing. Film Simulation Recipes, which takes the guesswork out of the various options, improve upon the standard film sims, but also provide some variety. If you only ever use the default options, you are limited to (for example) a maximum of 10 looks for color photography (11 if you have the latest GFX model with Reala Ace), but there are over 300 Film Simulation Recipes, so (depending on your camera model) you could have hundreds to choose from. You can find the Recipes that produce aesthetics that best match your style and taste.
This is in no way intended to put down factory-default film simulations, or those who use them. My intention is to simply compare a default film sim photograph with a Film Simulation Recipe. Maybe you like the non-Recipe picture better, and that’s ok if you do. There are so many other Recipes to choose from, and I bet at least one would produce a look that you like more than the default film sim—for example, there are 80 Recipes in the Fuji X Weekly App that use Classic Chrome, so if you don’t like the Recipe I chose for this article, there are 79 others that could possibly be a better match for you.
Some Film Simulation Recipes are drastically divergent from the default film simulations, and some are only subtly altered. Many are intended for certain light situations (sunny daylight or artificial light, for example), while Auto White Balance is the factory standard. There’s no one single “right” Recipe or even a perfect film simulation. What matters is finding what works best for you and your photography. That could be a collection of Film Simulation Recipes, it could be a default film sim, or it might be shooting RAW and editing with the software of your choice, or any combination thereof or something different entirely. There’s no right or wrong way. For me, it’s shooting straight-out-of-camera JPEGs using Film Simulation Recipes.
Below are examples of factory-default film simulations compared to Film Simulation Recipes.
Find these Film Simulation Recipes and about 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Yellow Aspen Forest – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodak Portra 160 v2 – DR-P Auto
Fujifilm introduced a feature called D-Range Priority (abbreviated DR-P) on the Fujifilm X-T3 in late-2018. Except that’s not entirely true, as the history of DR-P goes back much further than that. You see, Fujifilm EXR cameras, which were before X-Trans and utilized pixel-binning, also had something called D-Range Priority. Oh, and on their Frontier scanners, Fujifilm had something nearly identical to DR-P called Hypertone. The origins of DR-P seem to be found somewhere in the 1990’s.
My first camera that had D-Range Priority—a Fujifilm X-T30—arrived at my doorstep in early-2019, but I haven’t utilized the feature all that much, only sparingly. I get questions about it fairly regularly, particularly after I publish a Film Simulation Recipe that uses it, so I thought I’d take a moment and explain what DR-P is, plus how, when, and why to use it.
Let’s go back to Fujifilm’s Frontier scanners, which were common in photo labs in the 1990’s and 2000’s. Fujifilm modeled their film simulations—at least in part—after scans of films with corrections applied. Those scans were likely from Frontier scanners, and one of the corrections that Fujifilm recommended was Hypertone set to Auto. One limitation of digital camera sensors compared to color negative film is dynamic range. Negative film often has a larger dynamic range than digital cameras (especially in the early days of digital). Film tends to be more forgiving to overexposure (highlights), where digital tends to be more forgiving to underexposure (shadows). Hypertone was a software trick to maximize dynamic range so that it would digitally render more similarly to printed film on Fujicolor paper. D-Range Priority is a trick to achieve a dynamic range more similar to Frontier film scans that had Hypertone enabled.
Which answers the question of why to use it. D-Range Priority maximizes dynamic range, so as to keep highlights and shadows in check, but especially highlights. It’s more difficult to blow out highlights when you use DR-P. If you want to have the greatest dynamic range so as to avoid clipped highlights and blocked-up shadows, this is your best tool.
A few notes. First, like the regular Dynamic Range options (you know, DR100, DR200, DR400, and DR-Auto), D-Range Priority is ISO dependent. In this regard, DR-P Weak is like using DR200, and DR-P Strong is like using DR400. D-Range Priority is used in lieu of the Dynamic Range settings, so you cannot choose (for example) both DR200 and DR-P Weak simultaneously, only one or the other. Also, D-Range Priority disables the Tone Curve, so you cannot select a Highlight and Shadow setting. When enabled, DR-P is the Tone Curve. Interestingly, DR400 with both Highlight and Shadow set to -2 produces similar results to DR-P Weak. DR-P Auto chooses DR-P Weak almost always, and only selects DR-P Strong when there is a very bright light source, like shooting directly at the sun. D-Range Priority Strong produces a very low-contrast image, while DR-P Weak is a little less flat, but is still low-contrast.
To choose D-Range Priority, within the IQ section of the camera’s main Menu find D-Range Priority and select Auto, Strong, or Weak. Normally, D-Range Priority is set to Off. You only enable it when you want to use it. You can also choose D-Range Priority within Edit/Save Custom Presets, and have it enabled on any of your C1-C7 (or C1-C4, depending on your model) options.
To answer the when to use D-Range Priority question, it’s important to remember what DR-P does: produce a low-contrast picture that maximizes dynamic range to protect shadows and especially highlights. If you want punchy pictures, DR-P is not what you want to use (although in high contrast situations, you might still get dramatic results). If you want light pictures that might more closely resemble film scans (particularly from Frontier scanners), then DR-P is an option that you’ll want to consider.
While D-Range Priority is a fairly recent addition to X-Trans cameras—first introduced on X-Trans IV models—it turns out to have a much longer history. For years I assumed that D-Range Priority was for emergency use in extreme situations only, so I pretty much ignored it. I have since warmed up to DR-P, and I use it much more often than I used to. I still feel it’s probably not an option to utilize all of the time, but in the right situations or for a certain look, it works really well.
No Cigarettes – Avila Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 – Kodachrome 64 Recipe
I get asked fairly regularly which Film Simulation Recipes are the most popular. For me, this is a fascinating topic, but it’s definitely hard to know definitively. While I get a glimpse on social media, my best gauge is the Fuji X Weekly website statistics; specifically, which Recipe articles are viewed the most. I don’t collect any data on the Fuji X Weekly App, so that’s no help—although, if I did, it would likely offer the most accurate picture; however, it would still be impossible to know which Recipes people programmed into their Fujifilm cameras, or how often they use each. Perhaps a survey would be particularly useful, yet even it has its limitations. While certainly a flawed method, page-view website statics offer the best glimpse at which Film Simulation Recipes are the most popular, so that’s what I’m using for this article. These are simply the Top 25 most-viewed Recipes on the Fuji X Weekly website.
There’s a lot that can be gleaned from this exercise, but also a grain of salt must be consumed, too. For example, Vibrant Arizona actually has four Recipes in that article (two versions of two), so it would certainly rank lower if it only had one; also, it was published near the end of April, so it has a time disadvantage, as do all of the other Recipes published after January 1st. But, setting those limitations aside, there are still some fascinating trends to be explored. Some of these rankings are quite surprising to me, and others are not surprising at all.
Classic Chrome is the king of film simulations. The five most popular Fuji X Weekly Recipes all use Classic Chrome, as do 21 of the Top 25. Second place, which is Classic Negative with two, is a very distant second. Acros and PRO Neg. Std have one each. The other film simulations don’t even chart on this list. For those who use Film Simulation Recipes, Classic Chrome is clearly the film sim of choice for most.
Not surprisingly, Recipes with Kodak brand names are the most popular. 13 have Kodak in the name, eight have Portra in the name, and five have Kodachrome in the name. Kodak was the most popular film brand, so it should be expected that Film Simulation Recipes that mimic those emulsions would also be popular. What is surprising to me is that none with Fujifilm, Fujicolor, Superia, Provia, Velvia, etc., in the Recipe name made this list, as some of those are my personal favorites.
10 of these Recipes use a Kelvin White Balance, eight use Auto White Balance, six use Daylight, and one uses a Custom White Balance measurement. Almost all of them are warm, at least a little. Only one B&W Recipe made this list, which isn’t a shock to me because the color Recipes are typically far more popular than monochrome. Only one Recipe specifically intended for night photography made this list, and I’m actually a little surprised by which one and how high it ranks. 10 Recipes use DR200, nine use DR400, five use DR-Auto, and one uses D-Range Priority Strong.
Most people who use Recipes do so on X-Trans IV cameras, specifically the X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II models. Of the Top 25 Recipes, 16 of them are for those specific X-Trans IV cameras, including each of the Top 3. Six are for X-Trans III cameras plus the X-T3 and X-T30, two are for X-Trans V, and one is for X-Trans II (the very last one). But it’s a little more convoluted than that, because some Recipes (Vibrant Arizona and Kodak Tri-X 400 for sure, and probably others) are being used on X-Trans V cameras. Some of the X-Trans III plus X-T3 and X-T30 Recipes are likely being used on X-Trans IV and X-Trans V models to some extent. The majority of X-Trans V Recipes are at a disadvantage because they were published after January 1st, and there are only four fifth-generation X-Trans models anyway. I think the biggest takeaway is that the majority of people who shoot with Film Simulation Recipes in 2023 are doing so on X-Trans III and newer cameras, and X-Trans IV is the largest group within that. Recipes are not as popular on EXR, X-Trans I, X-Trans II, Bayer, and GFX models, although there are certainly many who do use them.
There are some rankings that surprise me. Vibrant Arizona is the only one published in 2023 to make the Top 25, although the fact that there are actually four Recipes in that article certainly affect its page-views. The X-Trans III version of Kodak Portra 400 requires a hard-to-get-right custom White Balance measurement, so it’s always surprising to me that so many use it. Kodak Portra 400 Warm and Bright Summer are especially warm, and their use case is more narrow than the others. If you had asked me what the second-most popular Recipe that uses the Classic Negative film sim, I would not have guessed Kodak Max 800, yet here it is! The X-Trans III version of Kodachrome II was ranked #7 last year, the X-Trans IV version of Kodachome II was ranked #8, Nostalgic Negative was #9, and Kodak Ektar 100 was #10, so those have fallen significantly, now ranked #12, #19, #24, & #16, respectively. I’m a little surprised that Classic Kodak Chrome is the most popular X-Trans II Recipe.
Anyway, I’ve held you up long enough. Let’s get to the list!
Top 25 Most Popular Film Simulation Recipes of 2023 (…so far)
There are over 300 Film Simulation Recipes on this website and the Fuji X Weekly App. Having so many options to choose from is great, because no matter your style there’s bound to be at least one that you love, and different Recipes are sometimes best in specific situations. The only problem with having all these options is that sometimes it’s hard to know which ones to choose. There can be a paralysis of choice, or, at the very least, it can seem overwhelming.
But not to worry, I’m here to help! Over the last year I’ve been publishing articles to help with this specific problem—to be a guide of sorts through the many Recipes. There’s no comprehensive list (nor should there be, I think) of when to use each option, because whether or not a particular Recipe is great for a specific scenario is subjective. I might like one, but you might dislike it. However, I can provide some direction—something that I have been attempting to do over the last 12 months.
The problem with my method, though, is that it’s easy for my articles on this subject to get lost in the shuffle. So I thought it would be helpful to round them up, and put them into one place. That’s the intention of this article.
First up is my Which Film Simulation Recipe, When? series. If you only open one article, that’s the one to choose. I think it’s probably the most helpful out of all of them in this post. You might appreciate many of the others, too, so I would encourage you to click on more than one article to read, especially if the number of Film Simulation Recipes feels overwhelming to you, or you’re just not sure where to begin. I hope this helps with that, and you’ll have a little more confidence choosing some to program into your camera.
Find these Film Simulation Recipes and many more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Help Support Fuji X Weekly!
Nobody pays me to write the content found on the Fuji X Weekly blog. There’s a real cost to running this website. I also put a lot of my own time into writing the posts. If you’ve found something on Fuji X Weekly helpful to you and you’d like to give back, this is a good place to do it. You can donate to this blog using PayPal by clicking below. I appreciate it! Thank you for your support! Please do not feel obligated to give, but do so only if you want to.
Field of Gold – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodak Gold 200 Recipe
A favorite Film Simulation for the Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T30, plus X-Trans III cameras, is Kodak Gold 200. I published this Recipe about two-and-a-half years ago, and have had many requests to adapt it for newer models, something that I just recently got around to doing. I took the opportunity to see if I could improve it, utilizing the options that have come out since. While it is still quite similar to the original, I really like how this Kodak Gold 200 Film Simulation Recipe came out.
Kodak introduced Gold color negative film in 1986, and it is still around today. It was originally called Kodacolor VR-G, then Kodacolor Gold, and finally Gold. It replaced Kodacolor VR, which actually (and interestingly) still exists today as ColorPlus. While the film has been improved a few times over the years, it still looks pretty much the same today as it did in the 1980’s. The film is prone to color shifts, and results can vary significantly depending on how i was shot, developed and printed or scanned. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to emulate all of the possible aesthetics of Gold in one Recipe, so this is only a facsimile of one particular Kodak Gold 200 look.
This Kodak Gold 200 Film Simulation Recipe, which will work best in sunny daylight situations, is intended for and is fully compatible with all fifth-generation X-Trans cameras, which (as of this writing) are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20 (yes, X-S20). Because X-Trans V renders blue more deeply on some film simulations, setting Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak (instead of Off) will make this Recipe compatible with newer fourth-generation X-Trans cameras—specifically, the X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II. This Recipe is not compatible with the X100V and X-Pro3; however, you can either try this one with Highlight set to -2 and Shadow set to +1 (and maybe increase exposure by 1/3 stop), or adapt the old Recipe by selecting Grain size Small, Color Chrome FX Blue Off, and Clarity set to 0. Those with newer GFX cameras can use this Recipe, too, but it will render slightly different (give it a try).
Film Simulation: Classic Chrome Grain Effect: Strong, Small Color Chrome Effect: Weak Color Chrome FX Blue: Off White Balance: Daylight, +4 Red & -5 Blue Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: -1.5 Shadow: +0.5 Color: +3 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -2 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: +2/3 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Kodak Gold 200 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Evening Hoop – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Jon on the Gold Coast – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Wave Crashing – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Rainbows & Palms – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Vines & Cage – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Trumpet Blossom Day – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sun Pouring Over Tree Leaves – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Rays & Leaf – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Happy Thoughts – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Hour Fountain – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bougainvillea Arm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Mission Inn & Flag – Riverside, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dodge Van Steering Wheel – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Bird on a Twisted Dead Tree – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Leaf Alone – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Red Leaves – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Trees – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Yellow Forest – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Autumn Woods – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Aspen Leaves – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Aspen – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dream – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and over 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Help Support Fuji X Weekly!
Nobody pays me to write the content found on the Fuji X Weekly blog. There’s a real cost to running this website. I also put a lot of my own time into writing the posts. If you’ve found something on Fuji X Weekly helpful to you and you’d like to give back, this is a good place to do it. You can donate to this blog using PayPal by clicking below. I appreciate it! Thank you for your support! Please do not feel obligated to give, but do so only if you want to.
Coastal Blossoms at Sunset – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Portra 160 Recipe
Kodak introduced the Portra line in 1998, with two ISO 160 versions, two ISO 400 versions, and an ISO 800 emulsion (plus a short-lived ISO 100 Tungsten film, for those keeping score). Portra saw a couple of updates by Kodak, and in late-2010 the two ISO 160 versions were merged into one, as well as the two ISO 400 versions. The film has become iconic, with its warm yet natural colors. As the name implies, it was meant for portrait photography, but is popular for many genres.
Originally, Kodak Portra 160 came in “NC” (neutral color) and “VC” (vivid color) versions; Portra 160 NC was more popular for portraits and Portra 160 VC was more popular for landscapes. When Kodak merged the two, it fell kind of in-between the two emulsions—more vibrant than NC but less than VC. This Film Simulation Recipe is intended to mimic the merged Portra 160 that Kodak introduced in 2010.
I already have a Kodak Portra 160 Recipe that is compatible with X-Trans III cameras plus the X-T3 and X-T30, but not one for newer models. This update is long overdue, and I’m thrilled to finally publish it. Instead of simply making a quick adjustment to the “old” Recipe, I started from scratch. While the results are still very similar, it’s a significant redesign, and (hopefully) it’s just a tad better. This Recipe pairs really well with diffusion filters; for the California pictures in this article I used a 10% CineBloom filter, and for the Arizona pictures I used a mix of a 5% CineBloom and no diffusion filter at all. I did not adjust Clarity when using the diffusion filters.
Glass View – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Portra 160 Recipe
This Kodak Portra 160 Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras. For fifth generation X-Trans models, which are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak instead of Strong. This Recipe will also work on newer GFX cameras, but the results will likely be slightly different.
Film Simulation: Classic Chrome Dynamic Range: DR400 Grain Effect: Weak, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong White Balance: 4900K, +4 Red & -6 Blue Highlight: -1 Shadow: -2 Color: 0 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -3 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Kodak Portra 160 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X100V:
Golden Coast – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Pacific Gold – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Bluff Above the Golden Coast – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Blooms Above the Pacific Ocean – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Gold Coast Blooms – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Sunset Selfie – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Blooming Bush on Pacific Bluff – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Pacific Overlook – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Red Coastal Flowers – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Aliso Beach – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Hotel – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Floral Arch – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Flowers & Palms – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Bunch of Blossomed Flowers – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Flowers & Water – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Coastal Peek – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Wedding Guests – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Flower Petals – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Book & Mirror – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Gifts & Snacks – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Mirror – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
You Like Jazz? – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Twin Palms & Concrete – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Empty Cage – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Trumpet Haze – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Streaking Light over Tree Leaves – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Spiderweb in the Shrub – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
LavAzza Cactus – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Trash Moon – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Orange Leaf – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Apartment – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Top of the Playground – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Playground Canopy – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Palmin the Sky – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Tree-Lined Path – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Bougainvillea Warm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Arizona Jon – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Waterless Lions – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Evening Light Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Oleander Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Bougainvillea Blossom – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and over 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Help Support Fuji X Weekly!
Nobody pays me to write the content found on the Fuji X Weekly blog. There’s a real cost to running this website. I also put a lot of my own time into writing the posts. If you’ve found something on Fuji X Weekly helpful to you and you’d like to give back, this is a good place to do it. You can donate to this blog using PayPal by clicking below. I appreciate it! Thank you for your support! Please do not feel obligated to give, but do so only if you want to.
With over 300 Film Simulation Recipes on the Fuji X Weekly App, there are bound to be some that are underutilized. Several are intended for very specific scenarios and aren’t especially versatile, so it’s understandable why those are chosen less often than others. Some might just get lost in the crowd; perhaps my sample pictures weren’t strong enough to demonstrate the Recipe’s potential. There’s a group, however, that should be more popular than they are, but are underutilized because they’re not yet available to everyone. These are the Fuji X Weekly App Patron Early-Access Recipes.
My Film Simulation Recipes are free, and the Fuji X Weekly App is free; however, there’s a real expense to all of this, and I do want a little reward for all of my efforts. The best way to support this website is to become a Patron subscriber to my Apps (aside from the Fuji X Weekly App, there’s also the Ricoh Recipes App and the RitchieCam App). As a reward for supporting Fuji X Weekly, the Patron subscription unlocks the best App experience.
Nostalgic Emulsion Recipe
What, exactly, does “the best App experience” mean? For one, Filtering is unlocked. Want to see only the Recipes that are fully compatible with your specific camera model? Want to display only Recipes that use a certain film simulation, white balance type, or dynamic range setting? That’s the Filter feature, and it’s available to Patrons. Another is Favoriting. There are five different colored stars that can be used to organize Recipes into categories. For example, you can use red stars for Recipes that you found to be good options for portraits, yellow for golden hour, green for landscapes, etc.. Or, yellow stars for what is currently in C1-C7, blue for what you want to try next, green for ones you tried and liked, and red for ones you tried and didn’t like. You can use these however it makes the most sense for you, but only if you are a Patron. Oh, and if you’ve made your own custom Film Simulation Recipe, you can use blank Recipe cards to add them to your App.
Another perk of being a Fuji X Weekly App Patron is that you get early access to some new Film Simulation Recipes. These Early-Access Recipes will become available to everyone in time (as they are replaced by new ones), but for now only Patron subscribers can view them. Some aren’t publicly available for everyone for a short time—usually at least a few months—and others stay as Early-Access Recipes for a year or more. For example, Eterna Bleach Bypass was a Patron Early-Access Recipe for over a year, and just two days ago it became freely available to everyone after it was replaced by Expired Kodak Vision2 250D. Currently, there are 14 Early-Access Recipes in the Fuji X Weekly App.
Because not everyone can use these Early-Access Recipes, they’re not nearly as popular as the ones that are available free to everyone. Only App Patrons can use them. Some of these Recipes are really good, though, deserving of much greater attention than they’ve received. This article is simply shining a spotlight on five of them. If you are a Patron, I invite you to find them in the App and give them a try. If you are not a Patron, I ask that you consider supporting this website by becoming a Patron subscriber, which will in turn give you access to them. If you don’t have the Fuji X Weekly App on your phone, download it for free today!
Royal Gold 400 was introduced by Kodak in 1994 as a replacement to the original Kodak Ektar 400 film (which is a little different from the Ektar that came later). The Royal Gold line, which also came in ISO 100 and 200 versions, was marketed as a “step up” from Kodak Gold, with finer grain and more vibrant colors. It was more-or-less an updated Ektar emulsion that was renamed for marketing reasons (Gold sold a lot more than Ektar). In the early 2000’s Royal Gold was replaced by the High Definition/Royal Supra line.
This Film Simulation Recipe wasn’t initially intended to replicate Royal Gold, but simply began as an attempt to achieve a “memory color” aesthetic of photographic prints from the 1990’s and early 2000’s; I wasn’t concerned about the specific films or processes. After shooting with this Recipe and reviewing the results, I was reminded of Kodak Royal Gold 400 film… sometimes. Of course, one film can produce many different aesthetics, depending on (among other things) how it was shot, developed, scanned and/or printed. Royal Gold 400 didn’t always or even usually look like this, but sometimes it did, and I found some examples in a photo-box and online that were quite similar—I’m not sure why, but my suspicion is that the film was mishandled, either from being stored improperly (possibly exposed to too much heat) or waiting too long to develop after exposing. Film can be finicky, but that serendipity is something that makes it special.
The 1981 Kodak Film Simulation Recipe was modeled after some old family pictures found in a photo box. These prints were made in July of 1981—a date stamped on the back—and printed on Kodak paper. The other technical details are unknown, but most likely they were captured with a cheap point-and-shoot of some sort (possibly even a 110 camera) with Kodacolor II color negative film, which was the most popular amateur emulsion of that era. Due to age and improper storage, the prints are fading, with a pronounced orange (sometimes yellow, sometimes red) cast, and colors overall less vibrant than they once were.
I thought that the aesthetic was interesting, so I began to develop a Recipe inspired by these photographs. It took a couple of days, and a few compromises, but I was able to create a look that mimics the general feel of those old pictures made in 1981 and printed on Kodak paper—the reason why I call this Recipe 1981 Kodak.
I binge-watched a number of classic movies from the 1950’s, and I was really inspired by their picture aesthetics. After some research, I discovered that Kodak ECN 5248 25T motion picture film was used in several of these flicks. The problem, of course, with trying to replicate the look of a motion picture film stock is that not only is the aesthetic dependent on the usual factors of how shot and developed, but also on the lighting and filters used, which can be different movie-to-movie and even scene-to-scene. Instead of attempting to mimic the look of any particular movie or cinema film stock, I wanted to create a certain feel or mood—a “memory color” reminiscent of color movies from the 1950’s.
Kodak made Kodachrome color-reversal (slide) film from 1935 through 2009. There are three era’s of Kodachrome: 1935-1960, 1961-1973, and 1974-2009. Each era has its own look; the second and third eras are probably the most similar. Kodachrome is actually a B&W film, with color dyes added during development. It was a unique and complicated process. Because of how the film works, it’s the most difficult emulsion to scan, often producing a blue cast that doesn’t exist when viewing the slides through a projector or on a light table.
Professional labs will have a profile to color-correct Kodachrome scans, but even that’s not usually a 100% match. As it used to be said, “There’s nothing like projected Kodachrome!” If the scans aren’t carefully corrected, the results are often significantly more blue than the slides. The feeling that all the world’s a sunny day (as Paul Simon sang) is completely gone. Once you know what to look for, it’s easy to spot these incorrectly color corrected Kodachrome images, and they’re prevalent. This Recipe mimics those too-blue scans of Kodachrome film.
This Nostalgic Emulsion Recipe was a collaboration between myself and my 15-year-old daughter, Joy. She wanted a certain look, which she described as “dark with deep greens” and similar to some music videos, including Daylight by David Kushner. “That’s the aesthetic I want to make,” she told me, while stopping on a forested scene.
I really like the moody and nostalgic feeling that this Film Simulation Recipe produces. It has a retro negative film look, maybe along the lines of Fujicolor Super HQ or Agfa XRG or something like that, but not exactly like any specific emulsion. You can expect dark shadows and a cool cast that leans green. I think it works best when there’s a lot of lush vegetation, and is good for toning down an overly warm scene.
Luxury Among Palms – Laguna Hills, CA – Fujifilm X-T5 – Reala Ace Recipe
Fujifilm introduced a new film simulation with the GFX100 II called Reala Ace. Fujifilm says that it “combines faithful reproduction with hard tonality,” showing it with a little higher vibrancy than Classic Negative paired with a tonality more similar to Provia. Some have described it as being true-to-life. Photographs that I have found captured with the new film simulation have a Classic Negative look, but with an increase in color, a reduction in contrast, and significantly more blue. I think this new film sim could have been called Classic Negative v2, but Fujifilm named it Reala Ace instead.
Fujicolor Reala 100 was Fujifilm’s first Superia film, even though initially it did not have Superia in the name. Superia films shared Fuji’s “4th layer technology” and Reala was the first to have it, but Reala was marketed towards “pro” photographers while Superia was marketed towards “consumer” photographers. Eventually, though, Fujifilm added Superia to Reala’s name. There were several different versions of Reala manufactured, including a high-ISO Tungsten one made for motion pictures, but Reala 100 was the most popular. Reala was very similar to Superia, but Superia was intended for “general purpose” photography while Reala was intended for portrait and wedding photography. Colors are rendered a little differently between the two films, especially blue, which is deeper and more saturated on Reala, despite Reala being overall slightly less saturated than Superia 100. Fujifilm discontinued Reala in 2013. I have a Film Simulation Recipe that replicates Fujicolor Reala 100, which uses Classic Negative as the base, since Classic Negative is closely modeled after Superia film.
On occasion, Fujifilm named certain film stocks differently in Japan than the rest of the world, and there were several film stocks made available only in Japan. Fujicolor Reala Ace 100 was a color negative film sold only in Japan. Some speculated that it was the exact same thing as Fujicolor Superia Reala 100 just sold under a slightly different name, while others said that Fujicolor Reala Ace 100 was a unique film similar to the Reala sold worldwide except fine-tuned for Japanese skin tones. There doesn’t seem to be any consensus on which is correct, but I’d bet that the latter is true. It was said for decades that Fujifilm kept their best emulsions in Japan. For whatever reason, Fujifilm went with the name Reala Ace for their new film simulation, and not simply Reala. Not all film sims are accurate reproductions of the emulsions that they’re named after, but Reala Ace seems to have the right vibe for replicating actual Reala film.
Red Cliffs – Sedona, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Reala Ace Recipe
I have never used the new Reala Ace film simulation. There aren’t a lot of examples of it, but there are some; however, it’s impossible to know if those images are straight-out-of-camera factory-default Reala Ace JPEGs, or if the photographer adjusted some parameters or post-edited the pictures in some way. Trying to emulate new film simulations when there’s not a lot known about it is tricky, and the results are often wrong. For example, my attempt at Classic Negative was way off, and I stated that it would likely be—I was hesitant to publish it for that reason. Nostalgic Negative was a near identical story, and I stated, “…this Recipe will likely turn out to be an inaccurate facsimile to the real Nostalgic Negative film simulation.” I was right about that. This time, though, is different, as I am confident that this Reala Ace film simulation is a close approximation of the real thing. It might not be perfect, but it is definitely in the ballpark. I bet that it is a 95% match—if not closer—but it’s impossible to know for certain until more samples come out, and (even better) it trickles out to other models and I have a chance to try it myself. It’s definitely close enough that I feel quite good calling it Reala Ace.
Fujifilm said of the new film sim, “As an approach to rich gradation expression, the new sensor for the GFX100 II is the best fit for it. Without this sensor, we are not able to realize the Reala film simulation in it.” They talked about silver halide and signal-to-noise ratios and stuff. You might think this means that Reala Ace won’t make its way to the X-series; however, Fujifilm said something very similar about Nostalgic Neg., yet it is now available for X-Trans V generation models, including the X-S20, which has an X-Trans IV sensor. I think this is just Fujifilm’s way of saying that it’s not coming to X-Trans right away. I, of course, believe that this is a big mistake, because the majority of GFX users don’t use Film Simulation Recipes and won’t really care about this new film sim, while a whole lot of X-series owners do use Recipes and do care a lot about new film simulations. Fujifilm is letting what could be a big promotional opportunity just slip through their fingers, which is exactly what they did with Nostalgic Negative. I hope someday they learn this lesson, and stop making the same mistake over and over. Fujifilm: seriously, and I cannot state this any louder or more clearly, you need to introduce new film simulations with significant X-Trans releases, and not GFX. We can all see through the bogus it-has-to-be-100mp excuse, because I did in three days (and with much more limited resources) what you said wasn’t possible, and made Reala Ace available to all those with X-Trans V cameras. Please don’t hate me for rectifying your mistake, as this Recipe will likely influence more people to buy an X-series camera than Reala Ace will cause people to buy the GXF100 II. For those looking for an excuse to upgrade to an X-Trans V model, this Reala Ace Film Simulation Recipe might just be it for you, because it is that good.
Dodge Van Steering Wheel – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5 – Reala Ace Recipe
I love this new Reala Ace Film Simulation Recipe, and for me it’s an instant favorite! It is kind of like a cross between the Fujicolor Reala 100 and Fujicolor NPS 160 Pulled Recipes—you could consider it a “v2” of either of those two, although it has a much stronger Reala vibe than NPS 160. The Recipe is soft yet colorful, highly versatile, and has a clear analog-like aesthetic. It’s just as Fujifilm put it: suitable for all subjects and situations. If you have a fifth-generation X-Trans camera, which (as of this writing) are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20 (yes, the X-S20!), I invite you to try this Reala Ace Recipe today! If you have a fourth-generation X-Trans camera with Classic Negative and half-point Highlight/Shadow adjustments, which are the X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II, you can also use this Recipe, but know that blues will be render slightly less deeply (try it anyway). For the X-Pro3 and X100V, consider Highlight set to -1 in low contrast situations and -2 in high contrast situations.
Film Simulation: Classic Negative Grain Effect: Weak, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong White Balance: Auto, -1 Red & +1 Blue Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: -1.5 Shadow: -2 Color: +2 Sharpness: 0 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 Reala Ace Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Amaricana Equestrian – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bougainvillea Blooms & Blue Sky – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sunlit Bougainvillea Blossom – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Twin Trumpets – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Little Vibrant Blooms – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Fish Out of Water – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Fake Fern – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Potted Palm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Morning Johanna – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Flowing Fountain – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
China in America – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Hill Houses – Laguna Hills, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Setting Sun over the Pacific Ocean – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Young Surfer – Laguna Hills, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Ocean – Laguna Hills, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Jon on the Gold Coast – Laguna Hills, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Rainbow & Palms – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Hazy Paifang – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Evening Hoop – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Evening Palms & Clouds – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Rays from Behind a Big Cloud – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Clouds & Coaster – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Cup Ride – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Happily Anticipating the Thrill Ride – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Bumper Cars – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Blacksmith Working – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Faux Tree Branch – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Three Bathtub Ducks – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Red Comb – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dog Resting in the Shade – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Paseo Avila – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Illuminated Dilapidation – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Permanently Opened Door – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Hole in the Wall – Litchfield, Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sonoran Saguaro – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Cholla Cactus – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Unlit Headlamp – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Tattoo & Turkish Pizza – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Thunderbird Tire – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Thunderbird Taillight – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Inside Dodge Travel Van – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Summer Season in the Suburbs – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and over 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Help Support Fuji X Weekly!
Nobody pays me to write the content found on the Fuji X Weekly blog. There’s a real cost to running this website. I also put a lot of my own time into writing the posts. If you’ve found something on Fuji X Weekly helpful to you and you’d like to give back, this is a good place to do it. You can donate to this blog using PayPal by clicking below. I appreciate it! Thank you for your support! Please do not feel obligated to give, but do so only if you want to.
I don’t believe that the new film simulation will be an accurate replication of Reala film, since Classic Negative is so close already; instead, I think Fujifilm is simply going to use the brand name for a film sim that has a neutral and natural rendering (true-to-life or real-like, yet leaning towards soft tonality and muted colors). I don’t know for certain what the new Reala film simulation will look like, this is only a guess based on something Fujifilm said a few weeks ago. We’ll know for sure next week. But I do know that if you want a Reala aesthetic from your Fujifilm X-Trans V camera, this Recipe will produce that!
Fujicolor Reala 100 was Fujifilm’s first Superia film, even though initially it did not have Superia in the name. Superia films shared Fuji’s “4th layer technology” and Reala was the first to have it, but Reala was marketed towards “pro” photographers while Superia was marketed towards “consumer” photographers. Eventually Fujifilm added Superia to Reala’s name. There were several different versions of Reala manufactured, including a high-ISO Tungsten one made for motion pictures, but Reala 100 was the most popular. Reala was very similar to Superia, but Superia was intended for “general purpose” photography while Reala was intended for portrait and wedding photography. Colors are rendered a little differently between the two films, especially blue, which is deeper and more saturated on Reala, despite Reala being overall slightly less saturated than Superia 100. Fujifilm discontinued Reala in 2013.
China in California – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5 – Fujicolor Reala 100 Recipe
If you have a fifth-generation Fujifilm X camera, which (as of this writing) are the X-H2, X-H2S, X-T5, and X-S20, I invite you to try this Fujicolor Reala 100 Film Simulation Recipe. If you have a Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, or X-T30 II, use the X-Trans IV version instead. If you have a newer GFX model, I’m not certain which of the two versions will be most accurate on your camera, so maybe try both and see which you like better.
Film Simulation: Classic Negative Grain Effect: Weak, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Weak White Balance: Daylight, 0 Red & 0 Blue Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: -1 Shadow: -1 Color: 0 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -3 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Fujicolor Reala 100 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Luxurious Living – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Mission Inn – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Pawlished Fountain – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Fishing by Hand – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Urban Structure Abstract – Riverside, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
I Spy with my Little Eye – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
9205 – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Market Building – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Suburban Shrub – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Dodge Van – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Dodge Steering Wheel – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Blacksmith – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Cowboy – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Wagon Wheel & Cacti – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Sun Fountain – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Strength over Thrill – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Tied up in Knotts – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Flight – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Rainbows & Palms – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Treasure Island Beach – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Eek! – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Pacific Surf Rider – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Leaving the Water – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Happiness – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Glow – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Setting Sun – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Night Light – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Amanda using RitchieCam– Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Waving – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Night Truck Driver – Buena Park, CA. -Fujifilm X-T5
Don’t Text & Drive – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
Empty Road – Buena Park, CA – Fujifilm X-T5
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Help Support Fuji X Weekly!
Nobody pays me to write the content found on the Fuji X Weekly blog. There’s a real cost to running this website. I also put a lot of my own time into writing the posts. If you’ve found something on Fuji X Weekly helpful to you and you’d like to give back, this is a good place to do it. You can donate to this blog using PayPal by clicking below. I appreciate it! Thank you for your support! Please do not feel obligated to give, but do so only if you want to.
I get asked somewhat regularly which Film Simulation Recipes one should try first. Perhaps you just purchased your first Fujifilm camera, or maybe you’ve had one for awhile but have never tried Recipes before—with so many to choose from (there are now 300 Film Simulation Recipes on the Fuji X Weekly App!), it can be hard to know where to start. Which Recipes are essential to program into your camera right away?
Everyone has their own tastes and style, so what one person might love another might not. That’s why it’s great to have such a wide variety to choose from—there’s bound to be at least a few that you’ll appreciate. Options are good up until the point where there are too many, and it becomes difficult to decide. I don’t want you to be paralyzed by choices, so let me suggest seven to program into your C1-C7 Custom Presets first. You might love all of them, or you might find that only one or two suit you well. Either way, these are ones that you should definitely try.
This will be a series of articles. The first one, which you are reading now, is for X-Trans V models, and I’ll work my way through the other sensors in the parts to come. If you have a Fujifilm X-H2, X-H2s, X-T5, or X-S20, I invite you to program the Film Simulation Recipes below into your camera.
There are a couple of special notes about the X-S20. First, it has an X-Trans IV sensor but an X-Trans V processor, so it’s a bit iffy if it should be included in this list or with the X-Trans IV cameras; however, reports I have received indicate that, due to its rendering and options, it best fits in the X-Trans V category. Second, the X-S20 has only four custom presets and not seven, so pick the four below that are the most intriguing to you, and once you’ve had a chance to try those, then replace your least favorite with another from this list.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at seven Film Simulation Recipes to program into your Fujifilm X-Trans V camera first!
Kodachrome 64 was a classic slide film, and it’s become a classic Film Simulation Recipe. It’s very popular, and it would be a shame to not include it—in fact, I put it first for a reason. This is one of those Recipes that everyone should try! It produces a retro 1970’s through 1990’s slide film aesthetic reminiscent of the pictures found on the pages of magazines like National Geographic. For best results use in sunny daylight; however, it can be decent in other situations, too, like overcast, shade, and blue hour.
This Recipe mimics the aesthetic of one of Kodak’s most-loved color negative film stocks: Portra 400. As the name implies, it’s especially well suited for portraits, but it is also good for many genres of photography. Kodak Portra 400 v2 is another Film Simulation Recipe intended for use in sunny daylight situations, and it’s my favorite option for golden hour images.
Fujicolor Super HG v2 produces a 1980’s Fujifilm color negative film vibe, which is notably divergent from the aesthetic of the first two suggested options. Perhaps more importantly, this Recipe is highly versatile, and can be used for almost any subject or light—including overcast, indoor artificial light, and nighttime cityscapes—where some other Recipes might be less than ideal. If you are after one option that can do it all, take a look at this one.
The Pacific Blues Film Simulation Recipe is specifically intended for a sunny summer day at the beach, which it is absolutely incredible for, but it’s surprisingly good for other situations, too. I’ve had great success with it on dreary overcast and foggy days. I’ve used it for portraits. I’ve used it for natural light indoors. It’s definitely not always the best Recipe for a given situation, but it often does quite well, and sometimes the pictures it produces are just stunning.
If you want a vintage vibe from your photographs, 1970’s Summer is for you! It produces a New American Color aesthetic that will transport you back in time 50 or so years. For best results, use in sunny daylight—this is a great option for when the sun is high in-between the two golden hour periods. This Recipe isn’t particularly versatile, but when it works it’s absolutely incredible.
Vibrant Arizona mimics the Wes Anderson look that’s in-style right now. It’s bright, warm, and colorful. This Recipe is intended for use in sunny daylight, especially harsh midday light. It’s not always the best option, but in the right situations it’s wonderful.
It would be a shame not to include a black-and-white Recipe in this list, so we’ll conclude with Kodak T-Max P3200, which is not only a great monochrome option, but is also excellent for high-ISO photography. If the light is getting dim and you need to bump the ISO up a bit, this is a great one to use. Or if you want classic B&W pictures with grain and good contrast, the Kodak T-Max P3200 Film Simulation Recipe will produce that for you.
Find these Film Simulation Recipes and many more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Nobody pays me to write the content found on the Fuji X Weekly blog. There’s a real cost to running this website. I also put a lot of my own time into writing the posts. If you’ve found something on Fuji X Weekly helpful to you and you’d like to give back, this is a good place to do it. You can donate to this blog using PayPal by clicking below. I appreciate it! Thank you for your support! Please do not feel obligated to give, but do so only if you want to.
American Paint Horse – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4 – Kodachrome Blue
Kodak made Kodachrome color-reversal (slide) film from 1935 through 2009. There are three era’s of Kodachrome: 1935-1960, 1961-1973, and 1974-2009. Each era has its own look; the second and third eras are probably the most similar. Kodachrome is actually a B&W film, with color dyes added during development. It was a unique and complicated process. Because of how the film works, it’s the most difficult emulsion to scan, often producing a blue cast that doesn’t exist when viewing the slides through a projector or on a light table.
Professional labs will have a profile to color correct Kodachrome scans, but even that’s not usually a 100% match. As it used to be said, “There’s nothing like projected Kodachrome!” If the scans aren’t carefully corrected, the results are often significantly more blue than the slides. The feeling that all the world’s a sunny day (as Paul Simon sang) is completely gone. Once you know what to look for, it’s easy to spot these incorrectly color corrected Kodachrome images, and they’re prevalent.
Rebels – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4 – Kodachrome Blue
Over the last few weeks I’ve stumbled across several sets of these incorrectly color corrected Kodachromes while perusing the web, mostly from the second era of the film. I thought that the look was interesting, so I set out to recreate it on my Fujifilm X-E4; however, the process was more challenging than I had anticipated. I had assumed that Classic Chrome would be the best film simulation to base this new Film Simulation Recipe on—it was the obvious choice, right?—but I couldn’t get it to look right. It was actually the fifth film sim I tried before I decided that I was finally on the right track.
After four different modifications, I felt I got it as close as I could, and had a reasonable facsimile of the film when not appropriately color corrected. Interestingly, I compared my Recipe to some incorrectly colored Kodachrome 64 film scans in my collection—some frames I captured on a Canon AE-1 back in 1999 that (when I later had them scanned) the lab rendered too blue—and the resemblance was striking. I made one more small change to the Recipe to get it even closer, and called it good. One thing that I wish was possible is a little more color saturation, but +4 is the highest option; if +5 or maybe +6 were available, I’d have bumped Color just a tad higher.
Actual Kodachrome 64 film — improperly color-corrected scan
Actual Kodachrome 64 film — improperly color-corrected scan
Actual Kodachrome 64 film — improperly color-corrected scan
This Kodachrome Blue Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras. For X-Trans V models, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak. You can use it on newer GFX cameras, but it will render slightly differently, and I recommend setting Shadow to +1. This isn’t a Recipe that I suspect will be anyone’s go-to for everyday use—I’d look at Kodachrome 64 or Kodachrome II for general photography—but it’s a fun one that I think some of you will really appreciate in certain circumstances. I personally like the retro feelings that Kodachrome Blue produces.
The Fuji X Weekly App is free, yet becoming a Fuji X Weekly Patron unlocks the best App experience! One benefit of being a Patron is you get early access to some new Film Simulation Recipes, such as this one. These Early-Access Recipes will eventually become available free to everyone in time. Patrons help support Fuji X Weekly and, really, without them there would be no App. So I want to give a special “thank you” to all of the Patrons!
Find Kodachrome Blue in the Fuji X Weekly App! If you are a Fuji X Weekly App Patron, it’s available to you right now.
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Kodachrome Blue Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:
Play Garden Tools on a Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Stormy Day Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Growing Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Bougainvillea Day – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Bougainvillea Blue – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Building Storm over Street Lamp – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Three Palms over Building – Buckeye, AZ. -Fujifilm X-E4
Palm Lights – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Corner Tower – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Neighborhood Roof – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Concrete Roof Tiles – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Sunlight From Above – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Little Blue Rainbow – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Red Umbrella on a Sunny Day – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Water Angels – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Shoda – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Fake Flowers on a Table – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Potted Palm Plant – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Fresh Flowers – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Two Way Stop – Avondale, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Underpass – Avondale, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Taillight – Avondale, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Two Shoes – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Unexpected Portrait – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Guitarist – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Peace – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Attic Window – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Yellow Honeysuckle Trumpet – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
A Film Simulation Recipe for the Fujifilm XF1, X100, X10 & X-S1 cameras.
Tower Above the Trees – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1 – Provia/STD Recipe
This Film Simulation Recipe was simply an attempt to improve the factory default Provia film sim, with the goal of creating a more analog-like rendering. On the XF1, Provia doesn’t look half bad out-of-the-box, but I thought with some adjustments, I could make it better. I think it turned out pretty well—I’m quite happy with the results I’m getting from this Recipe.
The Fujifilm EXR-CMOS sensor generation quality reminds me of analog half-frame, which are cameras that only expose half of a 35mm frame, allowing you to get twice as many pictures on one roll of film, but at the expense of image quality. For smaller prints it’s no big deal, but if you want to enlarge bigger than 8″x10″, the difference is noticeable, particularly the larger you print. For internet viewing and prints up to 8″x10″, the image quality from the Fujifilm XF1 is great, but I wouldn’t want to print large or crop deeply, because it would begin to fall apart. With that said, I do like the rendering from this camera—it’s a bit different from the other sensor generations.
This “Provia/STD” Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm XF1, X100, X10, and X-S1 cameras. You can use it on X-Trans I, X-Trans II, and Bayer models, too, but it will look slightly different (feel free to try, though)—at the bottom of this article is one picture captured on my Fujifilm X70, which is an X-Trans II model, using this Recipe.
Provia/STD Dynamic Range: DR-Auto Highlight: -1 (Medium-Soft) Shadow: -1 (Medium-Soft) Color: +1 (Medium-High) Sharpness: -1 (Medium-Soft) Noise Reduction: -2 (Low) White Balance: 5600K, -3 Red (R/CY) & -1 Blue (B/Ye) ISO: Auto, up to ISO 1600 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Provia/STD Film Simulation Recipe on a Fujifilm XF1:
Potted Palm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
TK ’24 – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Five-Story Tower – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Block Wall Vines – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Singular Bulb – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Yellow Trumpet Blossoms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Bunch of Blossomed Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Roof Design – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Street Lofts – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Multicolored Water in Mason Jars – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm XF1
Captured using this Provia/STD Recipe on a Fujifilm X70
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and nearly 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Help Support Fuji X Weekly!
Nobody pays me to write the content found on the Fuji X Weekly blog. There’s a real cost to running this website. I also put a lot of my own time into writing the posts. If you’ve found something on Fuji X Weekly helpful to you and you’d like to give back, this is a good place to do it. You can donate to this blog using PayPal by clicking below. I appreciate it! Thank you for your support! Please do not feel obligated to give, but do so only if you want to.
July Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Pushed CineStill 800T
CineStill 800T is a Kodak Tungsten-balanced motion picture film (specifically, Vision3 500T) that has had the Remjet layer removed so that it can be processed in C41 chemistry. It’s intended for use in indoor artificial light and at night (but could be used anytime with the appropriate color correction filter). Awhile back I found some examples of CineStill 800T that had been shot during the day in overcast conditions and had been push-processed. I liked the picture aesthetics, so I set out to recreate it.
While this Film Simulation Recipe is intended for daytime photography (particularly on overcast days), it does really well at night, too. For the after-dark pictures in this article, I used a 5% CineBloom diffusion filter, but a 10% or 20% might have been more appropriate for replicating the emulsion. I do recommend the use of a diffusion filter for nighttime photography when shooting with this Recipe.
This Pushed CineStill 800T Recipe isn’t new, but simply a modification of the X-Trans IV version for use on X-Trans V cameras. Because X-Trans V renders blue more deeply on some film simulations, a tweak to Color Chrome FX Blue—selecting Weak instead of Strong—was necessary for my Fujifilm X-T5. This Film Simulation Recipe isn’t for everyone or every situation, but some of you will really appreciate it for certain pictures.
Film Simulation: Eterna Bleach Bypass Grain Effect: Strong, Large Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Weak White Balance: 7700K, -9 Red & +5 Blue Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: -0.5 Shadow: +1.5 Color: +3 Sharpness: 0 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -3 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Pushed CineStill 800T Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Flower Stems in Colored Water – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Playing Video Games – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Yellow Flowers on a Dreary Day – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Birdcage Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Empty Cage – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Green Tree on a Blue Day – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Suburban Grey – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Street Train – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Hand Signal – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Spin – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Ice – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Hair Chairs – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Mellow Mushroom Pizza – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and nearly 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Vintage Barn – Prefumo Canyon, CA – Fujifilm X100V – 1981 Kodak Recipe
My wife, Amanda, recently ran across some old family pictures in her mom’s photo box. These prints were made in July of 1981—a date stamped on the back—and printed on Kodak paper. The other technical details are unknown, but most likely they were captured with a cheap point-and-shoot of some sort (possibly even a 110 camera) with Kodacolor II color negative film, which was the most popular amateur emulsion of that era. Due to age and improper storage, the prints are fading, with a pronounced orange (sometimes yellow, sometimes red) cast, and colors overall less vibrant than they once were. The set was mostly personal family pictures, and many of them were scratched and damaged, but I did scan two of the prints, which you’ll find below.
I thought that the aesthetic was interesting, so I began to develop a Film Simulation Recipe inspired by these photographs. It took a couple of days, and a few compromises, but I was able to create a look that mimics the general feel of those old pictures made in 1981 and printed on Kodak paper—the reason why I call this Recipe 1981 Kodak.
Scan from print
Scan from print
This 1981 Kodak Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with “newer” Fujifilm X-Trans IV cameras: Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II. For X-Trans V, because some film sims render blue more deeply, it will look slightly different. For the Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T30, ignore Grain size and Color Chrome FX Blue, and use a diffusion filter (such as a 10% or 20% CineBloom) in lieu of Clarity.
The Fuji X Weekly App is free, yet becoming a Fuji X Weekly Patron unlocks the best App experience! One benefit of being a Patron is you get early access to some new Film Simulation Recipes. These Early-Access Recipes will eventually become available free to everyone in time, including this new one. In fact, many Early-Access Recipes have already been publicly published on this Blog and the App, so now everyone can use them. Patrons help support Fuji X Weekly and, really, without them there would be no App. So I want to give a special “thank you” to all of the Patrons!
Find 1981 Kodak in the Fuji X Weekly App! If you are a Fuji X Weekly App Patron, it’s available to you right now.
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this 1981 Kodak Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X100V:
Coastal Hills – Prefumo Canyon, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Dilapidated Barn – Prefumo Canyon, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Rural Rancher – Cambria, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Tree Fallen on Abandoned Car – Cambria, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Old Ford – Cambria, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Classic Grill – Cambria, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Tree-Covered Road – Prefumo Canyon, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Light over Fallen Tree – Prefumo Canyon, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Sawed Log – Prefumo Canyon, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Cliffs of Pismo – Pismo Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Ken Rockwell & ’61 Pontiac Tempest – Cayucos, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Old Van – Cayucos, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Classic Rear Fender – Cayucos, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Beach Boys – Cambria, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Mrs. Peacock – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Guitar Neck – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Drummer – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Corner – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Suburban Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Red Blossom – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4 – Expired Velvia Recipe
Film has an expiration date. Typically two years after it was manufactured, unused film starts to degrade, and the results will be different. Freezing film prolongs the degenerative process, making it possible to get good results years after expiring. Film should be developed within a day or two of use, but you’re ok to wait a few weeks or even months if stored in a refrigerator. Most photographers take care to use their film before the expiration date, and to thoughtfully store their film in a dark, cool place, but some don’t. There are even some photographers who purposefully seek out film that is well-expired and/or stored incorrectly, just for the unpredictable and unusual results that one might get—there is a bit of serendipity to the style, which can be desirable.
This Film Simulation Recipe, called Expired Velvia, came about after a Fuji X Weekly reader shared with me some photographs that he had captured on long-expired Velvia 50 color reversal film. He didn’t have the lab adjust the development time for the expired film, so they were all underexposed (at least a little); however, they turned out really interesting, with an aesthetic that leaned more towards Superia than Velvia. This Recipe does a great job of mimicking that look!
If you are searching for a Film Simulation Recipe that’s a little different, this is one to try! It’s definitely not for everyone, but some of you will love it. It’s compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras. For X-Trans V models, you can use this Recipe, but because blue is rendered more deeply on some film simulations, the results will be slightly different. This Recipe was an App Patron Early-Access Recipe, but it has been replaced by a new one, so if you are a Fuji X Weekly App Patron, be sure to look for that new Early-Access Recipe in the App!
Film Simulation: Classic Negative Grain Effect: Weak, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Off White Balance: 6400K, -1 Red & +8 Blue Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: +2 Shadow: -2 Color: +3 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -4 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -1 to -1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Expired Velvia Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4 and Fujifilm X100V cameras:
Dodge, Didn’t Dodge – Cambria, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Dena Boat – Morro Bay, California – Fujifilm X100V
In the Same Boat – Cayucos, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Help Protect – San Simeon, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Light Post – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
Hotel Door – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Restaurant – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Webs We Weave – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
Outdoor Chair Cushion – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
Jo Playing with Roly Polies – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
A Boy & His Fishing Pole – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
Covered Boat Dock – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
Lake Houses – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
‘Bout to Blossom – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Wet Rose – Ridgedale, MO – Fujifilm X-E4
Triangles – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
Fenced Sun – Amarillo, TX – Fujifilm X-E4
A Whale of a Sunset – Branson, MO – Fujifilm X-E4
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and nearly 300 more on the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Rocky Hill in the Desert – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v1
I asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT to make a Film Simulation Recipe to mimic the look of Kodachrome X slide film. This wasn’t the first time that I attempted to use ChatGPT to make a Recipe for Fujifilm cameras… you might recall that the Urban Dreams Film Simulation Recipe was made by ChatGPT, and by chance it has some resemblance to Kodachrome 200. I learned a lot about the AI’s ability (or is it inability?) to make Recipes, so I decided to try again just for the fun of it.
Kodak introduced Kodachrome—a color transparency film, and the world’s first commercially successful color film—in 1935. Kodachrome X was in the second era of the emulsion, sold between 1962 and 1973. It was replaced by Kodachrome 64, which was discontinued in 2009. Today you cannot buy Kodachrome, and even if you found some old rolls of the film, you cannot even get it developed. Shooting with a facsimile Film Simulation Recipe on Fujifilm cameras is a great way to experience some of these old emulsions that no longer exist, such as Kodachrome X.
Here’s a YouTube video I made documenting the experience!
My opinion is that ChatGPT’s Recipe is much too vibrant to mimic Kodachrome X. While the film was richly vibrant for its time, no emulsion in the 1960’s was that colorful. Today it would be described more as true-to-life. There are also other issues I take with the settings that the AI chose, so I don’t think it did well at mimicking Kodachrome; however, that doesn’t mean the settings (by chance) don’t look nice.
ChatGPT’s Kodachrome X Recipe
My Kodachrome II v2 Recipe
After examining the ChatGPT Recipe, I decided that it reminds me a lot of Kodak Ektachrome E100VS. There have been over 40 different emulsions that carried the Ektachrome name over the years—each with their own unique look—and E100VS was just one. Kodak introduced this film in 1999 and discontinued it in 2012. Ektachrome E100VS was Kodak’s best attempt at Velvia, and was their most vibrant emulsion. The “VS” in the name meant Vividly Saturated. While it was similar to Velvia, it wasn’t identical—the warmth of the film was the most obvious difference—and many photographers preferred Fujifilm’s Velvia over Kodak’s Ektachrome E100VS. Still, at the pinnacle of the film era, it was a popular choice for landscape photographers wanting a boost in vibrancy.
I noticed with AI generated Film Simulation Recipes that most of the time it chooses Auto White Balance, Grain Strong, and stays within -2 to +2 on all of the settings; my experience is that it only occasionally strays from that. It also seems to always leave some necessary settings out, and you have to ask it to add those. Of course, no film has Auto White Balance—most are Daylight (around 5500K), and some are Tungsten (around 3200K). While it is amazing that ChatGPT can produce a Recipe for Fujifilm cameras, if it looks good or not—and if it truly produces the aesthetic that you asked for—is more by chance than skill. Also, it doesn’t like to cite its sources, which is just wrong in my opinion.
While it tried and failed to resemble 1960’s era Kodachrome, I still liked the look produced by ChatGPT’s Kodachrome X Film Simulation Recipe. Since it has some similarities to Kodak Ektachrome E100VS color transparency film, I renamed it after that emulsion. I also refined the settings to more closely resemble the film, and am including that as a second Recipe, which I call Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v2. So v1 is ChatGPT’s Recipe, and v2 is my modified alternative.
I shot a number of rolls of Ektachrome E100VS back in my film days. Most of these pictures are stored away in little yellow boxes, but a few images have been scanned. Obviously, the scanner—and especially the quality of the scan—has an impact on the photo rendering. The four images below are some real Kodak Ektachrome E100VS frames that I shot many years ago. None of these are high-quality scans, and for that I apologize, and I hope you can overlook that aspect of the pictures. Also, it’s important to state that they all look significantly more impressive when viewed on a light table or especially from a slide projector.
Actual Kodak Ektachrome E100VS film
Actual Kodak Ektachrome E100VS film
Actual Kodak Ektachrome E100VS film
Actual Kodak Ektachrome E100VS film
How the film was shot had a significant impact on the look. For deeper blues and reds, one should underexpose the film slightly. For cyan sky and brighter (and warmer) colors, one should overexpose slightly. Of course, you had to be careful, because the film—like most slide films—had a narrow dynamic range, and there wasn’t much room for error either direction. These two Film Simulation Recipes behave similarly, although I believe v2 a little more so than v1.
Without further ado, here are the two Kodak Ektachrome E100VS Film Simulation Recipes!
Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v1
ChatGPT Recipe for Kodachrome X
Beef Franks – Vulture City, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Ektachrome E100VS v1
This is the Recipe that ChatGPT created to mimic Kodachrome X, but it looks more like Kodak Ektachrome E100VS. It produces vivid colors similar to—but more warm and slightly less vibrant than—Velvia film. For darker blues and deeper reds, use a lower exposure compensation, and for lighter blues and brighter/warmer colors, use a higher exposure compensation. Because it uses Auto White Balance and DR400, you’ll find it to be quite versatile; however, the rendering is clearly “wrong” in some situations.
The Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v1 Film Simulation Recipe is fully compatible with X-Trans V cameras, which (as of this writing) are the X-T5, X-H2, and X-H2s, as well as “newer” X-Trans IV cameras, which include the X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II. You can use this Recipe on newer GFX cameras; however, it will render slightly differently (but try it anyway!). For the X-T3 and X-T30 (plus older GFX), you’ll have to ignore Color Chrome FX Blue, Grain size, and Clarity (since your camera doesn’t have those options), so it will definitely look a little different, but you might like it nonetheless; for X-Trans III, you’ll have to additionally ignore Color Chrome Effect.
Film Simulation: Velvia Grain Effect: Strong, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong White Balance: Auto, +2 Red & -2 Blue Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: +1 Shadow: +1 Color: +2 Sharpness: +1 High ISO NR: -2 Clarity: +1 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v1 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Suburban Arches – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Red, Green & Yellow – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Pink Blossom in Spring – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Boy in a Red Hat – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Saguaro & Abandoned Building – Vulture City, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Agave at the Mine – Vulture City, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Spiderweb Among Thorns – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Yellow Flowers Behind Cactus – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Cactus Vailed by Sunlight – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Little Purple Wildflowers – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Veiled Cactus – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Desert Spring in the Shade – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Shaded Bristlebush Blooms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v2
Fuji X Weekly Recipe
Unexpected X – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v2
This version of Kodak Ektachrome E100VS is my modification to better mimic the film. It’s not too divergent—only slightly dissimilar—since it’s simply a modification of the AI Recipe, and not made from scratch. Because it uses more of a daylight-balanced Kelvin White Balance and DR200, it’s not quite as versatile as v1, and you have to be a little more careful of the light situation you are shooting in and pay closer attention to the highlights to avoid clipping. Sometimes it’s not completely correct, but I think in the “right” conditions it can be quite convincing—nearly identical to some slides I have.
The Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v2 Film Simulation Recipe is fully compatible with X-Trans V cameras, which (as of this writing) are the X-T5, X-H2, and X-H2s, as well as “newer” X-Trans IV cameras, which include the X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the X-T3, X-T30, X-Pro3, or X100V. You can use this Recipe on newer GFX cameras; however, it will render slightly differently (but try it anyway!).
Film Simulation: Velvia Grain Effect: Weak, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong White Balance: 5150K, +3 Red & -3 Blue Dynamic Range: DR200 Highlight: +1.5 Shadow: +0.5 Color: +1 Sharpness: -1 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: +3 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v2 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5 and X-E4:
Americana Home – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Blue Sky Behind Trees – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Boy in a Red Hat 2 – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Abunda la Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Garden Apex – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bright Backyard Blossom – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Shaded Oleander Blooms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Reddish Orange Cactus Flower – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
White Paper Flowers – Beckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Desert Hill through Palo Verde – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Little Pops of Purple – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Purple Spring – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bunch of Yellow Trumpets – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Red Airplane – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sunset in Suburbia – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Comparison
In the three examples above, Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v1 is on the left (revealed by moving the slider right), and Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v2 is on the right (revealed by moving the slider left).
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
As a bonus, I asked OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 AI image creator to show me what ChatGPT creating Film Simulation Recipes looks like. The results? Awful, but also kind of funny! I tried rewording the request several different ways in hopes of getting a better image, but it never really got any better.
Here are a few:
Help Fuji X Weekly
Nobody pays me to write the content found on fujixweekly.com. There’s a real cost to operating and maintaining this site, not to mention all the time that I pour into it. If you appreciated this article, please consider making a one-time gift contribution. Thank you!
One aspect of Film Simulation Recipes that I get asked about a lot is Exposure Compensation. It has caused much confusion. This article is intended to clarify it, and hopefully by the end this puzzling parameter will be fully understood.
First, let’s briefly talk about the exposure triangle. In photography, the exposure triangle refers to the three main elements that control the brightness of an image: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Aperture controls the amount of light entering the camera through the lens by adjusting the size of the opening, measured in f-stops. Shutter speed controls the amount of time that the camera’s sensor (or the film) is exposed to light, measured in seconds or fractions of a second. ISO measures the sensitivity of the camera’s sensor (or the film) to light, with lower ISO values indicating lower sensitivity and higher ISO values indicating higher sensitivity. These three elements work together to determine the overall exposure of an image.
Illumination in the Dark Desert – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – “CineStill 400D v1” Recipe – Exposure Compensation: 0
Whenever you are not shooting fully manual, but are relying on an auto or semi-auto feature, such as Aperture-Priority (you choose the Aperture, but the camera chooses the Shutter and possibly the ISO) and Shutter-Priority (you choose the Shutter, but the camera chooses the Aperture and possibly the ISO), you adjust the exposure using Exposure Compensation, which on most Fujifilm cameras is via a knob on top of the camera. You can increase or decrease the exposure in 1/3-stop increments. While some people do shoot fully manual, including myself on occasion, many photographers choose to use a semi-auto mode so that the camera handles some lesser important tasks for them. Because more people shoot semi-auto than fully manual, in the Film Simulation Recipes I state the appropriate Auto-ISO and typical Exposure Compensation, but this causes a point of confusion for the fully manual shooter: what do you do? The solution is simple: increase or decrease the exposure over what the light meter suggests by whatever the recipe says. If a particular recipe calls for +1/3 to +2/3 Exposure Compensation, simply increase the exposure over what the light meter says by that amount.
Which brings me to an important point. The suggested Exposure Compensation is not intended to be a rule, but merely a starting point. There are a lot of factors that determine the luminosity curve—the film simulation, Dynamic Range settings, Highlight, Shadow, and even Color Chrome Effect, Color Chrome FX Blue, and Clarity play a role—and that curve is applied to the exposure (the entirety of the triangle). Because of this, it’s important to judge each exposure individually, to determine how the luminosity curve best fits within an exposure, depending on the exact light situation. In other words, “typical” Exposure Compensation is nothing more than a suggestion, which will work sometimes and won’t work other times, and it is up to you to figure out what will work best for each image.
Another important point is metering. I use Multi most of the time, but sometimes I use Spot instead. It doesn’t really matter which one you use, because whichever you choose, you’ll still need to judge each exposure individually. However, it can be helpful to know that the typical metering mode used for suggested Exposure Compensations is Multi. If you are using the “typical” Exposure Compensation as a starting point, it will likely work better for you more often if you are also using Multi metering mode. It’s not critical to use any particular metering mode, but, if you are using something other than Multi, you should be aware that the suggested Exposure Compensation will be a little less helpful.
You cannot save an Exposure Compensation within the C1-C7 Custom Presets. Instead, you adjust it (on most Fujifilm cameras) via the Exposure Compensation Knob on the top plate. If your camera has the ability to Custom Name each preset, you could add the “typical” Exposure Compensation to the name as a reminder if you want to. Since you get immediate feedback on what your picture will look like, I wouldn’t get too caught up in worrying about “typical” Exposure Compensation; instead, simply look at the image, and determine if it is too dark or bright, and adjust if necessary.
Most Film Simulation Recipes often look better with a little boost in exposure over what the light meter says, and some look better with a decrease in exposure. But, it’s also situationally dependent. You might find that with a certain recipe you often use +2/3 Exposure Compensation, but then for a certain picture you set it to -1/3. Flexibility is key. To an extent, using Film Simulation Recipes is kind of like shooting slide film, in that you have to get the exposure correct in-the-field at the time of the exposure; however, your camera allows you to see exactly what the picture is going to look like, and you have some excellent tools in-camera to help, such as a histogram and highlight alert.
The takeaways are 1) the “typical” Exposure Compensation listed in each recipe is merely a suggested starting point and nothing more, and 2) each exposure should be judged individually. It’s understandable why this setting is confusing, and why I get so many questions about it. My best advice is to carefully examine the instant feedback your camera is providing you in a situation, and adjust the exposure, either brighter or darker, until it is how you want it to be. I hope this clears things up a bit.
Illumination in the Dark Desert – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – “CineStill 400D v1”
CineStill 400D is a cinematic color negative film meant for C41 processing that’s been around for less than a year. Unlike other cinematic films, the “D” doesn’t apparently stand for “Daylight” (even though it is Daylight balanced), but “Dynamic” because it has a large latitude for push processing. I’ve had a number of requests to create a Film Simulation Recipe that mimics the aesthetic of CineStill 400D. The problem I encountered is that this emulsion has a lot more variance than most films. All films can produce different looks depending on a host of factors, including how shot, developed, and scanned, but CineStill 400D seems especially so. As I understand, this film “scans flat” and some degree of post-processing is necessary, which likely accounts for some of that variance, as each photographer will manipulate the file to their own tastes to produce a final image.
No one recipe will ever come close to replicating all of the possible aesthetics from CineStill 400D, so instead I will publish a series of CineStill 400D Film Simulation Recipes, each a facsimile of a different look produced by the film. This recipe—CineStill 400D v1—has more contrast and leans more green/yellow than the other versions that will follow. I think it is especially well suited for sunny daylight conditions, but it is also a good option for dreary overcast days. While it is certainly usable for many genres of photography, I particularly appreciate this one for landscapes.
This CineStill 400D v1 Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with “newer” Fujifilm X-Trans IV cameras—X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II—and all X-Trans V models—as of this writing, X-T5, X-H2, and X-H2S. Unfortunately, it is not compatible with the X-T3 and X-T30. Those with newer GFX models should be able to use it, too, but the rendering will be slightly different (try it anyway). Click here for the CineStill 400D v2 recipe.
Film Simulation: Astia Grain Effect: Strong, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong White Balance: Fluorescent 1, -6 Red & -3 Blue Dynamic Range: DR200 Highlight: +3 Shadow: +1 Color: +2 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -4 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this “CineStill 400D v1” Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Red Pipe – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dreary Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Raindrop on Curled Leaf – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Fujifilm X100V on a Wet Table – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Autumn Sidewalk – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Suburban Bush – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Reflection on the Floor – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dog Waste – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Stone Blooms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Tree in the Cloudy Desert – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Suburban Stop Sign – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Joy – Gilbert, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Saguaro Storm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Reflecting on Perspective – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Evening in the Desert – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Cactus Reflected – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Light & Clouds on Mountain Ridges – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sunset Clouds – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Desert in Shadow & Light – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Last Sunlight Pouring Through a Pass – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Saguaro Fingers – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dark Saguaro – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Cactus in Golden Light – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Nobody pays me to write the content found on fujixweekly.com. There’s a real cost to operating and maintaining this site, not to mention all the time that I pour into it. If you appreciated this article, please consider making a one-time gift contribution. Thank you!
