FujigraphyThese are the three simulations people argue about most. All three are quieter than Provia, all three have more bite than Eterna, and they're easy to confuse on a phone screen. They're built for different things, though.
Classic Chrome
Muted colour, firm contrast, darker shadows. Blues lean towards cyan and reds lose some heat. It's been on Fujifilm cameras since 2014 and nearly every X body from X-Trans II on has it, which is why so many recipes start here. It suits streets, buildings and overcast days: anything where you want the light and shapes to carry the picture, not the colour.
Classic Negative
Fujifilm modelled it on colour negative film for everyday snapshots. It has hard contrast and colours that shift with brightness: shadows cool towards teal, highlights warm up, reds go a little magenta. It looks most like a print from a high-street lab. It arrived with the X-Pro3 in 2019, and the X-T3 and X-T30 never got it.
Reala Ace
The newest of the three. It first appeared on the GFX100 II in 2023. Fujifilm describes it as faithful colour with high-contrast tonality: harder highlights and softer shadows than Provia, with saturation held back a little. Of the three it's the most accurate, and the kindest to skin. It's on X-Trans V bodies only; the X-H2, X-H2S, X-T5 and X-S20 got it by firmware in June 2024.
Side by side
- Colour: Chrome is muted, Negative is shifted, Reala Ace is accurate.
- Contrast: all three are firmer than Provia. Classic Negative is the hardest.
- Skin: Reala Ace first. Classic Chrome can look sallow; Classic Negative can push skin red.
- Skies: Chrome makes them deep and cyan, Negative makes them teal, Reala Ace keeps them blue.
- Bodies: Chrome is almost everywhere, Negative from the X-Pro3 on, Reala Ace on X-Trans V. Check yours in film simulations by camera.
Which one?
Documentary and city work: Classic Chrome. Friends, holidays, a roll-of-film feel: Classic Negative. People, or when you want the colour to look the way it was: Reala Ace. Recipes change each of these a lot. A warm white balance shift on Classic Chrome gets close to some negative looks, which is one reason recipes exist. White balance shift explained shows how.
The best test is your own: save one of each to C1, C2 and C3 (here's how) and shoot the same walk three times. You can browse recipes for each simulation on Classic Chrome, Classic Negative and Reala Ace.
The picks
A Classic Negative recipe
A recipe built on Classic Negative, for everyday snapshots.
Browse recipes →