Which Fuji Film Profiles & Recipes Do You Like Best? 

You are a smart guy. You turn a 25 minute video into a one hour view for me. I have to go back and forth and study. Portra 400 has been my favorite. I never liked the Kodachrome 64. But I loved Kodachrome 64 in your test. I will have to go back and check my camera and try again. Thanks.

After years of playing around with different recipes I could never find something that suited my style across a different range of lighting scenarios & situations. So now, instead of having several different recipes saved across my 7 custom slots I have one and then versions of the same one. Like back in the VSCO Film days, I have my standard recipe then different tweaks such as warm, cool, less contrast, more contrast, warm & less contrast (for those harsh sunny days). In my final C7 slot I have my B&W recipe. I've so far found this a great way to have the same feeling across my shots and I'm not always trying a recipe like Portra 400 or Kodachrome 64 and it not working for my situation. I've not seen anyone else doing this yet.

Hey Andrew, many thanks for this blind test video, loved it! It confirmed that Pacific Blues is one of my faves, this is the one I use the most. Ritchie's Classic Chrome and Vintage Kodachrome are my 2 new surprises and will definitely add them in my Xpro3. Would be great if you could do the blind test this time using B&W profiles and recipes. Thanks!

Great job! Very insightful

Bravo!!!!!! Great effort here, thank you for the time you put into this. Its obvious that certain recipes work better with certain colours in a scene. I like Astia in some photos and others I don't. This is why I have not yet locked only jpeg in the camera as I want the flexibility in Fuji X RAW Studio to apply different recipes.

Andrew I loved this blind test! I'm more new to being serious about photography (for everyday life) and this gave me a good idea of what I like and how I want my images to feel. My results ended up being Astia and Kodak Ektar 100 as the full-on favs. This might be a silly suggestion, but could a blind test be done for black and white photography? Would like to see the levels of variance in the formst if there's lots of different styles that can be used. Again, this was great - thanks!

I'm rocking the XT5 after a few year hiatus to Canon and Sony. I had the XT1/2 then XH1. I really always have been a fan of Classic Chrome, but lately I've really been enjoying Pro Neg High and Classic Negaitve. I've also been using the UltraMax recipe from FujiXWeekly lately. I shoot a decent amount of actual UltraMax film and it seems to come pretty close.

I was definitely NOT expecting to like the Astia sample in every single batch, especially considering I never shoot it 😲 Also, considering I shoot mostly Provia and I only kinda liked it in one of the said batches is mind blowing. Awesome! 6a - Astia 5g - Kodachrome 64 4n - Velvia 1h - Kodak Ektar 100 1m - Provia 1k - Pro Neg Hi 1j - Pacific Blues

My top ones were Pacific Blue, Provia, Kodachrome 64 and Portra 400 (which suprised me because i havent found a recipe i like yet despite its popularity), classic negative also scored good on my test, never tried it but will do. This was fun, thanks!

I've noticed the in-camera muddiness with dim or even just neutral exposures (or at least what the camera meters as neutral) with most profiles. The X-Pro 1 didn't have this problem, but everything since the X-T1 has. I don't know if it's different sensor/processor generations having their latitude and dynamic range optimised for shadows/highlights unevenly, or something to do with the noise reduction Fuji bakes in even at -4, or what else, but I often get weirdly blurry shadows in-camera. I always set my Fuji cameras to bias exposure one third of a stop brighter than other systems, so the in-camera files will have crisper shadows. This blind test did throw up some surprises, in that the profiles I've used most I didn't like, but with the big caveat that what I've used them most for has been formal portraits, so obviously a very different kind of context. I mostly use Pro Neg Std and Eterna (with the colour and contrast boosted) and in these examples I didn't pick Eterna at all, and PNS only once. My third-most used colour profile is Astia-though I use standard monochrome with a physical blue filter more!-and Astia is what I picked out most frequently here, five times. (Everything but the fourth group of photos.) After that I use Classic Chrome with colour increased, as long as there's nothing blue in the frame because I don't like how it shifts blue so much to green; in this case I didn't pick vanilla Classic Chrome a single time, but I picked the Portra 400 and Kodachrome 64 profiles three times each, and looking up those recipes I see they're CC with extra saturation, so that does line up with how I use it. The biggest surprise was I liked Velvia in three of the groups, which is bizarre because I have always, without exception, hated it whenever I've tried to use it myself. It never works for me, but here it does. I suppose I could give it another chance... at least when people aren't in the frame. All that said, I'm afraid using Canon's custom profile creator for the last year or so has spoiled me, because even on the ones I liked I found myself thinking "... but I'd shift the reds a few degrees this way", or whatever, which is something I can do in Canon and not in Fuji. Before I started digging into Canon's custom profiles I was happy to accept the Fuji profiles as they were, but now knowing how much further profiles can be tweaked in Canon, I'm finding it harder and harder to be satisfied with Fuji colours. Ignorance _was_ bliss. I still prefer Fuji's in-camera sharpening, noise reduction and contrast control algorithms, but I wish they'd let us edit the hues and toning of profiles, or create our own from scratch, the same way Canon does. As a result, I'm torn between the two brands; Fuji's better out of the box, but Canon's more customisable as long as I plan ahead. I wanted to be down to a single system by now, but... Last little thing, it's interesting you say you find the Classic Chrome colours a bit cool by default, because other than blue tones, CC measures slightly warmer than the majority of the profiles. Pure red, for example, is calibrated in CC to be replicated exactly as 0° (strangely making it the most neutral profile for reds!), whereas in Provia, Astia, Velvia, Eterna and both Pro Negs it is calibrated between 352-358°. (i.e. Slightly magenta, with more blue in it.) That said, I find Fuji runs the white balance a little too cool myself, and always push it warmer anyway, regardless of what profile I'm using.

The film simulations are the reason why I went with Fuji. I don't like to do a whole lot of editing, and prefer straight out of camera. I do use the FujiWeekly App. Even the free version is a great tool to have. Are you going to do a video with the black and white recipes? I use a number of vintage adapted lenses and I wanted that film quality look to go with them. I'm dragging around an old X-T2. Probably my favorite is the Tri-X 400, and the Ektar 100 and the Fuji Pro 400H. Great video. It's always interesting to see them compared side by side.

A good comparison. I have been playing around with Fuji X Weekly recipes on my X-T20 for a number of years and made a number of switches on what I felt were my favorites. However, about 6 months ago I hit on the Agfa Optima recipe and now say with some certainty that it is my favorite for outdoor use. However, like you, I find that many of the recipes don't do so well indoors or when outdoor light is poor. So, under those conditions, I revert to the Std (Provia) or Velvia profiles and I'm very happy with what they do for me. Oh, one other recipe that I use for B&W is Ilford HP5 as I tend to prefer it over the in-camera profiles (Monochrome or Acros)

Pacific blues was my favorite

I marked each letter that I liked and tallied them up at the end. Rating of 0 means I never liked it. Rating of 6 means I liked every example. Here are my results: Rating of 6: Classic Chrome, Classic Negative, Pro Neg Hi, Provia Rating of 5: None Rating of 4: Classic Chrome (Fuji X Weekly), Vintage Kodachrome Rating of 3: Astia, Kodachrome 64, Pro Neg STD Rating of 2: Pacific Blues Rating of 1: Eterna, Kodak Portra 400, Velvia Rating of 0: Bleach Bypass, Kodak Ektar 100 What a fun video!!!

Awesome video Andrew! Thanks for that! I wasn’t expecting so many photos😅. I took notes, and they confirmed for me what I already knew. I like warm saturated photos. I love Astia and Velvia, and Classic Chrome is my least favourite and I just found out that Classic Neg is also my least fave. Funny enough, 17 photos I liked, use Classic Chrome in their recipe, and in all the photos I liked Astia and Velvia….no surprise there. I really like the colour shifts and not true to life colours you can get from the simulations. I enjoy shooting jpgs only because I don’t spend the time editing anymore. When I look at my previous photos I used to edit, I think they have that standard Lightroom S curve look that got big on Instagram. I think the world owes Richie from FXW a huge shoutout and props for what he has done. He has helped digital photography for the better imo. That being said, if FXW hasn’t inspired you to create your own looks, I don’t know what you’re doing. Thanks Andrew and Richie.

Buy all my used gear from KEH and have never been disappointed. I just received my Like New X-T2 which I am looking forward to capturing some great landscapes and street photography.

First comment! Great job! I get tgr xt20 because of your videos , despite using canon FF since 2011

I only use Provia and Astia and Monochrome, but I've got an X-TRANS 1 sensor, so Velvia is my only other option. This is a fantastic video, thanks for sharing. Any chance we could get a B&W one of these? Might be more blind for you since you don't tend to shoot B&W. You know, a couple videos ago you ended with "I love you guys", and I just wanted to say, after months of watching, I love you too, man. Your videos are fantastic and I really appreciate all your hard work and dedication. I hope you and Danae have a great day.

Getting an X-T20 this weekend! Very excited to get my first "real" camera!

I had a different favorite for each photo and I think the reason is that not every film sim or recipe is suited for every (especially lighting) situation. Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” solution.

Hello Andrew, thanks for this amazing video. Only one question : Is there a way to import receipts in Lightroom ? Years ago, when you were importing raw images shit with profiles, you lost them. For several versions now you can apply Fuji’s profile in Lightroom on a raw file. But a raw photo, shot with a receipt lost it. I would love to shoot raw with those amazing receipts. It’s quite the same with Ricoh GR by the way.

ha ha!! I'm a straight down the middle Provia guy then!! I shoot stills in raw but leave the profile at Provia - guess I know why now 🙂 video wise, I always used to use Eterna, but I now refer Nostalgic Neg. thank you as always for your super hard work putting this together

Andrew I’m laughing out loud here 😂 Your blind tests almost always blow up my preconceived ideas and leave me thinking 😮 I do not like velvia, I never use velvia and yet I chose it in a couple of your settings as my favourite 🙈 I also loved Kodak Ektar 100, which I’ve never tried but I’m going to now. I think the photo setting matters massively in choosing a profile or recipe, so most are not a one size fits all solution. Amazing piece of work, Andrew, thank you! Now, I wonder if you’d consider doing this for black and white for those of us who mostly shoot mostly bw. I have three of Richie’s bw profiles set up on my Xpro3 and would love to see you compare all of Fuji’s plus some of his to see if your blind test pokes me in the eye yet again. Hope you are doing well and loving your new job. I’d love to see another video of you out in the field taking photos and talking to us, your thoughts about life and photography rattle around in my head for a long time when I’ve watched you. Take good care ❤🙏🏼

I have chosen M most of the time, so Provia. I‘m kinda surprised as I haven‘t touched Provia a lot till now cause I found it to be boring. I have used mainly Astia and Classic Chrome, but now I will look more into Provia. Very natural photos with great colors in my opinion. Thanks a lot for this finding :-) Please make a similar video with B&W film sims next, would be really interesting.

I enjoy trying out different recipes.

Very fun test! Thanks for taking the time to put this together. My top 5 came out as: 1. Astia 2. Classic Chrome 3. Pro Negative Standard 4. Classic Negative 5. Provia Would be awesome to have the newest Nostalgic Negative in the test too

Hi Andrew. Like most Fuji owners, I have tried many different film recipes and in fact all my 7 available slots are occupied by various recipes I have either developed myself or by others. However, it seems to me that if I want to change one or more slots back to the original stock simulations, I have to do a factory reset of all settings. I say this because if I use the X100V menus to select one of the original simulations, the settings for the previously selected custom simulation remain unchanged (grain, color, tone values, DR, etc). Can you tell me how I can revert back to the original simulations?

1. Kodachrome 64 2. Pacific blues (but will make it a tad cooler) 3. Classic chrome fuji x weekly

I took notes for each slide and kept track of what I colors I liked, with some slides having two I enjoyed. The losers: Eterna and Pro Neg Std were the only default sims I picked 0 times. Kodak Ektar 100 was the only recipe I picked 0 times. The winners: Tied for 1st place with 4 votes was Classic Chrome 4 and Portra 400 (I don't shoot these ever, perhaps I should) Tied for 2nd with 3 votes was Astia, Classic Chrome from FujiXweekly, Classic Neg, Kodachrome 64, Pro Neg Hi, and Provia I wish it was as easy as "I like this profile for every situation" but that doesn't seem to be backed by reality. Who needs a consistent (color) style anyway?

Thanks a lot for this great comparison. But I think the influence of the white balance is underrated because with auto wb the boring profiles like Pro Neg Std are too cool. I like my outdoor results with 5600k much more than auto wb. Beside that is auto wb a little bit random.

I think Capture ONE allows you to apply the simulations to RAW/RAF files. Not sure if that would work for F-Log video though…which probably would be kind of cool.

I have owned the X-T1, X-T2, X-T3 and X-T5. I have shot both Raw and jpeg, generally at the same time. My conclusion at this time has been that there is no good reason for me to shoot jpegs. Let me explain. I am an enthusiast photographer and the savings of time and the economics don't play a roll. With Fuji's in camera developing software I can always go back and produce a jpeg with any recipe. When I shoot both raw and jpeg the advantages of raw seem to produce a better outcome than the baked-in jpeg. Presets plus raw get me to the same place as the recipe with way better dynamic range. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the test and found it useful. Thank you.

Are there links somewhere to each of the recipes?

Apparently I really like the Vintage Kodachrome recipe. I ended up picking that one 4 times.

I could recognise those Velvia colours from space. With Astia being close second...

My overall favorites were probably Astia A, Velvia N for plain profiles. For recipes Ektar 100 H, Kodachrome 64 G, and Pacific Blues J, but they could be feast-or-famine, and sometimes felt really excessive. With the dog or the motel, J was just a bit much. I never disliked Portra 400 I, but it was seldom my favorite. Hated Bleach Bypass B and Eterna F in just about every one, and Classic Neg E often did poorly (but I liked it on 3 and 4). Eterna and Bleach Bypass seem like they need really specific situations to work. ProNeg Standard L usually didn’t work for me. When it came to Classic Chrome, I think overall I liked FXW’s D more than the stock C.

My favourite Fuji Color recipe is Olympus OM

This is too funny but I picked portrait 400 after using the Fuji x weekly profile for it nearly exclusively on my X100V for the last 2 years

Classic chrome still my top

I think this just confirmed what I already knew haha. #1 Kodachrome 64 #2 portra 400 #3 classic chrome fuji x version But it is always good to find out what I do and not not like

My XT-2 is still a way better camera than I am a photographer. Zero need to upgrade! All I need is more lenses😂

KODAK all the way baby! shadows are meant to be revealed.

I picked J a lot

Couldn't help but choose classic neg in the first pic but ive been using it constantly so my view is abit bias i think

You did your test with one capture. How did you create the different versions? Did you edit raw in the camera and create jpegs there, or did you do it on the computer?

A, J, M. G, N, I A: I liked Astia as my default so not surprised.

Love fresh eggs for sure.