Ilford | FUJI X WEEKLY

Fujifilm X100V Film Simulation Recipe: Ilford Pan F Plus 50

Posted on January 2, 2022 by Ritchie Roesch

*Santa’s Bed* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V – “Ilford Pan F Plus 50”

Anders Lindborg (Instagram) sent me a black-and-white film simulation recipe to try, which he modeled after Ilford Pan F Plus 50 film. Anders, you might recall, created the Kodak Tri-X 400 recipe, teamed with Thomas Schwab to create the Kodak T-Max 400 recipe, made seven Fujicolor Pro 160NS recipes, created seven Fujicolor Pro 400H recipes, and made an important D-Range Priority discovery. His contributions to the Fujifilm community are significant! The Kodak Tri-X 400 recipe is a favorite of mine that I use frequently, so I’m personally very grateful to Anders for his hard work on this recipe and all the others.

And hard work it was! Anders sent me a lengthy note on his process to create this recipe, and I want to share with you a short snippet just so you get an idea of the effort put into this. “I checked the spectrum sensitivity chart and looked for any significant bumps in the wavelengths,” he wrote. “For the largest bump, I checked what color it represents to try to match it as close as possible with the white balance shift. This recreated the bump in the recipe to make the simulation a bit extra sensitive to that specific color.” This was point four of seven in his process, and shows the kind of effort that can go into creating film simulation recipes.

Ilford Pan F 50 Plus is a low-ISO, contrasty, sharp, detailed, fine-grain, black-and-white negative film. It has the punchiness of a mid-ISO film, but is very clean, and can be printed large and still appear crisp and fine-detailed. Of course, how a film is exposed, developed, scanned and/or printed will affect the exact aesthetic. Ilford Pan F 50 Plus is one of the best black-and-white films you can buy today, and this recipe is a pretty darn good facsimile of it.

*Sugar House Traffic District* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V – “Ilford Pan F Plus 50”

“This one needs some care,” Anders wrote of this recipe, “and really soft light is recommended for portraits, but the reward is wonderful! If you’re looking for drama, this is it. Great in studio where lighting can be controlled, but can sometimes also work nicely for certain kinds of street photography. High contrast with a really classic black and white look, emphasis on the black.”

I modified Anders recipe a little. His version calls for Shadows to be +2 and Clarity set to 0, but he says that +2 Shadow can sometimes be too strong, and that +1 is not always strong enough, but +1.5 (for those cameras that are capable) is probably just right. I wanted to use this recipe on my Fujifilm X100V, which isn’t capable of .5 Shadow adjustments, so I set Shadow to +1 and Clarity to +2 (to increase the contrast, similar to what +1.5 Shadow might be)… alternatively, Shadow +2 and Clarity -2 is an option, too, but I didn’t like it quite as much. Because of Clarity, I decreased Sharpening to 0 from +1 (what the original recipe calls for). Instead of -3, I set Noise Reduction to -4, which is my preference. If you want to use Anders full recipe, set Shadow to +2 (or +1.5 if your camera is capable), Clarity to 0, Sharpness to +1, and Noise Reduction to -3. Otherwise, you’ll find my slightly modified version below. This recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4 and X-T30 II cameras.

Monochrome
Dynamic Range: DR100
Highlight: 0
Shadow: +1
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: 0
Clarity: +2
Grain Effect: Weak, Large
Color Chrome Effect: Off
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Off
White Balance: Daylight, +1 Red & -6 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 (for best results, try to limit the ISO to 1600 and lower when able)
Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +1/3 (typically)

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this “Ilford Pan F Plus 50” film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X100V:

*Item Number* – Bountiful, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Snow on Seat* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Wheelchair Shopping* – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Face Masks For Everyone* – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Can, Baskets & Baby Seats* – Bountiful, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Watching Her Brothers Catch Carp* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Boots* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Salty Pavement* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Street Puddle* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*To Cross* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Open* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Central Book Exchange* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

*Parley’s Creek in Winter* – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V

Find this film simulation recipes and over 200 more on the Fuji X Weekly — Film Recipes App!

Film Simulation Review: Changing Light, Part 2: Ilford HP5 Plus

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Ritchie Roesch

Clouds On Top – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm

Changing Light, Part 1: Velvia

I get asked sometimes how do I decide between color and black-and-white. I don’t remember where I heard this, but a long time ago somebody told me that if color is important to the scene then it should be a color picture, and if it’s not it should be black-and-white. Back then you had to make this decision before loading your camera with 24 or 36 exposures. Nowadays you can wait until after capturing the picture before deciding, although I find it best to choose before making the exposure.

Color pictures are (primarily) about three things: light, shadow and color. Black-and-white pictures are (primarily) about two things: light and shadow. It’s easy to see that if color isn’t an essential element to the picture, then it only serves as a distraction to light and shadow; however, that’s an oversimplified way of looking at it. There are many different color theories, and whether color is important or unimportant is highly subjective. One thing is for certain: black-and-white pictures are about light and shadow and those in-between grays.

Whenever I photograph in monochrome my mentality changes. They way that I look at the scene is different. When I photograph in color, I look for color. When I photograph in black-and-white, I look for tones. That’s why it’s important for me to decide before capturing the picture whether it will be color or not. For the pictures in this article, I decided that they needed to be monochrome. I chose my Ilford HP5 Plus film simulation recipe because I thought it would offer me the right amount of contrast. It’s not my most contrasty black-and-white recipe, but it has a good amount of contrast—not too much or too little. I think it was a great choice for these scenes.

I captured these pictures over the last several days from my house. I didn’t go anywhere. There were a lot of clouds and the light on the mountain was constantly changing. Oftentimes it was rather dull, but sometimes it was amazing! The camera I used was a Fujifilm X-T30. Most often I used a Fujinon 100-400mm lens, but occasionally I used a Fujinon 90mm. These longer focal lengths allowed me to “bring close” the mountain, making it appear as though I was in them, and not at a distance. Sometimes you don’t have to go anywhere to capture interesting pictures. That’s especially true if you have a great view where you are.

Wasatch with Snow – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Dramatic Sky Ridge – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm

Silver Sky Mountain – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm

Clouds Over the Peak – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 90mm

Clouds Around the Mountain – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Monochrome Mountain Top – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

White Cloud – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Cloud Reaching – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Clouds & Dark Ridge – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Lightly Snowing On Top – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Gray Mountain – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Obscurity – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Mountain Rain – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Rain – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Monochrome Mountain Rain Shower – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Mountain Downpour – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Monochrome Mountain Mist – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Francis Peak Rain – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Monochrome Radar – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Dark Hills – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Storm Over Dark Mountains – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Mountain Storm – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Clouds on the Ridge – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Covered by Clouds – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 100-400mm

Film Simulation Review: Light & Shadow with Ilford Delta Push-Process

Posted on April 25, 2020 by Ritchie Roesch

Chair & Pillow – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 35mm f/2

Photography is about light. Without light there are no photographs. Great photographs require great light. What “great light” is depends on the picture and circumstance, and what’s great for one image might not be for another. Great light can be found anytime of the day or night if one looks hard enough for it.

This series of pictures demonstrate the play of light and shadow in an image. It features instances of bright highlights and deep shadows together. It’s the contrast between illumination and the absence of it. I needed a dramatic film simulation recipe to capture these pictures. I knew that it would need to be black-and-white because these pictures aren’t about color, but light and shadow. Color would only be a distraction to the point. But which black-and-white film simulation recipe should I choose?

There are several options for dramatic black-and-white that I could have chosen, including Dramatic Monochrome, Monochrome Kodachrome, Agfa Scala, Ilford HP5 Plus, Ilford HP5 Push-Process, X100F Acros, X-T30 Acros, Acros Push-Process, and Tri-X Push-Process. Any of those recipes would have worked, but each would have produced a different result. Some have more contrast, some less. Some have a greater dynamic range and others a more narrow. Some are brighter, some darker. Some have more grain and other less. I could have picked any of them and gotten interesting results, but I went with Ilford Delta Push-Process instead, partially because I had been using it for other pictures during this time. It turns out it was a good choice, because it seems to have the right contrast, tones and grain for this series. Sometimes luck plays a role. What I know now is that the Ilford Delta Push-Process recipe is a great option for dramatic light situations like these, and I will choose it again for similar situations in the future. I captured these pictures on a Fujifilm X-T30 with a Fujinon 35mm f/2 lens attached to it.

Suburban Shadows – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 35mm f/2

Seat Back Shadow – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 35mm f/2

Chair Details – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 35mm f/2

Girl Ghost – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 35mm f/2

Sunlight on the Kitchen Floor – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 35mm f/2

Don’t Step Into Darkness – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 & Fujinon 35mm f/2

[Not] My Fujifilm X-T30 Ilford Delta Push-Process Film Simulation Recipe

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Ritchie Roesch

Boy in a Chair with a Phone – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 “Ilford Delta Push-Process”

When I shot film, Ilford Delta was my go-to for black-and-white photography. Sure, I used other films, but Ilford Delta was what I most often loaded into my camera. For fine-grain, I used Delta 100. For situations other than bright daylight, or if I wanted more contrast and grittiness, I would choose Delta 400. For dim light, I would on a rare occasion use Delta 3200. Sometimes I would push-process the Delta 100 and Delta 400 a stop or two. I actually still have a couple rolls of Delta film sitting around, although I haven’t shot much film in the last few years. The last roll of Ilford Delta that I shot was Delta 3200.

Something that people might not be aware of is that Delta 3200 is actually not an ISO 3200 film, it’s actually rated at ISO 1000, but has “built-in” push-processing to ISO 3200 (labs know to increase the development time unless you specify otherwise). Ilford Delta films have a lot of latitude and flexibility. There’s a lot that one can do in the lab with any of the Ilford Delta films to customize the contrast and grain.

Fuji X Weekly reader K. Adam Christensen shared with me his film simulation recipe for Ilford Delta 3200, and I really like the way that his recipe looks. It’s a great black-and-white recipe! I made a couple of small tweaks to it, nothing big. Adam uses this recipe on his X100V, and he sets Grain to Large, which is an option on that camera, as well as the X-Pro3 and X-T4, but not on my X-T30. If I could set Grain to Large I would, as that would better mimic Delta 3200. Without it, perhaps these settings more resemble Delta 3200 shot and developed at ISO 1600. It reminds me of Delta 400 pushed one stop or maybe a stop and a half.

White House Beyond the Thistle – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 “Ilford Delta Push-Process”

I have the ISO on this recipe set at 12800, which makes it difficult (but not impossible) to use in daylight situations. It’s a little easier on X100 cameras that have a built-in neutral density filter. If you need to drop the ISO, you can go as low as ISO 3200 and still get good results, but for best results keep the ISO at 12800 as much as possible. All of the pictures in this article were shot at ISO 12800.

Monochrome (+Y, +R, +G)
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlight: 0
Shadow: +3
Grain: Strong
Color Chrome Effect: Off
Toning: 0
Sharpening: -3
Noise Reduction: -4
Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
ISO 12800

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Ilford Delta Push-Process film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-T30:

FED 5C & Industar 69 – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Phone Numbers – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Girl, Smile – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Broccoli – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Faux Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Glass Bottles with Stems – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Flowers Waiting to Pot – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Potted Tulip – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

White Tulips at Night – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Outdoor Shelf – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Dirty Feet – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Roller Skating – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Skates – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Girl Outdoor – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Two Feet – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Chair Shadow – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Blackberry Vine on Concrete – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Watering Plant – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Wet Handlebar – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Raindrops on a Window – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

My Fujifilm X-T30 Ilford HP5 Plus 400 Push-Process Film Simulation Recipe

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Ritchie Roesch

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It’s better to be lucky than good.

This film simulation recipe was a mistake. I discovered it when I accidentally chose ISO 51200 instead of Auto-3 ISO. In my hurry, I scrolled down one too far, which took me from the bottom to the top, and I didn’t notice that I had inadvertently selected the highest possible ISO. I wouldn’t normally, or really ever, use ISO 51200. Even on most full-frame cameras, that high of an ISO is pushing the capabilities of the camera. It’s beyond what most would ever think of using on an APS-C camera. I’ve often wondered why Fujifilm even made it an option. Yet on Memorial Day I made a few exposures with it, not even realizing it.

Memorials – South Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – ISO 51200

Little Flags – South Ogden, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 – ISO 51200

When I reviewed the images that I had captured, I was reminded of some photographs I made four years ago when I pushed a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus 400 film by one stop. Push-processing is a technique where you underexpose film and increase the development time to make up for it. You are essentially increasing the exposure in the lab using chemicals. The result is a higher-contrast image with more pronounced grain. Sometimes you would do this because the ISO of the film wasn’t high enough to make a good exposure, and sometimes you’d do this just for the aesthetics of it. Different films respond differently to push-processing, and different films have different tolerances to how much they can be pushed. While HP5 Plus is a good film, it’s not typically considered one of the best for push-processing, but the results can still be good, especially if you don’t push it too much.

Here are some push-processed Ilford HP5 Plus 400 pictures that I captured several years back:

Whiskey Pete’s – Primm, NV – FED 5c – Ilford HP5 Plus 400 Pushed 1 Stop

Grand View – Las Vegas, NV – FED 5c – Ilford HP5 Plus 400 Pushed 1 Stop

I-15 Travelers – Las Vegas, NV – Ilford HP5 Plus 400 Pushed 1 Stop

After seeing the ISO 51200 results from my Fujifilm X-T30, I decided to make some more ultra-high ISO black-and-white pictures. What I discovered is that for contrasty and grainy B&W pictures, ISO 51200 on the X-T30 is not only usable, but it can produce film-like results that are similar to push-processed Ilford HP5 Plus 400 film. A negative aspect of ISO 51200 is that it can sometimes produce “smudgy” results, especially in grass. It doesn’t always do that, but it sometimes does, so I would say that this maximum ISO should be used with care. Taking the ISO down one stop to 25600 seems to remedy this, and delivers similar results to the higher ISO images. ISO 12800 is almost not grainy or contrasty enough, but it’s very close and is also usable for this recipe should you need to drop the ISO.

You might notice that this recipe is quite similar to my Tri-X Push Process recipe, mostly just a higher ISO and added grain. I like that recipe a lot and I think it also delivers analog-like results. Even though it’s based on the same film, there are several differences between this recipe and my original Ilford HP5 Plus recipe. This one is much less “clean” and is fun to pair with vintage lenses. Also, this recipe can be used on X-Trans III cameras, except (obviously) you ignore Color Chrome Effect. I tried it on an X-T20 and it looked good, even at ISO 51200 (see the very top picture in this article).

Acros (Acros+Y, Acros+R, Acros+G)
Dynamic Range: N/A
Highlight: +3
Shadow: +4
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: -2
Grain Effect: Strong
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Toning: 0 (off)
ISO: 25600 or 51200
Exposure Compensation: +1/3 (typically)

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using my Ilford HP5 Plus 400 Push-Process Film Simulation recipe:

Home Builder – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Crop from the above ISO 51200 image.

Exchanging Money – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Crop from the above ISO 51200 image.

Can Money Buy Happiness? – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Girl Playing A Game – South Weber, Utah

Chance Taker – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Thinker – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Birds In The Kitchen – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

River Tree – Layton, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Riverbank – Layton, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Grey Flowers – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Hiding Grey Flowers – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

White Bloom – Layton, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Dark Cloud Over The Dark Mountain – South Weber, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Bulldog – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

Oil Change – Uintah, UT – Fujifilm X-T30

My Fujifilm X100F Ilford HP5 Plus Film Simulation Recipe

Posted on December 1, 2018 by Ritchie Roesch

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Back when I shot lots of film, my favorite black-and-white options were Ilford Delta 100, and Ilford Delta 400 when “high ISO” was necessary, as back then I considered ISO 400 to be high ISO. I didn’t use Ilford HP5 Plus very often, but I have used it on several occasions. I still have a few rolls of the film lying around, which I should go out and use just for the fun of it. The differences between Delta 400 and HP5 Plus aren’t huge. Delta 400 uses tabular-grain, which is supposed to be a finer grain that produces sharper images, but I think in real-world use it’s not really noticeable. Delta 400 has a hair more contrast than HP5 Plus and in my opinion is a bit better for push-processing, but HP5 Plus seems to have more exposure latitude, making it more forgiving if you didn’t get the exposure quite right. Overall the two films produce very similar results.

I’ve been asked a number of times to make an Ilford HP5 Plus film simulation recipe for Fujifilm X-Trans III cameras. The title of this article says “Fujifilm X100F” but these settings can be used on any X-Trans III or IV camera. In fact, you’ll find a few Fujifilm X-T20 examples at the bottom. I already have a number of different black-and-white film simulation recipes that I like, so I didn’t really need to make a new one, but I enjoyed doing this and I’m pleased with how it turned out.

A few days ago I was asked if my Agfa Scala recipe is a close match to HP5 Plus, and as I thought about it I realized that it’s not all that far off, and only some small changes would be necessary to get it right. Of course, any time that you attempt to mimic a certain film the problem is that the film can vary in look. How was it shot? Developed? Printed? Scanned? There isn’t necessarily one aesthetic that’s right because there are so many variables. Still, I feel like this is recipe is in fact pretty close to Ilford HP5 Plus film.

I captured the photograph below, Airport Lobby, using a Canon AE-1 about 20 years ago using Ilford Delta 100 film. I printed it on Agfa Classic paper using a split-filter technique and toned it with sepia (just barely). This is a (rather poor) scan of the print. I included it in this article for the heck of it, as it doesn’t really have much to do with this film simulation recipe. My experience with Ilford films goes back pretty far, and perhaps that’s the point of including the picture with this article.

Airport Lobby – McKinney, TX – Ilford Delta 100 printed on Agfa Classic paper.

You could modify this recipe to shadows +3 if you need more contrast or shadows +1 if you needed less, or highlights to +3 if you need to prevent clipped highlights. If you feel as though the recipe needs some changes to best capture an image, don’t be afraid to make those adjustments. I don’t always stick rigidly to my recipes, and I’m not afraid to adjust them when needed. The example photographs in this article are all the exact recipe, but with some other pictures (that I didn’t include) I made some modifications to the settings because the scene required it. A few of the pictures here might have been better off with a modification to the shadow or highlight, but I wanted to demonstrate the aesthetic of this recipe as is.

Acros (Acros+Y, Acros+R, Acros+G)
Dynamic Range: DR200
Highlight: +4
Shadow: +2
Noise Reduction: -3
Sharpening: 0
Grain Effect: Strong
ISO: Auto up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: 0 (typically)

Example photos, all camera-made JPEGs captured using my Fujifilm X100F Ilford HP5 Plus Film Simulation recipe: