Reggie’s Portra Recipe on Sony: A Bold Rival to Fujifilm X-T5?
One of the most beloved and versatile recipe for Fujifilm cameras, recreated in your Sony camera. I've received multiple request from users, asking me if I can recreate Reggie's Portra recipe on Sony cameras, so I made a pretty darn close replica!
Scroll down to find the recipe & straight out of camera JPEGs. 👇
Just a Heads-Up!
This recipe won’t be included in the film simulation PDF, as recreating Fujifilm recipes isn’t really the goal of this project. However, because of its popularity and all the positive feedback, many users requested a similar version for their Sony cameras—so I decided to share it as a special one-time gift!
I've also created a simulation of the Kodak Portra 400 - this one's available in the PDF pack.
About Reggie's Portra Recipe
This recipe is considered to be one of the most versatile ones out there, a good option for pretty much any scenario—like street photography, night photography, portraits, travel, everyday documentation of life, and more. With its neutral saturation and color, I can understand why Reggie Ballesteros describes it as such. It’s simply a well-balanced film simulation recipe with subtle saturation and no strong color shifts, which gives it versatility across a wide range of subjects and styles.
Reggie created this recipe starting from Fuji X Weekly Portra 400 recipe, and tuned it to match as closely as possible to his real Kodak Portra 400 film scans, while giving it a little digital freedom. He says that the recipe is a perfect balance between film aesthetic and digital clarity.
This recipe uses auto-white balance, which makes it a very convenient recipe for beginners or users that only want to snap pictures without the care of full manual. The camera will automatically analyze the scene and choose what it considers to be the best settings for a perfect white balance, or Ambient white balance, depends on what option you pick. For this recipe, I chose AWB: White, which will try to find the best settings for pure white results. This will render accurate colors without taking the ambiance into consideration, and usually it's better for skin tones.
This recipe was made for Fujifilm X100V (X-Trans IV) and Fujifilm X-T5 (X-Trans V) cameras.
The weather’s been ridiculously gloomy lately, which hasn’t exactly made testing this recipe easy. But luckily, a burst of sunshine broke through, giving me the perfect window to try it out. So far, results come very close to Reggie's simulation.
If I'll find ways to improve it, I'll update the settings in this blog. If you enjoy this recipe, please add a link to this blog or credit me in the description. Thanks!
Disclaimer
I tested this recipe on the Sony a6700 and compared it against my Fujifilm X-T5, and they come very close together, but you need to understand these are 2 completely different cameras. Now, due to variations in sensor technology, each camera model within the Fuji & Sony line-up will be different in terms of color science, especially if they have been released years apart. These variations mean that when comparing models across both brands, you might spot subtle, or bigger differences in color reproduction and image quality. These differences are normal, and some of them can be fixed using my step by step color matching technique. However, cameras released in the same year generally share nearly identical color science, which helps streamline comparisons.
Deep dive 👉 I’ve compared multiple Sony camera models, focusing on their color output, and included a step-by-step guide to closely color matching them using only White Balance adjustments and Sony's Picture Profile settings.
Since this recipe uses Auto White Balance (AWB), the temperature settings can sometimes be unpredictable, causing variations when comparing shots between cameras. Most of the time, both cameras will select similar AWB values, but occasionally, one might lean warmer while the other looks cooler, and vice versa. This happens because the cameras constantly analyze the scene and adjust temperature accordingly.
Personally, I avoid AWB for this reason—it can be inconsistent, but since Reggie's Portra 400 recipe relies on it, I kept the Sony version the same. After all, convenience is a big part of why people love film simulations!
Reggie's Portra - Fuji X-T5 vs Sony a6700 Comparison
The recipe comes quite close with a minor difference. The Sony a6700 recipe is slightly on the green side as for now, with skies leaning towards cyan compared to the Fuji. This detail was fixed after checking the comparison, adjusting the recipe for a better match.
Exposure Tips
As seen in the images above, Sony is slightly brighter at the same exposure settings compared to Fuji. So keep in mind to underexpose your shots by a third, or even half a stop, to get the same exposure as on a Fuji camera.
Reggie's Portra 400 film simulation recipe with Sony Picture Profiles
Here are the settings for Sony cameras!
Black level -5
Gamma Movie
Black Gamma Wide -7
Knee 90% +3
Color Mode S-Cinetone
Saturation -3
Color Phase +2
R 0
G+7
B+2
C+5
M+3
Y+1
Detail 0
Adjust > Manual
V/H Balance 0
B/W Balance Type3
Limit 0
Crispening 7
Hi-Light Detail 4
AWB:White - A2:G0.5
P.S - If you want to achieve a softer look, try pairing this with a diffusion filter. It can add that dreamy film-like quality that many users love.
Alternative Portra Recipe for older Sony cameras without S-Cinetone Color Mode
If you don't have S-Cinetone on your camera, I created another version based on Still color mode.
Still color mode will come closest in color mapping from all color modes, but of course, there will be differences between the two. Still color mode has more saturated yellows, and you will need to use slightly different settings to get a similar image:
Black level -5
Gamma Movie
Black Gamma Wide -7
Knee 95% +2
Color Mode Still
Saturation -1
Color Phase +1
R 0
G+7
B+2
C+4
M+3
Y+2
Detail 0
Adjust > Manual
V/H Balance 0
B/W Balance Type3
Limit 0
Crispening 7
Hi-Light Detail 4
AWB:White - A2
More JPEGs with Reggie's Portra recipe on the Sony a6700
I hope you enjoy this recipe and that it demonstrates Sony's versatility and power when recreating iconic looks. If you’re interested in my full bundle, you can find all Sony film simulations in my store.
Happy shooting! Share this with your friends if you like it!
Thanks for stopping by 💚
Wow, I am amazed. Thank you for your incredible work. And yes, with the approach of creating an AWB variant for everyday use, you have absolutely captured my heart. As soon as I'm finished with the office, I'll try to collect my first impressions.
Many thanks, best wishes and a successful 2025
Thank you so much, Veres! I’ve just added this to the Memory Recall #3 setting on my A7CR.
Great research and work you are doing for both Sony and Fuji communities! Keeep it up!