My 2021 Fujifilm JPEG Settings

Well, here we are again. It’s been almost three years since I posted my original Fujifilm JPEG settings and I never expected the blog post to be as popular as it was. I’m very grateful to everyone who reads my blog and hopefully it helps you in someway in terms of your photography. Since the blog post was written, interest in Fujifilm generally and specifically the settings that create such beautiful JPEG images has massively increased. Fuji X Weekly has definitely helped with that with his absolutely incredible film simulations which you should definitely check out if you haven’t already.

Over the last three years, there hasn’t been necessarily as much travelling (I hate you 2020), but I’ve still been using my cameras almost daily. I’ve still got the same style of photography though I’ve really enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone and trying to create decent photos much closer to home.

The Fujifilm JPEG settings in my previous blog post were my favourite back in 2018 and things have certainly moved on since then. However, there are two of my settings that have stayed exactly the same; my Chrome Urban and Astia Travel. The only difference however is that I practically use Classic Chrome for everything and that now proudly has the number one spot in my custom settings. You’ll have to remember too, for all the current readers and for new Fujifilm users, I use two X-T2s so a lot of custom recipes and additional settings are immediately ruled out for me. I keep things basic though I’d love to try out the X-Pro 3 and the X100V!

Whilst the below settings are on my cameras right now, this is by no means my final and complete setup. I love changing and dialling in new recipes depending on my mood. However, I think I might have cracked the perfect seven settings to cover as wide a range as possible. Even better, with my favourite two settings at position 1 and 7, it means I can switch from Classic Chrome to Acros in 3 button presses and back again in just 2. My original post contains information on how I’ve set up my cameras but essentially, using the D-Pad, I press Right then Up and shutter half down to get from Classic Chrome to Acros and then, again using the D-Pad, I press right and shutter half down to get back to Classic Chrome. I love using this on the go to quickly flick between colour and black and white.

Before we dive into the settings below, one final thing. I have added standard import settings on Lightroom for my JPEGs. It’s simply +10 Contrast, +15 Clarity, a slight S-Curve and a -5 Vignette. So whilst my images are not technically ‘Straight out of camera’ they are pretty damn close.

Chrome Urban

This setting has grown without doubt into my favourite, every day, go-to simulation. Most, if not all, of my recent images are shot in Classic Chrome using this recipe. I’m not sure that ‘Chrome Urban’ is the right name for the setting anymore as I use it for pretty much everything especially travelling. This is probably more of a strange quirk I have but I love what it does to blue skies and yellow clothes… You can read more about using it for travel photography here.

• Dynamic Range (DR) Auto

• Film Simulation (FS) Classic Chrome

• Grain Off

• White Balance (WB) Auto +1 Red

• Highlight 0

• Shadow +2

• Colour +3

• Sharpness +2

• Noise Reduction (NR) -4

Astia Travel

As with my Classic Chrome settings above, I’m not really sure this recipe should be called Astia Travel anymore but I haven’t changed it on my cameras. I don’t really use this that much at all anymore unfortunately even though I’m still more than happy with the results I get. I think Classic Chrome has just taken over and produces really unique images. I do however use Astia for all weddings that I do (granted not that many). It’s really well suited for that I find. You can find more sample images here from over the last couple of years. Looking back at those, maybe Astia will make a return to the #1 spot in the future. The colours are still really impressive and writing this post is actually making me miss shooting regularly with it.

• DR Auto

• FS Astia

• Grain Off

• WB Auto +1 Red

• Highlight -1

• Shadow +2

• Colour +2

• Sharpness+2

• NR -4

Pro 400H

With the recent discontinuation of this film by Fujifilm, it sparked my interest to seeing if Ritchie had posted a recipe on Fuji X Weekly to emulate this. Ritchie had of course (it’s here) and, whilst I haven’t fully tested this recipe out yet, I love what I’m seeing and so this is definitely going to be a keeper. All I’ve changed is turning grain off and noise reduction down to -4 (as I do with all recipes using the X-T2).

• DR 200

• FS Pro Neg Std

• Grain Off

• WB Daylight +2 Red +1 Blue

• Highlight 0

• Shadow +3

• Colour +4

• Sharpness 0

• NR -4

Kodachrome II

I fell in love with this recipe on a recent holiday to Crete. It’s absolutely perfect for hot summer days. You can check out exactly what the Mediterranean island of Crete looked through Kodachrome II eyes here.

• DR 200

• FS Classic Chrome

• Grain Off

• Auto +3 Red & -4 Blue (You could use Daylight to save this WB shift but I’ve used that already for the Pro 400 H recipe)

• Highlight +1

• Shadow +2

• Colour -1

• Sharpness +1

• NR -4

Forest

As I explained in a previous post, this is a bit of different recipe for me almost exclusively for use out in nature due to the overly green look. I’ve only used it sparingly when exploring Hamsterley Forest last year but I really like the unique look it creates. In addition to the standard import settings I add to every JPEG, I usually clip the blacks (is that the right term?) to add a faded look. My main post on this film simulation is here.

• DR 200

• FS Pro Neg Hi

• Grain Off

• WB Auto -3 Red -6 Blue

• Highlight -2

• Shadow 0

• Colour -4

• Sharpness -2

• NR -4

Cinestill 800T

This is one that I’m still yet to try out properly properly. This is THE film simulation to use for night photography. I’ve taken a few shots here and there (on trips to McDonald’s drive-thru for example) but I can’t wait to explore new cities at night with this dialled in. Hopefully I can emulate my inner Jonas Rask who’s urban night photography is second to none! This is Fuji X Weekly’s recipe with a slight change to the temperature of the white balance.

• DR 200

• FS Pro Neg Std

• Grain Off

• WB Colour Temp 2650K

• Highlight +3

• Shadow +1

• Colour -1

• Sharpness +2

• NR -4

Acros Punch

Those eagle eyed readers will notice that, in my last post, I used two different black and white recipes; one with Acros Red and one with Acros Green. However, once I dialed this recipe in, there was no other black and white recipe that did it for me. The contrast is just perfect. I’ve used this for my travels and for wedding photography too (black and white JPEGs, RAW for colour). If you want to check out more images check out my posts ‘Fujifilm’s Acros Simulation In The Real World’ and ‘The Monochrome Cities: Melbourne’

• DR 200

• FS Acros Yellow

• Grain Off

• WB Auto +1 Red

• Highlight +3

• Shadows +4

• Sharpness +2

• NR -4

My Fujifilm Wishlist

After a good few years now of relying almost exclusively on Fufjilm’s JPEG settings, there are just a few things I would add/change if I was able to influence decisions at the top:

1. Allow users to save WB shift for each recipe (I think you can do this in newer cameras!)

2. Enable easy re-ordering of custom settings – if you fancy moving a recipe from slot 4 to slot 1 for example you should be able to just grab and move it right up there. At the moment, you have to start completely from scratch taking a photo of the two recipes you want to swap so that you remember what to input.

3. The X-T2, and I’m sure all newer cameras, have an option for film simulation bracketing. A great idea. I just wish Fujifilm went one step further allowing custom setting bracketing. I always have RAW as a backup in case later down the line I want to see a particular image in a different light eg converting to black and white using Acros. Imagine if, using custom setting bracketing, you could get three identical images in Chrome Urban, Pro 400 H and Acros Punch. Now that would be cool.

I hope that this update to my Fujifilm JPEG settings helps you and if you have any questions at all, just drop me a comment below. Hope everyone’s staying safe and fingers crossed for a return to normality soon!

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