Can a Nikon look like a Fuji? An AI says yes.

In my last post I wrote about borrowing a Fujifilm X-E5 to find out whether the grass was greener. My conclusion was that the film simulations are good but not better — just different — and that Nikon’s Flexible Picture Control on the Z5 II and Z6 III looked like it could produce richer results. I found a deal on a Z6 III, ordered it, and waited.

The camera arrived. First order of business: set up a custom Picture Control using Flexible Picture Control, aiming for the kind of rendering that made Fujifilm so appealing — vivid, slightly lifted greens, smooth shadows with a gentle glow, a look that feels alive without being garish. No post-processing, just the in-camera JPEG.

Why I didn't move to Fujifilm

2026-05-01 Photography Ben Gidley

I prefer shooting JPEG. I’ll do RAW when I need to — DXO PhotoLab does a good job — but most of the time I can’t be bothered. So colour straight out of camera matters to me, and that’s what started this whole detour.

I’ve been shooting on a Z5 with Picture Control 2 and it’s fine, but I’ve felt its limits. Meanwhile Fujifilm’s reputation for gorgeous straight-out-of-camera JPEGs kept coming up, and the influencer community around film simulation recipes was hard to ignore. Add in the metal body, the mechanical dials, the overall feel of the thing — I learned photography on a fully manual film SLR and Fujifilm clearly understands that shooting experience in a way most modern cameras don’t. I was tempted.