Fuji Fun with Film Simulation 'Recipes'

I really enjoy the cooler colour palette of pretty much any film recipe or simulation that attempts to replicate Fujifilm, over the ine inevitably much warmer attempted Kodak replications.

I didn't shoot a lot of Kodak film, just a few rolls of Kodak Gold inbetween a truckload of Superia, which was just more prevalent here. But I can't remember the difference being so obvious. Was the difference really as big as the film replications make it look?
 
I really enjoy the cooler colour palette of pretty much any film recipe or simulation that attempts to replicate Fujifilm, over the ine inevitably much warmer attempted Kodak replications.

I didn't shoot a lot of Kodak film, just a few rolls of Kodak Gold inbetween a truckload of Superia, which was just more prevalent here. But I can't remember the difference being so obvious. Was the difference really as big as the film replications make it look?

I think actually in some ways the differences between films were very obvious - as much and even more so than the modern crop of simulations. Although, that said, there were, are and have been a wide, wide variety of different looks and tonalities among films. The palettes of a number of Kodachromes were rather different, one from another - and all differed from Ektachrome as well. Recently I've been looking at some photographers who worked extensively with different Kodacolor emulsions, which to my non-professional eye look much cooler than the more traditional or stereotypical Kodak reddish tones. Plus there were (and still are, though not used as much by film photographers) a number of motion picture film emulsions that were occasionally marketed for still photographers - with even more marked differences between them. (Though that was partially due obviously, for example, to some being balanced for different light temperatures than the daylight films.

And then you look at the Fuji analog films and I think (correct me if I'm wrong please) that many (most?) of the Superias tended to have much cooler (greener or bluer or both) balances than, say, Velvia, which occasionally looks like Kodachrome to me.

Short answer: I think the differences have always been rather significant.
But, you may have a point - in that certain simulations, whether in-camera jpegs, or post-processing looks or presets - do tend to exaggerate some differences. Or, at least, some of them do.
 
I think actually in some ways the differences between films were very obvious - as much and even more so than the modern crop of simulations. Although, that said, there were, are and have been a wide, wide variety of different looks and tonalities among films. The palettes of a number of Kodachromes were rather different, one from another - and all differed from Ektachrome as well. Recently I've been looking at some photographers who worked extensively with different Kodacolor emulsions, which to my non-professional eye look much cooler than the more traditional or stereotypical Kodak reddish tones. Plus there were (and still are, though not used as much by film photographers) a number of motion picture film emulsions that were occasionally marketed for still photographers - with even more marked differences between them. (Though that was partially due obviously, for example, to some being balanced for different light temperatures than the daylight films.

And then you look at the Fuji analog films and I think (correct me if I'm wrong please) that many (most?) of the Superias tended to have much cooler (greener or bluer or both) balances than, say, Velvia, which occasionally looks like Kodachrome to me.

Short answer: I think the differences have always been rather significant.
But, you may have a point - in that certain simulations, whether in-camera jpegs, or post-processing looks or presets - do tend to exaggerate some differences. Or, at least, some of them do.
I always found Kodachrome presets to be a bit warm, nothing a slight nudge of the temperature slider can’t fix in PP.
 
I had the X-T3 for a while and tried out the recipes. It was fun, but that WB issue did come up at times. I found a possible way to bring it back to default by jumping over to one of Fujis default sims, and then pick the next custom one. Otherwise, yeah, you’d get the wrong WB sometimes. Considering this is a major feature to having a Fuji, I’m honestly surprised they goofed this up.
 
Today I went out for a short stroll around the block. Autumn has long arrived here and days are mostly wet. So taking my Fujifilm kit was the logical choice. I always have a bunch of Film Recipes loaded and especially today I was rather pleased with the outcome of the sooc images. Those were only cropped and exported with Affinity Photo, no further editing done.

A lonely red leaf resting in the soft grass. Superia Xtra 400
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DSCF0473_AP by Kaltpfote, auf Flickr

A kilometer post sign of an abandoned railroad line was neatly framed by nature, the nice colored foliage would've been more pleasing with some evening sun - but that was blocked behind a thick layer of clouds. Superia Xtra 400
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DSCF0505_AP by Kaltpfote, auf Flickr

The already mentioned railroad line, no need to worry, it is closed and abandoned. Only on very rare occasions some construction equipment is being stored on these tracks. Classic Negative, my own "Standard" settings.
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With autumn comes the mushroom season, here is a small example below a tree. Superia Xtra 400
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DSCF0519_AP by Kaltpfote, auf Flickr

I quite like the Superia Xtra 400 recipe, it is a fairly good allrounder in many conditions. Of course one has to like the Classic Negative film simulation the recipe is based on.
 
Two more shots with the Stephen Shore-inspired Kodacolor recipe from Ritchie Roesch's FujiXWeekly website.
The first, an exterior shot on my rural street--

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The second, from inside my local Café (where Halloween-inspired redecoration is ongoing)--

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Today I went out for a short stroll around the block. Autumn has long arrived here and days are mostly wet. So taking my Fujifilm kit was the logical choice. I always have a bunch of Film Recipes loaded and especially today I was rather pleased with the outcome of the sooc images. Those were only cropped and exported with Affinity Photo, no further editing done.

A lonely red leaf resting in the soft grass. Superia Xtra 400
View attachment 340061DSCF0473_AP by Kaltpfote, auf Flickr

A kilometer post sign of an abandoned railroad line was neatly framed by nature, the nice colored foliage would've been more pleasing with some evening sun - but that was blocked behind a thick layer of clouds. Superia Xtra 400
View attachment 340062DSCF0505_AP by Kaltpfote, auf Flickr

The already mentioned railroad line, no need to worry, it is closed and abandoned. Only on very rare occasions some construction equipment is being stored on these tracks. Classic Negative, my own "Standard" settings.
View attachment 340063DSCF0512_AP by Kaltpfote, auf Flickr

With autumn comes the mushroom season, here is a small example below a tree. Superia Xtra 400
View attachment 340064DSCF0519_AP by Kaltpfote, auf Flickr

I quite like the Superia Xtra 400 recipe, it is a fairly good allrounder in many conditions. Of course one has to like the Classic Negative film simulation the recipe is based on.

These are really, really nice, Phil.
And I totally agree with you on the Superia Xtra 400 recipe. It is both pleasing and versatile.
 
I've been playing around with film sims again and making the odd tweak here and there as I start to understand how to use them. What I think at the moment is that setting the Dynamic Range to either 200 or 400 changes the highlights and shadows from shot to shot and makes it difficult to fix on a setting. So... this morning's experiment is where it all came together and the following three shots all have all have DR set to 100 and - via a Lightroom preset - some texture added, a slight lift to the blacks on the level curve and a slight vignette.... and then hit the AUTO button. I didn't touch any slider after that.

These are Ritchie Roesch's recipies with some slight variations to highlights, shadows and colour, all at DR100... Morning sun with some deep shadows...

Kodachrome II:
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Vintage Kodachrome:
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Kodak Ektar 100:
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...and here's the RAW file with the same processing as above:
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Part 2 of playing with recipes.

I went back to using the DR values Ritchie Roesch suggests and then used the EV dial more and I think the results are better. There was a brief break in the rain today so I went out into the fields by my house with his Kodak Ektar 100 recipe. It was very flat light and all I've done is lift the blacks and lower the whites a tad using the curve, add Texture, a Vignette and Frame. The first pic of Tufnell is SooC, the others have only highlights and shadows adjustments... nothing else. I'm not too keen on the blue of the sky colours - though the sky was unusually aqua in reality today. They're not good photos in themselves (tho' Tuffers is looking particularly handsome :) ), but it's more about the recipe really...

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Part 2 (cont...)

This is Ritchie Roesch's Vintage Kodachrome recipe with the same curves, texture and vignette as above, but I decided to leave the sky "as is" and didn't move the highlights slider. The only slider I adjusted was the shadows, everything else was SooC...

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Part 2 (cont... a bit more...)

This is Ritchie Roesch's Fujicolour Superior 800 recipe with the same curves, texture and vignette as above, and again I left the sky "as is" and didn't move the highlights slider. The only sliders I adjusted were the shadows, and also the blacks to try and get more contrast, everything else was SooC...

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Part 2 (cont...)

This is Ritchie Roesch's Vintage Kodachrome recipe with the same curves, texture and vignette as above, but I decided to leave the sky "as is" and didn't move the highlights slider. The only slider I adjusted was the shadows, everything else was SooC...

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I actually like all three of these "recipes", Colin - but this one, the "Vintage Kodachrome", is probably my favorite.
 
Part 3... sunshine!

Pictures imported with the same curves, texture and vignette as before, and again I left the sky "as is" and didn't move the highlights slider. The only sliders I adjusted were the shadows and the blacks, everything else was SooC...

Kodak Kodachrome II

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