Mood.camera recipe - Cuban Neg π·
My iPhone photography publishing workflow for a long time consisted of shooting with Halide and editing via Lightroom Mobile. When mood.camera launched, I was immediately drawn to its recipe-based shooting, focused on taking the shot and less on the output afterwards.
Using the app reminded me of my own Fuji camera, which I bought for its stunning out-of-camera photos.
However, the big issue with the recipes of mood.camera was that they were predefined. There were some options towards grain and tone/contrast, but not to the extent that you could define your own recipes.
This has been resolved with its latest release.
Using any of the available emulations, you can tweak saturation, temperature, tint, grain, ... to come to the look you want.
Currently, 16 emulations are available, which you can use as starting point for a recipe.
With the help of Chatgpt I made this overview1, helping me to understand and select the correct emulation for my use-cases, coming to my own Cuban Neg variation.
Jump to the recipe‡ or check the emulation overview first.
Emulation overview
ποΈ Film-Inspired Emulations
| Emulation | Inspiration / Vibe | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Portra | Kodak Portra 400 | Soft, pastel colours with warm skin tones. |
| Gold | Kodak Gold 200 | Punchier and warmer than Portra. Good for vintage family photos, sunny outdoor shots. Add grain for full retro. |
| Vista | Fuji Superia / Agfa Vista | Slight green/magenta push, more saturated. Good for everyday street shots. Less subtle than Portra. |
| Analog | General film sim | Adds grain, desaturation, possibly fade. Feels retro, like expired film. Good for urban decay/street. |
| Cine | Cinema film (Kodak Vision?) | Muted shadows, warm mids. Great for storytelling, moody edits. Use fade + bloom for extra drama. |
| Chrome | Fuji Classic Chrome | Muted contrast, blue shadows, warm highlights. Documentary/street vibe. Looks great in harsh light. |
| Calypso | Possibly Kodak Ektar? | Bright, saturated, tropical. Use for travel/colourful scenes. |
π€ Monochrome/B&W Emulations
| Emulation | Inspiration / Vibe | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Mono | Clean B&W | Clean, modern black & white emulation. Best for portraits, minimalist compositions, or architectural shots where clarity and tone separation matter. Combine with fade, subtle grain, and controlled contrast for elegance. |
| Noir | High contrast B&W | Closer to Ilford HP5 pushed or Kodak Tri-X. Use for street/drama. Add grain & boost mids. |
π₯ Stylised or Modern Looks
| Emulation | Inspiration / Vibe | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Xpro | Cross-processed film | Greens and blues go wild. Great for stylised edits. Not Leica-like. |
| Xenon | Glowy, high contrast | Feels cinematic or dreamy. Possibly similar to glowing lens filters. Use with bloom. |
| Apollo | Cold sci-fi film look | Desaturated, bluish tones. Works with portraits in cool lighting or fashion. |
| Metro | Urban/street neon | Boosted blues, reds, contrast. For nighttime city shots. Not natural, but very cool. |
| Arizona | Warm, dusty tones | Earthy desert vibe. Nice with fade. Good for outdoor golden hour. |
| Taiga | Cool, misty forest vibe | Muted greens, cold tones. Use for foggy forest, travel. |
| Stock | Neutral base | Like Rec.709 for film. Good if you want to tweak from scratch. |
gobino's Cuban Neg recipe
Ever since I found the Classic Cuban Negative recipe from Osan Bilgi for Fujifilm, I've been using a tweaked version for most of my own Fuji daily life and travel shooting.
With mood.camera I tried to create my own inspired Cuban Neg version. The result I came up with is perhaps a bit brighter, warmer and more colourful, but I'm very happy with how it looks. I've been testing it through various scenarios (low light, sunshine, clouds,...) with great output without the need for much tweaking afterwards.
This has become my go-to recipe for any quick shot I want to take on daily life or family snaps.
Settings
EMULATION
- Emulation: GOLD
- Strength: HIGH
- Saturation: +2
- Temp: +1
- Tint: +0
QUALITY
- Grain level: 1
- Grain size: FINE
- Halation: OFF
- Aberration: OFF
- Bloom: LOW
TONE
- Exposure: +0
- Contrast: +1
- Mids: +0
- Fade: +1
- Mute: +0
Sample shots
Thanks for reading!
If you liked this post, leave me a reply via direct message, my socials or my guestbook.
And in case you linked back to this post or wrote a comment on your website, let me know to update my web interactions.
Open the below toggle for more information to reply or link to this post.
π¬ I'd like to hear from you -
Comment on this post that is automatically posted to my account on Mastodon or Bluesky.
Or send me a direct message.
π Did you link to this post? Let me know!
Did you write a follow-up to my post or link here from your site?
Submit the URL of your article or site to notify me and add it to the web interactions.
Results may be inaccurate as they are AI-generated, but for those I checked, they do offer a good explanation and starting point.↩