Film Recipes for Fujifilm Cameras

Nostalgic, soft tone and vintage film recipes using Fujifilm film simulations

America Sharpie, Crisp New American Color

I’ve been revisiting previous film recipes and creations that I’ve not yet published. This time, I was comparing this crisp new take on my Waldorf Astia film recipe, inspired by the tremendous New American Color film recipe by Øyvind Nordhagen.

I’ve always loved the playful bright colours of the Astia film simulation, and enjoy using it when there are clear blue skies or other bright colours, like the rich greens of summer or first signs of autumn. In this recipe, I wanted to capture this with some additional sharpness to make images that felt characterful, rich and lively, but without looking too false, or too similar to HDR phone photography.

Several elements come together in this recipe to produce the look. Firstly the sharpness which comes from the clarity setting at +2. This does cause a processing delay after shooting, so if this is annoying to you, swap to sharpness +2 instead. Secondly, is the color balance and shifts, which mimic the tones of the New American color samples, but with Astia being so vibrant, a -2 color setting. This keeps things rich without being too bold, but again, if personal preference is for more ‘pop’, set color to 0 or even +2 for real zing!

Adapting film recipes to your preference is very much in my thoughts when I publish them. All of them are ideas that I hope will inspire your creativity. Use them as published, or fiddle and adapt as you see fit. The important thing is to have fun and take lots of photos 🙂

Characterful color and crisp clarity, using the American Sharpie film recipe

American Sharpie Film Recipe

Simulation: Astia/Soft
Grain Effect: Weak, Small
Colour Chrome Effect: Weak
Colour Chrome Blue: Weak (IV) / Off (V)
White Balance: 7500K
WB Shift: -5 Red, +7 Blue
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlights: -0.5
Shadows: -1.5
Color: -2
Sharpness: 0
ISO Noise Reduction: -4
Clarity: +2
EV compensation: 0

Late summer greens and browns, with the American Sharpie film recipe

Hking in Austria with the American Sharpie film recipe

Scenes from a Tirolean meadow, captured with the American Sharpie film recipe

A discovered oyster, late on a Winter afternoon with American Sharpie film recipe

A winter sunset over the ocean, using American Sharpie film recipe

Playing with hazy light and the American Sharpie film recipe

Winter heather retains the bell like flowers, but has lost its purple color. American Sharpie film recipe

Spring greens, captured with the American Sharpie film recipe

The forest is coming back to life, American Sharpie film recipe

Captuing the morning sun through the mist. American Sharpie film recipe

Places look so different in the mist and fog. American Sharpie film recipe

The same area on a sunny Summer morning, American Sharpie film recipe

And lastly, a visit close to harvest time, American Sharpie film recipe

Film Recipes for a Colourful Look

Here are a few other film recipes that work well in colourful scenes, or when you want to show the rich colours of nature without too much muting or colour shifting.