Black and white · 2011

Monochrome

Plain black and white, harder and more graphic than ACROS.

Short answer

Monochrome is Fujifilm’s basic black and white simulation, available on every X Series camera ever made. It has a firmer tone curve and less shadow detail than ACROS, which makes it more graphic and less photographic.

Based on: Standard black and white processing
Type: Black and white
Introduced: 2011
Cameras with this simulation: 50

Monochrome has been on Fujifilm cameras since the first X100. It predates ACROS by five years and survives because it does something different: where ACROS gives you a print, Monochrome gives you a graphic.

How it differs from ACROS

Shadows close down faster and hold less texture. Midtones separate less finely. Highlights roll off more abruptly. Every one of those sounds like a fault, and on a portrait it is.

On a high-contrast subject it is not. Strong sunlight on white walls, shadows on a staircase, a silhouette against a window — subjects that are about shape rather than tone are cleaner in Monochrome, because ACROS keeps detail you did not want.

When to use it

Graphic street work in hard light. Architecture reduced to lines. Any picture where you want blacks to be black rather than dark grey with information in them.

Also, on cameras that do not have ACROS — anything before the X-Pro2 — it is your only black and white option, and it is a good one when treated as a hard look rather than a soft one.

Settings

Sharpness +1 suits the graphic intent. Leave grain off unless you want the digital-grain look; without ACROS’s ISO-aware algorithm, added grain sits on top of the image rather than inside it.

Shadow +2 and Highlight +1 pushes it fully into high-contrast territory for stark, poster-like frames.