

As you all know, I love the colours that come straight out of Fujifilm cameras; it’s why I shoot JPEG. Every couple of months, I’ll mix up my fifth custom setting slot and try something a little different. This time I was intrigued by Ritchie Roesch’s Kodachrome II settings and dialled them into my X-T2.
The Kodachrome II ‘look’ was one that I thought would match the summer vibes of a week’s break in Crete. Clean, colourful and slightly vintage; my kind of style. Steve McCurry, a brilliant photographer most famous for the iconic ‘Afghan Girl’ portrait, used Kodachrome extensively. He shot the last roll of Kodachrome ever. He described Kodachrome as having ‘more poetry in it, a softness, an elegance.’
Now I cannot say that my photos below do this film any justice but I loved Ritchie’s settings and will be using these on more occasions. It feels perfect for those warm, sunny days exploring new locations. Sometimes all it takes is some new colours to help you see photography a little differently.
I love the Greek Islands and we planned a quick week break to Crete purely to check out a wedding venue. It also helped that Emma’s family had a villa we could chill out in and that really made the holiday! Since returning from travelling full-time, we aren’t able to sit and sunbathe all day every day. It meant that we had a good excuse to explore all the little streets in the Old Towns of both Chania and Rethymnon. The Venetian Harbour of Chania is enough to make anyone book a trip to Crete immediately. I’ve visited before with my old camera and came away with some gems if you’re looking for some #travelinspiration.
I use the settings as set out by Ritchie but with no grain and -4 noise reduction. No real reason just my personal preference. I also use the Daylight white balance setting with +3 Red and -4 Blue so that I can still use Auto +1 Red on my other settings. I always seem to forget to switch the colour shift back when flicking between settings. Unfortunately, with using Daylight I’ve had to warm up some of the golden hour photos with split toning – this is where Auto would have come in handy. Dear Fujifilm, can we please have proper custom white balance settings please?
The Kodachrome II settings I dialled in are:
Classic Chrome
Dynamic Range: DR 200
Highlight: +1
Shadow: +2
Colour: -1
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: 1
Grain: None
White Balance: Daylight (you can use Auto still), +3 Red & -4 Blue
Following this, I make small adjustments in Lightroom using an import preset: +10 contrast, +35 clarity, +5 vignette and a small S-Curve.
If you’re interested in seeing what other film simulations I use, check out my post here.
Let me know what you think of the Kodachrome II colours in the comments below!
ICONIC COLOURS // SUMMER INSPIRATION

















If you liked ‘A Week in Crete in Kodachrome II’ why not pin the image below?

Great images, I love this simulation too!
Thank you! It’s really good I’m definitely going to use it more!
Ah, you were in Chania. 🙂 Neat pictures. I love the one with the church and the basket and the one with the shadow of the chair at the swimming pool.
Yeah I love it there! The harbour is just incredible!! Thank you!
It’s a gorgeous recipe in the sun – slightly overexposed. A bit sketchy in the shade though. For portraits I apply a little split tone to itHighlight hue 30 saturation 5Shadow hue 40 saturation 8Gives amazing but subtle warmth
Thanks!Yeah I haven’t put many of the portraits up as they definitely need warming up! Absolutely love it though in the sun!
Amazing shots Jamie! So exciting that you’re looking at wedding venues – good luck with the planning. Melis
Thank you! Ha we’re getting there…eventually! There’s a lot of last minute deals which are looking good!
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! What lens do you shoot with primarily?
Ah wow! Thank you! I normally use a 23 f/2 but also 10-24 and 55-200!
I agree that this sim looks good on a sunny day. I’ve also tried using your jpeg preset but have to back off the clarity with portraits in lower light.
Thanks for the comment! I full agree, I think it’s all a bit of trial and error and it won’t work in every situation!
I have used Ritchie’s recipe and I agree with the other commenters. I think the Kodachrome II recipe work really well in well lit “sunny” scenes. I love the set of image you captured.
Thank you for the comment! I agree completely and rarely use it unless I’m in the perfect conditions!