Wednesday 28 June 2017

Choosing a Fuji Film Simulation

I started to write this journal entry, but it turned into a long rambling discussion about F-LOG versus Film Simulations. (Spoiler alert...It's a case of horses for courses! But I will cover this in more depth later down the line.)

The position I find myself in at the moment is that I do not have an external 4K recorder (and cannot afford one), so I am limited to just recording vanilla unadulterated video or video treated with one of Fuji's integral Film Simulation modes (which can both be recorded onto an internal memory card).

As I said, it's a matter of personal preference as to which route you take, but in my case, the inclusion of Fuji's Film Simulation 'styles' was a principal reason I bought the X-T2. But, for those who are not familiar with Fuji's Film Simulations, they are 'what they say on the tin', they are digital simulations of analog film stock to give your digital photos or videos an analog 'look'...



See also, B&H's 'An Introduction to Fujifilm’s Film Simulation Modes'.

Although the above clip is principally aimed at stills photographers, these stylistic simulations are just as applicable to video recording. In fact, they take a lot off the shoulders of the videographer who likes to spend more time playing with his camera than they do in post fiddling about with colour grading (which is a bit dark art).

Certainly, this is why  I was attracted to the X-T2, I loved the look of some of the simulation modes and didn't (yet) want to caught up in the quagmire of tinkering for hours with software sliders.


Above: Some examples of the Fuji Film Simulations as used to film video. Here the
simulations are further tweaked in conjunction with the X-T2's internal settings to
make the end results even more unique.

So, Which Colour Simulation?
OK, having laid out my reasons for wanting to use Fuji's Film Simulations (with the caveat that once I'm a bit better off and a bit more experienced I would like to try out F-LOG via an external recorder and then applying LUTs in post) which simulation do I think is best? Well, once again, this isn't quite straight forward as Fuji never intended a photographer to just use one of its film types, you use which film type is most suited to your subject matter. And this is how it is with their film simulations too.

So, I tried out some experiments with the various types to see which suited my personal visual preferences - using some tips from other X-T2 videographers - and narrowed my initial favourite modes down to Classic Chrome, Pro Ned Standard and - as a wild card - Astia (which is a bit more saturated and pops the colours more).

Here are some screen grabs from the sequences I took in the three film simulation modes...




The differences are quite subtle but they are enough to have emotional relevance, creatively speaking. For example, I am drawn to Classic Chrome - it is slightly nostalgic in its colour reproduction reminiscent of Kodak's legendary Kodachrome (ironic that Fuji should reintroduce this film look).

For me, Kodachrome is indicative of my father's photos from my childhood holidays - which is probably why I am drawn to it, and I don't think I am the only one as the 60s and 70s 'look' of the film reproduction is a popular visual trope among the Hipster generation. Its retro slightly faded character exudes a comforting nostalgia...



As expected, Pro Neg Standard came in as a close second, which isn't very surprising as I did my homework first before I narrowed my interest down to the three film simulations that I tested.

The advantage that Pro Neg Std. has over Classic Chrome is that it appears to have just a little more dynamic range (there a little more information in the shadows and the highlights). This makes this simulation the closest - with a little tweaking of the camera settings - to a flat output suitable for further colour grading in an editor.

The 'Q' (Quick) menu custom function set I have for my 'Flat 2' profile. This
custom setup gives my Pro Neg Std (N-S) a little flatter look by toning down
the Highlights (-2), Shadows (-2) and Sharpness (-2).
Finally, Astia is a bit of fun. It's a bit too saturated for my tastes and as you can see from the above screen grab it's output is somewhat reminiscent of holiday postcards. I find it a little insincere and superficially 'pretty' (so we can knock that one off the list).

Conclusion
Well, as much as I favour Classic Chrome, I won't be using it for everything. But it may well be my default go-to mode. It's a rather nice feature of the Fuji system that I have several film 'looks' I really like baked into the camera by default, rather than me having to make these simulations up myself via long sessions of colour grading or by trawling the internet for an elusive LUT that does a similar job.


Above: Here's a very short example of how the Fuji Pro Neg Standard Film Simulation
footage I shot can be further modified using colour presets in PowerDirector 15. It's
sort of a poor man's instant color grading, but the end results are pleasing enough.

More time to film, less mucking about in post! (Though, in time, it will be interesting to see if the novelty of film simulations wears off and I whether I begin to find this system constricting. We shall see.)