Get Closer to Film | Kodak Ultra Max 400 Sony Film Simulation

I think you're going to love this update.

Last year around this time the Kodak Ultra Max used to be my favorite Sony Film Simulation recipe, since then many things changed, many Sony Film Simulations have been created, but sometimes it's time to get back to the roots, and where it all started. And it was high time for a New Update on the Kodak Ultra Max 400 Film Recipe.

The old version used to have a desaturated crunchy look which worked in a vast majority on situations, but after reviewing more real life film references, it felt like the film recipe needed some adjustments.

▼Old version ▼

The Kodak Ultra Max was always, and will continue to be, a Sony Film Simulation characterized by versatility and ease of use, but now it's adding on top of that a good balance of contrast, with deep and rich colors.

Most of the colors will have to benefit from the update, but mainly the green which will be shifted towards Cyan, and the Blues which are deep and saturated.

Having pleasing skin tones, deep and rich colors, moody contrast but without going overboard, I can see this film simulation recipe becoming one of the favorites for most users.

Underexposed, but straight out of camera

▲Correctly exposed▲

Unfortunately, still being winter and rainy outside, there is not much vegetation or color to take photos of for reference. But the flowers just started to show up, so new Blog posts will have better & more lively references.

Usually shooting on these cloudy rainy days, you would end up spending time post-processing to add a little spice to your images, but not when using the Kodak Ultra Max 400.

My whole city is in renovation, the weather is extremely unstable, sometimes raining other times snowing, the streets are filled with mud from all the digging, and usually I don't even bother to shoot in these dull, cloudy, gray days, but in combination with film simulation, the images still come out amazing, which is not something you hear very often from Sony Camera JPEGs.

With this profile I typically underexpose by -0.3 to -0.7 stops, but you can definitely overexpose, and even in hot areas like her hand the skin roll off comes out really nice.

Nighttime I would underexpose by 1 or 2 stops, but this is my personal preference since my style is darker, you can absolutely expose brighter, and I recommend experimenting in finding your own preference.

The Yellow and Green tones are stable pretty much no matter what, and that is the weakest point in sony cameras, which only further proves the versatility of this Film Picture Profile.

Here is a comparison between Sony's Standard profile with automatic white Balance vs The Kodak ultra Max 400 Film Simulation

▼Sony Standard Creative Style Look▼

▼Sony Kodak Ultra Max 400 Picture Profile Recipe▼

I am not proud of these shots. The outdoor weather is not the greatest, and I'm not in the greatest mood lately. Which is certainly not helping, but these images are a good reference to the kind of color you get with this Sony Film Simulation Recipe.

Loving to hear from the community, sending me your shots & what you think about them. I reply to every message and every comment, so why not check in and say hello?

Express yourself. It's the way to connect.

Each Sony camera model will come with a slightly different color science, and the rule is, the newer the model, the more pleasing colors you will get, but it might need some slight adjustments to get the exact same color I do.

To adjust film simulations to your own camera, you will have to slightly adjust the temperature and the tint of the camera using the Kelvin and Color filter settings.

Sony Film Simulation Recipes -PDF

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