Every Fujifilm recipe setting explained in plain words
Fujifilm recipe settings each do one specific thing: DR protects highlights, Highlight and Shadow tone set contrast, Color Chrome deepens greens and warm colours, FX Blue deepens blues, and grain, sharpness and clarity set texture.
By Abu Ashraf Masnun ·
Fuji recipes are lists of settings, and most guides tell you what to set without telling you what each setting does. So I tested them one by one on an X100VI and wrote up each finding as a short post, in plain words. Some of it surprised me.
These findings come from the X100VI and X-E5, plus an X-T30 III for Dynamic Range. Newer Fuji bodies with the same processor most likely behave the same, but I only claim what I tested.
The short version
- DR200 and DR400 only touch your highlights, and DR is the one setting you cannot add to a RAW later.
- Color Chrome changes greens the most. FX Blue changes only blues.
- Grain is the same on every film except Acros, and Large grain is softer, not heavier.
- White balance shift steps get bigger as you go. R+6 is three times R+3.
- Sharpness 0 already sharpens a lot, which is why film recipes turn it down.
All the articles
- Fujifilm DR200 and DR400 explained: it only touches your highlights
- Why you can't add DR400 to a Fujifilm RAW later
- Which Fujifilm recipe settings carry into RAW?
Questions people ask
Which Fujifilm recipe setting matters most when shooting RAW?
Dynamic Range, because it is the only one you cannot change afterwards.
Do these findings apply to every Fujifilm camera?
They were tested on the X100VI and X-E5, plus an X-T30 III for Dynamic Range. Other bodies with the same processor most likely behave the same.
Why I am testing all this
I'm doing this research while building two apps for Fuji shooters. RAF Film Lab edits Fuji RAW files on Mac, iPad and iPhone, in all 20 film simulations. Chobial is an iPhone film camera that always shoots RAW, so you can develop any photo again with any film. Everything I learn about how the camera renders goes into both. They're in beta now, and if you'd like to try them, join the RAF Film Lab beta or the Chobial beta.