Rusty
Rust light, real blacks.
Colour
- White BalanceAuto, +5 Red, −5 Blue
- Color+4
- Color Chrome EffectStrong
- Color Chrome FX BlueStrong
Tone
- Dynamic RangeDR400
- Highlight−2
- Shadow+3
Texture
- Grain EffectWeak, Large
- Clarity−4
- Sharpness0
- High ISO NR−3
Exposure
- ISOAuto, max 6400
- Exposure Comp.0 to +1
Why this recipe
Classic Negative carries the look of Fuji's Superia consumer film: medium saturation, high base contrast and one behaviour no other simulation has.
It shifts colour with brightness. Warm amber into the shadows, cool cyan into the highlights. That split is why no saturation slider can imitate it.
Rusty overrides the cyan and keeps the amber. A warm shift pushes the highlights to rust, the bright end stays flat so nothing burns out, and the shadows drop into real black.
In one line: warm at the top, hard at the bottom, an oxidised version of the film.
It wants low, warm light. Late afternoon, backlight, rust, brick and warm stone.
Every photo here is a JPEG straight out of my Fujifilm X-H2S. No editing, no Lightroom, no cropping. Shot in the Alps, Norway, Scotland and Lofoten.
Save it to one of the custom slots (C1 to C7). It takes about a minute to type in, and from then on the camera hands you a finished JPEG.
Shoot it in
Late afternoon, backlight, rust, brick and warm stone. The lower the sun, the better it gets.
Skip it in
Flat overcast and cool interiors. The deep shadows leave nothing there, and the warm shift has nothing to grab.
Straight out of camera
No edits. Just the JPEG.
What each setting does
Built from the bottom up.
A recipe is easier to trust when you know why every value is there.
Film Simulation
Classic Negative is based on Fuji's Superia film: medium saturation, high base contrast and a colour split that moves with brightness, amber into the shadows and cyan into the highlights.
That split is what makes it read as film. Rusty keeps the amber half and overrides the cyan.
White Balance shift
Auto, +5 Red, −5 Blue.
This is what overrides the cyan. The highlights turn rust instead of cool, and because the shift sits on Auto, it follows the light instead of forcing one colour temperature onto every scene.
Dynamic Range, Highlight, Shadow
Highlight −2 with DR400 holds the bright end flat, so a low sun doesn't burn out. Shadow +3 drops the dark end into real black.
DR400 needs four times the base ISO, which means ISO 640 or higher on the X-H2S. Keep ISO on Auto and it takes care of itself.
Color
Color stays at +4. Classic Negative holds its saturation back, and this gives it back.
Red houses and orange leaves stay strong without turning loud.
Color Chrome Effect
Strong. Adds depth to saturated colours, so a red coat or a rust hillside keeps its gradation instead of melting into one flat tone.
Color Chrome FX Blue
Also Strong. The warm shift leaves only a little blue in the frame, and FX Blue keeps that little bit from clumping.
Water and sky stay deep instead of turning muddy next to all that rust.
Clarity, Sharpness, Grain, Noise
Grain Weak, Large adds a soft film texture. Clarity −4 takes the digital bite off, Sharpness stays at 0 and High ISO NR −3 keeps fine detail.
The trade off: with Clarity on, the camera takes a moment longer to save each shot. For landscapes and travel you won't feel it.
Quick start
- Put it on a custom slot (C1 to C7) and set ISO to Auto with a max of 6400, so DR400 always works.
- Start at 0 exposure comp, go up to +1 in backlight.
- Use it when the sun is low and warm. On grey days, switch to a softer recipe.
Works on
- All X-Trans V bodies
- X-Pro3
- X-T4
- X100V
- X-S10
- X-E4
- X-T30 II
X-T3 and X-T30 don't have Classic Negative, so this one needs a newer body.
Rusty
Thanks for reading.
@danieljschwarzSave it · Tag me · Share it with a Fuji friend
If you try Rusty, I'd love to see what it does with your late afternoons. Tag me on Instagram at @danieljschwarz, that's also where I post new recipes first.
Rusty is recipe 07 in My Fuji Cookbook. The full book with twelve recipes is in my shop.
More recipes
