Tag: Film Recipe

Black & White July

I have decided that this July I would shoot black & white. I consider myself a colour shooter, so I don’t black & white often. The goal is trying something different, challenge myself. With the Fujifilm, switching to black & white change also in the viewfinder so what you see is what you get, mostly. I have either shot black & white on film, or sometime “fixed” digital images that were not shot especially in black & white, but that just got converted post processing. This picture of the CN Tower that was taken on such a gray day in December 2010 that it was colour-less even in the optical viewfinder:

A black & white image. A structure pointing up towards the top left. A donut shape interrupt the flow of the structure and the tip is partially blurred by the fog. It is the CN Tower.
The CN Tower on a cloudy overcast day of winter 2010.
Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105 f4 L IS USM — December 2010
Black & white post-processed.

So what makes shooting black & white different? First it’s about light, contrast and shapes. You can play with exposure to make the brights brighter. This will make me try something different.

On the Fujifilm X-E5 I shoot raw+JPEG with some Agfa Scala recipe, at least for now, I might change to something else. The goal is to try to use the files straight out of camera. With the Canon 5D Mark II, I’ll just post process as it doesn’t have the variety of Fujifilm film simulation. And with the Ricoh GR Digital 2, I can switch to black & white as it always have a JPEG when shooting raw.

Stay tuned.

February 2026 links

Film

Keeping up with the Kodak(ians) — What has been happening with Kodak, a tl;dr.

Film recipes

Realaty Film Simulation Recipe — Another film recipe based on Reala Ace.

Canon

Everything You’ll Ever Need to Know About Canon Lens Mounts and Compatibility — Notable omission in the article is the older FL mount.

DIY

BeerPAN 35mm SLR Makes Panoramic Film Photography Accessible — A prototype of a Panoramic film SLR camera. Interesting beast.

This 3D-Printed Camera Can Make You Fall in Love With Panoramic Analog Photography — Another 3D printable panoramic film camera.

This 6×17 Camera Could Revolutionize Panoramic Film Photography — Same camera as above.

Fujifilm GFX 100RF Fragment Edition

Fujifilm still has supply issues where the X-E5 is still hard to find (still waiting on my notification from the retailer).

But now they announce a special edition of the GFX 100RF… a special collaboration with Japanese musician and fashion designer Hiroshi Fujiwara

Beside a few more specially designed accessories and finishes, like a leather strap, the camera is the same as the GFX 100RF, albeit with a higher price tag. On this special edition camera the Monochrome film recipe (and its filtered variants) is being replaced by the FRGMT BW recipe.

From Fujifilm, here is the official FRGMT BW FS Recipe:

– Film Simulation: ACROS
– Grain effect: Strong, large
– Tone Curve (Highlight): +4
– Tone Curve (Shadow): +2
– Sharpness:-4
– High sensitivity noise reduction:-4
– Clarity: +5
– Exposure compensation: +1/3

To get one you’ll need to reserve it starting 20th Dec 2025 at 11:00 (likely Tokyo time), and a lottery will attribute the very limited number and the price of ￥998,000 (including taxes). The regular version is sold for ￥822,200 at Yodobashi, making this about CA$1500 more.