Yellow Blossoms Along a Fence – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Agfa Ultra 100 v2
Ultra 100 was a short lived color negative film made by Agfa from 2003 to 2005. After its discontinuation it gained a cult-like following; unsurprisingly, I’ve been asked many times to replicate the aesthetic for Fujifilm cameras. The supply of this emulsion has been getting smaller and smaller, and before long it will likely be completely gone. Nowadays, a digital approximation will be your best bet to achieve an Agfa Ultra 100 look.
Two years ago I published an Agfa Ultra 100 Film Simulation Recipe, using Classic Negative as the base. I said of it, “I’m actually not fully satisfied with this Recipe. I think sometimes it’s pretty spot-on, and I think other times it is significantly off.” Two years later, having just re-reviewed a lot of Agfa Ultra 100 photographs in preparation for this article, I completely agree with that assessment: some of the pictures captured with my Agfa Ultra 100 Recipe look extremely similar to some pictures I found captured with the film stock, while others don’t look especially alike. That shouldn’t be too surprising because one film can produce many different looks based on a host of factors, including how shot, developed, printed and/or scanned.
Vibrant Spring – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Agfa Ultra 100 v2
I recently received an email from a film photographer who has been shooting with Agfa Ultra 100 for many years. He purchased a large supply of the film back in 2007, and has kept it in his freezer ever since. With his supply now running low, he began to look for alternatives, and in the process stumbled upon Fuji X Weekly. Unfortunately, my Agfa Ultra 100 Film Simulation Recipe wasn’t a good match for his pictures, so he reached out to me to see if it would be possible to better replicate his photographs. He sent me some samples, and I noticed right away that it was dissimilar from my Recipe. His pictures had a distinct Nostalgic Neg. vibe, so I thought I could probably recreate the aesthetic using that film simulation.
His Agfa Ultra 100 pictures were captured with Pantax MZ-S 35mm SLR, overexposed slightly to compensate for the film being expired, developed by MPix, and scanned on a Noritsu. No post-processing was done, other than whatever corrections the lab may have made while scanning. The resulting pictures looked different than my Recipe, and also different from most of the photographs captured with the film that I found online. In particular, his photographs were significantly warmer and a tad more vibrant than my original Recipe. After a few days of tweaking, I feel like I got really close to the specific aesthetic of his pictures. He only sent me a handful of images to examine, so it’s based on a small sampling; however, this new Recipe seems like a pretty good match overall.
My new Agfa Ultra 100 v2 Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with fifth-generation X-Trans cameras, which (as of this writing) are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20, and X100VI cameras. Those with newer GFX cameras that have the Nostalgic Neg. film simulation can use it, too; however, it will render slightly different (try it anyway). While this Recipe is intended for sunny daylight situations, it does surprisingly well in a variety of light scenarios.
Film Simulation: Nostalgic Neg. Dynamic Range: DR400 Grain Effect: Weak, Large Color Chrome Effect: Weak Color Chrome FX Blue: Weak White Balance: 5800K, -3 Red & -3 Blue Highlight:+1.5 Shadow: +1 Color: +3 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -2 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Agfa Ultra 100 v2 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
SRT303 – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Empty Shell Station – Glendale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dusk Lamp – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Corner House at Dusk – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Groceries & Meat – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Joshua in Window Light – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Fake Orchid – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Curtains & Blinds – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bright Buzz People Happen – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
PARK – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sunset from a Parking Garage – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sunset Reflected in a Pond – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Suburbia – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Roofline & Lens Flare – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bougainvillea Green – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Yellow Desert Flowers – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sharp Spikes – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Rad – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
American – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Red Stripe – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Repurposed Fire Hydrant – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bell Tower – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Do Not – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Fish Fan – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Girl on the Green Grass – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Pavement, Grass & Shadows – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
South Rim Sunrise – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodak Portra 800 v3
My wife recently challenged me to create a Film Simulation Recipe that mimics the aesthetic of Kodak Portra 800 film that Peter McKinnon has been sharing on Instagram and YouTube. I’m really drawn to his analog photography—I think they’re some of his best photographs. While there were plenty of examples of his Portra 800 to examine, I found it to be a difficult endeavor to replicate on my Fujifilm cameras.
As I’ve said many times, one film can produce many different looks based on a whole host of factors: how shot (film format, lens, exposure, filters, light, etc.), how developed (push/pull, brand of chemicals, freshness of chemicals, timing, temperature and pH of the water, etc.), how printed (paper, chemicals, timing, filters, etc.) and/or how scanned (brand of scanner, correction profiles, post-editing, etc.). Even within one photographer’s collection of one specific emulsion, there can be some noticeable variances. In the specific case of Peter McKinnon and his Kodak Portra 800, there is indeed significant divergences in the exact look of different pictures.
Mineral Stains on a Dry Fountain – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4 – Kodak Portra 800 v3
Before I get any deeper into this, let me give a brief history of Kodak Portra 800 and my Film Simulation Recipes that mimic this film. Kodak introduced Portra 800 in 1998 at the same time as Portra 160 and Portra 400. Portra 160 and Portra 400 both originally came in a “VC” (vivid color) and “NC” (neutral color) versions, which were later merged into in-between emulsions that still exists today; however, Portra 800 only ever came in one variety. I don’t know if it is true, but I read that Portra 800 was based on the older Vericolor/Vision2 technology, while Portra 160 and Portra 400 were based on T-Grain/Vision3 advancements. In any event, all of these films have been tweaked and updated by Kodak several times over the years. While it has become increasingly expensive, all three ISO versions of Portra are still being manufactured today by Kodak. In fact, the current version of Lomography 800 is supposedly repacked Portra 800 (although it might be a run that didn’t pass quality control).
My original Kodak Portra 800 Film Simulation Recipe was a joint venture between myself and Thomas Schwab based on “memory color” (as Fujifilm likes to put it) of the film. The next version, Kodak Portra 800 v2, was created entirely by Thomas Schwab after he shot a roll of the film and his Fujifilm X-Pro3 camera side-by-side. This new third version was created by me after carefully examining Peter McKinnon’s pictures of Kodak Portra 800 film.
Pink Girl on a Green Slide – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Kodak Portra 800 v3
I divided Peter’s Portra 800 pictures into seven groups. Each group contained photos that seemed similar in overall aesthetics to each other. The commonality within each group tended to be (for the most part) the lighting condition that the film was shot in (although it was not universally so). I picked one group, and tried to replicate the look of it as closely as possible using the options available on my Fujifilm X-T5 (or should I say my Kodak Retina camera?), choosing similar light and colors for my pictures. Once I was satisfied that I was close, I used those settings to create images similar to the photographs in the other groups; however, this is where it fell apart. One Recipe was not able to replicate multiple aesthetics from the same film, which is not surprising. I made a bunch of small modifications until I had one Film Simulation Recipe that was a fairly faithful facsimile to multiple groups of Peter’s Portra 800 pictures. I say “fairly faithful” because compromises had to be made in order to match multiple groups. These settings are in the ballpark of four of the seven groups (and most similar to just two), and not especially close to the other three, unfortunately. This is not a 100% faithful recreation of any of his picture aesthetics, but in being less faithful to one specific look, I was better able to replicate the film examples overall.
This new Kodak Portra 800 v3 Film Simulation Recipe is intended for fifth-generation Fujifilm X-Trans cameras, which (as of this writing) are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20 (yes, the X-S20), and the upcoming X100VI. To make this Recipe compatible with some X-Trans IV models—specifically, the X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II—I simply set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak instead of Off, since X-Trans V cameras render blue more deeply on some film simulations. For those with the X-Pro3 or X100V, consider setting Shadow to 0 instead of 0.5. I do think that the original Kodak Portra 800 Recipe, as well as Kodak Portra 400 v2, are not very far off from Peter’s pictures, and could be good alternatives.
The Kodak Portra 800 v3 Film Simulation Recipe is great for both golden-hour and midday light. While it is intended for sunny daylight conditions, it does pretty well in shade, too. It’s alright for overcast days, depending on the specific cloud cover conditions. It’s great for natural-light indoors, and surprisingly decent for nighttime photography, but I’d avoid it for artificial light scenarios with warm bulbs. This Recipe is fairly versatile, despite it’s warm Kodak-like colors. In the right light, it can look pretty darn close to some of the Kodak Portra 800 scans that Peter McKinnon has been sharing on his social media channels. Interestingly, there’s also similarities to some of the Kodak Portra 400 images in Kyle McDougall’s An American Mile series. I have a feeling that this will quickly become a favorite option for many of you—personally, I really love this one!
Film Simulation: Classic Chrome Dynamic Range: DR400 Grain Effect: Strong, Large Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Off (X-Trans V); Weak (X-Trans IV) White Balance: 6600K, -1 Red & -3 Blue Highlight: -2 Shadow: -0.5 Color: +3 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -3 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Kodak Portra 800 v3 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:
Morning Lightbulbs – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Read Leaves on a Block Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Rounded Light on an Circular Table – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Orange Tables and Leaf – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Main Street Market – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Sunny Suburbia – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Ready for an Adventure – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Rainy Day Rose Blossom – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Kodak Portra 800 v3 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Sunrise Beyond Grandeur Point – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Dead Tree at the Rim’s Edge – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Sunset inside the Grand Canyon – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Morning at the Rim – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Maricopa Point at Midday – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Canyon Ridge in Golden Light – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sunrise over icy South Rim Trail – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bright Angel Trail from Above – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Too Close to the Icy Ledge – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Lookout Studio – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Grand Canyon Railway 237 – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Williams Flyer – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
American Painted Horse – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Swift Trailer – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Blue Barrel, Red Bricks – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Raindrop on a Lightbulb – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Raindrops of Fall Leaves – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Hanging Lightbulbs – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Fingers as Carrots – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sitting Siblings – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Minolta & Film Book – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Camera, Books – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Busy Parking Lot – Goodyear, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Window Paperclip – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Window Light – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Hanging Plastic Golfballs – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Blossoming Trumpet Flower – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
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The premise of this Film Simulation Recipe was simple: what would my Vintage Kodachrome Recipe look like if I used Eterna instead of Classic Chrome? As it turns out, it looks alright; however, after I made a few more modifications, it looks much better!
The Vintage Eterna Film Simulation Recipe is actually three Recipes: one for the X-H1, X-T3, and X-T30, another for the other X-Trans IV models (X-Pro3 and newer), and one for X-Trans V cameras. I initially created this on my Fujifilm X-E4, but then I wanted a version for my X-H1, so I made a recipe compatible with that camera, and also used it on my X-T30. Later, I made a small modification for use on my X-T5, since X-Trans V cameras render blue more deeply on some film simulations. If you have an X-H1 or any X-Trans IV or V camera, you can use the Vintage Eterna Recipe—just find the version below that’s compatible with your model.
While this Recipe wasn’t modeled after any specific emulsion, it definitely has a vintage film vibe. It’s vaguely reminiscent of color photographs from the 1950’s or ’60’s shot on Kodak film. It also has a bit of a cinematic quality to it. I don’t think this will be anyone’s favorite Recipe for everyday photography, but I suspect that some of you will love it for occasional use when retro results are desired. It pairs well with vintage glass or cheap third-party lenses with character.
This was a Fuji X Weekly App Patron Early-Access Recipe, but it has been replaced by a different Early-Access Recipe, so now everyone can use it! One perk of being an App Patron subscriber is that you get early access to some new Film Simulation Recipes, including the one that replaced this Recipe.
Rainy Day in the Neighborhood – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Vintage Eterna Recipe
Vintage Eterna for the Fujifilm X-H1, X-T3, & X-T30
Film Simulation: Eterna Dynamic Range: DR100 Grain Effect: Strong Color Chrome Effect: Off or N/A White Balance: Auto, +2 Red & -5 Blue Highlight: +3 Shadow: -1 Color: +2 Sharpness: -1 High ISO NR: -4 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -2/3 to 0 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Vintage Eterna Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-H1 and Fujifilm X-T30:
Cloud Above Roof – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Summer Blossoms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Sky Vines – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Backlit Leaves of Summer – Fujifilm X-H1
Hummingbird Feeder – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Golden Trumpets – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Yellow Trumpet Flower – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Red Trumpet Flower – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-H1
Garden Wall Light – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Vintage Eterna for Fujifilm X-Trans IV
Film Simulation: Eterna Dynamic Range: DR100 Grain Effect: Strong, Large Color Chrome Effect: Off Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong White Balance: Auto, +2 Red & -5 Blue Highlight: +3 Shadow: -1 Color: +2 Sharpness: -1 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -2 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -2/3 to 0 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Vintage Eterna Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:
Labyrinth – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Sky Dome – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Little Desert Berries – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Saguaro & Storm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Birdie Footprints – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Distant Downtown – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Sky Rays – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Saguaro Silhouette – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Purple Plant – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Vintage Eterna for Fujifilm X-Trans V
Film Simulation: Eterna Dynamic Range: DR100 Grain Effect: Strong, Large Color Chrome Effect: Off Color Chrome FX Blue: Weak White Balance: Auto, +2 Red & -5 Blue Highlight: +3 Shadow: -1 Color: +2 Sharpness: -1 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -2 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -2/3 to 0 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Vintage Eterna Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Sunset Light on the North Rim – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Covered Horse – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
See Fingers as Carrots – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Buckets – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Wet Bougainvillea Flower – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Wet Lightbulb – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sunlit Yellow Bloom – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
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Blooms by the Pavilion – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Emulsion Recipe
I love this new Kodak Emulsion Film Simulation Recipe, even though it was a happy accident. I was trying to replicate the aesthetic of some Kodak ColorPlus 200 film scans that someone shared with me, but I was unsuccessful; however, in the process of failing, I discovered these settings, which are absolutely great!
Even though this Recipe doesn’t accurately mimic any specific emulsion (as far as I’m aware), it still looks very analog-like, and highly reminiscent of a few different Kodak negative stocks. I bet you could convince some people that you actually shot with film, and not a modern digital camera. While I used my Fujifilm X100V to capture these pictures, if I were to choose an interchangeable-lens model paired with vintage glass, I’m certain it would be even more convincing.
This Kodak Emulsion Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with all “newer” X-Trans IV cameras (X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II), but not the X-T3 or X-T30. Technically it is compatible with X-Trans V models, but, because X-Trans V renders blue more deeply on some film simulations, it will look slightly different (try it anyway!). I’m sure that you can also use this Recipe on newer GFX cameras; however, I don’t have any personal experience with that, and I’m sure it will render slightly different (again, give it a try, as you might like it).
This Kodak Emulsion Film Simulation Recipe is an 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 that 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!
If you are a Fuji X Weekly Patron, it’s available to you right now on the App!
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Kodak Emulsion Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X100V:
Autumn Sun – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Autumn Tree Leaves on a Shrub – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Minolta SLR – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Homework – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V – Flash On
Vines Along a Shaded Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Sunlit Table & Chairs – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Potted Flowers & Pavilion – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Flowers at a Neighborhood Park – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Palm Tree & White Building – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Hanging Lightbulbs – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Flag in the Wind – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Bougainvillea Branch on a Bright Day – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Yellow Wildflowers in the Desert – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Yellow Flowers Blooming – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Tall Saguaro Behind Dead Tree – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Reaching Saguaro Fingers – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Damaged Saguaro – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
A Desert Landscape – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Dirt Road After Rain – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Eastman Color Negative II 100T, which was also known as ECN-2 Type 5247/7247, was a 100 ASA Tungsten-balanced motion picture film made by Kodak between 1974 and 1983 (although, apparently, it could still be found and was used into the early 1990’s). A lot of iconic movies used this emulsion for at least some shots, including Star Wars, Back to the Future, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and many more. This Film Simulation Recipe is intended to mimic the aesthetic of this film stock that’s long-expired and developed in C41 chemistry after having the Remjet layer removed. In other words, this recipe isn’t intended to look like the film as it’s seen in the movies, but expired film that’s been developed in C41 chemistry instead of the ECN-2 process.
Tungsten film was intended for use in artificial light; for use in daylight, a Color Correction filter would be attached to the lens to adjust the white balance. This “Expired ECN-2 100T” Recipe does not replicate the use of Color Correction filters, and is more like shooting without it. The results can be quite unusual, especially in daylight. But if you are looking for something unusual, maybe this Film Simulation Recipe is for you. I don’t think it will be anyone’s go-to option, but for occasional use, if you want a lomo-like look, give this one a try. Also, it’s pretty decent for nighttime. This Recipe produces a green or yellow cast (depending on the light) when used at night, and a strong teal-ish cast when used in daylight.
The Expired ECN-2 100T Film Simulation Recipe was a Fuji X Weekly App Patron Early-Access Recipe; however, it has been replaced by a different Early-Access Recipe, so now everyone can use it. It is compatible with the Fujifilm X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras, plus fifth-generation models, which are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20 (yes, the X-S20), and the upcoming X100VI, by selected Color Chrome FX Blue Weak (instead of Strong). I believe it will also work on newer GFX cameras, although I have not tried it myself.
Film Simulation: Eterna Bleach Bypass Dynamic Range: DR400 Grain Effect: Strong, Large Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong — Weak for X-Trans V White Balance: 6000K, -9 Red & -6 Blue Highlight: +0.5 Shadow: -1 Color: +1 Sharpness: -3 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -4 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: 0 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Expired ECN-2 100T Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:
Saguaro Green – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Stop, All Ways – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Truck Mirror – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Lightning McQueen’s Home – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Truck – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Texting & Walking – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Bougainvillea Over Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Shaded Hummingbird Feeder – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Sidewalk Chalk & Red Bucket – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Red Soccer Ball – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Friendly Skeleton – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Kodak Instamatic Camera – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Expired ECN-2 100T Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Night Board – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Empty at Night – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Flag and Lights – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Plant at Night – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Closed Door – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bokeh Behind Chainlink – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Lamp & Gated Patio – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
A-Team – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Blue Barrel – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Mailbox, Maybe – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Unlit hanging Bulbs – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
No Teasing – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Patriotic Equine – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
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View of the North Rim from the South – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – 1971 Kodak
I was flipping through the pages of a photo album that my grandma had put together a long time ago, when I saw something interesting. Most of the pictures in this book were captured before I was born, and some when I was very young. I came across a group of color prints that all looked similar. They were warm—very yellowish—with fairly subdued colors, kind of flat-looking, yet with a decent amount of contrast. Blown-out highlights was a commonality among many (but not all) of the prints. A month and year were printed on the border, along with a red fox. Kodak is faintly visible on the back of the paper.
I was very intrigued by the aesthetic of these photographs. There was an obvious resemblance to my 1970’s Summer Film Simulation Recipe, although not quite identical. So I set out to recreate it with my Fujifilm X-T5.
Grand Dome – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – 1971 Kodak
From the clues, I determined that the film was most likely Kodacolor-X, which was a popular color negative film from that era. It required the C-22 development process, which was a predecessor to C-41. The prints likely are a bit discolored and faded due to age, and probably looked slightly different when they were newly made. Many of them were square, and those were likely shot on a Kodak Instamatic camera and on 126 format film; the rectangular pictures are from 35mm film. Most of the prints were developed in 1971, although some had dates in 1972 printed on the border. The red fox indicates that it was developed at Fox Photo, which at the time was a popular one-hour photo lab. Interestingly, in the iconic mall scene in Back to the Future, it’s a Fox Photo that get’s destroyed by the VW van.
I made a scan of one of the prints, and it really messed up the look. I did my best to correct it to closely match the print, and I did get pretty close; however, it’s not 100% identical. I didn’t use this scan, but the prints themselves, to create the 1971 Kodak Film Simulation Recipe. I think you can still get a pretty good idea of what the prints look like from the scan.
A scan of one of the prints from 1971. The kid on the right with the trombone is my dad when he was 15.
The aesthetic that the 1971 Kodak Recipe produces is very similar to Kodacolor-X film printed on Kodak paper in the early-1970’s, and viewed today after aging. The most similar Recipe to this is 1970’s Summer, and I’ve included a comparison at the bottom so that you can see the difference. This Recipe is compatible with fifth-generation X-Trans cameras from Fujifilm, which (as of this writing) are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20 (yes, the X-S20), as well as the upcoming X100VI. I’m sure that you can use it on the latest GFX models, too; however, I don’t have any personal experience with that, and it’s likely to render slightly different (try it anyway). This Recipe pairs very well with vintage glass (or inexpensive third-party lenses with character), and is best for sunny daylight scenarios.
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! If you are an App Patron, be sure to look for this new Recipe in the App!
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this 1971 Kodak Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
BM&LP RR 6001 – Williams, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Standing at the edge of the Canyon – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Four Kids at the Canyon – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Golden Sunlight in the Canyon – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Garden Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Last of Autumn – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Backlit Backyard Leaves – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Leaf Pile – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Autumn Tree and Grey Sky – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Construction – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Old Saguaro Reaching High – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Pinyon Pine at the South Rim – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Lookout Store Sign – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Swift – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
No Teasing the Horses – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Comparison:
1970’s Summer Film Simulation Recipe
1971 Kodak Film Simulation Recipe
1970’s Summer Film Simulation Recipe
1971 Kodak Film Simulation Recipe
Find this Film Simulation Recipe and over 300 more in the Fuji X Weekly App! Consider becoming a Patron subscriber to unlock the best App experience and to support Fuji X Weekly.
Morning at the South Rim – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X100V – McCurry Kodachrome
I received an email from Anders Lindborg back in November, and the subject line read, “The Last Roll.” Anders explained to me that himself and John Sevigny had co-created a Kodachrome 64 Film Simulation Recipe based on Steve McCurry’s last roll of Kodachrome film, which was (as you likely know) famously developed on July 12, 2010, at Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kansas.
Writing this article has been difficult for me, because of John’s passing. But I hope that this is somehow honoring to him. He was an extraordinarily knowledgable photographer who was always eager to help. It’s a humble privilege for me to share with all of you this Recipe that Anders and John co-created.
“The goal was to create a recipe that both looked and behaved like Kodachrome 64,” Anders wrote. “It should also be based on science, not just trying to look like the real thing during very special conditions. Our starting reference were the photos taken by Steve McCurry on the quite-famous last roll of Kodachrome project. We also studied every little detail of the documentary to find out the exact conditions for how the photos were made. Even that was not enough, so we started to hunt down every single Kodachrome 64 photo we could possibly find. Luck was on our side, as we managed to locate a whole bunch that were actually developed by Dwayne’s Photo.”
Anders continued, “After about eight months of testing every single scenario we could come up with, using similar lighting equipment that was used for the last roll project, we started to feel like we had done all that was possible with the given tools. Everything matched our reference photos, and we both got stunning results with every test we made, but we still decided to test it for just a bit longer to make sure we actually had captured the true spirit of this film. John also travelled parts of the USA and South America, shooting nothing but this recipe for color work.”
Kodachrome was first introduced in 1935, and was discontinued in 2009. There are three distinct eras of the film, and Kodachrome 64, which was introduced in 1974, was in the third and final era. Kodachrome was actually a black-and-white film, and the color dyes were added during the development process. Because of this, it is probably the most difficult film to scan, and, if not properly color corrected, will often have a pronounced blue cast. Even a scan that is carefully corrected can lean slightly blue compared to the slide being projected or viewed on a light table. McCurry’s “last roll” slides were scanned by Richard Jackson, who was regarded as a leading expert on Kodachrome scanning.
Kodachrome 64 slides on a light table – Fujifilm X100V – McCurry Kodachrome
There are some differences between this McCurry Kodachrome Recipe and my Kodachrome 64 Recipe, but there are also a lot of similarities. My Recipe is more like Kodachrome as viewed via a slide projector or light table, while the McCurry Kodachrome Recipe is more like quality scans of the film. There’s a comparison of the two Recipes at the very bottom of this article.
Like the actual film, this McCurry Kodachrome Recipe has a narrow dynamic range, and must be carefully exposed. Pay extra attention to the highlights, because they can clip easily. Also, try to keep the ISO as low as practical. I used this Recipe with the ISO all the way to 6400, and it was fine, but for best results that better match the film, don’t go above ISO 1600. McCurry Kodachrome is fully compatible with all X-Trans IV models—including the X-T3 and X-T30; for X-Trans V, blues will render slightly more deeply, so the results will be just a tad different, but feel free to try anyway.
Film Simulation: Classic Chrome Dynamic Range: DR100 Grain Effect: Weak, Small — Weak for X-T3/X-T30 Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Off — N/A for X-T3/X-T30 White Balance: 5900K, -1 Red & +4 Blue Highlight: 0 Shadow: 0 Color: +2 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -2 Clarity: 0 — N/A for X-T3/X-T30 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 1600 Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +1/3 (typically)
Example photos, all camera made JPEGs using this McCurry Kodachrome Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T30:
Siblings Playing Video Games – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Little Palms in a Pot – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Promenade – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Broken Haircut Chair – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Bougainvillea Below Window – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Bougainvillea & Stucco – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Blossom Along Sidewalk – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Sunny Day Along Suburban Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T30
Suburban Desert Sunset – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Sunset Over Desert Brush – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Golden Coast Blossoms – Laguna Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V
Comparison:
Kodachrome 64 Film Simulation Recipe (Fujifilm X-E4)
McCurry Kodachrome Film Simulation Recipe (Fujifilm X-E4)
Kodachrome 64 Film Simulation Recipe (Fujifilm X-E4)
McCurry Kodachrome Film Simulation Recipe (Fujifilm X-E4)
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.
Which Film Simulation Recipes are the most versatile? What makes a particular Recipe especially versatile, anyway? What does White Balance have to do with any of it? These are questions that I get asked pretty regularly, so I thought I would answer them today.
Let’s start with White Balance, including White Balance Shift. In the analog days, with a few exceptions, film was either Daylight-balanced or Tungsten-balanced. Daylight-balanced film, as you can imagine, was intended for use in sunny daytime scenarios, with a Kelvin temperature around 5500-5600K. Tungsten film was intended for artificial light scenarios, with a Kelvin temperature around 3200K. Because film was made for one of two specific light situations, you had three basic options for use outside of those scenarios: 1) accept the results for what they are, 2) use Color Correction Filters to adjust the Kelvin temperature to more closely match the light, or 3) use lighting equipment to artificially make the light match the film.
Digital cameras have a large number of White Balance options, which, when combined with WB fine-tuning (Fujifilm calls it WB Shift), can match the precise light that you are photographing in. If the White Balance is exactly correct for the light, things that are pure white in real life will appear pure white in the photograph, no color tint. But, just because the White Balance is technically correct, doesn’t mean that it is artistically correct. Nobody said that the White Balance must always be spot-on accurate—maybe you don’t want it to be, for aesthetic reasons. In fact, in the film days, it was quite common for the Kelvin temperature to be a mismatch for the light, at least a little. Kodak—the most popular film maker—was known for making emulsions with a warm color cast. In other words, achieving a perfectly accurate White Balance, which wasn’t particularly common until somewhat recently, might not be desirable. However, in the digital age with Auto White Balance, we’re often used to having a highly accurate White Balance in our photographs, and seeing it not spot-on accurate can perhaps be a bit unnerving, especially if it is pretty far off.
Many of the Fuji X Weekly Film Simulation Recipes are facsimiles of actual film stocks, and often that means using a fixed White Balance. Unless you have Color Correction Filters or are artificially lighting the scene to match the White Balance (both of which are unlikely), if the scene’s light is a mismatch for the Recipe, you can get undesirable results sometimes (just like with film). My best advice is to use a Film Simulation Recipe that is a match for the scene. For example, Fluorescent Night might be a better choice for nighttime photography than 1970’s Summer, since the former is more like Tungsten-balanced and the latter is more like Daylight-balanced. Sometimes the best Recipe for a particular light situation might be obvious, and other times it might not be, and trial-and-error is necessary to figure it out—my Which Film Simulation Recipe, When? series is intended to help out with this.
Not all of the Recipes use a fixed White Balance; instead, some call for Auto White Balance. Newer Fujifilm cameras actually have three AWB options: Auto White Priority, Auto, and Auto Ambience Priority. White Priority leans cooler in artificial light than standard Auto, while Ambience Priority leans a little warmer in artificial light. All three AWB options are intended to produce reasonably accurate White Balances in all light situations. Because of this, Recipes that use AWB tend to be a lot more versatile than Recipes with a fixed White Balance, since you can use them in all sorts of light situations, and not just one. This is much less film-like, but perhaps can be equated to carrying a bunch of different Color Correction Filters with you all of the time. The easiest way to find my Film Simulation Recipes that use AWB is to Filter By White Balance (available to App Patrons) in the Fuji X Weekly App.
White Balance and WB Shift are probably the largest factor in determining the versatility of a particular Recipe, but it’s far from the only factor. Film Simulation, Dynamic Range, Highlight and Shadow, Color, etc., all play a role. One Recipe that uses AWB might be more versatile than another that also uses AWB, and some Recipes that use a fixed White Balance can be surprisingly versatile. However, what one person likes might be different from another, since each person has their own unique tastes. I might like a particular Recipe for a specific scenario, but you might dislike it for that exact same situation.
The pictures in this article were all captured with Film Simulation Recipes that use AWB and that I find to be especially versatile. Use them anytime of the day or night, in any light situation, and for any subject. If you want a versatile option to program into your Fujifilm camera, those are ones to consider. But they are far from the only versatile Recipes, and they might not be the best, either. If one of them stands out to you, I definitely invite you to try it.
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.
Cold Morning at the South Rim – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X100V – Fujicolor C200 v2
The original Fujicolor C200 Film Simulation Recipe is great! This isn’t intended to replace that Recipe—there’s no need to replace it, since it’s excellent—but instead provide an alternative option for those looking for something slightly different. One film can produce many different looks, depending on a host of factors, including how it was shot, developed, and printed or scanned. In this case, a Fuji X Weekly reader wanted a Recipe that more closely matched his particular Fujicolor C200 scans. Oh, and it needed to be compatible with the Fujifilm X100V and X-Pro3, which the original version is not.
Fujifilm introduced Fujicolor C200 in 1990 as a low-budget, consumer-grade color negative film. I’ve shot a few rolls of it over the years, although it was never my go-to option. Fujifilm gave it a small refresh in 2017. Sadly, in late 2021, Fujifilm began selling rebranded Kodak Gold 200 as Fujicolor C200. Even though C200 is a cheap color film, it has a cult-like following, and many people enjoy its aesthetic and choose it over more expensive emulsions.
Bougainvillea Peeking over Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V – Fujicolor C200 v2
This Fujicolor C200 v2 Film Simulation Recipe is an App Patron Early-Access Recipe. If you are a Fuji X Weekly App Patron, you have access to it right now. If not, no worries, as it will eventually be made available to everyone, once it is replaced by a new Early-Access Recipe. With the exception of the X-T3 and X-T30, it is fully compatible with X-Trans IV cameras: X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II. For fifth generation models, simply set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak instead of Strong.
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Fujicolor C200 v2 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X100V and Fujifilm X-E4:
Main Street – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Dim Light & Neon Reflections – Tempe, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Coffee Shop Christmas Tree – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Backlit Potted Palm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Afternoon Jo – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Sitting on a Backyard Bench – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Swinging Seat – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Potted Blossoms – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Artificial Flowers – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
AC – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
The Grinch that Stole a Golf Cart – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Autumn Path – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Autumn Canopy – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Bird on a Cross – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Icy Morning at the Rim – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Canyon Between the Pines – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Morning Shadows – Grand Canyon NP, AZ – Fujifilm X100V
Comparison:
Original Fujicolor C200 Film Simulation Recipe (Fujifilm X-E4)
This new Fujicolor C200 v2 Film Simulation Recipe (Fujifilm X-E4)
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.
Bell Tower – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4 – Vintage Print Recipe
This Film Simulation Recipe began when my wife suggested that I should try to emulate a certain look that she had found. I wasn’t successful, but in my efforts I discovered these settings, which I thought looked interesting nonetheless. They remind me of vintage color prints—not from any specific film or process, but just my “memory color” (as Fujifilm puts it) of some old prints that I’ve seen in the past. It has almost a classic magazine quality to it, or even a bit of a post-card resemblance. Whatever it may or may not look like, it definitely has a vintage-like aesthetic that some of you might really appreciate.
Most of these pictures were captured using manual vintage lenses, including—actually, mainly—a Helios 44-2. I also used a 5% CineBloom or 10% CineBloom filter with about half of them. I did this to help achieve an analog aesthetic. The use of vintage glass and diffusion filters aren’t required for this recipe, but you are certainly welcome to do so if you want—I think they help a little to take the digital edge off of the pictures.
This Vintage Print Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras. For use on fifth-generation models, set Color Chrome FX Blue to Weak (instead of Strong), because those cameras render blue more deeply on certain film simulations. Those with newer GFX cameras can use it, too; however, it will render slightly differently. This was a Fuji X Weekly App Patron Early-Access Recipe, but has been replaced by a different Recipe, so now it’s available to everyone.
Film Simulation: Classic Negative Dynamic Range: DR200 Grain Effect: Strong, Large Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Strong White Balance: Daylight, +3 Red & -6 Blue Highlight: +2 Shadow: -2 Color: -4 Sharpness: -4 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -4 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -2/3 to +1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this “Vintage Print” Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:
Pops of Bougainvillea Red – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Growing Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Joshua at a Stucco Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Big Storm Looming in the Background – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Lake, House – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Jon is Happy – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Labyrinth Church – Litchfield Park, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Saguaro & Dust – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Twin Saguaros – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Saguaro as Seen Through a Saguaro – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Teddy Bear Cholla – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Desert Spikes – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Desert Barrel – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Trumpets Down – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Bright Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
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.
The list of Film Simulation Recipes below are my “Essential 7” for X-Trans II cameras, which are the X100S, X100T, X-T1, X-T10, X-E2, X-E2s, X70, X20, X30, XQ1, and XQ2. A few of the older models—X100S, X20, and XQ1—don’t have Classic Chrome, so I have a set of Recipes at the bottom that exclude the Classic Chrome film simulation. To complicate it more, I don’t believe that either of the XQ models have PRO Neg. Hi or PRO Neg. Std (but they also don’t have C1-C7). If you are not sure which Recipes to program into your C1-C7 Custom Presets, these are my suggestions for you to begin with. These are the ones that you must try, in my opinion. You might love all of them, you might only appreciate some of them, or you might not like any of them. Each person has their own styles and tastes, and there’s no one single Recipe that’s universally loved by everyone (although a few seem close). Still, give these seven a try—keep the ones you like, and replace the ones that you don’t.
A couple of important side notes here. First, this list isn’t necessarily made up of versatile Recipes. Like film, most Film Simulation Recipes have specific use cases—such as sunny daylight—so not all of these option will be good for night photography, for example, or perhaps other situations. Be sure to visit my Which Film Simulation Recipe, When?article for a more comprehensive group of options for various use cases. Also, X-Trans II models cannot save a White Balance Shift within the C1-C7 Custom Presets. You can only save one WB Shift per White Balance type, which means you’ll have to remember to adjust the WB Shift each time you change Recipes. The suggestions below do not take this into account; however, the Which Film Simulation Recipe, When? article does, so be sure to read it.
The Essential 7 Film Simulation Recipes to program into your X-Trans II camera first:
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 is Part 1 of what will be a series of articles on this topic. I actually attempted to do this back in the summer, but got sidetracked, and never made it beyond the first post. So those with an X-Trans V camera get a little bonus. My hope is to make it all the way through X-Trans I, so if you have an older model, don’t worry—we’ll get to your camera soon.
The list of Film Simulation Recipes below are my “Essential 7” for X-Trans V cameras. If you are not sure which Recipes to program into your C1-C7 Custom Presets, these are my suggestions for you to begin with. These are the ones that you must try, in my opinion. You might love all of them, you might only appreciate some of them, or you might not like any of them. Each person has their own styles and tastes, and there’s no one single Recipe that’s universally loved by everyone (although a few seem close). Still, give these seven a try—keep the ones you like, and replace the ones that you don’t.
Left the Lights On – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Fluorescent Night
An important side note here: this list isn’t necessarily made up of versatile Recipes. Like film, most Film Simulation Recipes have specific use cases, such as sunny daylight, so not all of these option will be good for night photography, for example, or perhaps other situations. Be sure to visit my Which Film Simulation Recipe, When?for a more comprehensive list of options for various use cases.
This list is specifically for X-Trans V cameras, which (as of this writing) are the Fujifilm X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20. The X-S20 is a bit controversial to be included here because it has an X-Trans IV sensor paired with the X-Trans V processor, but since it seems to render more similar to X-Trans V than X-Trans IV, and has the X-Trans V JPEG options, it is included in this list. Also, use this list for the upcoming X100V successor, once it comes out (in February or March, most likely). Next up in this series is X-Trans IV.
The Essential 7 Film Simulation Recipes to program into your X-Trans V camera first:
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.
Yesterday, MPB (“an online platform for used photography and videography equipment”) published an article entitled How to Install and Use Fujifilm Recipes, which was largely written by Michael Schulz. I knew that this story was in the works because MPB had reached out to me several weeks ago just to make sure that it was ok to mention Fuji X Weekly in an upcoming piece; however, I only found out that it was published because I noticed a number of clicks to this website from theirs within today’s daily stats. What I love about the MPB article are the lovely photographs by Michael captured with his Fujifilm X100V, using mostly the Pacific Blues, Kodak Gold 200 (or is it this one?), and Kodak Portra 400 v2 (maybe Vibrant Arizona, too…) Film Simulation Recipes. It’s a real testament to what can be done straight-out-of-camera with Fujifilm models.
I was thinking today: why are camera stores talking about Fuji X Weekly and Film Simulation Recipes? It would be more obviously understood if I had merchandise for sale in their stores or on their websites, but I don’t. What’s in it for them? I think the answer is pretty simple: Fuji X Weekly Recipes sell Fujifilm cameras.
Golden Light in Abandoned House – North Salt Lake, UT – Fujifilm X100V – Fujicolor Reala 100 Recipe
Recipes are one of the reasons why the X100V has been so hard to find for over a year now. Social media influencers began saying that the X100V’s pictures “mimic film” and require “zero editing”—next thing you know they’re out of stock everywhere. With a little research I found out that these influencers were using my Film Simulation Recipes.
If you have a camera store and want to move your Fujifilm inventory, the best way is to point out to customers that the straight-out-of-camera pictures look so darn good, and post-editing isn’t necessary. Specifically, Film Simulation Recipes make it easy to get great-looking pictures without fuss, which can make photography more accessible and enjoyable, saving tons of time and frustration. There’s even an app! I think Fujifilm themselves have overall done a fairly poor job of communicating this; it’s been influencers and camera stores and really just word-of-mouth by Fujifilm photographers that has spread the message to the community at large. Outside of Fujifilm circles, this whole concept is fairly unknown or misunderstood, so there’s still a lot of work to go. MPB’s article will help; hopefully there will be more like it in the near future.
This morning I awoke to an email in my inbox from Anders. As a Christmas gift to you, he wanted to share his methods for creating Film Simulation Recipes that he has developed and put to use. This formula can be used by anyone. I have taken a similar approach a number of times myself (I do it in-camera, and not with X RAW Studio), although—for me—Recipes can come about many different ways; I don’t have one single method, but perhaps a handful of various approaches. I discussed it a bit in my Emulsion ’86 article.
Pink Blossom Bush – San Diego, CA – Fujifilm X-T5 – Emulsion ’86
Anders’ step-by-step formula is a path that you can follow to create your own Recipes that are certain to be accurate to any film aesthetic that you’d like to mimic. Oftentimes you can easily find the film spec sheets with a quick Google search, but for some emulsions you’ll have to dig deeper, or maybe you won’t find them at all. Many spec sheets for Kodak films are readily available, for example, but you may have trouble finding them for other brands or long-discontinued emulsions. If you can locate the spec sheet, then you can begin Step 1. If you don’t have or use X RAW Studio, you can do this in-camera, but it is probably a little easier to do with X RAW Studio; either way, it does require shooting RAW+JPEG so that you can reprocess the RAW file.
Thank you, Anders Lindborg, for sharing this with everyone! Even if you have no interest in creating a Film Simulation Recipe yourself, perhaps this gives you an idea of the incredible effort that sometimes goes into creating one.
Round Window – Pismo Beach, CA – Fujifilm X100V – Kodak Tri-X 400
Anders’ Film Simulation Development Method
Download all reference material you need, including film spec sheets. This is really important to have, if you want to create a realistic simulation. You will need a good chart of color wavelength in nanometers as well, to be able to use this method.
Load some reference photos into X Raw Studio. Select a good one that is taken at noon, as this used to be the official reference for film daylight temperature. Note: The time when the photo is taken is important. Don’t cheat!
Select the base Film Simulation you think is most similar to the film you actually want to simulate. Sometimes, the general characteristics are more important than the color scheme being spot on.
Choose the Dynamic Range you think is most correct for your simulation. The characteristic curves chart from the spec sheets can be a lot of help here.
Set the White Balance (in kelvin) to a value that corresponds to the color of the film base layer. This will most likely make your colors look really off, but don’t worry about that right now. Note: It helps knowing where the film was created, as the daylight temperature varies quite a bit depending on where in the world you are located.
Check the spec sheets and find out what colors of the second and third (with Fuji, sometimes a fourth) layers are. Look at the spectral sensitivity chart to find how the colors are distributed and which color is most prominent. Locate the highest peak of the dominant color and check the specified wavelength of the peak.
Look in the color wavelength chart and find the color that corresponds to the wavelength reading from the previous step. Now go back to X Raw Studio and open the WB Shift panel and locate the exact color you found. This takes some practice, but after doing it a few times it’s quite easy.
Now look at the colors of your photo and check the color distribution compared to the spectral sensitivity chart. Make any adjustments needed to balance out the color distribution.
Look in the spec sheets again and locate the spectral dye density curves chart. This chart describes the tonality of the film. Adjust Highlight, Shadow, and Clarity as needed.
Any other parameters needed should be set at this step. These include Grain, Sharpness, Color Chrome Effects, Noise Reduction, etc.. Note that changing a single parameter can have a huge impact, so be careful here!
Look at your photo again. Do the colors look like they should? If not, make more adjustments to either your selected White Balance or WB Shift. Only minor adjustments should be needed at this step.
Save your current recipe and apply it to your other reference photos in X Raw Studio. Compare them to photos found on Flickr and film review sites. Keep in mind that many of them are developed and scanned at home, so you need to learn how different development and scanning methods affect the final result! Adjust the recipe as needed and keep reapplying it to your reference photos and double check them over and over again.
If you think you might be done, it’s time to test it for real! Load the recipe into your camera and get out there. Try taking photos that mimics what you’ve found on the Internet so they are somewhat comparable. It’s all about details here, so keep iterating from Step 8 until you are happy. With hard work and a bit of luck, you’ll have a spot on clone of the original film!
“Don’t forget to share your creation with the world,” Anders Lindborg wrote, “and feel happy about contributing to the community! Just keep in mind that this is more of learning how to best mimic the original film, rather than creating an exact copy. There are so many variables that can affect the final result of real film and the most important part here is that the general behavior is the same. This method is proven to work for both color and black & white simulations and is all based on color science. Several successful simulations have been created while developing the method, so this is several years of blood, sweat and tears that have been compressed into these steps. While this method might look very advanced, trust me when I say that it works and that it’s worth the effort! Not only the general look of the film will be simulated, but also its behavior in different situations, including weird color shifts and other general quirks. The results have amazed me several times!”
When I first started making Film Simulation Recipes for Fujifilm cameras and discovered that I didn’t need to shoot RAW anymore, I spent over a year strictly being a JPEG-only photographer. After awhile I figured out that it is a lot easier to create new Recipes when you have a RAW file that can be reprocessed in-camera, so I switched to RAW+JPEG. In the years that have passed since, the RAW files always stay on the SD Card in the camera, and it’s the camera-made JPEGs that are transferred to my phone and then to online storage.
Since I have a RAW file, I have the option to reprocess the exposure to other Recipes if I want (it can be done in-camera or via X RAW Studio… I always do it in-camera, personally), but that is something I don’t often do (except for when creating new Recipes). My preferred method is to shoot with a Recipe, and the results are whatever they are (that’s half the fun of it). I try to pick the right Recipe for the given situation; occasionally, though, if I like a particular picture but I shot it with the wrong Recipe, I’ll reprocess it using a more appropriate one. That’s the story of this article.
Interestingly, photographer Chuck Abbott addressed this very question in the September 1955 issue of Arizona Highways magazine, in an article called You’ve Got to Go Back to Get the Good Ones. For those unaware, Arizona Highways has a long history of great photography. It was the first nationally circulated magazine to have an all-color issue (way back in December of 1946). Ansel Adams was a regular contributor, as was Barry Goldwater. Chuck Abbott and his wife Esther Henderson were both long-time contributors. To this day, Arizona Highways is a great place to discover excellent photography, and I often find inspiration within its pages.
“‘Oh, Mr. Abbott,'” Chuck wrote in 1955, explaining a question that he had been asked often, “‘how do you get such good pictures? I was there and mine didn’t turn out at all well.'” He was asked the same question that The Guardian and PetaPixel put forward; however, Chuck’s answer was different than theirs. While there are a thousand ways that the question could be answered, I believe that the most profound was stated back in 1955 by Chuck Abbott.
“My answer is invariably the same,” Chuck said. “You’ll have to go back and try another day, another light, another season.” He continued, “Meanwhile, I am mentally recalling that ‘good’ picture; was it really good, couldn’t it have been better, and shouldn’t I go back again and do it over?”
Autumn in a Mountain Meadow – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X100V – Fujicolor Superia 100
“For that’s the trouble with this picture business,” Chuck added, “there is so little satisfaction in it! You are always beset with the haunting thought that every picture could be improved, if not by you, then by someone, sometime; so you end up traveling in a circle, periodically returning to do a better, or at least a different, interpretation of the subject. Perfection, of course, is the goal.”
He goes on in the article to provide some practical advice, which applies much more to photographers of a bygone era than today. For example, there’s no need to rely on friends in a certain region to obtain a weather report. You also don’t need to worry about burning through film, unless, of course, you’re shooting with film instead of digital. But a little while later Chuck states, “Providence, equipment, legwork and viewpoint; to me these are the four indispensables in picture-making. You may get fair results with lesser combinations but you can’t click completely without all four.”
Pacific Poppies – Montaña de Oro SP, CA – Fujifilm X-E4 – Pacific Blues
And that’s the answer: you need a bit of luck, quality camera gear (which most equipment nowadays is), do some research before heading out, and find good compositions; when that fails or even when it succeeds, do it again another day, in a different light, during a different season. Then your photos of famous places will look good. That’s the advice Chuck Abbott gave, and I think it is just as true today as the day it was published in Arizona Highways.
In the comments section of the PetaPixel article, someone stated, “Those fantastic examples didn’t come straight out of camera looking like that. It takes work and skill to coax what our eyes see at a scenic place from what the camera saw at the same place.” While the sample pictures in the article were indeed most likely edited, I disagree that RAW editing is any sort of prerequisite to great photographs. In fact, all of my pictures in this article are unedited camera-made JPEGs using my Film Simulation Recipes. So it is, in fact, completely possible to have pictures “come straight out of camera looking like that.” You can make the camera “see” what our eyes (or our mind’s eyes) see at a scenic place (or any place) if you want to, and Fujifilm cameras plus my Recipes make it easy. The hard part is up to you: returning to places you’ve already been to capture a better, or at least different, interpretation of the subject.
As I was contemplating how I might approach the use of this Recipe on my X-T5, a Fuji X Weekly reader suggested that I should modify it by using the Nostalgic Neg. film simulation instead of Eterna. Because there are some similarities between those two film sims, there is potential for crossover. Sure enough, with the right modifications, I was able to recreate the look and feel of the Kodak Vision3 250D Recipe using Nostalgic Neg.; however, it’s not an identical rendering, especially the shadows, which are a little warmer. There are other small differences, too. As you know, one film can have many different looks depending on how it was shot, developed, and scanned or printed, so you could consider this v2 version of Kodak Vision3 250D to be a divergent (yet still similar) aesthetic that replicates a different handling of the film.
If you have a camera with the Nostalgic Neg. film simulation, I invite you to try this new Kodak Vision3 250D v2 Film Simulation Recipe! You should also try the version that uses Eterna, too, and see which one you like better. While the “v1” Recipe has been my favorite for years, I think I like this new v2 version just a little more. It definitely produces an analog-like look that is easy to appreciate.
Film Simulation: Nostalgic Neg. Dynamic Range: DR200 Grain Effect: Strong, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Off White Balance: Fluorescent 1, -5 Red & 0 Blue Highlight: +4 Shadow: +3 Color: -1 Sharpness: -2 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 Kodak Vision3 250D v2 Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Public Telephone – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Spinning Carousel – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Snack Stop – Scottsdale, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Nighttime at Circle K – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Joyful – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Urban Bougainvillea – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Little Plant in a Courtyard – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sitting & Waiting – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Outdoor Dining – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Vines & Concrete – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Reflected Light on a Tall Building – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
In Step – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
High Rise Condo – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Constructing a Tall Building – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Jon – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Photo by Amanda Roesch
95 LED Shoes – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Parking Garage – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Urban Vine – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Level 2 – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
No Left Turn – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Holiday Guitarist – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Cranes & Palms – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Layton – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Electric Construction – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Apartment Patio – Phoenix, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Autumn Rooftop – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Gazebo Roof – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Rainbows & Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bougainvillea Veiling Palm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Pink Blossoming Flowers – 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.
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Left the Lights On – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Fluorescent Night Recipe
I wanted to create a Film Simulation Recipe for my Fujifilm X-T5 camera that would produce a certain look when shot under fluorescent lights at night. Now there are different varieties of fluorescent lightbulbs, and the kelvin temperature can vary quite significantly between them. It’s also not uncommon to find fluorescent lights mixed with other nearby light sources. In other words, results will very depending on the exact light situation. Sometimes this Recipe will produce warm results, and sometimes cool. While not modeled after any specific emulsion, this Recipe is similar to using a Tungsten-balanced film—perhaps something similar to Fujicolor NPL 160T or Kodak Portra 100T, although it’s not exactly like either of those. This Recipe gives you one more option for nighttime photography.
What I found myself enjoying more than I thought I would is using this Fluorescent Night Film Simulation Recipe during the day. It has an obvious cool cast with pronounced blues. Still, I was pleasantly surprised that this Recipe is halfway decent for daylight use. If you are looking for a retro film-like aesthetic that isn’t warm, Fluorescent Night might be a good option for your daylight photography.
A Visit with Santa – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5 – Fluorescent Night Recipe
This Fluorescent Night Film Simulation Recipe is compatible with all Fujifilm fifth-generation X-Trans cameras, which (as of this writing) are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20 (yes, the X-S20). You should also be able to use this on newer GFX models, but the results will likely be slightly different (try it anyway). For nighttime use, I most often selected -2/3 or -1/3 exposure compensation, and for daylight I most often used +1/3 or +2/3; however, “typical exposure compensation” is only meant as a starting point, and each exposure should be judged individually.
Film Simulation: Nostalgic Neg. Dynamic Range: DR200 Grain Effect: Strong, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Weak White Balance: Fluorescent 2, -8 Red & -1 Blue Highlight: -1 Shadow: -1.5 Color: +4 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -3 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: -2/3 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Fluorescent Night Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-T5:
Happy Girl – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Neighborhood Bougainvillea – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bougainvillea Blue – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Bougainvillea Along Stucco Wall – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Sidewalk Potted Plant – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Potted Palm Tree – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Hairstyle Chair – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Christmas Tree & Letters to Santa – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Illuminated Door at Abandoned Building – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Broken Window – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Birria – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Circle K Gas Station – Surprise, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
Christmas Star – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-T5
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In early 2023, Artificial Intelligence burst onto the Film Simulation Recipe scene, and, at the request of photographers across the world, AI began creating all sorts of camera settings to emulate all sorts of different aesthetics for Fujifilm models. I was on the leading edge of this, and in March published Using AI to Create Film Simulation Recipes, which included the ChatGPT-created Urban Dreams Recipe.
I didn’t stop there. In April I published a YouTube video (which you’ll find below) entitled Kodachrome X Fujifilm Recipe made by ChatGPT vs Fuji X Weekly Kodachrome II. I don’t publish very many YouTube videos (only three in 2023); however, I felt this topic was important enough to dedicate a video to it. Shortly thereafter, also in April, I published a companion article called Can AI Make a Fujifilm Recipe?, which included the ChatGPT-created Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v1 Recipe (along with the non-AI v2).
I didn’t quit there—not even close! In June, on the SOOC Live broadcasts, Fujifilm X-Photography Nathalie Boucry and myself chatted twice (for about three hours in total) about ChatGPT Film Simulation Recipes. If you’re curious about this topic, that’s probably the most informative discussion you’ll find. I’ve included both of those videos below.
Also in June, as a companion piece for those two SOOC Live episodes, I published an article entitled Shooting with ChatGPT AI Fujifilm Film Simulation Recipes. That article included two more AI-made Recipes: Soft Blue Classic and Vivid Summer Glow. I’ve published a total of four ChatGPT Film Simulation Recipes on this website. I think two are pretty good, and two are very mediocre—only the two that are “good” are in the Fuji X Weekly App.
While I’ve published four AI-made Recipes, I’ve asked ChatGPT to create probably close to 50 (using multiple accounts). Most of them weren’t good, so they never saw the light of day. I’ve talked about all of this before, but just to quickly rehash, here are some of the big issues with using ChatGPT to create Film Simulation Recipes for Fujifilm cameras:
AI will always give you an answer, but whether that answer has any value is another question entirely.
AI can’t see, and doesn’t know how the various camera settings translate to real-world use. It can only attempt to match descriptions.
If you ask it to create the same Recipe—using the same exact wording—on multiple accounts, you will get multiple answers, often quite divergent from each other.
I’ve never experienced an instance where all of the required Recipe parameters were included in the first try. Each time, I’ve had to identify the missing camera settings, and ask AI to add those to the Recipe.
AI will sometimes include nonexistent or nonsensical settings.
ChatGPT is very predictable, and will not usually stray outside of certain box. Ask it to make enough of these, and the box is easily identifiable.
ChatGPT doesn’t cite its sources, even when asked. It definitely operates unethically, and probably (in my opinion) illegally—eventually courts will make various rulings as they hear different lawsuits.
So why bring this up again? First, I’ve had several people over the last month comment that ChatGPT is a wonderful resource for Fujifilm Film Simulation Recipes. I strongly disagree with that for the reasons mentioned above, and I thought it worthwhile to discuss those reasons again for those who might be unaware. Second, someone asked if Google’s Bard AI was any better than ChatGPT at creating Film Simulation Recipes. I wasn’t sure, so I spent some time over Thanksgiving putting it to the test. So let’s find out!
Captured with the AI-made Soft Blue Classic Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X100V.
The first question I asked Bard was, “Make me a Film Simulation Recipe for my Fujifilm X-T5 that mimics the aesthetic of Kodachrome 64 film.” Well, I could tell very quickly that this wasn’t going to work out well, as the first setting it gave was the Acros film simulation. It included the nonsensical setting of Color +2 (you cannot select Color when using Acros). The settings that Bard failed to provide were Dynamic Range, White Balance Shift, Color Chrome Effect (although it did give Color Chrome FX Blue), and Clarity. I assume that it would have also missed Grain size, but it said to set Grain to Off.
Obviously that “Kodachrome 64 Recipe” will not look anything like actual Kodachrome 64 slides, even if it did somehow make sense. I asked Bard to cite its sources, and to my surprise it did! It gave me (broken) links to my website, including these articles: Kodachrome 64, Kodachrome 25, and Monochrome Kodachrome. Apparently, Bard has been trained using Fuji X Weekly (or to search for it… Bard is a Google product after all), but it’s not very good at it. In my opinion, AI should provide a bibliography of its sources upfront without being asked. Even Wikipedia does that, and apparently it’s not a reliable enough source for serious work. Bard will cite its sources when asked, which is better than nothing, while ChatGPT won’t even do that. If Wikipedia can’t be taken seriously, than AI should be taken even less so. It’s super sketchy that AI doesn’t cite it’s sources, but at least Bard will do so when prompted to.
I asked Bard to tell me why it chose the settings that it did. This demonstrates very clearly that trying to match descriptions of camera settings with descriptions of the film is an unrealistic method for achieving accurate approximations of various looks. For example, “Acros is a black and white film simulation that provides a good starting point for replicating Kodachrome’s tonal range and contrast.” And, “Kodachrome had a tendency to lift shadows, creating a slightly brighter and more open appearance. Raising the shadow setting by 0.5 replicates this effect.” And, “Kodachrome had a subtle ability to retain detail in highlights, preventing them from becoming blown out. Lowering the highlight setting by -1 helps achieve this result.” If you know even a little about Kodachrome 64 film and Fujifilm camera settings, you should have no issues identifying the problems there.
Bard’s “Kermit the Frog juggling Elmo Recipe” is not a good choice for portraits.
I didn’t stop with that one Recipe. I asked Bard to make many more. After a number of tries, I began to ask it for ridiculous Recipes, just to see what it would do. Make me a Film Simulation Recipe that mimics Kermit the Frog juggling Elmo. Make me a Film Simulation Recipe that mimics the look of digesting rotten apples that are crawling with spiders. Make me a Film Simulation Recipe that mimics the aesthetic of comedian Brian Regan hitchhiking across the Delaware River during the Clone Wars. In each case—instead of responding with “you are nuts” or “that makes no sense”—it provided me with a Recipe. It always will. For the Brian Regan Recipe, it tells me, in order to capture the essence of his adventure, I should photograph him on a rural road next to a river bank with some fog. Sounds intriguing, but there’s a problem.
You see, Bard has a bigger tendency than even ChatGPT to include nonexistent settings. Some of these are Color Chrome FX Red (which, arguably, could be just Color Chrome Effect), Color Chrome FX Green, Grain Effect Medium, WB Shift +1, and Image Enhancement On. This is in addition to the missing settings that are required for a Recipe but weren’t included, and the occasional nonsensical ones (like Color +2 with Acros). Sometimes it’s hard to make sense of what Bard provides when asked to make a Recipe.
For those wondering about Color Chrome FX Green, Bard had this to say: Color Chrome FX Green increases saturation and vibrancy of green pixels and slightly lifts green shadows for a more balanced tonal range. Use sparingly, as a subtle application of Color Chrome FX Green can produce pleasing results. Excessive use may make the image appear unnatural. Of course, there is no such thing as Color Chrome FX Green, but even if there was, it wouldn’t work as described by Bard.
The conclusion of this whole article is that ChatGPT and Bard are not good resources for Film Simulation Recipes for Fujifilm cameras. They are both capable of making Recipes (they will always give you one if you ask), but whether or not those Recipes are worth using or resemble what they’re supposed to is another story entirely. A broken clock is correct twice each day, and sometimes you can get a good Recipe by chance when using AI, but most often that won’t be the case. However, because these chatbots tend to stay within a box and don’t often stray outside of it, the Recipes that they make are often not terrible, they’re usually okay-ish. But you have to put up with the missing, nonexistent, and nonsensical settings. And you have to be alright with the unethical nature of it. My personal advice, if you want a Recipe that is more likely to give you good results, is to look no further than my website.
Someone said that AI will usually do a better job than a complete novice, but never as good as an expert. I agree with that assessment. I think if you ask ChatGPT or Bard enough times for Film Simulation Recipes, you are bound to get some that are trash, a bunch that are so-so, and a couple that are actually good. You could probably have as much luck rolling dice or throwing darts to create Recipes. That’s just the way it is. However, the technology is advancing rather quickly, and it’s only a matter of time before AI will be able to analyze pictures, have a good understanding of Fujifilm camera settings, and be able to approximate an accurate replication of picture aesthetics with the available JPEG settings. We’re not there yet, though. There’s a significant gap. I don’t doubt that the technology will get there eventually, perhaps in another five or ten years.
That will put me out of business. I understand that day is eventually coming, and that’s ok. It is what it is, as they say. The sad thing is that AI is using my own words and work against me. The more I publish, the more resources OpenAI and Google have to train their AI. It’s a type of theft. I do think that the courts will eventually rule that much of what they’ve done doesn’t qualifying as “fair use” under the law, but the damage will already have been done, and folks like me wont be compensated a dime for it. That’s the way life goes sometimes. The big guy walks all over the little guy. But, when life throws you punches, bob and weave (I’ve heard that quote attributed to Joe Frazier, but I’m not certain), which simply means that I have to evolve. As Bob Dylan sang, the times, they are a changin’. They always have been, and always will be. That’s why I spent so much time this year exploring the topic of AI Film Simulation Recipes. I had to know where Fuji X Weekly stands in all of it. This website has evolved a whole bunch since its launch in 2017, and it will continue to do so in the coming months and years. I appreciate all of those who have come along for the ride, and I look forward to seeing where this Fuji X Weekly thing goes as the future unfolds. If anything, it will be an interesting adventure, perhaps like Brian Regan’s hitchhiking escapades along the foggy Delaware River during the Clone Wars.
Working – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-E4 – Kodak Vision3 250D Recipe
This is a long-overdue adaptation of the X-T3/X-T30 Kodak Vision3 250D Film Simulation Recipe for use on “newer” X-Trans IV cameras. Kodak Vision3 250D is one of my favorite Recipes, but it’s only compatible with the Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T30; however, I’ve been using it on my X100V and X-E4 occasionally for years. It’s not hard to adapt X-T3/X-T30 or X-Trans III Recipes for use on newer models by simply selecting a Grain size (Small or Large), setting Color Chrome FX Blue (and Color Chrome Effect for X-Trans III Recipes) to Off, and Clarity to 0. In the case of this Recipe, I prefer Clarity set to -2 and not 0, but it’s acceptable either way.
Vision3 250D is a medium-speed daylight-balanced color motion picture film introduced by Kodak in 2009. It was a replacement for the similar (yet slightly inferior) Vision2 250D. Vison3 250D can be developed in ECN-2 chemistry or C-41. There is a lot of variation in how the film can look depending on a host of factors—especially how shot, developed, and scanned—but I’ve always been impressed with how closely this Recipe mimics some of the aesthetics produces by the emulsion.
This Kodak Vision3 250D 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 models, which are the X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, and X-S20 (yes, the X-S20!), you can use this Recipe, but blue will render more deeply, so it will look slightly different.
Film Simulation: Eterna Dynamic Range: DR100 Grain Effect: Strong, Small Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome FX Blue: Off White Balance: Fluorescent 1, -3 Red & -1 Blue Highlight: +3 Shadow: +4 Color: +3 Sharpness: -2 High ISO NR: -4 Clarity: -2 ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this Kodak Vision3 250D Film Simulation Recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:
MartAnne’s – Flagstaff, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Dancing Joy – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
No Fun – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Urban Daisies – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Boat on Lake Hamilton – Hot Springs, AR – Fujifilm X-E4
Rainy Rose – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Willow – Bountiful, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Afternoon Joy – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Desert Creek – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Arizona Date Palm – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Bougainvillea & Palm Trunk – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Potted Flower Blooms – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
Park Gazebo – Buckeye, AZ – Fujifilm X-E4
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