After Anders Lindborg shared with me his interesting discovery that D-Range Priority (DR-P) is essentially the same thing as Hypertone on Fujifilm Frontier scanners, I immediately went to work creating a couple film simulation recipes that use D-Range Priority, since I didn’t have any. Like many of you, I thought that DR-P was a feature reserved only for extreme situations, and not for everyday use, but (as it turns out) it doesn’t have to be—DR-P can be utilized all of the time if you want.

What is DR-P? It’s basically a tone curve intended to maximize dynamic range. There are four options: Off, Auto, Weak, and Strong. When DR-P is Off, the camera uses DR (DR100, DR200, DR400) instead, and when DR-P is On (Auto, Weak, or Strong), DR is disabled. When DR-P is On, Highlight and Shadow are “greyed out” so those can’t be adjusted—the curve is built into DR-P. You get what you get. DR-P Weak is similar to using DR400 with both Highlight and Shadow -2, but with a very subtle mid-tone boost. This recipe calls for DR-P Auto, and the camera will usually select DR-P Weak unless there is a bright light source (such as the sun) in the frame, such as the picture below.

This recipe was inspired by pictures I found that were captured with Fujicolor Superia 100 film scanned with a Frontier SP-3000. Of course, how the film was shot, or even the scanner settings selected, can effect the exact aesthetic of an image. Even the same emulsion captured the same way and scanned on the same scanner can look a little different if the settings on the scanner are different (more on this in an upcoming article). I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to precisely match this recipe to those scans—it was more of a quick attempt, but I liked the results so I didn’t fine-tune it any further. It has a pretty good feel, I think, that produces pleasing results in many circumstances, although it isn’t the best for artificial light, and you might consider using Auto White Balance when not in natural light situations. This recipe is compatible with the Fujifilm X-Pro3, X100V, X-T4, X-S10, X-E4, and X-T30 II cameras.

Classic Negative
Dynamic Range: D-Range Priority Auto
Color: +3
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: -3
Clarity: +3
Grain Effect: Weak, Small
Color Chrome Effect: Weak
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Weak
White Balance: Daylight, -2 Red & +3 Blue
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: -1/3 to +1/3 (typically)

Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this “Scanned Superia” film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-E4:

Find this film simulation recipe and many more on the Fuji X Weekly — Film Recipes App!

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