Film simulation with Olympus!

Any modern mirrorless or DSLR cameras do have color profile management which, with Fujifilm cameras, is called Film Simulation.

In this blog post, I would try simulating Fuji's Film Simulation with Olympus cameras!

Film Simulation under the hood

Fuji discloses in this article that Film Simulation is fundamentally an adjustment of Tonality and Saturation. By 'Tonality' they would mean Contrast.

Now with Olympus cameras, we can adjust Contrast and Saturation in five steps between -2 to +2 (in-camera or in-post using Olympus Viewer). (FYI, other manufacturers have more steps: eg. Sony has -3 to +3, Panasonic has -5 to +5.)

So it is assumed that Film Simulation may be attained by adjusting Contrast and Saturation in the following way.

Initially I have tried with these settings and have achieved mostly satisfying results but after close inspection of images from Fuji's true Film Simulation, I have found that contrast in ProNeg Hi is actually higher than Astia and comparable to Provia, so I decided to make contrast in ProNeg Hi zero(0) rather than -1.

So let's give it a try!

Nature (flower)

(May take a while until images are fully loaded. Can be enlarged full screen.)

You can see that, in this context, Provia or Velvia would make subject more attractive while Classic Chrome is obviously not suitable here.

Architecture (historical)

In this situation Classic Chrome may best tell the 'story', while Velvia does not work well here.

Portrait

Strong contrast is best avoided in this context and softer tone is much preferred. I like Astia or ProNeg Std version here.

Characteristics of each mode

The Default - Provia

General purpose 'Standard' mode that is suitable for most situations. However, for images to look pleasant, Contrast and Saturation may be a little pushed up than real.

Muted Sequence - Astia, ProNeg Hi, ProNeg Std

Since the "Standard" Provia is a little exaggerated, more realistic, natural (softer) modes are in order in some situations including portraits. When Contrast is somewhat detuned, it's called Astia, while in ProNeg Hi Saturation is attenuated instead. ProNeg Std is the 'softest' version where both Contrast and Saturation are reduced.

Artistic Modes - Classic Chrome and Velvia

These two modes with enhanced Contrast and/or Saturation opt for specific artistic situations and can be a very strong tool to convey particular photographic story.