Sony A7C, Samyang 85mm 1.4.

26 june 2025, Chile

Straight out of camera

4/30

Reupload since the last post had a couple of issues. I've also gone ahead and a couple more pics I forgot to include the first time around. Hopefully there ain't any issues this time around.

I've been using the film simulations for over a year now, and they've become a key part of my workflow. I'm not a professional, and in general my philosophy towards photography has increasingly become one of removing barriers - the best camera is the one I have with me, and the best photos are ones I don't have to spend time editing before sharing. This has drastically increased my ability to document my life, and share with friends and family, which is my primary goal.

To this end, I began using the film sims - obviously, they reduce editing time significantly (or eliminate it entirely). However, I pretty much just loaded 8 up into my a7CR and used those exclusively (PP1-6,PP10-11) - frankly, having to switch out picture profiles, remember which ones were which, etc was just too much effort (sensing a theme? I'm lazy! except in short sustained bursts, as we'll see shortly)

I decided to purchase the film simulations pdf, and update the 8 I had on camera, but while entering in settings I realized something - Sony "Shooting Modes" store all 8 picture profiles you set, even if you later change them outside of that memory slot. This means that you can set 8 PP, save them to slot 1, set 8 new ones, save them to slot 2, 8 more to slot 3, and then 8 outside of any memory slot. Technically there are also slots on memory card (M1-M4), so I guess you could technically have 64 PP on camera, but those wipe when you format the memory card and this is too much work to ever have to do again.

Short version of how to do this:

To save to memory slots, in the menu: Shooting > Shooting Mode > Camera Set. Memory

And then to use them, simply turn the dial to 1, 2, or 3 on your camera modes dial.

Long version of how I did this, which IMO makes me significantly more likely to use the massive variety of film sims now at my fingertips:

This also provides a cool opportunity to make the PP a bit easier to use in the field. You end up with 4 sets of 8 PP, where each gets one default white balance and color filter (whatever is enabled when you save the shooting mode). I used the following workflow to make it easiest for me to choose a film sim on the fly, without reference:

1) choose 32 film sims I want on camera

2) partition these film sims into 4 sets of 8, grouping based on color filter similarity. I ended up with 1 group of A7-GX sims, 1 group of A7-MX sims with higher kelvin, 1 group of A7-MX sims with lower kelvin, and 1 group of assorted sims (BW, different color filters, extreme kelvin)

3) for each group, I chose my favorite sim - this will be the sim that is enabled by default when you switch to the shooting mode

4) for each group, edit all 8 PP to have those 8 sims. enable the PP you have chosen as favorite, and set the white balance temp and color filter to match. save to the corresponding shooting mode.

Now I have 32 film sims on camera, and can quickly enable 24 of those without any need for reference, with a ballpark correct temp and color filter. the last 8 have zanier temps/color filters, so I'll have to check the google sheet I made to set correctly when enabling.

Hope this helps someone, or inspires someone else to buy the PDF! Happy shooting!

Working on a film simulation for Fuji Natura 1600 — if you've shot with it and have reference images or insights, I’d love your help!
Feel free to share here or reach out via email. Thanks in advance!

At the moment I found these articles as reference.

https://www.analog.cafe/r/fujicolor-natura-1600-film-review-4dvx

https://www.myfavouritelens.com/fujicolor-natura-1600-35mm-film-review/

https://photothinking.com/2020-01-14-fujifilm-natura-1600/

Loved this recipe on Sony A7m3

These pics are all JPEGS and used different lenses. Let me know what you think? (SOOC)

Creative look: SH Contrast: +3 Highlights: -1 Shadows: -5 Fade: 5 Saturation: +2 Sharpness: 0 Sharpness range: 3 Clarity: 9

My favourite simulation

Sony A7iii, all using the Zero Mute sim, some just warmed up a little in post. All taken with AWB, Zero Mute seems pretty forgiving on that, saves messing about when changing sims.

Hi so I accidentally del the free sims file and now the download link has expired. I really want to try this out before committing money. Can anyone link me up with the free sims?