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The truth about Fujifilm recipes

Since getting my Fujifilm X100V, I’ve been committed to exploring the Fujifilm “look” through film simulations and recipes, unlike any Fujifilm camera I have owned before. Fujifilm cameras come with a number of film simulations - engineered color science meant to recreate, digitally, the look of classic Fujifilm film stocks. Straight out of camera, these allow you to create some really great stylized images; think of filters from your iPhone or Instagram or presets for Lightroom, only better. These default simulations can be combined with other image quality settings to create distinct looks, which have been coined as “recipes”. An unfortunate name, I think - I would have gone with presets or even formulas.

It doesn’t take much searching on blogs, Instagram, or YouTube for you to find hundreds and hundreds of individual recipes others have created. Dialing in their settings and saving them to a custom function in your camera allows you to dial in these looks to suit your shooting situation and preference. I believe at this time Fujifilm offers somewhere around twenty different film simulations. The most I can store on my X100V is seven recipes.

Evee waiting to start our daily walk

What I quickly found is that, despite the amazing looking images that are often published along side the recipe, my images didn’t come out looking anything close to what I saw online. Frustration sets in. All we want is to have our images look amazing, and I guess we kind of want it done easily. This led me to my first truth about Fujifilm recipes…

#1 Recipe results are largely situationally dependant

You could shoot Velvia in a concrete jungle, and you could shoot Kodachrome in the delicate forest that begged for the softness of every tone, but neither choice would correctly suit it’s situation. Knowing which recipe to use and when takes a lot of practice and experimentation.

Even after I think I have the right choice of recipe, sometimes it still doesn’t look quite right. It doesn’t look like the example images and it certainly doesn’t look pleasing to my eye. This led me to my second truth…

#2 Recipes can be adjusted to suit your taste

Just like a Lightroom preset is really just a starting point, so too are recipes. In some cases, I have decided that a particular setting does not suit what and how I shoot, so I change some settings and save the changes to the custom function. In other instances, I decide that a situation calls for a change, so I can quickly bring up the Image Quality menu and change a setting or two for the situation I find myself in. Does that make it not the same recipe? Who cares… they’re my images at the end of the day.

As spring begins in the NorthEast, I find one of the most challenging colors to get right in any of the simulations is the color green. It either comes out way too blue or way too yellow. I tried probably a couple dozen before hitting my third truth about recipes…

#3 Sometimes you have to build your own

Relying on the work of others really helps us shortcut a lot of effort. If we even use a recipe as a starting point and change many of the parameters, it can still save us a lot of time and yield really pleasing images. But I would advise anyone looking to get into the world of shooting with Fujifilm recipes to start off by creating your own. I did this by working through each setting one day. It was cloudy. I then tried the same simulation on a sunny day. And late in the day. Each time tweaking the settings until I came up with a recipe of my own that works in most situations. Weirdly, it’s the least stylized of the recipes in my camera, but for getting the look I wanted… it works!

While I continue to be tempted by great images of recipes, I’ve narrowed what I use down to mostly three right now. It’s fun to dial in a new recipe and play around, but by sticking to these three I believe I am learning them very well and know how each one will produce in most situations. Here are my recipes:

1. Basic - While stylized images are the hallmark of the Fujifilm system, sometimes I want a dead simple realistic image. This one took me a while to come up with, but it’s great for snapshots, flat light, or anytime I find that something else produces funky colors

  • Film Simulation: Provia/Standard

  • Grain: Off

  • Color Chrome Effect: Off

  • Color Chrome FX Blue: Off

  • White Balance: Auto R: 3, B: -4

  • Dynamic Range: DR400

  • Tone Curve: H: 0, S: -2

  • Color: -4

  • Sharpness: 0

  • Noise Reduction: 0

  • Clarity: 0

2. Velvia - As primarily a landscape photographer, Velvia calls to me. The rich color saturation is toned down a bit in this one so as to not come across too cartoonish.

  • Film Simulation: Velvia/Vivid

  • Grain: Strong Large

  • Color Chrome Effect: Weak

  • Color Chrome FX Blue: Off

  • White Balance: Auto R: 1, B: -1

  • Dynamic Range Priority: Auto

  • Color: -3

  • Sharpness: -3

  • Noise Reduction: -4

  • Clarity: 0

3. Tri-X Pushed - I love a good black and white image, but specifically one with a strong contrast

  • Film Simulation: Acros + R

  • Monochromatic Color: WC: 0, MG: 0

  • Grain: Off

  • Color Chrome Effect: Off

  • Color Chrome FX Blue: Off

  • White Balance: Auto R: 0, B: 0

  • Dynamic Range: DR200

  • Tone Curve: H: +3, S: +4

  • Color: NA

  • Sharpness: -1

  • Noise Reduction: -4

  • Clarity: 0

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