Classic Chrome vs Classic Negative

Classic Chrome is Fujifilm's documentary look. It is modelled on no single film: Fujifilm describes it as an imaginary film made to recreate the photographs of the classic photojournalism magazines, subdued, with magenta held back and cool shadows.

Classic Negative (Classic Neg. in the camera's menu) is Fujifilm's snapshot look, modelled on Superia, the consumer colour negative film many of us had developed at a high street lab. It has more contrast, colour that changes with brightness, and the colour split of that film: shadows that lean cyan-green and highlights that lean magenta.

Choose Classic Chrome when you want restraint and Classic Neg. when you want the feeling of a family album. Every X-Processor 5 camera has both. The X-Trans III bodies and the X-T3 and X-T30 have Classic Chrome only.

Colour by Brightness

The deepest difference is one you cannot see in a single swatch. Fujifilm built Classic Neg. with a separate tone response for each colour, set by brightness: some colours keep their brightness while others are held down below a threshold. That is what gives it its veiled, colour against colour look, and it is why the same scene can shift character as the light changes. Fujifilm describes Classic Chrome, by contrast, as a look for any subject and any light source.

Skies

Skies show the split most clearly. In John Peltier's side by side comparison, Classic Neg. puts extra magenta into a blue sky where Classic Chrome puts extra cyan, so the same afternoon reads as a warm snapshot on one and a cool, sober record on the other.

Classic Chrome arrived in 2014 with the X30 and is on every X-Trans III, IV and V camera. Classic Neg. arrived five years later with the X-Pro3, so the cameras made before it never had it: all of X-Trans III (the X-Pro2, X-T2, X-T20, X-E3, X-H1 and X100F) and the first two X-Trans IV bodies, the X-T3 and X-T30. The X-T3 and X-T30 manuals list ten film simulations without it, and no firmware has changed that. The X-T30 II is a different camera and has it.

Of the 20 cameras with a page on X-Alchemy, 15 have both: X-E4, X-E5, X-H2, X-H2S, X-M5, X-Pro3, X-S10, X-S20, X-T4, X-T5, X-T30 II, X-T30 III, X-T50, X100V and X100VI.

The other 5 have Classic Chrome only: X-E3, X-Pro2, X-T3, X-T30 and X100F.

For every other setting that differs between bodies, see Recipe Compatibility: Sensor Generations.

If you shoot an X-Trans III body, an X-T3 or an X-T30, there is no setting that turns Classic Chrome into Classic Neg. The camera's own controls act on the whole picture: a white balance shift moves every tone the same way, and Highlight and Shadow change contrast, not hue. Classic Neg.'s signature, shadows and highlights pulling in different colour directions, is built into the simulation itself.

Recipes can borrow parts of it, such as its contrast or an overall warmth, and some are named after it. Fuji X Weekly's attempt for X-Trans III starts from PRO Neg. Std rather than Classic Chrome, and its author has said it does not replicate Classic Negative well. Treat recipes like it as looks in their own right, and use Classic Chrome for what it does best.

Recipes for X-Trans III cameras all run on the simulations your camera has.

Classic Chrome

Because Classic Chrome starts subdued, with cool shadows, the first decision in a recipe built on it is how much warmth to give back. A white balance shift towards red warms the whole frame, shadows included, and Color adds saturation on top of the muted base. Shadow tone sets how heavy the documentary look feels: harder shadows for drama, softer ones for a gentler record.

Classic Neg.

Classic Neg. already brings contrast and colour separation, so a recipe on it manages them rather than adding more. A wider dynamic range setting (DR200 or DR400) or a softer Highlight keeps bright skies from clipping, and a white balance shift sets whether the snapshot reads warm or cool. Fujifilm says it gives its best slightly overexposed, so +1/3 is a sensible starting point for exposure compensation; judge it on the highlights.

For what each of these settings does, see the dynamic range guide and White Balance & Colour Temperature.

• Flat, overcast light: Classic Neg., which Fujifilm designed to add depth to flat scenes. Classic Chrome keeps a grey day sober and quiet, if that is the mood you want.
• Bright sun and hard contrast: either, but Classic Neg.'s extra contrast needs more care with highlights.
• Street and documentary work: Classic Chrome, the look it was made to recreate.
• Friends, family and travel snapshots: Classic Neg., the look of the prints people kept from those trips.
• Fashion, products and interiors: Classic Chrome, which Fujifilm recommends for all three.

Neither is better. If you are unsure, program one recipe on each into two custom settings and shoot the same walk twice; the programming guide shows how. For the rest of the line up, see the full film simulation comparison.