Amazing Grace – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI – PRO Negative 160C
This is the very first Film Simulation Recipe that I created using my brand-new Fujifilm X100VI camera, and also the very first using the new Reala Ace film simulation. I’m very excited to share it with you, because I think many of you who have received their X100VI cameras will love it, and those still waiting for their order to be shipped can look forward to it—as well as those with the other X-Trans V cameras whenever it is that Fujifilm gives the Reala Ace film simulation to those models via a firmware update, which Fujifilm has said that they will do.
I mentioned a few days ago that Reala Ace isn’t much like Reala film, but is actually similar to PRO Neg. Std, mostly with just a small increase in Highlight and a moderate increase in Color. It is essentially a third PRO Neg. option, with a tonality in-between Hi and Std, and saturation more similar to Hi (just a little more, actually); for whatever reason, it’s easier to replicate the Reala Ace film sim with PRO Neg. Std than PRO Neg. Hi, but you can get pretty close with either. The most similar emulsion to the new Reala Ace film sim is, in my opinion, Fujicolor PRO 160C, which was made by Fujifilm between 2004 and 2010. “PRO Neg. C” is probably a more appropriate name for the new film sim than Reala Ace, but that’s not what Fujifilm chose.
Vibrant Trumpets – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI – PRO Negative 160C
I didn’t necessarily set out to recreate Fujicolor PRO 160C with this PRO Negative 160C Film Simulation Recipe, although I had it in my mind because I had just looked at a bunch of pictures captured with the film. More simply, I was intending a PRO Neg. Std tonality, but with vibrancy more like (or possibly slightly beyond) PRO Neg. Hi with Color set to +4. You can get about 90% similar to this Recipe using PRO Neg. Hi, but you can’t quite match it. You could probably get a 95% match if PRO Neg. Std had a +6 Color option, but alas +4 is the most that Fujifilm provides. Even though this wasn’t exactly meant to replicate Fujicolor PRO 160C film, it is definitely in the ballpark of that emulsion, and you could probably convince some people that used the film, and not a digital camera.
For those unfamiliar with Fujicolor PRO 160C, it was a natural-yet-vibrant low-ISO color negative professional-grade daylight film. Fujifilm made three different emulsions in the PRO 160 line: 160S, 160NS, and 160C. The PRO 160 series was intended to compete against Kodak’s Portra 160 films; specifically, PRO 160S was Fujifilm’s answer to Portra 160NC, PRO 160C was Fujifilm’s answer to Portra 160VC, and PRO 160NS was Fujifilm’s answer to (the later updated) Portra 160. With that said, Fujifilm’s emulsions were significantly divergent from Kodak’s offerings; while Portra is now legendary, PRO 160 has nearly been forgotten. I never shot with PRO 160C personally, but I did use PRO 160S a couple of times; in retrospect, I think I would have liked 160C more.
Railroad Water Tower – Gila Bend, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI – PRO Negative 160C
As of this writing, the only Fujifilm cameras this PRO Negative 160C Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with are the X100VI and GFX100 II. I’ve not tested this on the GFX model, but I’m certain that it will render slightly differently, although that shouldn’t stop you from trying it. Eventually all X-Trans V cameras will be able to use it once Fujifilm releases it to those models, but I’m not certain exactly when that will happen (hopefully soon). This is a versatile Recipe—use it anytime of the day or night! I believe that it could be your go-to option for everyday photography.
Film Simulation: Reala Ace Dynamic Range: DR200 Grain Effect: Weak, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Off White Balance: Auto, +1 Red & -2 Blue Highlight:-1 Shadow: -1 Color: +4 Sharpness: -1 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -2 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this PRO Negative 160C Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X100VI:
Afternoon in Spring – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Bougainvillea & Arch – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Shrub along Stucco Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Water Angels – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Yellow Wall – Gila Bend, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Abandoned Service Station – Gila Bend, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Old Fire Engine – Gila Bend, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Old Fire Engine Cab – Gila Bend, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Steering Wheel in an Abandoned Truck – Gila Bend, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Yellow Wall, Abandoned Building – Gila Bend, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Window Basket – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Jon with a Camera – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
American Turkey Legs – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Bud Bud, Light Light – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Thunderbird & Canopies – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Mirrored Jets – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Four Birds in the Sky – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Collision Course – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Travis – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Twin Engine – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Blue Angel 0 – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Green Buckets – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Rescue – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Airmen in Sunglasses – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Palm Tree Checkerboard – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
It’s all Greek to Me – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Little Lights, Big Lights – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
The Black Hole – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
Kool & The Gang, Crowd – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100VI
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Pink Paper Blossom – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – “Fujicolor Pro 160NS Pulled +2”
I received an email the other day from Anders Lindborg with this subject title: A Different Approach. Anders created the Kodak Tri-X 400 film simulation recipe, which is my personal favorite for black-and-white photography. I was immediately intrigued, and I was not disappointed as I read his message. I’ll let Anders explain this new approach below as he described it to me.
“Doing professional work is tough. Since getting a Fujifilm X-T3 (and later an X-Pro3), I’ve come to rely totally on the straight-out-of-camera JPEGs. They look great and I get more jobs just because I can deliver good results fast. After diving deep into the Fujifilm film simulations, I’ve come to realize that you cannot create a single recipe that will always look great. Sometimes the sunlight is so strong that everything gets blown out and the next day the same recipe will make everything look murky and dull.”
“Coming from a film background, I’m reasonably used to pushing and pulling film as needed. With cheap consumer film stocks, you could sometimes get absolutely horrific (or ”creative” as some call them) results, but the professional films were often quite predictable. Some film stocks have become legendary because they really could take a good beating, no matter how you treated them. Also, the exposure latitude of film is insane compared to digital, which is something I really have missed since switching. Awhile back I started experimenting with recreating this, but I slowly realized that it would require several different variations of my settings. When I was finished, I had used up all seven slots! A lot of research and assumptions went into the process. For example, I totally assume that Fujifilm knows what they’re doing and that their stock simulations are good. I can honestly say after all this, that—yes—they do know their game!”
“The settings emulate a flexible film look. They serve as a base that can be modified as needed on the spot via the Q Menu (for example: changing film simulation, white balance, tint, dynamic range, etc.). The objective was to always have working settings for any scenario that emulates how professional film behaves when being pushed or pulled. They’re intended for professional use and come out of both a need and want for realistic film-like simulations that are guaranteed to work, no matter what task I’m currently challenged with. Of course it’s up to the end user to tune it to their specific preferences, but I strongly recommend you leave the highlight/shadow settings as-is. They are heavily tested with all standard film simulations and you will get a nice looking result with them. These settings took me a couple of years to develop, but this is what I actually use every day now.”
“Just step outside and try to come to a conclusion about what the current weather and light conditions are like. If the sun is harsh, you need to pull. If the sun is blindingly bright, pull two steps. The same goes for pushing. If you’re missing just a bit of light, push one step. If it’s dull, push two steps. The third and fourth push settings are perhaps a bit special as the contrast starts to increase. On a regular day, of course you use the box speed setting. Once you’ve selected your setting for the day, stick with it! This is the key to consistent results.”
“I recommend shooting RAW+JPEG and having the settings stored in X Raw Studio. RAWs are great to have if you aren’t happy with the results of your selected setting. The settings were created for the Fujifilm X-T3, but can be easily adapted to taste on any X-series camera. On my X-Pro3, I set Clarity to -3 and Grain to Weak & Large on all slots.”
Thank you, Anders Lindborg, for creating and sharing this new approach!
Pink Rose – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – “fujicolor Pro 160NS Pulled -1”
For those without a film background, let me briefly explain what pushing and pulling means in film photography. Film is rated at a certain ISO, for example ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, etc., which is a measurement of the film’s sensitivity to light (it’s pretty much just like on your digital camera). You can underexpose a roll of film and increase the development time to get correctly exposed pictures, and this is called push-processing or pushing the film. Also, you can overexpose a roll of film and decrease the development time to get correctly exposed pictures, and this is called pull-processing or pulling the film. Pushing the film increases the contrast, vibrancy (for color film), and grain, while pulling the film decreases the contrast, vibrancy (for color film), and grain. With film, you have to push or pull the entire roll and not just one or a few frames.
The genius of Anders’ method is that you can apply this film approach to your digital pictures, and you can do it with as few or as many frames as you wish. You can push one frame, pull the next, and shoot the third at “box speed” (nether pushed nor pulled) if you want. This type of flexibility was unimaginable in the film era!
In case you didn’t understand this approach, let me rephrase it. You have one recipe, but that recipe has push and pull variants. You can use any film simulation with the recipe, and Anders’ film simulation of choice is PRO Neg. Hi, but try any of them! The rest of the settings stay the same. His push and pull variants don’t necessarily represent stops of pushing or pulling, but more like half-stop increments (although Fujifilm lenses have 1/3 stop increments, but don’t worry about that). You can dedicate slots in your Custom Settings Menu for the recipe and variants, or you can have one Custom Settings slot set to the standard “box speed” recipe and adjust on-the-fly if you have the required changes memorized, or you can do it in X RAW Studio.
Anders actually sent me two recipes. The first, which you’ll find below, is called Fujicolor Pro 160NS. It wasn’t purposely intended to resemble that film, but it nonetheless does, more-or-less. The second, which you can find here), is called Fujicolor Pro 400H. The Pro 160NS recipe is the “standard” one, while the Pro 400H recipe is just a little more bold for when you need a bit more pizzaz.
There are seven versions of the Fujicolor Pro 160NS recipe: Pulled -2, Pulled -1, Box Speed, Pushed +1, Pushed +2, Pushed +3, and Pushed +4. You’ll find each of these below, although the Box Speed version is the only one included on the Fuji X Weekly app. My recommendation is to manually add the other versions into the notes section under the recipe in the app. These seven recipes are compatible with X-Trans III cameras plus the X-T3 and X-T30; for newer cameras Anders recommends setting Clarity to -3 and Grain to Weak & Large. As a reminder, these recipes are intended to look good no matter the film simulation used, despite it calling for PRO Neg. Hi. For Pushed +3 and Pushed +4, feel free to use Grain Strong if you’d like.
Fujicolor Pro 160NS Box Speed
Two Broken Cars – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
PRO Neg. Hi Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: 0 Shadow: 0 Color: 0 Color Chrome Effect: Off Grain: Weak Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpness: -3 White Balance: Daylight, 0 Red & 0 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +2/3 (typically)
Old Railroad Sign – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Rainy Day Railroad – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Hazy Mountain & Red Helicopter – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Fujicolor Pro 160NSPulled -1
Clouds Over Green Mountain – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
PRO Neg. Hi Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: -1 Shadow: -1 Color: 0 Color Chrome Effect: Off Grain: Weak Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpness: -3 White Balance: Daylight, 0 Red & 0 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +2/3 (typically)
If you are adding this recipe to the Notes in the app, consider using this abbreviation: Pulled -1: HL & SH -1.
Cryo-Trans – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Jonathan – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Orange Flower – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Fujicolor Pro 160NS Pulled -2
Trailer Interior – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
PRO Neg. Hi Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: -2 Shadow: -1 Color: -1 Color Chrome Effect: Off Grain: Weak Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpness: -3 White Balance: Daylight, 0 Red & 0 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +1 (typically)
If you are adding this recipe to the Notes in the app, consider using this abbreviation: Pulled -2: HL -2, SH -1, CLR -1.
Not Driven – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Americana Country – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Uncertain Walking Path – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Fujicolor Pro 160NS Pushed +1
Green Tree & Storm Clouds – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
PRO Neg. Hi Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: +1 Shadow: 0 Color: 0 Color Chrome Effect: Off Grain: Weak Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpness: -3 White Balance: Daylight, 0 Red & 0 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +2/3 (typically)
If you are adding this recipe to the Notes in the app, consider using this abbreviation: Pushed +1: HL +1.
Garden Blooms – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
F’n’R – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Boy Smile – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Fujicolor Pro 160NS Pushed +2
Worn Seat Abstract – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
PRO Neg. Hi Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: +2 Shadow: 0 Color: +1 Color Chrome Effect: Off Grain: Weak Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpness: -3 White Balance: Daylight, 0 Red & 0 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
If you are adding this recipe to the Notes in the app, consider using this abbreviation: Pushed +2: HL +2, CLR +1.
Shasta Trailers – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Onions in Bloom – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Flowering Bush – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Fujicolor Pro 160NS Pushed +3
Branches Over Creek – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
PRO Neg. Hi Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: +2 Shadow: +1 Color: +2 Color Chrome Effect: Off Grain: Weak Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpness: -3 White Balance: Daylight, 0 Red & 0 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
If you are adding this recipe to the Notes in the app, consider using this abbreviation: Pushed +3: HL +2, SH +1, CLR +2.
Two Cows – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Green Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Fujicolor Pro 160NS Pushed +4
Wet Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
PRO Neg. Hi Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: +3 Shadow: +2 Color: +3 Color Chrome Effect: Off Grain: Weak Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpness: -4 White Balance: Daylight, 0 Red & 0 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
If you are adding this recipe to the Notes in the app, consider using this abbreviation: Pushed +4: HL +3, SH +2, CLR +3, SHARP -4.
Forest – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Wall Shelf – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Yellow Bike – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Below are examples of using the Fujicolor Pro 160NS Box Speed recipe using other film simulations. You can do this with all of the pull and push variants, too, although I didn’t supply any examples of those because this article is already very long.
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