The Perfect OM Recipes for the Film Look on Olympus and OM-System Cameras
Last week I lost yet another battle to the Pen-F's creative dial and the colour wheels. I ended up deciding to go back online to find expert help and found OM Recipes. It is a great catalogue of recipes for OM System and Olympus cameras. I even saw a recipe made by me on there.
In today's blog we are taking three recipes and pitting them against each other to figure out which is best for in-camera JPEGs for that soft filmic look.
The Setup
Camera: Olympus Pen-F.
Lens: Lumix 20mm f1.7.
Field of View: About 40mm full frame.
Quality: The glass gives very nice images but the autofocus is slow.
Contestant One: OMTC - ‘Soft’
This recipe from One Month Two Cameras credits Joel Meyerowitz and is described as dreamy.
Contrast: I am a fan of these lower contrast curves.
Colours: The images feel balanced and warm without feeling oversaturated.
Light: It looks really nice in narrow streets or even in the shade with flat light.
Tones: I really enjoy the skin tones and natural blues and greens.
It feels like a clean film look.
Contestant Two: Dave Herring - ‘Vibrant Chrome’
This recipe from Dave Herring is based on colour profile three. It drops the saturation of the greens and creates more vibrant warm tones.
Vibe: It looks very saturated and vibrant.
Feel: It started to feel like Martin Parr photos at the beach.
Comparison: It gives a feeling of Kodak Ultramax.
I have an Ultramax preset for RAW files and the JPEG recipe is pretty similar. If you like these presets, use code: OMRECIPE20OFF for an extra 20% off on my store.
Contestant Three: James Bloomer - ‘Portra 400’
Portra 400 is one of the most popular film stocks and simulations for digital photographers.
Dynamic Range: This recipe does a good job retaining dynamic range in a JPEG preview.
Contrast: The flatness is flattering for high contrast situations.
Balance: Everything looks nice and balanced.
It handles a natural look very well, though sometimes it feels almost too flat.
The Winner…
Between all three recipes, the winner is One Month Two Cameras ‘Soft’ recipe.
It handles colours in an aesthetically pleasing way without feeling like too much. It is a stylised feeling, not just a straight out of camera image.
I also shot a Kodachrome recipe from Gareth B during a grey time of year in the UK and Italy back around Christmas in 2025. You can watch that full video over here
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What style can I expect from these presets?
These presets are based on specific Kodak Film Stocks, Fujifilm Film Stocks and various film stocks I have shot in various lighting conditions which you can see in the preview images for each pack.
How many presets are in this pack?
30 - with low and high grain versions for each preset.
Each preset has both .xmp and .dng file types.
Which software supports these presets?
You can choose from these Adobe softwares:
Lightroom Classic
Lightroom CC Desktop
Lightroom CC Mobile
Photoshop (adobe camera raw)
