I’ve published over 100 film simulation recipes for Fujifilm X cameras, but I’ve never explained how to program them—the practical side of entering the data into the gear. How do you add a recipe to your camera? If you don’t know how, this article is for you!

Most Fujifilm cameras allow you to store up to seven custom presets; however, some only allow you to have one. There are some variations between models and generations, but no matter your Fujifilm X camera, you should be able to program a recipe by the end of this article, because it’s actually pretty simple. I think it’s always a good idea to read the manual—Fujifilm has all of them available online, and a Google search will bring up your model’s manual quickly. It’s important to really familiarize yourself with your gear to get the most out of it.

Most of the settings that a film simulation recipe requires you to adjust are found in the IQ Menu set, which you access by pressing the Menu button on the camera. Things like Film Simulation, Highlight, Shadow, Color, Dynamic Range, etc., etc., are found in this menu. For those who have a model that can’t save custom presets (such as the Fujifilm X-T200), this is where you can enter in the required parameters of a recipe. You might find many of these settings in the Q-Menu, as well, or through various other buttons on your camera, but they’re pretty much all in one place in the IQ Menu. White Balance Shift is adjusted within the White Balance submenu.

For those with cameras that can save seven custom presets (which most Fujifilm cameras are able to), you can program these custom presets with different film simulation recipes. Find “Edit/Save Custom Settings” in the IQ Menu, or, more quickly, press the Q button to open the Q Menu, then press and hold the Q button, and the Edit/Save Custom Settings submenu will appear. Again, there’s some variations between models, but this should work with most Fujifilm cameras. Once there, select the custom slot you want to use, enter the parameters that the recipe requires, and hit the Back button to save. Many cameras, but not all, have the option to name the custom preset.

Only the latest models, the X-Pro3 and newer, allow you to save the White Balance Shift with a custom preset. For most cameras, you’ll have to manually adjust the WB Shift each time that you change recipes. Exposure Compensation (which is a suggested starting point and not a hard-and-fast rule) can’t be stored, either. For those with cameras that can name presets, one option is to use a recipe name format to remind yourself what these settings should be, so that you know what to set them to.

Once you have everything set, then you can access the seven custom presets through the Q button. Changing between recipes becomes quick and easy! My X100V can save the WB Shift, which is great; however, my other cameras cannot, so on those models I have a button custom set to quickly access White Balance. That way I can easily adjust the shift, since I have to manually adjust that parameter each time I change recipes.

You should now be well on your way to setting up a film simulation recipe on your camera. Once you’ve done it a couple of times, the process will become quick for you. That first time or two, where you’re not really sure how to do it, is the hardest, but with experience it becomes easy.