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Love Fujifilm recipes? Not so fast!

The Fujifilm film simulation recipe community is huge and a big selling point for Fujifilm cameras, but this is how you are loosing out with JPGs.

Øyvind Nordhagen
6 min readApr 15, 2024
“Sun returning”. Raw edit.

I often get questions on Instagram about which recipe I’ve shot my images with. Probably because I have 15 of them published here on Medium, which is ironic since I actually never really committed to shooting recipes only. In this post I’m going to cover why you might want to think again before switching off RAW or wasting countless hours trying to nail a specific look with in-camera settings. I will prove to you much of what you are looking to achieve cannot be done with recipes. At the same time this post is a plea to Fujifilm to really lean in to this community which is a big part of its current success.

Take a look at the image above. It’s a classic example of a dreamy lo-fi retro, cinematic, moody image. A style that many using JPG recipes are looking to create. You might even have switched to analog film for this type of imagery. I’m sorry to disappoint you but that image is a raw edit. Below is my best attempt at recreating it using only in-camera picture controls on my X-E4.

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Øyvind Nordhagen
Øyvind Nordhagen

Written by Øyvind Nordhagen

Photographer based in Oslo. I write about photographic technique and editing.

Responses (8)

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You've hit the nail right on the head, Øyvind. I've been shooting Fujifilm almost exclusively since 2014 (although I did have an 18-month fling with a Leica Q2) and have come to the same conclusions as you.
Yes, striving for in-camera perfection is…

Last year I decided to upgrade my camera setup in the hopes of reinvigorating my admittedly amateur interest in photography. I figured I’d get another Canon or maybe even a Nikon.

However, my search led me down a Fujifilm rabbit hole. Besides the…

This was great. Information needed in profusion. Thanks for posting.
I bought a Fuji XT1 plus a whole load of discounted lenses. when it first came out in 2014. I didn't get on with it and consigned it to a carrier bag in the back of my wardrobe…