ChobialClassic Negative on iPhone: a recipe for the Fujifilm look
You can get a Classic Negative look on an iPhone by starting from a film built to match it and adjusting from there. Classic Negative is Fujifilm's hard-contrast consumer-negative simulation. Its signatures are teal-leaning greens, deep reds and warm highlights. Below is what the simulation does, and two original recipes built on Chobial Negative, our take on the look.
What Classic Negative is
Fujifilm announced Classic Negative (Classic Neg. in the menus) with the X-Pro3 in 2019 (PetaPixel). In its X-Pro3 development story, Fujifilm says the simulation is modelled on Superia, its consumer colour negative film. The two Pro Neg. simulations aim for gentle gradation. Classic Neg. is tuned for "slightly higher contrast" to add depth when the light is flat.
Fujifilm also describes how it got there. It set contrast colour by colour, and held some colours back below certain brightness levels. That gives a slightly veiled look with strong separation between colours. Greens, blues and skin tones were the colours they worked on to make it "Superia-like". What photographers see:
- Hard tonality. Midtones separate quickly and shadows go dense.
- Greens shifted toward teal or cyan, and a little muted, the way a drugstore print renders foliage.
- Deep, slightly dark reds rather than bright ones.
- Warmth in the highlights, like a print from a high-street lab.
It came to more cameras by firmware and in later models. Today it's in the X100VI's film simulation menu next to Classic Chrome and Nostalgic Neg. Plenty of published Fujifilm recipes start from it, which is why people go looking for the same look on a phone.
Classic Negative vs Classic Chrome
People often weigh these two against each other, and they are different kinds of look. Classic Chrome is muted documentary colour: lower saturation, firm shadows, skies that lean cyan. It suits grey cities and reportage. Classic Negative has more bite. Its contrast is harder, its reds are deeper, and its highlights are warmer, so it reads more like a snapshot printed at a lab than a magazine page. As a rough rule, Chrome flatters a subject and Negative flatters a moment. In Chobial the two are Chobial Chrome and Chobial Negative. Because every photo stays a RAW negative, you don't have to choose before the shot. Develop the same frame with each and keep the one you like.
Why it's hard to copy with a filter
A Classic Negative look isn't one colour cast. Contrast differs by colour and by brightness: a bright green and a dark green move differently. A single warm-and-crush filter misses that. A filter on a processed HEIF also runs after the iPhone's own tone mapping. Chobial Negative gets closer because it was solved from pairs of a Fujifilm camera's own RAW developments, the same RAF file developed neutral and then with the simulation, and measured colour by colour in CIELAB. It isn't a filter drawn by eye. In Chobial it also runs on the RAW data, before any HDR look is baked in (more in why iPhone photos look like paintings).
It's still our take, not Fujifilm's rendering, and it won't match a given camera's JPEG pixel for pixel. The recipes below push it in two directions.
Doing it in Chobial
- Open Films (hold the film on the camera), tap + › New Film, and under Start From choose Chobial Negative. You can't edit the built-in films, but you can edit a new film started from one. See the film-making tutorial.
- Name it, give it a cassette code, and enter the settings from one of the recipes below.
- Save, load it on the camera, and shoot. The film is live in the viewfinder. Touch and hold to see the scene without it.
- Use EXP to shoot a third to two thirds of a stop bright. Fujifilm says the Superia-like colour shows best slightly overexposed.
- If a frame doesn't suit the film, open it in the editor's Film tool and develop it again with the other recipe. The RAW is kept.
Both recipes are starting points. Chobial Negative already carries the look, so the changes are small.
Recipe: Corner Store
Daylight street: warm sun, dense shadows, dark reds. Start from Chobial Negative. Films › + › New Film › Start From.
| Control | Setting |
|---|---|
| Develop › Temperature | +200K |
| Tone › Contrast | +0.05 |
| Tone › Highlights | −0.10 |
| Tone › Highlight Rolloff | 25% |
| Color Mixer › Red › Luminance | −0.10 |
| Color Mixer › Yellow › Saturation | −0.10 |
| Split Toning › Highlight Hue / Amount | 40° / 8% |
| Effects › Grain | 35mm ISO 400 stock (45% / 1.0) |
| Effects › Vignette | +0.10 |
Shoot at +1/3 EV in full sun. The rolloff keeps bright walls and skies from clipping hard. The small highlight tone adds the print-like warmth without turning the whole frame orange.
Recipe: Low Cloud
For overcast days: cooler, a little softer, greens pulled further toward teal-grey. Start from Chobial Negative.
| Control | Setting |
|---|---|
| Develop › Temperature | −400K |
| Develop › Tint | −3 |
| Tone › Shadows | +0.10 |
| Tone › Fade | 8% |
| Color › Saturation | −0.15 |
| Color Mixer › Green › Saturation | −0.20 |
| Color Mixer › Aqua › Luminance | −0.10 |
| Split Toning › Shadow Hue / Amount | 200° / 10% |
| Effects › Grain | 35mm ISO 400 stock, Amount raised to 55% |
Shoot at +2/3 EV. Flat light is where Fujifilm says Classic Neg.'s extra contrast helps. This recipe keeps that contrast and lifts the shadows just enough that dark coats and doorways don't go solid.
Getting more from the look
- Mixed light is where it shines. Street lamps against a blue evening sky play to the warm highlights and the dense, coloured shadows. If you'd rather the colour stay steady from frame to frame, set a fixed white balance (Daylight, or a Kelvin value) instead of Auto.
- Use the 3:2 frame. Chobial's frame lines are a mask, not a crop, so the full sensor is kept if you change your mind later.
- Share it. Tap ••• on the film and choose Film Code to get a QR code a friend can scan (how sharing works).
- Other apps. Pearla includes a profile inspired by Classic Neg. (PetaPixel). If you own a Fujifilm body, its own Classic Neg. is the real thing. You can also bring its RAF files to your iPhone and develop them with these recipes.
For how the other Fujifilm settings translate to iPhone controls, see Fujifilm recipes on iPhone. If you want the X100VI's handling as well, see the X100VI alternative post.
Fujifilm, Classic Negative, Classic Chrome, Superia and X100VI are trademarks of FUJIFILM Corporation. Chobial is not affiliated with Fujifilm.
Questions
Is there a Classic Negative filter for iPhone?
Fujifilm doesn't make one for the iPhone. Several apps offer looks inspired by it: Pearla has a Classic Neg-inspired profile, and Chobial's built-in Chobial Negative is our take on a Classic Negative-type look, which you can shoot live and adjust.
What film is Classic Negative based on?
Fujifilm says Classic Neg. was modelled on its Superia consumer colour negative film, with slightly higher contrast than the Pro Neg. simulations.
Which Fujifilm cameras have Classic Negative?
It arrived on the X-Pro3 in 2019 and later came to other X-series and GFX bodies by firmware and in newer models, including the X100VI.
Should I overexpose for Classic Negative?
Slightly, often. Fujifilm's own development story says the Superia-like greens, blues and skin tones come through best when the picture is slightly overexposed. Try +1/3 to +2/3 EV.