An issue that many people have found with the different film simulation recipes is knowing what to adjust the White Balance Shift to, as well as knowing what the exposure compensation should be, when changing recipes. Only the newest Fujifilm cameras (the X-Pro3 and newer) have the ability to save the WB Shift with the custom presets; unfortunately, most Fujifilm cameras cannot save WB Shift with custom presets, and that’s a problem when switching between different recipes. Since the camera can’t save certain settings, people have come up with different solutions to help remember what those settings should be. One of those solutions is to put the WB Shift into the custom preset name. Not all Fujifilm cameras have the ability to name the custom settings, but many of them do.

Fuji X Weekly reader Randy Kirk took this name solution to a new level! He designed an abbreviation format for recipe names as a solution to the problem, which he explains below.

“The format translates, from left to right, as follows:
Film Recipe Name, WB mode (auto, daylight, etc), WB Offset, exposure compensation, and finally ISO or misc notes.”

“I use these abbreviations for White Balance:
AU: Auto
TN: Tungsten
C1: Custom 1, etc
F1: Fluorescent 1
KV: Kelvin
CL: Cloud
… and so on. Most can also be abbreviated to one letter if I run out of space to type.”

Below are some examples.

Kodachrome 64 is named: K64 DY+2r-5b +2/3~ 
Translation: “Kodachrome 64, Daylight White Balance with a +2 Red & -5 Blue shift, exposure comp +2/3, plus or minus 1/3 of a stop. The squiggle after the fraction translates to ‘more or less’ and takes less space than typing the full range listed in the recipe.”

Portra 160 is named: P160 DY~+4r-5b +1~
Translation: “Here, the squiggle after DY lets me know I can mess around with the White Balance, and the exposure compensation translates to +2/3 to +1 1/3 stop.”

Tri-X 400 is named: TriX C1+9r-9B +2/3~ 1600+
Translation: “White balance is Custom 1, exposure compensation is +1/3 to +1 stop, and ISO 1600 and up is recommended.”

“Last, here’s one that condenses my cheat notes for two recipes into one preset name:
K2/E100 A+3r-4b +1/3+ C/V
It looks funky, but translates to:
Kodachrome II / Ektachrome 100SW, Auto WB (abbreviated to A), WB Shift, Exposure Comp +1/3 to +2/3 stop.. and the last note indicates Classic Chrome (for Kodachrome II) or Velvia (for E100SW).” 

“A plus sign *after* the exposure compensation indicates another 1/3 stop ‘up’ (for a range of +1/3 to +2/3). Or if a recipe calls for an exposure range of minus 1/3 to minus 2/3 stop, then it would simply read ‘-1/3-‘.”

If you are having trouble remembering what adjustments that you need to make to your camera when you switch between recipes, this system of abbreviations with your custom recipe names might be just what you need. I know that this will be helpful to many of you. Thank you, Randy Kirk, for designing these abbreviations and sharing them!