This is the first “Why I Love…” article that features a third-party lens. The Rokinon 12mm f/2 NCS CS was the very first prime lens that I purchased for my Fujifilm X-E1 when I was just getting into the Fuji system (you can read my review of it here). It’s the oldest lens in my lineup (not including the many vintage lenses I’ve acquired…). Despite being the first, it’s one of my least-used lenses today. Five years ago I used this lens regularly. I had the Fujinon 18-55mm f2.8-f/4 and this Rokinon 12mm f/2, and I used them about equally. Once I got a few vintage primes, the zoom lens was utilized less frequently (I’m not a big fan of zooms, even though Fujifilm does have some excellent options), and I soon sold it off. Not too long later I sold my X-E1 to buy an X100F. Even though I didn’t have a camera to attach it to, I kept the Rokinon 12mm.
When I once again got a Fujifilm interchangeable-lens camera, I regularly attached the Rokinon lens to it. However, as time went on, I used the lens less-and-less. It has nothing to do with the quality of the glass, which is quite good, especially considering how inexpensive this lens is. The reason why I employ the Rokinon 12mm f/2 lens less frequently now is because of the focal-length. The 18mm-full-frame-equivalent focal-length of this lens is just a little too wide for my current tastes. Still, it’s sometimes nice to go ultra-wide, and I’m glad that I have this lens for those occasions.
The Rokinon 12mm f/2 can turn an ordinary scene into something extraordinarily! The lens is both challenging and rewarding. If you want more dramatic pictures, this lens is an excellent place to start—just shove the glass right into the scene! It’s also an excellent option for astrophotography. Why I love this Rokinon lens is because it increases the drama of the picture, and can be extremely rewarding to use. And even though I use it less now, I’ve certainly got my money’s worth out of it!
Interestingly, Rokinon recently released this lens but with autofocus.
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Highrise, Reflection & Lamp – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Kodak Gold 200”
I took my Fujifilm X-H1 to downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, loaded with my Kodak Gold 200 film simulation recipe, to do some urban photography. Attached to the camera was a Fujinon 18mm f/2 lens, which I find to be a good focal-length for cityscape and street images.
Kodak Gold, which was introduced in the late-1980’s and is still around today, is a general purpose color negative film. It was originally called Kodacolor VR-G, then Kodacolor Gold, and finally Gold. It replaced Kodacolor VR. While the film has been improved a few times over the years, it still looks pretty much the same today as it did in the 1980’s. My film simulation recipe is an approximation of Kodak Gold for Fujifilm X-Trans III plus the X-T3 and X-T30 cameras.
For those following the SOOC video series, Kodak Gold 200 is the current recipe-of-the-month. Fujifilm X-Photographer Nathalie Boucry and I will be discussing this recipe, including showcasing your pictures captured with it, in the next episode. We’re taking January off, so the next video, which will be Episode 01 of Season 02, will be on February 10th. Be sure to mark your calendar! Since there’s extra time to shoot with this recipe, we’d like to show two of your pictures in the next episode, captured in different light situations and/or of different subjects. Upload your pictures here to be featured in the next video!
In the meantime, this article is a photoessay of five photographs captured in downtown Salt Lake City with a Fujifilm X-H1 using the Kodak Gold 200 film simulation recipe. Enjoy!
100 South – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Kodak Gold 200”
Vespa Mirror Reflection – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Kodak Gold 200”
Reflected Center – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Kodak Gold 200”
Zamboni – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Kodak Gold 200”
So you got a Fujifilm camera for Christmas—what a wonderful gift! You might be wondering, “Now what?” What things should you do or get? This article will hopefully provide a little clarity to these questions and more.
First, I always recommend reading the manual. They’re a little boring and overwhelming, so nobody wants to do that, but it’s important to know your gear inside and out, and the best place to begin is the user manual. Thankfully, Fujifilm has made their digital manuals easy to explore, so you can quickly and easily find the exact topic you’re searching for. I recommend spending a couple of hours reading the manual right after you’ve removed the camera from the box, and thereafter picking one topic to read each day for a month or more, just so you become very familiar with your new camera. If user manuals aren’t your thing, the alternative would be to go onto YouTube and search your camera with the words “setup guide” (or something similar) and you can watch someone explain it.
If you are new to photography, you should gain some basic knowledge. There are lots of articles and YouTube videos that explain the general principals of photography. A few years ago I published an article that you might find helpful (click here) on photography basics.
At this point you are ready to have lots and lots of fun with your new camera! But you still might have some questions, such as what accessories to buy next. I’ll answer that below, although it will depend on the exact model you have. Also, if you’re interested, read about my “ultimate” travel kit (click here).
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Fujifilm X100V
If your new Fujifilm camera is an X100V—or perhaps an older X100 model—there are a few accessories you should consider. You might not want or need them all, but you should look into these and determine what (if any) will be beneficial to you. Below is a list of recommended X100V accessories:
Fujifilm X-Pro3, X-T3, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, X-T30, or X-T30 II
If your new Fujifilm camera is an interchangeable-lens model—X-Pro3, X-T3, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, X-T30, X-T30 II or an older model—there are a few accessories you should consider. You might not want or need them all, but you should look into these and determine what (if any) will be beneficial to you. Below is a list of recommended Fujifilm interchangeable-lens-camera accessories:
Obviously, you don’t need everything in these lists (and there are alternatives). Often less is more, so don’t worry about having everything, because photographic vision is much more important than photographic gear. You have a camera and a lens, and that’s really all that you need to capture great photographs, but it is nice to add a few tools to the toolbox. In this case, those “tools” might be gear, but they might be skills, so a book like The Art of Photographymight be a worthwhile investment, as well as experiences (going places with your camera). As you gain more skills and experiences, you’ll have more clarity on what gear you actually need to better achieve your vision.
Back in March I published My “Ultimate” Fujifilm Travel Kit. In that article I stated, “A good travel kit strikes a comfortable balance between practicality and petiteness.” I really feel that I accomplished that with this kit; however, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the lenses. Specifically, I had too many lenses, some of which didn’t really serve a purpose.
To quickly recap, my “ultimate travel kit” consisted of:
So, nine months later, I’ve made some minor modifications. I’ve eliminated the Fujinon 35mm f/2 and the Asahi-Pentax 110 50mm lenses from the kit, although I still own and use them—they just stay home when I travel. The 7artisans 50mm f/1.8 remains for now, although I do hope to replace it with a Fujinon 50mm f/2 at some point, hopefully in the coming year. With the space that’s been freed up from the eliminated lenses, I’ve added a Ricoh GR to the bag, but obviously that’s not a Fujifilm item, so it’s an unofficial tag-along.
I mentioned yesterday that I’m an “Amazon Influencer” now, which means I have a “Shop” on their website. I can create, publish, and share “Idea Lists” in my Shop. How this relates to this article is that I created an Idea List for the current iteration of My “Ultimate” Fujifilm Travel Kit. All of the items currently in my kit can now be found in the “Ultimate Fujifilm Travel Kit Idea List” in my Shop. This might be helpful to some of you.
As my travel kit evolves, I will continue to periodically share with you what those changes are. Everyone’s wants and needs are different, and so I can only tell you what works for me. In the comments, be sure to let me know what’s in your Fujifilm travel kit, and why it works for you.
This film simulation recipe is called “Fujicolor NPH” because it is inspired by that film. Actually, I was attempting a Fujicolor Pro 400H recipe. I had a couple already: Fujicolor Pro 400H for X-Trans III and Fujicolor Pro 400H Overexposed for X-Trans IV. This was originally an Early-Access recipe on the Fuji X Weekly App, and App Patrons have had access to it for nearly a year; however, it’s been replaced by a different Early-Access recipe, so now it’s available to everyone! Since the time that I originally published this, I’ve made a new Fujicolor Pro 400H recipe that I’m quite happy with. This recipe is similar to Pro 400H film, but it’s actually closer to Fujicolor NPH 400, which was the predecessor to Pro 400H. Those two emulsions were similar, with only small differences, but in my opinion this recipe is closer to NPH 400, so that’s why I named it after that film.
Because this film simulation recipe requires Clarity and Color Chrome FX Blue, it’s compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras. I believe those who own a newer GFX camera, such as the GFX 100S and GFX 50S II, can use it, too, although results will be slightly different. If you don’t want to use Clarity because it slows down the camera, you could alternatively use a diffusion filter (such as 1/8 Black Pro Mist or 5% CineBloom) instead.
Provia Dynamic Range: DR100 Highlight: -1 Shadow: 0 Color: 0 Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpening: 0 Clarity: -3 Grain Effect: Weak, Large Color Chrome Effect: Strong Color Chrome Effect Blue: Strong White Balance: 5250K, -3 Red & -4 Blue ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Fujicolor NPH film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujifilm X100V cameras:
Weber River in Winter – Weber Canyon, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Honey Salmon – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Cold Tires – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Sprinkler – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Post – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Frozen Pond – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
760 Sign – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Blue Sky Reeds – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Old Pepsi Machine – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Stepping Into the Night Circle – Sunset, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Nobody pays me to write the content found on fujixweekly.com. There’s a real cost to operating and maintaining this site, not to mention all the time that I pour into it. If you appreciated this article, please consider making a one-time gift contribution. Thank you!
Ice Cold Pepsi – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4 – “Kodak Max 800”
The Fuji X Weekly App is free, yet becoming a Fuji X Weekly Patron unlocks the best App experience! One benefit of being a Patron is you get early access to some new film simulation recipes. These Early-Access Recipes will eventually become available free to everyone in time, including this new one. In fact, many Early-Access Recipes have been publicly published on this blog and the App, so now everyone can use them! Patrons help support Fuji X Weekly and, really, without them there would be no App. So I want to give a special “thank you” to all of the Patrons!
This new Patron Early-Access Recipe is modeled after some prints I found in a box that I thought looked interesting. I didn’t initially know what film had been used, but after locating the negatives I discovered it was something called Kodak GT 800-3, and I had no idea what that was. After much sleuthing, I found out it was Kodak Max Zoom 800, also known as Max 800. The film was shot in 2006 (I believe by my wife), and it was the third and final iteration of the emulsion (this version was introduced in 2000). Max Zoom 800 was replaced in 2006 by the similar Max Versatility Plus 800 (which was around for five or six years before its discontinuation).
Kodak made Max 800 film for point-and-shoot and disposable cameras—specifically, they marketed it for point-and-shot cameras with a zoom lens, which exaggerated camera shake. It was a cheap high-ISO consumer color negative film intended for the novice. It had a large latitude for underexposure and (especially) overexposure, but color reproduction was a little different (some have said bland or weird) when compared to other Kodak films. Kodak intended the film to be printed on Ektacolor Edge paper, but my samples were printed on Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper (which certainly affects the aesthetic)—this recipe is modeled after my samples.
Winter Greenhouse – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4 – “Kodak Max 800”
This Kodak Max 800 Patron Early-Access Recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras. If you are a Fuji X Weekly Patron, it’s available to you right now on the Fuji X Weekly App! If you don’t have the App, download it for free today.
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this “Kodak Max 800” film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:
Frozen Ponds at a Bird Refuge – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Winter Gate – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Open Gate – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Icy Marshland – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
What Remains of Summer – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Winter Water – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Frozen Marsh Pond – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Nature Trail – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Green Truck – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Santa’s Sled – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Neighborhood Path in Winter – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Trail Closed – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
No Shooting Past the Fence – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Pallets – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Inside Abandoned Shed – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Walking Tunnel – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Farm in the City – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Barnes & Noble Window – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Building Top in Last Light – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
It’s nearly Christmas, and a lot of people have time off of work at this time of the year. While this is a wonderful season for many reasons, there’s a chance that at some point you might find yourself a little bored. If you do, this article could be just what you need, because we’re going to do something fun and crazy. We’re going to capture surreal images without a lens!
Below is a photograph that I captured using a homemade pinhole “lens” (pictured above) that takes peculiar pictures. In this article I’ll show you how you can do this yourself—no special tools or skills required. It’s cheap (probably free, in fact), easy, and fun. All you need is an interchangeable-lens camera and a body cap.
Let’s do some homemade pinhole macro photography!
Note: this was a Creative Collective article, but now it’s available to everyone.
The first step is to locate a camera body cap. You probably already have one lying around somewhere that you don’t use; however, you might not want to “destroy” it in case you later sell your camera. I happened to have an extra one somehow. You can buy an “official” Fujifilm body cap for $10 or a generic one for $4. If you don’t want make your own, you can buy a pinhole lens for $70, and it’s probably going to be better than a homemade one. For this project, I used an official Fujifilm body cap that I already owned.
Step two is to drill a tiny hole in the center of the body cap. I didn’t have any drill bits that were small enough, so I used a screw, and stopped turning just as soon as the tip poked through. Even though the hole was small (which you can see in the pictures below) it was actually much too big. I put a piece of black electrical tape (you could alternatively use duct tape) over the hole on the inside of the cap, and then poked a tiny hole using a small sewing needle, sending it through the hole made by the screw, but not poking it all the way through. The hole needs to be especially small—that’s why they call it pinhole photography.
Once you have your pinhole lens made, the next step is to attach it to your camera. Within the camera menu, enable “Shoot Without Lens” or else your camera won’t let you capture a picture. Also, set the camera to Manual Focus—there’s no ability to focus, manual or otherwise, and maybe this doesn’t matter, but to me it makes sense to set it to Manual. Now you’re ready to shoot!
I discovered several things when I started capturing pictures with the pinhole lens.
First, the aperture is roughly around f/256. That means you need a lot of light! I used my Ilford XP2 Super 400 film simulation recipe on a Fujifilm X-H1 with the ISO cranked all the way up to ISO 12800—this was outdoors on a bright and sunny day, and the shutter speed was usually less than 1/100, sometimes much less. The “lens” doesn’t have any glass to focus the light, so it’s going to be soft, but, because of the tiny aperture, you’ll also have a huge amount of diffraction, so you just have to know going into this that the pictures aren’t going to be sharp. The extreme softness is a big reason why the pictures seem so surreal, and is a part of the charm—use it creatively!
Next, the focal-length is somewhere right around 20mm (30mm full-frame-equivalent). Knowing roughly the aperture and the focal-length, it’s possible to more-or-less calculate the depth-of-field, if I could figure out where the lens was focusing at. After several experiments, I decided that the point-of-focus is somewhere around 2″ to 2 1/4″, which puts the depth-of-field roughly between 3/4″ and 5″ (the pictures seem to confirm this). Nothing within that range will be anywhere close to “tack sharp” but will be a little less blurry than elsewhere. It also means that this is a macro lens, and you need to get close to the subject (although, again, use the blur creatively). All of this is variable, depending on the size of the hole and such.
I had strong vignetting in the pictures, so I used the 1:1 aspect ratio to minimize it. Because the vignetting wasn’t even (it was strongest on the bottom-right corner, and least strong on the upper-right), I cropped the pictures a little in an effort to even it out some.
Also, because of the tiny aperture, any and all dust spots on the sensor will be easily visible, especially in the lighter and less busy parts of the frame. Even a sensor that seems to be clean will likely show some dust spots.
Below are some sample pictures captured using the homemade pinhole lens on a Fujifilm X-H1. My favorite photograph is the one towards the top of this article.
If you are bored one day (or stuck in some photographic rut), give this DIY pinhole trick a try. You might not capture any award-winning images (although you never know…), but you’ll certainly have fun, and, if nothing else, photography should be fun.
If you crossed out the words “simulation recipe” from that question, you’d have a very common inquiry from the film era. Back then, at any given time, there were just as many (if not more) film choices as there are film simulation recipe choices today—especially at the height of film in the late-1990’s and early-2000’s. Over the years there have been hundreds and hundreds of emulsions, maybe over a thousand. How does one know which film to use?
It’s a little easier today because there are far fewer film choices (but there’s still a lot!). Do you want color or black-and-white? That’s where I always started. What’s the lighting going to be? That helps decide the ISO that will be needed. Also, if color, will I need daylight or tungsten balanced? What filters might I need? Those are important factors to consider. Do I want low contrast or high (although how I shoot and develop factors significantly into this)? If color, low saturation or high? These questions and more, which are asked before the camera is even loaded, helps determine the film choice.
The two biggest factors, however, for my film choice decision were usually these: availability and experience. While there were hundreds to choose from, I might only have five or six different emulsions in the refrigerator at any given time. If I was going to buy some film before heading out or in preparation for it, I would be limited by the availability of the store, and that might be 10 emulsions or 100, depending on the place. A lot of times it would come down to what I’d used in the past and had success with. After awhile you figure out which options work for you. I liked to try different films just to see what I might get, but I often found myself returning to the ones that I really liked, which explains those five or six in the fridge.
With film simulation recipes, some of the same factors that determined which film to use can also help to determine which recipe to use. Color or black-and-white? Daylight or tungsten? High contrast or low contrast? High saturation or low saturation? A big difference is that you are not limited to “the stock in your fridge” or what a store might carry. And maybe you don’t have a lot of experience with them to know which recipes might work well in a specific scenario. The more experience you get, the more you’ll know, but that takes time, perhaps years, of using different recipes in various situations.
My hope in the coming year is to do a lot more to help with this. I want to make it easier for people to determine which recipes might be good options in whichever photographic situations that they find themselves in. This, of course, is a pretty monumental challenge, not only because there are so many recipes (and always more in the works!), but because there are more potential photographic situations than there are recipes. This is something that books could be written about. Even so, I will do my best with this project, because I want it to be easier for you to determine which recipes to use when.
That’s great for the future, but what about now? What resources are available today to determine which recipe to program into your Fujifilm camera for whatever it is that you’re about to shoot?
The Fuji X Weekly App is a good starting point. If you are not already, become an App Patron so that you can unlock the ability to filter. Select your camera or sensor, then choose color or black-and-white, or a specific film simulation if you know that you want an aesthetic a certain film simulation produces. You can also filter by White Balance, which can potentially be helpful if you have an idea of the lighting conditions you’ll encounter, or Dynamic Range, which can potentially be helpful if you know how harsh the light will be. These tools help to determine which recipe to use by filtering out the ones that might not be good options.
Otherwise, my Film Simulation Reviews page and the SOOC video series are two other resources that might be helpful. Film Simulation Reviews are articles that show specific recipes in specific situations, so if you find yourself in a similar situation you can know how that recipe will do (whether good or bad). It’s not nearly as robust of a library as I’d like it to be, but it might be helpful nonetheless. In the SOOC videos, not only is a specific recipe discussed and used, but, in the “Special Occasions” segment, recipes for specific scenarios are suggested. Be sure to visit YouTube.com/c/FujiXWeekly to find those videos.
Of course, the sample pictures within the recipes are intended to give you a clue if it might be a good choice or not. I can’t provide sample pictures captured in every photographic genre and every lighting condition, but I try to provide a good mix to help you know whether it might work well for you or not. If you haven’t spent much time viewing the sample images, it might be worth your time to look longer at them. If you are a Fuji X Weekly App Patron, when you encounter a recipe that you think might work for you based on the sample pictures, use one of the Star colors to mark it, so that you can revisit it whenever you’re ready to program a recipe into your camera.
Much like with film, perhaps the best way to know whether a recipe will work well for your specific photographic situation is with experience. If you try it and it does well, now you know. And if it doesn’t, now you know. Program seven recipes into your C1-C7 Custom Presets, and see how they do. You can use the colored Stars in the App to help you keep track of which ones you especially like (maybe use green stars) and which ones you especially don’t (perhaps use red stars). After that, try another seven recipes.
I wish that I had a more helpful response to, “How do I know which film simulation recipe to use in a specific situation?” There are as many potential photographic situations as there are film simulation recipes to choose from, and it’s not always easy to determine which ones are best for what. The Fuji X Weekly App has some great tools that can help, and there are other resources, too, but the best answer is that it takes experience, which you’ll get as you try them out in various scenarios. The more you shoot with them, the more you’ll know which ones are good options for whatever situation you’re in. In the coming year I want to do more to help with this, so that there’s a little less trial-and-error involved on your part, and those with little or no experience don’t have quite as steep of a learning curve to climb. I have a long ways to go, but I am determined to make this website a better resource for those trying to figure out which recipes to program into their Fujifilm camera.
Fujinon 18mm f/2 lens attached to a Fujifilm X-T30 camera.
I’ve done several of these “Why I Love The Fujinon…” articles—including the 90mm f/2, the 35mm f/2, the 27mm f/2.8—but I’ve been putting this one off. If you’d read my review of the Fujinon 18mm f/2, you might already know that I have a love/hate relationship with it. I called it “the strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” because it is simultaneously wonderful and disappointing—wonderful image quality, disappointing performance. I don’t want to rehash what I already stated in the review, so I’ll approach this a different way.
For a long time I shot 35mm film. I had a Canon AE-1 camera and a 50mm f/1.8 lens, and that’s it—one camera and one lens. After awhile, though, I began to collect gear. I acquired more cameras and more lenses. One lens was a Canon 24mm f/2.8. Coming from 50mm, the 24mm focal-length lens seemed to be extremely wide-angle to me. I found it challenging to use, but also highly rewarding, because the focal-length can make a scene much more dramatic. Below is a picture from the first roll of film where I used the 24mm focal length. For Fujifilm cameras, 16mm is full-frame-equivalent to 24mm, not 18mm (which is 27mm full-frame-equivalent), but the difference between 16mm and 18mm isn’t huge. I actually like 18mm more because it is a bit less extreme yet still very dramatic.
The 18mm focal-length is very useful for landscape or cityscape photography. It wouldn’t be my first choice for portrait photography, but it is great for when you want to exaggerate the space in the frame. It can turn a rather ordinary scene into something more extraordinary through embellishment. I think everyone should own a lens with this or a similar focal-length, and challenge themselves to use it—and it alone—on occasion, just for practice.
The 18mm f/2 is Fujifilm’s second smallest lens, so it is especially great for travel or walk-around photography. It’s a lens that you can leave on the camera all day, or have as a second lens, perhaps kept in a jacket pocket. The size and weight advantage of this near-pancake lens cannot be understated!
Ultimately, though, it comes down to the pictures, and it’s easy to love how the Fujinon 18mm f/2 lens renders images. When the pictures look as good as they do, it’s not hard to ignore the flaws (such as a slow and loud focus system). For this reason, the Fujinon 18mm f/2 lens is an essential tool in my kit. Yes, I do have a love/hate relationship with this little lens, but I lean much more closely towards the love side.
This post contains affiliate links, and if you make a purchase using my links I’ll be compensated a small amount for it.
Two Cold Horses – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1 – “Winter Slide”
I recently created an X-Trans II film simulation recipe specifically for wintry conditions called Winter Slide. While I have many recipes that will do well photographing snow, creating a recipe specifically for that particular condition is unusual. Since winter is here, I thought it would be a fun exercise to examine how several recipes do when photographing snow. By several, I mean 14 recipes!
So let’s take a look at how these 14 different film simulation recipes do photographing in wintry conditions!
Note: This was a Creative Collective article, but now it’s available to everyone.
Let’s start off by briefly explaining the process. I used two cameras: Fujifilm X100V and X-H1. I chose seven recipes for each camera, and the recipes were somewhat randomly selected. I chose ones that I thought could possibly do well or might otherwise be interesting in the snow. I captured two images for each recipe: one in sunlight and one in shade. I figured that some recipes would do well in the sun, some would do well in the shade, a few would do well in both, and maybe one or two wouldn’t do well in either, but I really wasn’t sure.
The recipes used on the X-H1 are all compatible with X-Trans III (plus the X-T3 and X-T30) cameras. The recipes used on the X100V are all compatible with the X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras, except for Kodak Vision3 250D, which is intended for the X-T3 and X-T30—I modified it for the X100V by selecting Grain size Small, Color Chrome FX Blue Off, and Clarity 0.
You can look at the examples above, and decide for yourself which ones you like. If one stands out to you, I invite you to try it the next time you’re out photographing in wintry conditions. Of the seven recipes for X-Trans III, Fujichrome Sensia 200 is my favorite for sunlight and Kodak Portra 160 is my favorite for shade. Of the seven recipes for X-Trans IV, Kodachrome 1 is my favorite for sunlight and Fujicolor Superia 1600 is my favorite for shade. Which ones do you like best? Let me know in the comments!
I think the recipes that are cooler tend to be a bit too cold in the shade, although if you’re trying to communicate just how frigid it is outside, maybe that’s something you want. The recipes that are warm can sometimes be a tad too warm in the sunlight. Your recipe choice likely will be dictated by the light you think you’ll encounter. A lot also depends on the exact aesthetic you’re after and the mood you want to convey. I don’t believe any of these 14 recipes are bad choices. Some certainly seem better than others for the snow, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so one person might appreciate one more than the rest, and another might appreciate a different recipe.
If you’ve used a film simulation recipe in the snow and liked the outcome, please let me know in the comments which one it was.
If you have a Fujifilm camera and don’t have the Fuji X Weekly App on your phone or tablet, be sure to download it now! The App is free, but becoming a Patron unlocks the best App experience, so consider becoming an App Patron today.
Let’s countdown the last 10 recipes that brought us to 200:
Which of these ten recipes are your favorites? Let me know in the comments!
There are actually more than 200 Fuji X Weekly film simulation recipes! Unfortunately, I’m not able to include in the App the ones that require double exposures because they’re more complicated and the format doesn’t allow it. So when I published Retro Gold Low Contrast, that was actually the 200th Fuji X Weekly film simulation recipe. The recipes below are ones you won’t find in the App, and are in addition to the 200 that are there.
Evergreen Tops – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4 – “Kodak High Definition Plus 200”
This Kodak High Definition Plus 200 film simulation recipe was a fun one to make. My wife, Amanda, was looking through an old box of pictures when she came across a group of prints that she thought looked interesting, so she showed them to me. The images were captured in the Sierra Nevada mountains, largely in the Sequoia National Forest, in 2006. I had no idea what film I used, but after locating the negatives, I discovered it was Kodak High Definition Plus 200. The pictures were printed on Fujicolor Crystal Archive paper. Not surprisingly, Fujifilm paper produces a different aesthetic than Kodak paper, so if this film had been printed on Kodak paper the pictures would look a little different. Back then, the rule of thumb for best results was that Kodak negatives should be printed on Kodak paper, Fujifilm negatives should be printed on Fujifilm paper, etc., but obviously I broke that “rule” with these travel pictures.
Kodak High Definition Plus 200 was a color negative film that was also sold under the name Kodak Royal Supra 200. At the time, Kodak claimed that it was the sharpest and finest-grained ISO 200 color negative film on the market. Originally there were ISO 100, 200, 400 and 800 varieties, but since this film line was introduced right at the beginning of the decline of film, it didn’t take Kodak long to discontinue all but the ISO 200 and 400 versions, and even those didn’t last all that long. I shot a few rolls of the film, and after digging through that photo box, I found two sets of negatives, both exposed around that same timeframe. I honestly don’t remember all that much from the experience, but it was fun to rediscover these long-forgotten pictures and recreate the aesthetic on my Fujifilm X-E4 camera.
A picture of Kodak High Definition Plus negatives, captured with this recipe.
A picture of Kodak High Definition Plus 200 prints, captured with this recipe.
A poor quality scan of one of the prints. Sorry. I really need to buy a better scanner.
For ISO 200 color negative film, Kodak High Definition Plus 200 was indeed pretty sharp and fine-grained. It was moderately vibrant (just a little above “true to life”) and contrasty but not overly contrasty. From what I can tell, it didn’t have as large of an exposure latitude as some of Kodak’s other color negative films. It was warm, but seemed to lean more towards green than red when printed on Fujicolor paper. Obviously, how the film is shot, developed, printed and/or scanned will affect how it looks (I apologize for my poor quality scan above, which doesn’t do the picture justice whatsoever, but I wanted to share it anyway). This recipe mimics how I shot the film in 2006, printed on Fujicolor paper. It is compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras.
Classic Chrome Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: 0 Shadow: +1 Color: +2 Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpening: 0 Clarity: -3 Grain Effect: Weak, Small Color Chrome Effect: Weak Color Chrome Effect Blue: Weak White Balance: 4800K, -2 Red & -7 Blue ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400 Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this Kodak High Definition Plus 200 film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4 & Fujifilm X100V:
Walking Bridge – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Hollow Building – Bountiful, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Leaves that Left – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Flag & Evergreen – Layton, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Green Pine Needles – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Red Roof – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Lonely Table – Orem, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Night Shopping Carts – Draper, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Pillow on Couch – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V
Fake Succulent – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Evening Clouds Over Wasatch Mountains – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Disappearing Light on Francis Peak – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-E4
Nobody pays me to write the content found on fujixweekly.com. There’s a real cost to operating and maintaining this site, not to mention all the time that I pour into it. If you appreciated this article, please consider making a one-time gift contribution. Thank you!
Winter Neighborhood at Sunset – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1 – “Winter Slide”
This recipe began with a weather forecast. It had been unusually dry and warm here in Utah, but cold temperatures and plenty of snow was on the way. At this time of year I get asked regularly which film simulation recipes are best for snow—there are plenty that will work well, but not many that are specifically made for it. A camera like the Fujifilm X-T1, which is weather-sealed, is great for these type of conditions, so I thought, with the forecasted wintry weather, I’d create a good-for-snow recipe for X-Trans II cameras that I could use on my X-T1. When the snow finally came, I’d be ready!
The initial inspiration for this recipe was Agfa Precisa CT 100 color slide film, which I read was one of the best film options for winter situations. I wasn’t having good luck recreating the aesthetic of it, but, in the process, I made some settings that I thought might be good for snow. So I failed at mimicking Agfa Precisa CT 100, but I succeeded at what I set out to do, which was a film simulation recipe that works well in snow. Interestingly, when I created the recipe, it wasn’t yet snowy, so I wasn’t completely sure how it would do. Luckily, it did every bit as well as I had hoped it would.
Two Cold Horses – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1 – “Winter Slide”
The trick to snow photography is to overexpose (based on what the meter says) because the camera sees a lot of white and wants to make it grey. So if you follow the meter, you’ll get a lot of dark pictures. By increasing the exposure compensation, you’ll get brighter pictures—I found myself often using +1 exposure compensation. If you are using this recipe when it’s not wintry white, you won’t have to increase the exposure compensation quite as much, and +1/3 to +2/3 will likely be better. This film simulation recipe is compatible with all X-Trans II cameras.
Provia/STD Dynamic Range: DR200 Highlight: 0 (Standard) Shadow: +2 (Hard) Color: -2 (Low) Sharpness: -1 (Medium-Soft) Noise Reduction: -2 (Low) White Balance: 5000K, -1 Red & -3 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 3200 Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured on my Fujifilm X-T1 using this “Winter Slide” film simulation recipe:
Ice Cold Red – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Winter Red Berries – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Snow on Branch – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Snow on Tree Trunk – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Winter Tree – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Winter Bush with Red Berries – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Snow on a Bush – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Winter Girl – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
White House in Snow – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Lamp with Bow – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Winter Blue Home – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
One Light in a Tree – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T1
Nobody pays me to write the content found on fujixweekly.com. There’s a real cost to operating and maintaining this site, not to mention all the time that I pour into it. If you appreciated this article, please consider making a one-time gift contribution. Thank you!
Freightliner – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Ilford XP2 Super 400”
I was asked to create a film simulation recipe for Ilford XP2 Super 400 monochrome film. This is a currently-available black-and-white negative film that’s designed to be in developed in color negative (C41) chemistry. While this is unusual it’s definitely not unique. I’ve shot with some of these films before (namely Kodak BW400CN), and they’re surprisingly good, but a disadvantage is their archival characteristics. While I’ve used many Ilford films in the past (Delta 100 and Delta 400 were my two favorites back in the day), I’ve never shot with XP2 Super, and so I have no firsthand experience with it. Thankfully, I was able to find some good sample images (and other information) to help with the process. The film is somewhat contrasty and bright with fairly fine grain. It can be shot anywhere from ISO 50 to ISO 800, although ISO 400 is what Ilford suggests to shoot it at; whatever ISO you choose will affect the exact outcome.
I wasn’t having good luck with this recipe at first, but as I experimented, I stumbled into what I believe is a fairly accurate facsimile to the film. The White Balance settings (combined with Acros+R) turned out to be the key. Getting the exposure correct can sometimes be tricky, depending on the light and scene, so that’s why the “typical” exposure compensation is such a wide range.
Farmington Train Station – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Ilford XP2 Super 400”
This “Ilford XP2 Super 400” film simulation recipe is compatible with all X-Trans III cameras, plus the X-T3 and X-T30. If you have a newer X-Trans IV camera, you can use this recipe, but you’ll have to decide on the Grain size (I suggest Small).
Acros+R Dynamic Range: DR400 Highlight: -1 Shadow: +4 Noise Reduction: -4 Sharpening: -2 Grain Effect: Strong White Balance: 10000K, +7 Red & +7 Blue ISO: Auto up to ISO 12800 Exposure Compensation: -2/3 to +2/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this “Ilford XP2 Super 400” film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-H1:
Francis Peak on a Sunny Day – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Waterway – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Reed by the Lake – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Swan Season Closed – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Do Not Block Access – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Boat Launch Area – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Littering Prohibited – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Long Road to Nowhere – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Rural Tractor – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Cat & Honey Bucket – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Caterpillar – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Tractor – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Lamp & Side Mirrors – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
A Y – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Empty Benches – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Tracks with no Train – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Nobody pays me to write the content found on fujixweekly.com. There’s a real cost to operating and maintaining this site, not to mention all the time that I pour into it. If you appreciated this article, please consider making a one-time gift contribution. Thank you!
Red Freightliner – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X100V – Kodachrome 64 – Frame 05
Back in the film days, most of the cameras I had were fully manual. No auto or semi-auto modes. No autofocus. Manual everything. In the digital age, modern cameras are pretty good at taking care of some tasks for you. You can afford to be a little lazy and still get the shot with ease. It’s a marvel of modern camera technology!
Nowadays I mostly shoot in Aperture-Priority (with Shutter and ISO set to A), or occasionally Shutter-Priority (with Aperture and ISO set to A). Only on rare occasions do I manually select shutter, aperture, and ISO. It’s not uncommon that I manually focus, especially if I’m using a vintage lens, but most of the time I’m allowing the camera to autofocus for me. It’s just easier. But sometimes easier isn’t better. It’s good to stay in photographic shape, and to challenge yourself from time-to-time.
I decided to challenge myself yesterday to this: shoot 36 frames (like a roll of film) with the same film simulation recipe, using manual everything. Manual aperture. Manual shutter. Manual ISO. Manual focus. The camera I chose was the Fujifilm X100V, and I loaded it with my Kodachrome 64 film simulation recipe. I headed out right at sunrise.
This was my experience.
Note: this was a Creative Collective article, but now it is available to everyone.
Before I get to the photographs, I want to briefly point out why a camera like the X100V is so great for this exercise: you don’t need to dig through any menus to change anything. It’s all clearly marked on knobs and switches on the body. The aperture ring is on the lens, as is the focus ring. A switch on the side activates manual focus. The shutter is controlled by a knob on the top, and the ISO is controlled by a ring around the shutter knob. It’s as close to a film experience as you can get from a digital camera. Yet you have modern tools, such as focus assist and histograms, to help you get it right. Of course, the same thing could be said for many Fujifilm models, and not just the X100V.
One other technical note I’d like to point out is that I had a 5% CineBloom filter attached to the lens, which only makes an extremely subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless. I figured it was worth pointing out.
I’m going to jump right into the pictures, then I’ll end with a little commentary about this experience. Here we go!
Frame 01:
ISO 320, f/11, 1/250
Frame 02:
ISO 320, f/5, 1/500
Frame 03:
ISO 320, f/6.4, 1/500
Frame 04:
ISO 320, f/4.5, 1/500
Frame 05:
ISO 320, f/4.5, 1/500
Frame 06:
ISO 320, f/4.5, 1/500
Frame 07:
ISO 320, f/9, 1/125
Frame 08:
ISO 320, f/9, 1/125
Frame 09:
ISO 320, f/9, 1/125
Frame 10:
ISO 320, f/9, 1/125
Frame 11:
ISO 320, f/9, 1/125
Frame 12:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/125
Frame 13:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/125
Frame 14:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/125
Frame 15:
ISO 320, f/9, 1/125
Frame 16:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/125
Frame 17:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/125
Frame 18:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/125
Frame 19:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/125
Frame 20:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/125
Frame 21:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/125
Frame 22:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/125
Frame 23:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/125
Frame 24:
ISO 320, f/13, 1/125
Frame 25:
ISO 320, f/13, 1/125
Frame 26:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/250
Frame 27:
ISO 320, f/10, 1/500
Frame 28:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/640
Frame 29:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/640
Frame 30:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/640
Frame 31:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/640
Frame 32:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/640
Frame 33:
ISO 320, f/6.4, 1/800
Frame 34:
ISO 320, f/6.4, 1/500
Frame 35:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/250
Frame 36:
ISO 320, f/8, 1/250
This was a fun photographic exercise! I thoroughly enjoyed going all-manual and shooting 36 frames with the same film simulation recipe to mimic the good ol’ film days. I’d recommend this project to anyone, and I encourage you to give it a try, too.
Since I hadn’t shot fully manual all that much in the last few years, I really found myself out of practice. There’s more to mentally consider with each frame.
On one hand, I wasn’t always focusing in on why I was using the settings I did. I believe that I needed to think beyond, “Is this correctly exposed?” And consider more, “Which specific settings would be best for this exposure?” These things used to come more naturally to me, and it’s because I was doing it all of the time. I practiced it frequently back then. Now that I almost always let the camera sort some of it out, full manual takes more intentional thought, and I didn’t always do that. For that reason, I really believe I could benefit from doing this project on a regular basis.
On the other hand, going all manual slowed me down a little, which made me capture better pictures—at least a little—or perhaps more simply, I got the picture I wanted without snapping three-to-five exposures to do it. In most cases, I captured only one image, as I tried hard to get it right the first time. I couple of times I didn’t, so I made a second attempt. Normally I’m a bit lazy, using the spray-and-pray method to ensure I got a good exposure. It’s quick and easy to snap several pictures of the same thing, and choose later which one is best; however, it’s even better to make just one exposure and have confidence that it’s good.
You might notice that I used ISO 320 for all 36 exposures. I decided at the beginning that I was going to stick with one ISO because in the film days that’s what you had to do. I selected ISO 320 because that’s the lowest ISO available for the Kodachrome 64 recipe.
It was a partly-to-mostly overcast day, but at sunrise the sunlight was pouring out between the clouds. For that reason I started out with a faster shutter speed, but soon the sun disappeared behind the clouds, which allowed me to slow it in order to use a smaller aperture. Later the sun peaked through again, and I increased the shutter speed. Often the light changed between shots, and I used small aperture adjustments to get a correct exposure. I didn’t always get the exposure as correct as I would have liked, which was a result of not making the necessary adjustments with the rapidly changing light conditions (basically, not paying as close of attention to everything as I should have).
20 years ago when I shot real Kodachrome film, if I got back from the lab five or six slides out of the whole roll that I was really happy with, I’d call it a success. So, with that same standard, I’d call this excursion a success. My five favorite frames are 05, 06, 08, 19, and 21. Which frames do you like the best? Let me know in the comments below.
I hope you give this challenge a try! It’s a great way to keep yourself in photographic shape. I discovered that I’m not in as good of shape as I thought I was, so I’m going to keep practicing, and I’ll do this challenge again very soon.
I want to give a big “Thank You” to everyone who tuned in to Episode 05 of SOOC, a collaboration between myself and Fuji X-Photographer Nathalie Boucry. This video series is live and interactive, so I’m especially grateful to all who participated! You are the ones who make these episodes great!
In the video above are the viewer’s photographs, captured using the Agfa Optima 200 film simulation recipe, that were shown during the show. It’s a short clip, so be sure to watch! I love seeing your pictures, and I’m honored that you submitted them for us to view.
The SOOC Episode 06 “recipe of the month” is Cross Process. Shoot with that recipe, and upload your pictures here to be featured in the next video! Episode 06 will be on December 9 (this Thursday!) at 9 AM Pacific, 12 PM Eastern, so mark your calendars, and I look forward to seeing you then!
Follow the Bird to Salt Lake – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
I recently took my Fujifilm X-H1 camera to downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, loaded with my Cross Process film simulation recipe, to do some creative urban photography. Attached to the camera was a Fujinon 18mm f/2 lens, which I find to be a good focal-length for cityscapes and street images.
For those who don’t know, cross-process is an analog technique where film is developed in chemistry intended for a different emulsion type. Most commonly, it is E6 slide film developed in C41 color negative chemistry, although it is certainly not limited to that. The results of cross-processing can vary wildly, but usually there’s a strong color shift, and an increase in contrast and grain. It’s a fun way to get bold pictures!
My Cross Process recipe isn’t intended to model any specific film, but is more of a generic cross-processed aesthetic; however, there are some similarities to Velvia, Provia, Sensia, Elite Chrome, and others. Considering that Fujifilm doesn’t have a “cross process” film simulation, the fact that this look can be achieved in-camera without the need for editing is really quite amazing! It’s an enjoyable recipe for unusual results.
For those following the SOOClive YouTube video series, Cross Process is the current recipe-of-the-month. Fujifilm X-Photographer Nathalie Boucry and I will be discussing this recipe, including showcasing your pictures captured with it. Be sure to tune-in this Thursday, December 9, at 9am Pacific Time, 12 PM Eastern! I hope to see you then!
In the meantime, this article is a photoessay of 14 photographs captured in downtown Salt Lake City with a Fujifilm X-H1 camera using the Cross Process film simulation recipe. Enjoy!
1. Know Where It Goes – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Hotel & Crane Reflected – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Contrail – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Last Light on the Lofty Building – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Leaning – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Yield on Flashing – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Wreath Behind Glass – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Crane Reflection – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Trees in the City – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
A Corner Downtown – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Lift – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Escalator Collecting Leaves – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Caution: Tree – Salt Lake City, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
I share this video with you for three reasons: 1) it’s really good, 2) this website and the Fuji X Weekly App are mentioned in it, and 3) it’s definitely the coolest video that I’ve ever been highlighted in. So be sure to watch it! Also, big thanks to GxAce for the shout-out! You should check out his channel, for sure, because he has many intriguing videos.
The Snap Chick YouTube channel recently published a video where they compare actual Kodak Tri-X 400 film with the Kodak Tri-X 400 film simulation recipe. It’s a very fascinating video! If you’re looking for something to do, give it a watch—it’s about 15 minutes long. Definitely worth your time.
Large Stone & Tall Grass – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1 – “Vintage Kodacolor”
The Fuji X Weekly App is free, yet becoming a Fuji X Weekly Patron unlocks the best App experience! One benefit of being a Patron is you get early access to some new film simulation recipes. These early-access recipes will eventually become available free to everyone in time, including this new one. In fact, many early-access recipes have already been publicly published on this blog and the App, so now everyone can use them. Patrons help support Fuji X Weekly and, really, without them there would be no App. So I want to give a special “thank you” to all of the Patrons!
This new Patron early-access recipe is called Vintage Kodacolor. I was inspired by some old Kodacolor puzzles that I stumbled across (did you know that Kodak made jigsaw puzzles?). I’m not completely certain which Kodacolor film was used for these puzzles—possibly Kodacolor II—or how much the printing process affected the aesthetic, or even how much the colors have faded and shifted over time. Whatever the case, this recipe does a pretty good job emulating it, and produces a warm vintage-like aesthetic that’s easy to appreciate. There’s some similarities between this and my Kodacolor II 126 recipe. This “Vintage Kodacolor” recipe is fully compatible with all X-Trans III cameras, plus the Fujifilm X-T3 and X-T30. Those with newer X-Trans IV cameras can use it, too, but you’ll have to decide on Grain size.
If you are a Fuji X Weekly Patron, it’s available to you right now on the App!
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this “Vintage Kodacolor” film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-H1:
Vintage Phragmites – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Evening Reeds and Sky – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Three Brown Leaves – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Don’t Approach the Great Blue Heron – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Safe Zone – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Sunset Through The Grass – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Evening Light on the Wood – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Flowers No More – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Metal Door – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Cardboard Architect – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
Holiday Horse Rider – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-H1
