How to save a film simulation recipe on a Fujifilm camera

Saving a recipe, step by step

1. Press MENU and open the shooting menu (the camera icon).
2. Go to Image Quality Setting.
3. Scroll to Edit/Save Custom Setting.
4. Choose a slot, C1 to C7.
5. Work down the list: film simulation, grain, colour chrome, white balance and shift, dynamic range, highlight, shadow, colour, sharpness, noise reduction, clarity.
6. Press OK and confirm SAVE.

The step people miss is the last one. Changing the values without pressing SAVE applies them to the current shot and loses them when you switch slots.

The white balance trap

White balance shift is saved with the recipe, but only if you set it inside the custom setting editor. Changing the shift from the Q menu afterwards applies it globally and quietly overrides what you saved.

If a recipe stops looking right for no obvious reason, this is almost always why. Go back into the custom slot and check the shift values.

Switching between them

Press Q and the top-left tile shows the active custom setting. Turn the front dial to move between C1 and C7 without leaving the shooting screen.

On the X-T50, X-T30 III and X-E5 the film simulation dial does part of this job: the FS1, FS2 and FS3 positions map to custom recipes directly.

Which seven to keep

Seven slots is more than most people need, and filling them with variations of the same look wastes them. A set that covers a year of shooting looks something like this:

• C1 — an everyday colour recipe you trust in any light
• C2 — a punchy one for scenes with real colour
• C3 — a cool, contrasty one for grey weather
• C4 — a portrait recipe with warm skin
• C5 — black and white, high contrast
• C6 — black and white, soft
• C7 — a night recipe with heavy grain

The test is whether you can name a situation for each. If two slots would be used in the same situation, one of them is wasted.