Portra 400 pastels for my Fuji JPEGs? Experimenting with film emulations again.

The Context: Inspiration strikes at random times. For me, it was about 9pm on Saturday night (just passed) when I decided I was going to drive down to Phillip Island to catch the sunrise along the George Bass Coastal Walk in the morning.  For those who don’t know, The George Bass Coastal walk is one of the most stunning walks in Australia, stretching over 30km with ocean views that look like they belong on a postcard (seriously, if you’ve never been, go). My intent was honestly to just have some alone time away from the responsibilities of being a dad and get out into nature for some exercise, as well as to take some leisurely snaps. Five hours later at 3:30am the alarm went off, followed by a two hour drive, a very average (and smouldering hot) McDonalds long black, I arrived at my destination at ~6:00am, just in time for the ~6:30am sunrise here in Victoria. Long story short, it was a really nice walk and the sunrise was genuinely indescribable, I was honestly smiling from ear to ear for most of the morning. However, it wasn't the sunrise itself that inspired me, but rather the early morning pastel colours all around me and I found myself thinking how good the scene would be to shoot a few rolls of Porta 400 on. I love the colours and subtle tonality that this stock renders.

Portra 400 | Image by @Kyle__Mcdougall | https://www.kylemcdougallphoto.com

Given I only had my digital camera with me I set myself that challenge to try shoot and exposure how I would a roll of Portra 400, and of course edit the titts off my shots in Davinci Resolve to try "emulate" Portra 400...

The Gear + Camera Settings:

As ever, I took my beloved Xpro3 + Fuji 23mm f2 combo with me for the walk.

For 99.99% of my photos I use a Classic Chrome Based Fuji JPEG Recipe, which I find counteracts a lot of the things I don't love about digital cameras (there's a whole plethora), but more crucially, it gives me a really good starting point for my editing in DaVinci Resolve. I really don't subscribe to Fuji cameras being able to do "Film emulations" per se (with the exception of Acros B&W), but rather they can do an in-camera "creative Look Up Table" (LUT) of sorts. You'll never be able to use a LUT to accurately emulate film, just like you'll never be able to use a Fuji JPEG Recipe. There is simply too much complexity and nuances to creating the look, which require a lot of work and experimentation. That said, both LUTs and Fuji JPEG Recipes can act as a solid foundation for creating a compelling film emulation/ look. Anyway, if anyone actually reads this post and cares, here are my in-camera settings:

1. Film Simulation:

• Classic Chrome (This is Fuji's best film simulation IMHO and it's a great starting point for further editing due to the slightly more muted contrast and colors.)

2. Dynamic Range:

• DR400 (This gives you extra highlight detail and shadows, which is important for a film-like look, given the lattitude of film .This means you have to shoot as ISO 640 though.

3. Highlight:

• -1 (To prevent overexposure and keep highlights from clipping, especially in bright, outdoor scenes. This helps mimic the soft highlight roll-off typical of Kodak Portra.)

4. Shadow:

• -1 (Raises shadows and softens the darker parts of the image and creates a slightly more filmic, matte look.)

5. Color:

• -2 (I often go down to -3 too, as I really want the control of what colours I push and pull in post, but -2 is a happy medium that can be used for everyday stuff and will give a good SOOC look.)

6. Sharpness:

• -3 (Film has a more organic, less digitally sharp feel, so reducing the sharpness slightly will help replicate the soft yet detailed look of film.)

7. Clarity:

• 0. I have a love hate relationship with the Clarity settings, as too much gives your image a really plastic-like HDR look and too low gives you a horrendous and super glowy Black Promist look.

8. Noise Reduction:

• -4 (Film has its own natural grain/ texture, and the goal here is to keep that texture alive in your images, so dialing down the noise reduction will give you as "raw" of an image as possible from your digital sensor)

9. White Balance:

• Auto - Red +2, Blue -4

10. Grain Effect:

• Off. (I find the in-camera grain very odd/ fake looking with the Fuji cameras. I personally stay away from it entirely, unless shooting in black and white at high ISO. I do all my grain and texture work in Resolve).

11. Colour Chrome Effect:

• Strong. (A lot of the "film look" comes from the density of certain colours and I think Fuji have done a great job with this feature)

12. Colour Chrome FX Blue:

• Off.

The Results:

I’m relatively happy with the results I got and I give them a solid 7.5/10 (if I do say so myself). I feel like the contrast and colours are pretty similar, the colours are vibrant, but subtly so, and there’s that warmth in some of the shots that gives me Portra 400 vibes. In retrospect, it was (and is) pretty exciting how close you can get with a bit of trial and error, particularly as a roll of Portra 400 is now nauseatingly expensive, so I can genuinely see myself shooting and editing like this and saving myself lots of film + dev + scanning costs.

My Portra 400 "Emulation" | Fuji XPro3 + Fuji 23mm f2

That said, these are by no means a direct emulation/ matching and there is still lots to improve on. For one, the texture and “softness” of film in particular was something I found tricky to dial in. Portra 400 has this organic, almost tactile quality—a subtle softness in highlights, gentle grain in shadows, and an overall analog imperfection that feels "alive" (cringe I know).

Digital images, by contrast, can feel a little sterile - too perfect. Despite adding grain and tweaking halation effects, my emulation still lacks that soulful imperfection, as the images from a rendering perspective were just so perfect and overly sharp because of the modern sensor and tack sharp Fujinon glass (i.e. look at the writing on the sign in the below image).

My Portra 400 "Emulation" | Fuji XPro3 + Fuji 23mm f2

If anything, it’s a gentle reminder that film isn’t just a look; it’s a process. There’s something esoteric about the way light interacts with chemical layers on film stock, creating depth and character that’s really really hard to replicate digitally. For now, though, I’m content with this emulation as a solid starting point. I’ll keep experimenting, refining the textures and finding ways to dial back the sharpness that gives away its digital-ness. Stay tuned, as I'll be refining this and posting more about it over time. Thanks for reading though! Ty Van Haren.