X-Trans V · X-Trans IV
Grey City
For concrete, rain and days with no sun in them.
Short answer
This recipe pushes Classic Chrome further in the direction it already leans: colder, harder and more graphic. Fixed 5500K white balance with a blue shift, Shadow +2, Colour −1 and strong grain. It is built for overcast light and concrete.
Camera settings
| Film simulation | Classic Chrome |
|---|---|
| Dynamic Range | DR100 |
| Highlight | +1 |
| Shadow | +2 |
| Colour | -1 |
| Colour Chrome Effect | Strong |
| White Balance | 5500K |
| WB Shift | R -1 / B +2 |
| Sharpness | +1 |
| High ISO NR | -3 |
| Clarity | +2 |
| Grain Effect | Strong, Small |
| ISO | Auto up to 12800 |
| Exposure Compensation | -1/3 to -2/3 |
Grey weather defeats most recipes because there is nothing for them to work with. This one does not try to rescue the light. It commits to it, and turns a flat afternoon into something with a mood.
The idea
Flat light needs contrast added, not colour. Highlight +1 and Shadow +2 stretch the tonal range hard, which is what gives a dull scene structure. Colour −1 then removes the muddy half-tones that grey light produces.
The white balance is fixed at 5500K rather than auto. On a grey day, auto white balance chases the cast and gives you a different result from frame to frame. Locking it means a sequence of photos looks like a sequence.
Why strong grain
Grain has a job here beyond looks. Flat light plus high contrast settings produces smooth, plastic-looking midtones, and grain breaks them up. Strong, Small gives texture without turning the picture into a poster.
Push ISO up rather than down. This recipe looks better at 3200 than at 160, which is not something you can say about most of them.
Works on
Common questions
Is this too much for a sunny day?
Yes. In direct sun the contrast settings clip immediately. Use the Everyday Classic Chrome recipe instead and come back to this one when the weather turns.
Why lock white balance instead of using auto?
Consistency. Auto white balance reacts to whatever fills the frame, so a red bus in shot changes the colour of the whole scene. A fixed Kelvin value does not.
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Last updated August 25, 2026