Kodak Ultramax 400 Decoded – PictureFX Lut vs Olympus AI Recipe

Since the Cinestill 800 T AI Recipe proved to be quite popular among many Olympus users, here is yet another recipe created by our friendly Robot Photographer : ChatGPT. This happens to be my second most popular recipe on FreshLuts, namely the PictureFX Kodak Ultramax 400 V2.0.

But first ! in an earlier article, I mentioned that the future isn’t about Recipes but Luts. Yet here, I share a new Olympus recipe, which might make you wonder … However, the plan is for a future article to detail how you can transform a Recipe, Preset, Profile, or nearly any manual alteration in your photo editing software into a Lut.

Kodak Ultramax 400 is a versatile color negative film known for its fine grain, vibrant colors, and wide exposure latitude. It’s a popular choice for everyday photography, offering a good balance between speed, color rendition, and grain size. With an ISO of 400, it provides flexibility in various lighting conditions while maintaining good detail and color saturation.

Creating a film recipe for Kodak Ultramax 400 on Olympus cameras involves a bit of approximation since the cameras don’t have an exact Kodak Ultramax 400 preset. However, we can approximate the settings to achieve a similar look. Here’s a recipe you can try:

Kodak Ultramax 400 Film Recipe for Olympus Cameras :

For : Olympus E-M10 Mark IV, E-M5 Mark III, E-M1X, E-M1 Mark III, OM-1 & OM1 Mark II

1. ISO: 400 – Set to 400 to match the film speed of Kodak Ultramax 400.
2. WB (White Balance): Auto – Keep it on Auto to adjust according to the lighting conditions.
3. WB Adjustment Amber: +1 (slightly warmer tones) – Increase slightly to add warmth, mimicking the warm tones of Kodak Ultramax 400.
4. WB Adjustment Green: 0 – No adjustment is needed unless you’re compensating for a specific greenish tint in the lighting.
5. Picture Mode: Natural or Muted – Use Natural or Muted for a balanced color profile.
6. Sharpness: 0 (default) – Keep it at default to avoid oversharpening.
7. Contrast: +1 – Increase slightly to add punchiness to the images.
8. Gradation: Auto – Keep it on Auto for dynamic adjustment.
9. Saturation: +1 – Increase slightly to enhance the vibrancy of colors, typical of Kodak Ultramax 400.

Notes:

• This recipe aims to replicate the look and feel of Kodak Ultramax 400 film, but exact replication may not be possible due to differences between digital and film.
• Experiment with the settings based on your personal preference and the specific shooting conditions.
• Remember to adjust settings as per the lighting conditions and your creative vision for each shot.
• It’s recommended to shoot in RAW format alongside this recipe for more flexibility in post-processing.

Feel free to adjust these settings further based on your own preferences and the specific shooting conditions you encounter.

PictureFX Kodak Ultramax 400 V2.0 LUT on FreshLUTS

However, nothing is easier and yields better results than shooting in RAW and simply applying the PictureFX Kodak Ultramax 400 LUT.

As always with LUTs, the outcome heavily depends on the camera, subject, lighting conditions, and exposure. Therefore, you need to adjust the opacity or strength of the LUT to your taste, and possibly make minor exposure adjustments as well.

The PictureFX Kodak Ultramax 400 v2.0 LUT has already been downloaded around 3300 times and has received 104 likes. And as with all PictureFX LUTs: Free to download :

https://freshluts.com/luts/944

The PictureFX Kodak Ultramax 400 v2.0 LUT is compatible with almost any color grading software package, including Adobe Lightroom, Darktable, and others.

If by chance your software package does not support this specific LUT in .cube format, you can visit the Color.io free online LUT converter below and select the output of your favorite camera or software.

For RawTherapee users: download this version in .cube format and convert it for free here : https://www.vertopal.com/en/convert/cube-to-png or https://www.color.io/free-online-lut-converter

Some pictures are created with AI using Dall-E

This article was written by Marc R.
While I primarily speak Dutch and have some knowledge of English and a little French, ChatGPT helps ensure my writing is grammatically correct. I often mix Dutch and English in my drafts, and ChatGPT steps in to translate and correct.

La Gallerie

The photo gallery of Open Source Photography, Olympus micro 4/3 system, Vintage Lens Photograpy, Film Simulation, PictureFX, HDR – Photographer : Marc R.

Don’t Pay for PictureFX !

There are sites selling PictureFX Luts for money, Do Not Pay ! PictureFX is free !

All PictureFX Luts are FREE an can be downloaded FREE @ Open Source Photography & FreshLuts

PictureFX is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0