ChobialThe Velvia look on iPhone: saturated slide film from RAW
Fujifilm Velvia is the colour-slide film that made landscape photographs look like that: deep blue skies, rich green forests, strong contrast, and almost no grain to get in the way. You can get that look on an iPhone, but a saturation slider or a Velvia filter on a finished photo only gets part of the way. This page covers what the look is made of, and how to get it from RAW.
What makes the Velvia look
Velvia 50 is an ISO 50 colour slide film, described in reference and retailer listings as very fine-grained and highly saturated. Its history and specifications are on Wikipedia. Take that apart and the look is a few separate things:
- Saturation, but not evenly. Blues, greens and reds are pushed hard. It's made for landscapes, so skin and neutral tones are not where it shines.
- Contrast. A slide is the finished picture, so slide film has strong contrast built in. Shadows go deep.
- Little room for error. Slide film has a narrow exposure range. Photographers expose for the highlights, because a blown sky on slide film doesn't come back.
- Very fine grain. Unlike a grainy consumer negative, Velvia's grain is barely visible. The look is clean and punchy.
Why a filter on a finished photo falls short
Turning up saturation on an iPhone HEIF photo makes everything more colourful, including the colours that Velvia wouldn't. The sky goes cyan, skin goes orange, and any highlight already near white clips to a flat patch. The iPhone has also applied its own tone mapping before you touch it, so the result depends on what that did.
The Photographic Styles route has the same limits as in the Kodak Gold case: it only works on HEIF, and not on RAW. A slide look needs the headroom RAW keeps in skies and shadows, because the film's contrast would otherwise clip them.
Getting the look in Chobial
Chobial always shoots RAW, and applies a film live in the viewfinder, so you can expose for the highlights and see the result as you frame. Three built-in films are slide-film looks, described in the app like this:
| Film | In-app description | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Saturated | Slide film for landscape: deep greens and skies, colour pushed hard | The closest to the Velvia idea: forests, skies, coast |
| Postcard | Dense slide colour: red survives, green does not | Autumn, sunsets, red-and-blue subjects |
| Expedition | The documentary slide: blues kept, greens held back, deep shadows | Mountains, water, travel pictures with a calmer palette |
- Pick the film. Tap the film's badge beside the island (or open Controls › Film) and choose Saturated. Swipe across the picture to compare the others on the same scene.
- Expose for the sky. Slide film punishes blown highlights. Watch the histogram and zebras, and lower exposure until the brightest part of the sky is just under clipping. The RAW file keeps the shadows, and the film's contrast will deepen them.
- In Controls › Film, touch and hold a film's name to peek at the scene without the film, if you want to check what it's doing; let go and it comes back.
- Dial it back if it's too much. Open the photo in the Library, tap Edit, choose the Film tool and lower Strength. Or tap another film: the photo develops again from the RAW each time.
- Make it yours. Start a new film from Saturated in the film editor and adjust the colour mixer, curves or grain. You can make your own film and share it as a QR code.
What it isn't
These are Chobial's own films, not Fujifilm's, and they're described by what they look like, not as Fujifilm's Velvia. If you shoot a Fujifilm camera, its real Velvia simulation is better for in-camera JPEGs, and Chobial can still develop its RAF files: see editing Fuji RAF files on iPhone. The comparison of recipe apps for Fujifilm cameras is in Fujifilm simulation apps for iPhone, and how recipes translate to the iPhone is in Fujifilm recipes on iPhone.
Fujifilm and Velvia are trademarks of FUJIFILM Corporation. Chobial is not affiliated with Fujifilm.
Questions
What does Velvia look like?
Highly saturated, with deep blues and greens and strong contrast, on a very fine grain. Fujifilm Velvia 50 is an ISO 50 colour slide film, and it became the landscape photographer's film for exactly that colour.
Is there a Velvia filter for iPhone?
There are apps and Photographic Style tricks that push saturation, but a Velvia look is more than saturation: it's also contrast, how the highlights hold, and which colours it favours. Chobial's Saturated film is a slide-film look for landscapes, applied to the RAW and visible live in the viewfinder. It is Chobial's own film, not Fujifilm's.
Does the Fujifilm Velvia film simulation work on an iPhone?
Not Fujifilm's own: Fujifilm's film simulations run inside Fujifilm cameras. Chobial's built-in slide films are its own and show live on the iPhone. See film simulation on iPhone.
Why do slide films look so contrasty?
A slide is the final image: there's no print step to rescue it, so slide film is made with strong contrast and colour, and it has less room for exposure mistakes than negative film. On an iPhone, RAW gives you back some of that room.
Which Chobial film is closest to a slide film?
Saturated is described in the app as slide film for landscape: deep greens and skies, colour pushed hard. Postcard is a denser slide look where red survives and green does not, and Expedition is a documentary slide with blues kept and greens held back.