Soft Rust
Rust colour, gentle light.
Colour
- White BalanceAuto, +6 Red, −6 Blue
- Color+4
- Color Chrome EffectStrong
- Color Chrome FX BlueWeak
Tone
- Dynamic RangeDR100
- Highlight0
- Shadow+2
Texture
- Grain EffectStrong, Small
- Clarity−4
- Sharpness−2
- High ISO NR−4
Exposure
- ISOAuto
- Exposure Comp.−2/3 to 0
Why this recipe
Classic Negative is the simulation that looks most like film to me. It's based on Fuji's Superia consumer film: medium saturation, high base contrast and a colour split that moves with brightness. Amber in the shadows, cyan in the highlights.
That split is why it reads as film and not as a filter. No saturation slider gets you there.
Soft Rust puts the strongest warm shift in my cookbook on top of it and then leaves the curve almost alone. No highlight protection, no pulled shadows. The softness comes from the surface, not from the tone: strong fine grain, less sharpness, less clarity.
In one line: rust colour on a curve I barely touch.
Because nothing on the curve protects you, the light has to be gentle already. Shade, overcast days, late afternoon. That's where the rust comes out: brown heather, dry grass, old stone and red wood.
Every photo here is a JPEG straight out of my Fujifilm X-H2S. No editing, no Lightroom, no cropping. Shot in Scotland and in 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
Made for even light: open shade, overcast days and late afternoon. Scenes with little contrast of their own, like heather, dry grass, fog, old wood and stone. The softer the light, the more rust comes through.
Skip it in
In hard midday sun. DR100 leaves the highlights no headroom, so bright skies and white walls clip fast. On days like that, Summer Sauce does the job better.
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, cyan into the highlights.
That split is what makes it read as film instead of as a filter. Everything else in this recipe is built on top of it.
White Balance shift
This is where the rust comes from.
Auto, +6 Red, −6 Blue is the strongest warm shift in my cookbook. Because it sits on top of Auto, it follows the light instead of forcing one colour temperature onto every scene. In shade it stays warm without tipping into orange.
Dynamic Range, Highlight, Shadow
DR100 means no highlight protection and the full base contrast of Classic Negative. Highlight stays at 0, the top of the curve is left alone.
Shadow +2 deepens the dark end, so the frame keeps its weight at the bottom. That's a lot of contrast, and exactly why this recipe wants soft light.
The upside: DR100 works from base ISO, which is ISO 160 on the X-H2S.
Color
Classic Negative sits at medium saturation, and Color +4 pushes it further.
On a flat, grey day that's what keeps the heather rust red and the grass golden instead of dull.
Color Chrome Effect
Adds depth to strong, saturated colours. The reds and browns keep their gradation instead of melting into one flat patch.
Color Chrome FX Blue
Only Weak here. Classic Negative already pushes cyan into the highlights, so the blues need just a little depth.
Water and sky stay cool and quiet, and the warm shift keeps the main voice.
Clarity, Sharpness, Grain, Noise
This is where the softness comes from. Grain Strong, Small lays a dense, fine texture over the frame. Sharpness −2 and Clarity −4 take the digital edge off, and High ISO NR −4 keeps fine detail from getting smeared.
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 leave ISO on Auto. DR100 works from base ISO, so nothing gets in the way.
- Start at −2/3 exposure comp. Go up to 0 in shade or on dark scenes.
- Use it when the light is soft. Switch to Summer Sauce when the sun gets hard.
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.
Soft Rust
Thanks for reading.
@danieljschwarzSave it · Tag me · Share it with a Fuji friend
If you try Soft Rust, I'd love to see what it does with your autumn. Tag me on Instagram at @danieljschwarz, that's also where I post new recipes first.
Soft Rust is recipe 09 in My Fuji Cookbook. The full book with twelve recipes is in my shop.
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