Anyone move from Fuji to Z5ii

Irishphoto

New member
Hi looking for advice, thinking of moving from Fuji, how does the color button work, can you get Fuji colors, what lens did you choose, I have xs10 x100v which I will keep, 23 1.4 33 1.4 56 1.4 16-80 f4 55 -200 thanks!!!
 

BF Hammer

Senior Member
I have not been a user of Fuji and I only have the 1st generation Z5.

The Nikon terminology is Picture Controls for the color profiles. With the default setup, the Picture Controls are available after pressing the "i" button and selecting in the menu that appears. You can preload profiles on your memory card to use, some are already available (like B/W).

Here is an overview from Nikon

There is a software package for creating your own custom profiles, but it is some advanced stuff. Far easier to download profiles at this website:
That is not an official Nikon site though. I have played with some of the film simulation profiles. Personally I still think Nikon Normal profile is the most accurate color to eyesight. But if you expect color to pop, you will want to change to something else.

My first Z-mount lens is a 24-70mm f/4 and I adapted my older F-mount lenses as I slowly have been buying replacements. You may want to give strong consideration to the Z24-120mm f/4 as that was still very new when I was shopping. The closest lens in your Fuji kit to that is the 16-80mm f/4 (considering the 1.5x crop factor of the Fuji compared to the full-frame sensor Z5II).
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
I've played with Nikon's Picture Controls (aka "recipes") and while it's not difficult, the process isn't very intuitive, either. To answer your question directly, yes it's possible to get Fuji-like colors straight out of a Nikon camera that has these color profile options available.

You'll find a few tutorials on YouTube, which probably explain the process better than I can via text here. I found this video helpful, AND he discusses Fuji colors specifically.

IMHO the biggest downside to how Nikon implemented this: WB isn't included in the picture controls. Yes, you can make custom WB and store them in-camera, but it adds another step to an already convoluted process. Personally, I think it's easier to just shoot raw and edit your images in post. There are plenty of Fuji color Lightroom presets out there to choose from.
 

crashton

Senior Member
I moved from Nikon's to Fuji's. Enjoyed my Nikon SLRs and DSLRs , but I'm loving my Fuji's. I would like to try a Nikon mirrorless, but the cost of admission is holding me back. I'm sure you could tweek the Nikon files to give you any look you'd like.
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
I switched to shooting RAW a while back. I have been shooting some pre-release capture images with my Z8 recently, and they are JPG only. I had forgotten the limitations of JPG images vs RAW.

IOW, I'm with Browncoat, shoot in RAW and forget the in camera Picture Controls. You will have more control over your images that way. To me, the only reason shooting in JPG makes sense is if you are going to be shooting a bunch of images and are going to use them without editing them.
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
@crashton and I are in a similar situation. I was a long time user of Nikon's and bought my first Fuji in 2015 to have a small travel camera. Ultimately I wound up selling my D850e and settling on Fuji.

@Browncoat is spot on with the Picture Controls in Nikon. It takes more work with how Nikon has chosen to implement "recipes". Are you looking to shoot JPEGs and use images SOOC? Is that the reason behind your question?
 

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
I switched to shooting RAW a while back. I have been shooting some pre-release capture images with my Z8 recently, and they are JPG only. I had forgotten the limitations of JPG images vs RAW.

IOW, I'm with Browncoat, shoot in RAW and forget the in camera Picture Controls. You will have more control over your images that way. To me, the only reason shooting in JPG makes sense is if you are going to be shooting a bunch of images and are going to use them without editing them.
I shoot JPEG+RAW. That lets me easily share a JPEG reflecting a recipe via the X App. I have LrC setup to import without processing and the previews also reflect the recipe. Here is an admittedly crappy set of images in LrC where I was trying 3 different recipes. It is one reason why I have the X-E5 on preorder as my future everyday walk around camera since it has the new film simulation dial.

Screenshot 2025-07-02 at 9.23.35 AM.png
 

Clovishound

Senior Member
I also shoot RAW + JPEG, but for a different reason. I have the camera save JPEGs to my SD card, and NEFs to my primary CF Express. I use the JPEGs strictly as an emergency backup. I can shoot for months before filling up the SD secondary card. I much prefer to work with RAW files, but can live with a JPEG, if the RAW file is lost due to card/drive failure/user error.
 

BF Hammer

Senior Member
While I agree with shooting Raw and tweeking the color layer, I tried to answer the OP's question in a direct manner.

I have to disagree with the people complaining about Picture Control being difficult to use. Rolling a custom color profile all by yourself with the software is the hard part. But if you visit the second website I linked to, it is just a matter of selecting profiles and downloading. The site shows previews of how the profiles alter the colors on an assortment of images to choose from. On Z series cameras you write them to your memory card and select from the I-button menu. It's fairly painless. And the EVF shows your composition with the Picture Controls profile applied. Even with a B/W profile. Want to go back to normal? Just press the I-menu, touch the Picture Control icon, scroll to select Normal again. I think I remember 12 or 16 profiles can be stored to select from.
 
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