A couple of weeks ago we reported about how you can transfer an unlimited amount of recipes on your Fujifilm camera.
In super short: create how many backups of your camera on your phone using the official Fujifilm X App and name those backups after the recipes you’ve stored. Then you can restore the backups anytime based on which set of recipes you want on your C1-C7 slots – full video guide here.
The advantages of this method:
- free
- via official Fujifilm app
- works wirelessly, which allows for easy recipe change on the field
Yes, there are third party Apps, including now also Fuji X Weekly, who can transfer recipes to the camera. But I for the purpose of transferring recipes I still prefer the X App because third parties have some downsides:
The Downsides
- you have to pay
- you need a cable to transfer the recipes
- third party apps are non official Fujifilm Apps, hence, if something goes wrong and breaks your camera’s software, Fujiflm won’t fix your camera free of charge
Is This the Solution?
But now a new App is out that promises to fix at least one of these three issues: the need for a cable.
The new Huginn film recipe app allows for wireless recipe transfers on your camera.
The problem with Huginn Recipe App:
Sounds good so far, but let’s talk downsides and doubts.
- you need to pay to be able to push recipes wirelessly to your camera
- you need to pair this app to the camera, I guess this will disconnect the official X App and will require to make the whole pairing registration again if you want to use the X App again
My doubts… and conclusions:
As so often with Recipe Apps, I am skeptical about this one, too.
Why?
Well, for example, it looks like you can’t filter recipes by camera model (not even in the Pro version) — an instant dealbreaker for me.
So, if you have a camera that lacks certain film simulations or features like Grain, Color Chrome Effect, etc., you won’t be able to list only the recipes that are relevant to your camera.
This is a major oversight, and it makes me believe that they simply took the latest Fujifilm camera, checked which settings are available on it, and thought that these settings would apply to all Fujifilm cameras.
I didn’t try it, but I wonder what happens to your camera if you set up a recipe that includes the Color Chrome FX Effect and try to push it to an older Fujifilm camera that doesn’t have this setting at all. Will it break your camera software?
Also, at no point does the app tell you which camera a certain recipe can be applied to, which is something that, for example, Fuji X Weekly does, because they know that not all recipes work on all Fujifilm cameras.
Last but not least: the company reached out to me offering a free Pro version (which I didn’t accept, of course), and in their email they wrote to me that even the Fujifilm X App needs a cable to transfer recipes. Which is wrong, as we have shown at the top of this article.
So why report about it?
Honestly, I did not intend to publish anything about this, given my doubts. But the App has now been featured on PetaPixel, and since it will now definitely get more popular, I feel like I need to give you my perspective on this App.
The last time PetaPixel reported about a recipe App, it was a horrible App that I tested myself, with completely wrong and nonsensical settings all over the place. At the time, I decided to ignore the App, but I should have warned my readers that PetaPixel is not aware of what they are advertising.
This time, I decided to quickly tell you what I think about it. And if you want to get a more in-depth look at the whole recipe App business, check out this article.
The Hope
Will Huginn get better?
I hope so. But it needs to look at all Fujifilm cameras ever released, look at what film simulation and IQ features each camera has, and let me filter the recipes by camera model. And when creating a recipe, it should allow me to insert my camera model first, grey out the settings and film simulation that are not available on that model, and only then let me insert my recipe.
My Solution
I have settled on this solution: use the official Fujifilm X App for wireless transfer of recipes, using the method we explained here, and use the Fuji X Weekly App to browse recipe ideas.
But if you want to give it a try, you can get the Huginn App here.
Disclaimers:
Huginn offered me a free Pro version. I did not accept this offer. I know I talk good about Fuji X Weekly, but also they don’t pay me anything. I just know for a fact that he is a true Fujifilm lover and as such I trust what he creates with his App.
App Description
The first app to send custom film recipes to a Fujifilm camera wirelessly. One recipe or all seven, even with the camera switched off in your bag, so tomorrow’s looks are loaded before you take it out. Writing a whole palette in a single pass, with no cable, is a first too. Plug in over USB-C any time you prefer it.The look first, the settings underneath
A recipe is a feeling, not a table of numbers. Sample photographs lead every card. Film simulation, white balance shift, tone curve, color, grain and clarity are all there when you want to tune, and tucked away when you just want to shoot.Start a recipe from anything
Write one from scratch. Read one out of your own Fuji JPEG, straight from the settings baked into the file. Scan a recipe off a page or a screenshot with the camera. Or paste a code someone sent you and Huginn rebuilds it exactly.Film palettes
Group seven recipes into a palette for a shoot, then load all seven slots at once, wirelessly.Drive the camera from your phone
Over Bluetooth, with no cable: ISO, aperture, exposure compensation, and the drive mode. Change the whole recipe on the body from where you are standing, not just the base simulation. Fujifilm’s own app only switches between stills and video. Huginn gives you the full set of drive modes, plus a self timer and an intervalometer it does not offer at all.Back up your camera, wirelessly
Save and restore the whole camera, or a single custom slot on its own. Per-slot is a first: everywhere else, backup is all or nothing. Rebuild one look you overwrote without disturbing the other six.
Virtual bracketing
Other apps can render a frame through one recipe. Huginn sends it through your entire library in a single pass, so you see one frame in every look you own and keep the one that was always right. No Fujifilm body can do that by itself. The renders are real, made by the same sensor and processor that made the file, never approximated in software.
Your camera is the render engine
Connect over USB-C and Huginn runs a RAW file back through your camera’s own processor, at full resolution. See the look before you commit to it, and keep the one that was always right.
Choose the look, then send it to your Fujifilm wirelessly.
Huginn is a curated film simulation library that lives one tap from your camera. Browse a portfolio of real looks, tune your own, and send any recipe straight to your camera’s C1 to C7 custom slots without a cable. No menus. No numbers typed by hand. Nothing plugged in.
The first app to send custom film recipes to a Fujifilm camera wirelessly. One recipe or all seven, even with the camera switched off in your bag, so tomorrow’s looks are loaded before you take it out. Writing a whole palette in a single pass, with no cable, is a first too. Plug in over USB-C any time you prefer it.The look first, the settings underneath
A recipe is a feeling, not a table of numbers. Sample photographs lead every card. Film simulation, white balance shift, tone curve, color, grain and clarity are all there when you want to tune, and tucked away when you just want to shoot.Start a recipe from anything
Write one from scratch. Read one out of your own Fuji JPEG, straight from the settings baked into the file. Scan a recipe off a page or a screenshot with the camera. Or paste a code someone sent you and Huginn rebuilds it exactly.Film palettes
Group seven recipes into a palette for a shoot, then load all seven slots at once, wirelessly.Drive the camera from your phone
Over Bluetooth, with no cable: ISO, aperture, exposure compensation, and the drive mode. Change the whole recipe on the body from where you are standing, not just the base simulation. Fujifilm’s own app only switches between stills and video. Huginn gives you the full set of drive modes, plus a self timer and an intervalometer it does not offer at all.Back up your camera, wirelessly
Save and restore the whole camera, or a single custom slot on its own. Per-slot is a first: everywhere else, backup is all or nothing. Rebuild one look you overwrote without disturbing the other six.
Virtual bracketing
Other apps can render a frame through one recipe. Huginn sends it through your entire library in a single pass, so you see one frame in every look you own and keep the one that was always right. No Fujifilm body can do that by itself. The renders are real, made by the same sensor and processor that made the file, never approximated in software.
Your camera is the render engine
Connect over USB-C and Huginn runs a RAW file back through your camera’s own processor, at full resolution. See the look before you commit to it, and keep the one that was always right.