Recipes are JPEG settings. Everything they change (the film simulation, white balance shift, tone, grain) is applied when the camera writes the JPEG. That's the appeal: the picture is finished when you take it. Many recent bodies can save HEIF instead of JPEG, and recipes apply to HEIF the same way.

What a RAW file keeps

A Fujifilm RAW file (.RAF) holds the sensor data and notes your settings. The camera's preview uses your recipe, but the raw data itself isn't changed. Open it in an editor and the recipe's look is gone unless the editor recreates it.

Getting the look back from RAW

• In the camera. RAW CONVERSION in the playback menu re-renders an RAF with any settings you choose, using the same processing as a JPEG. Good for a few frames, slow for a whole shoot.
• FUJIFILM X RAW STUDIO. Fujifilm's free app for Mac and Windows does the same conversion from a computer, using the camera's processor over USB.
• Lightroom and Capture One. Both have film simulation profiles for Fujifilm cameras. They get close to the camera's colour, but grain, color chrome and a recipe's exact tone won't match one-for-one.

JPEG

Finished files, small enough to send from your phone, and no editing. The trade-off is that mistakes stick. A wrong white balance or a blown sky is hard to fix in a JPEG.

RAW

You can rescue exposure and white balance later and change your mind about the look. The cost is time at a computer, plus bigger files.

Both

Most recipe shooters land here. Shoot RAW + JPEG, use the JPEGs, and keep the RAFs as insurance. If a frame matters and the white balance was off, convert the RAF in the camera with a corrected setting and you still get the recipe's look. Once you trust your recipes, JPEG only saves a lot of card space.

To get started, load a recipe from the recipes page into a custom slot (how), or read the beginner's guide to film simulations first.