X-Equals attempt at replicating Fuji Velvia 100 @ 80

Last week I looked at the X-Equals preset collection Cold Storage. Today and tomorrow, I’ll be looking at Cold Storage Volume 2. Today will be dedicated to the color options in Cold Storage 2 and tomorrow will tackle the black and white presets.

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Fuji Velvia. What more needs to be said? For many color photographers coming from a film background, no more explanation is needed. For those of you who started out with digital, Velvia is a transparency (slide) film that was favored by landscape and nature photographers for its strong saturation, fine grain, high contrast and incredible sharpness. It was also my film of choice when shooting landscape or travel work, and since moving to digital in 2004, I’ve been on the lookout for a good digital emulation of it. I currently have about 10 different Velvia presets in Lightroom, made by a variety of people. They are good – I use them all from time to time – but none seem to really get it right. Until now. X-Equals preset Velvia 100 @ 80 (see opening image) gets it right pretty much all the time. Since installing this preset it has become my go to for scenic photographs. This one preset alone is worth the $14.99 that Cold Storage 2 is priced at. Compare the colors in the above image with the original unprocessed version that is below.

Original image with a straight RAW-JPG conversion.

That’s not the only Velvia emulation in this collection. There’s also a Velvia with X-Pro curve and a cross processed version. Sticking with Fuji chromes, there’s also Fuji Sensia 100, a general all-purpose slide film. On the print film side of things, Fuji is presented with a range of different offerings both general and professional including Fuji 160C, Fuji 160S, Fuji 400H, Fuji 800Z, Fujicolor Press 800 and Superia 100

Velvia X-Pro Curve

Fuji 160 C and 160S

More Fuji presets

Kodak films are also well represented. Steve McCurry may have the last roll of Kodachrome but lovers of the film can find three Kodachrome presets in Cold Storage 2. Also included are presets for Elitechrome, Ektachrome on the transparency side of things, and High Definition 400 and Ultra Color on the print film end.

Kodachrome ASA10

More from Kodak.

Rounding out the color presets are three from Agfa – RSX II 50, RSX II 100 and RSX II 200 – and a couple of Polaroids, in this case Polaroid 600 and Polaroid High Definition 200. I only ever used Agfa films once or twice, and never really got into Polaroid, but these are nice options to have. I particularly like the contrasty Agfa RSXII 50.

Agfa RSX II 50

Agfa offerings

Polaroid presets.

That wraps up the look at the color presets in Cold Storage 2. I’ve already made Fuji Velvia 100 @ 80 my default develop preset that I use on import with landscape-style images. That preset alone saves me a great deal of computer time, which gives me more time for shooting. Check back tomorrow when I look at the black and white and IR presets in the collection.

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