Film Simulations — the base profiles

The Film Simulation is the master colour/contrast profile. Every other setting is a modifier layered on top of it, so the base you pick determines the fundamental character of the grade. Fujifilm's own one-line descriptions (from the X-T5 manual, p.122–123) are given first, then the practical grading character.

Deep dives: the per-simulation spectral behaviour, the 2003–2020 history of the simulations, and why they can't be recreated in Photoshop live in color-science-why-film-cannot-be-faked.md; the underlying film chemistry is in film-chemistry-fundamentals.md; Fujifilm's own engineers' design statements (ACROS grain engine, Classic Neg's cyan-shadow/magenta-highlight signature) are in fujifilm-official-design-notes.md.

The colour bases

PROVIA / STANDARD

• Manual: "Ideal for a wide range of subjects."
• Character: The neutral reference. Medium contrast, medium saturation, accurate-but-pleasing colour. Everything else is best understood as a departure from Provia.

Velvia / VIVID

• Manual: "Vibrant reproduction, ideal for landscape and nature."
• Character: High saturation + high contrast slide-film look (named after Fuji's Velvia transparency film). Punchy blues and greens, deep shadows. Can overwhelm skin tones. In recipes it's used for bold, saturated grades, often tamed with negative Color.

ASTIA / SOFT

• Manual: "Softer color and contrast for a more subdued look."
• Character: Gentle contrast, restrained saturation, especially flattering, soft skin tones. A good base for calm, muted, or pastel grades.

CLASSIC CHROME

• Manual: "Soft color and enhanced shadow contrast for a calm look."
• Character: The workhorse of the recipe world. Muted, slightly desaturated colour with a distinctive shadow contrast bump and a documentary/editorial (Kodachrome-ish) feel. Skews colours subtly. Reds go brick, blues go muted. This is the base for the majority of Kodak-branded colour recipes (Kodachrome, Portra, Gold). See how many recipes lean on it.

PRO Neg. Hi

• Manual: "Ideal for portrait with slightly enhanced contrast."
• Character: A colour-negative portrait profile with a touch more contrast/pop than Pro Neg Std. Studio/portrait oriented.

PRO Neg. Std

• Manual: "Ideal for portrait with soft gradations and skin tones."
• Character: The flattest, most forgiving portrait profile. Very smooth tonal gradations, natural skin. A base for neutral, low-contrast looks.

CLASSIC Neg.

• Manual: "Enhanced color with hard tonality to increase image depth."
• Character: Modelled on Fujicolor Superia consumer negative film. Punchy but "crunchy". Hard tonality, colour separation that shifts hues (notably cyan-leaning blues/greens and amber reds). Loved for a nostalgic snapshot look. Base for Pacific Blues, Reala Ace, Fujicolor recipes.

NOSTALGIC Neg.

• Manual: "Amber tinted highlights and rich shadow tone for printed photo look."
• Character: Warm amber highlights + deep, rich shadows, the look of an old printed photo / 1970s American New-Color aesthetic. Base for California Summer, 1976 Kodak, etc.

ETERNA / CINEMA

• Manual: "Soft color and rich shadow tone suitable for film look movie."
• Character: Low-contrast, low-saturation cine profile with lifted, rich shadows. Muted and moody. Base for cinematic and CineStill-style recipes.

ETERNA BLEACH BYPASS

• Manual: "Unique color with low saturation and high contrast. Suitable for still and movie."
• Character: Simulates the bleach-bypass film process, very desaturated but high contrast, silvery and gritty. Dramatic, editorial.

The monochrome bases

ACROS

• Manual: "Shoot in Black and White in rich details with sharpness." Available as ACROS, ACROS+Ye, ACROS+R, ACROS+G.
• Character: The premium B&W profile. Richer tonality, finer perceived grain structure, and better detail than plain Monochrome. The colour-filter suffix mimics shooting B&W film through a coloured filter:
• +Ye (Yellow): slightly more contrast, darkens skies a little. The classic all-rounder.
• +R (Red): strong contrast, dramatically darkened skies, lightened reds.
• +G (Green): flatters skin tones in portraits.

MONOCHROME

• Manual: same filter options as Acros (+Ye/+R/+G) but without Acros's advanced grain/tonality processing. A cleaner, flatter B&W.

SEPIA

• Manual: "Shoots in sepia tone." Fixed warm monochrome.

Both Acros and Monochrome can take a Monochromatic Color tint (warm/cool + green/magenta), see color-and-chrome.md.

Which base → which family of looks

Base	Typical grade family
Classic Chrome	Kodak slide/negative emulations (Kodachrome, Portra, Gold), muted editorial
Classic Neg.	Fujicolor/Superia, punchy nostalgic snapshots (Pacific Blues, Reala Ace)
Nostalgic Neg.	Warm vintage / 70s printed-photo looks
Eterna	Cinematic, moody, CineStill-style
Velvia	Bold saturated landscapes
Astia / Pro Neg Std	Soft portraits, pastel/muted grades
Acros	All serious black & white

Note on Reala Ace: The X-T5 (X-Trans V) has an actual film simulation called Reala Ace in some recipes. Where a recipe predates that film sim's arrival on X-series, "Reala Ace" is instead approximated on a Classic Negative base, the recipe file will state which base it uses.

Last updated: 2026-07-21