Nazaré, Portugal - 2026
I often write about Fujifilm recipes because I find them a highly creative outlet for photography, and I encourage everyone who can to experiment with them and incorporate them into their approach. I’ve written about how to choose a recipe when there are just so many to consider, and how to match a recipe to your subject and conditions. But with recipes, there is always something to discuss, and I wanted to pull together a different set of what I feel are dos and don’ts. These small, easy-to-miss habits determine whether a recipe is something you are happy with and that earns a permanent place in your rotation, or something you abandon and quickly forget.
Let’s start with what you should do. Keep these top of mind when you are using a film recipe.
1. Understand What Individual Settings Are Actually Doing
A recipe is a combination of individual settings, some more subtle than others at first glance. But understanding what each one does gives you a much better sense of why a recipe behaves the way it does in different conditions. This is also what lets you tweak a recipe as desired, rather than tossing it and never using it again. This is valuable because it’s easy to get discouraged if the first batch of images isn’t what you hoped for.
2. Adjust Within a Recipe, Not Just Between Recipes
You may think you’ll get the same results as others, and that recipe settings are fixed and untouchable. But that’s not true, and many recipes aren’t replications of famous film stocks; they’re new interpretations altogether. I’ve tweaked many recipes I’ve used: reduce clarity in some, sharpness in others, and often tone down the grain effect, or pump it up if I want something to look a bit more film-based and nostalgic. I like many aspects of recipes, but I adjust the ones I don’t. Most changes are just subtle tweaks. Photography is so personal, and with recipes, you are free to explore and do what fits your vision at that time.
3. Test a Recipe Across Different Conditions
A couple of shots during what you deem are the best shooting conditions may yield some great results; enough to make you think this will be a long-standing fixture in your recipe bank, but it really tells you little about the recipe’s versatility. If you tend to shoot only in certain conditions, this may not apply, but depending on when you prefer to shoot, the conditions, and what you want to shoot, a recipe may not work for you. Understanding any limitations before putting all your trust in the recipe will save you a bunch of frustration down the line.
4. Name and Organize Your Recipes
If you’re using a camera with multiple custom recipe slots, name them right after you enter the settings. Some recipes can look similar at first glance, and if you don’t name them in your camera, they can be a pain to identify quickly. Enter all the settings, then name it before moving on.
5. Shoot RAW with your JPEGs (At First)
If you are new to a recipe, or recipes in general, you should always shoot RAW + JPEG. It’s the best way to see the actual impact a recipe has on a photo, since a RAW capture duplicates your shot without any recipe processing. This provides a visual, side-by-side comparison, and it can also save your photo: if a recipe isn’t your style, you have the RAW to fall back on and process it how you want. Only after you understand a recipe and agree with how it handles and represents your photos should you switch to JPEG only if you so desire.
Those are five things I consider important to a JPEG workflow. Film recipes can be exciting, especially when you start getting the results you have been looking for. But as the excitement grows, it can quickly become overwhelming. So let’s look at some of the things I think you should be mindful of and potentially avoid.
1. Assume a Setting Works the Same Across All Cameras
It’s easy to overlook that some settings, newer grain options, and certain Colour Chrome Effect variations aren’t available or don’t behave the same way on older Fujifilm bodies. A recipe built and shared on a newer camera can genuinely fail to replicate on an older one because the hardware may not support every setting the same way. Before assuming a recipe isn’t working for you, check whether it was built on a sensor and body compatible with yours.
2. Think More Choice is Better
It’s tempting to collect recipes the way people collect presets: more options, more looks, more flexibility. In practice, I’ve found the opposite to be true. I have seven slots on my X-H2, but I rarely change them. The recipes I actually trust and reach for are the small handful I’ve shot enough to know their behaviour in different light without thinking much about it. It still takes a bit of time, but at least I know that these can indeed work. Every new recipe added to a rotation is another one you have to relearn from scratch the next time the light changes, and that process usually takes some considerable time.
3. Chase Every Look You See
Popular recipes stay popular for a reason, and new recipes get shared constantly, so it’s easy to feel like you’re missing out on something better every time you stumble upon one. Chasing every trending recipe doesn’t give you time to mature into one, since the next one always seems to join your rotation, which defeats the purpose of an efficient, JPEG-first workflow in the first place. The goal isn’t to have tried the most recipes; it’s to know a few completely and trust them fully.
Conclusion
Fujifilm recipes are meant to simplify and enrich your photography. The most useful recipe is rarely the newest or most dramatic one; it’s the one you understand, trust, and have adapted to suit your own way of seeing. Take the time to learn what each setting contributes and test those recipes as much as you can. Once you know what you prefer and what works for your photography, stick with them. Not every photo is going to be great; you are still going to have your fair share of duds; that’s just the nature of photographic experimentation. It’s not the recipe.
Approaching film recipes with that in mind helps you understand how they work, when they work best, and which elements will never work for you. They are experimental and, as a result, personal. It’s always about the enjoyment you get from them.