Master high contrast, low contrast, high key, low key, and everything in between with darkroom controls that harken back to another era.

Create Thousands of New Film-Look Presets

Simulate traditional chemical films such as Tri-X, Kodachrome, Velvia, FP4 and dozens more, plus many popular papers such as Portra, MCP and Fomaspeed.

Get Traditional Looks with Traditional Controls

• Choose Filter, Film, and Paper
• Select your Camera and Enlarger Exposures
• Fine tune Dynamic Range and Colour Response
• Precise Mathematic Simulation Algorithms

Nostalgia at Work

The first three are variations of Kodak Tri-X printed on Fomaspeed paper, the next is Imagelink, and the the highest contrast one which is Kodalith. Original exposure at the end!

And here are the curves.

Wide World of Colour

This series shows six different colour variations, as described below.

Velvia, Kodachrome 40, Polaroid 669, Portra on Portra Endura, Superia on Crystal Archive, Imagelink on Prestige (faux colour).

Paper Variations

This series shows the six variations of Agfa MultiContrast Premium B&W paper, from filter 0 through filter 5. Exposure was made on Ilford FP4 through an orange 16 filter.

Here are the tone curves created for that series:

The strong orange filtration alters the relative brightness of the sky compared to the field, thus compressing

Here's the original exposure.

So What does Nostalgia DO?

Nostalgia essentially gives Lightroom a bunch of extra Develop mode controls oriented towards creating film-like looks.

Take a look at the interface:

Hard to believe, but take a look at the sample images then download the fully functional unlimited time trial version and see for yourself!

Trial and Purchasing Information

Nostalgia for Lightroom is offered for immediate download in a try-before-you-buy version so you can get a feel for how it works and what benefits it will bring to your creativity.

The trial is not time limited or watermarked and is completely functional but has a limited number of films and papers to choose from. If you'd like to unlock the entire suite of film and paper types (full list at the bottom of this page), you can purchase a licence key which will unlock your copy of Nostalgia immediately.

Works with Lightroom 3 and 4, on Windows & Mac. Colour tone curves are only available with Lightroom 4.

Download Fully Functional Trial

Get the ZIP file, unzip, then use Lightroom's plug-in manager to install.

Unlock All Films & Papers - Introductory Price $25 USD

The full suite of films and paper simulations in Nostalgia for Lightroom is available for $25.

Purchase now. (Once there, please create an account to use my shopping cart system. You will never be spammed.)

How it Works

Nostalgia simulates the exposure of film in a camera, plus optionally a second exposure of film in a darkroom. Much effort is made to simulate this accurately while still providing adjustments we are accustomed to in the digital world.

Please understand that there's a lot of gibberish in this description that, generally, only very old people will understand. Words like "latitude" and "emulsion" and "slides" which date from the age when film cameras roamed the earth, flapping their loaders and consuming disposable income almost as quickly as iTunes.

A Very Fancy Tone Curve Tool

When you get right down to it, Nostalgia is a very fancy, very complex way of editing Lightroom's Tone Curve. But that's like saying that Led Zeppelin is a very fancy, very complex way of moving a loudspeaker. What we are after, is finesse.

Step by Step

Nostalgia treats the Tone Curve as the final result of series of mathematical simulations of real-world processes. Here's a description of what is happening under the hood, at each stage:

1. Lightroom's internal ProPHOTO RGB colourspace is converted to adjusted linear luminance values, according to the dynamic range of your camera (Camera Dynamic Range)
2. Camera stock selection and preparation (Film Stock)
3. Colour filtration applied to luminance data (Colour Filter)
4. Camera exposure (Film Exposure)
5. Print stock selection and preparation (Paper Stock)
6. Camera-to-print stock exposure balancing (internal calculation)
7. Darkroom exposure (Paper Exposure)
8. Print density final adjustment (Original Black Point)
9. White point adjustment (Max White 253)
10. Conversion back to ProPHOTO RGB colour space
11. Translation into Tone Cuve edit points

The end result of all of these calculations is a Tone Curve -- but oh, those curves.

When you get confused, and you will get confused, just refer back to the list above to see which control does what. Then, after you've read it for the fifth time and are starting to get dizzy, you can scream and pull your hair out and say Mornington Crescent and boom just like that you win. It's so simple.

Get the Best Results

Tone Curves work best when they have a good image to work with.

1. Good white balance. Starting with good colour allows you to use Nostalgia's filter for special effects, instead of correcting bad balance.
2. Good exposure. It is better to use Lightroom's exposure control to correct a dark image than to use Nostalgia's camera control. Again, this lets Nostalgia's controls be used creatively instead of for correction. (However, do not crush away any highlight detail.)
3. Maintain highlight headroom. An important characteristic of film is preserving highlight detail. Use highlight recovery if necessary to restore any lost detail in your shot before using Nostalgia.

Save your Presets

You can also create Lightroom presets based on Nostalgia settings for very quick application of looks to a group of photos.

Saving a Nostalgia Tone Curve

Create a preset with just the following settings checked:

• Tone Curve
• Treatment
• Black and White Mix (if using B&W)

How To Use Nostalgia

To open Nostalgia, select the following menu item:

File > Plug-In Extras > Film Curve Creator 

Nostalgia's interface window will appear:

All of your interaction with Nostalgia takes place through this pop-up window.

Lightroom does not allow you to adjust image zoom or other settings while this window is open. Ensure you have the image view set to where you can effectively see the changes you will make with Nostalgia.

Once you have created a curve you are happy with, you must close the Nostalgia interface. To re-open Nostalgia, select the menu item again. Your previous settings will be retained.

Film Group

This group controls the simulated camera portion of Nostalgia's calculations.

Film Stock Selection

Chooses a film stock to simulate. The full roster of stocks is shown at the end of this page.

The left menu is the list of film stocks. That is, what you want to put in the simulated camera. Some film stocks have variations available. The variation describes the different behaviour of the stock under different circumstances, i.e. development time, chemical or temperature. Generally the variants have similar looks but more or less contrast.

Note that some film stocks are transparencies, slides or direct positives and therefore do not need a second printing step. These are called "positive" films, abbreviated in Nostalgia as Pos.

Exposure Slider

Controls the brightness of the scene sent to the simulated film, in stops.

Increase to make the image brighter. Decrease to darken it. The arrows on the right can be used to make prescribed adjustments to the exposure setting. Click on 0 to reset exposure.

Filter Selection

Adds a colour filter in front of the virtual camera lens.

When Color Process is turned off, the colour filter applies before the spectral condenser and thus may be used to create various levels of spectral sensitivity. In other words, a red filter will cause blue objects to appear dark, while a blue filter will cause blue objects to be light and red objects to be dark.

In order to make Nostalgia easier to use, filter values are normalized so that you will not need to make a compensation adjustment to the camera exposure. This is non-traditional but much less annoying.

The filter list shows some commonly used lens filters for both colour and B&W photography, in three groups. Filter names are chosen to match traditional camera filter names & numbers and can be totally confusing if you're new to the genre.

1. B/W filters are strong filters most useful for B&W photography.
2. CC filters are used for colour correction in different lighting environments.
3. Fx filters are subtle filters most useful for tweaks to portraits.

Camera Dynamic Range Selection

Specifies the contrast of the source material in stops from deep black to white. Should be realistically set for your capture device. In general, the following chart applies:

• Point & Shoot camera, high ISO, night/indoors - 5-6 (five stops)
• Point & Shoot camera, low ISO, daylight outdoors - 6-7 (six stops)
• Micro 4/3 or other mirrorless compact, 6-8 (six to eight stops)
• Consumer DSLR, 7-8 (seven stops)
• Pro DSLR, 8-10 (eight to nine stops)
• Digital Back, 9-11 (nine to eleven stops)
• Film scanner raw data, 12-16 (twelve to sixteen stops)

Do not overestimate the capabilities of your capture device. Doing so will cause unpleasant banding and speckles in the shadows. When in doubt, underestimate or perform real world tests to determine the capabilities of your device and compression scheme. The best simulation begins with the most carefully captured and considered data.

Paper Group

The Paper controls are available when using a negative-based film stock.

Paper Selection

The second group controls the paper you want to print the image on.

This is the "second exposure" that is made in the darkroom. Light is shone through the developed camera film onto the raw print stock, which is then developed.

Exposure Slider

Controls the brightness of the scene sent to the simulated print stock, in stops. (In general, the paper exposure is much more sensitive than the camera exposure.)

Increase to make the image brighter. Decrease to darken it. The arrows on the right can be used to make prescribed adjustments to the exposure setting. Click on 0 to reset exposure.

Simulation Settings

Colour Film Process Checkbox

Lightroom handles black and white processing very differently from colour processing. Nostalgia allows you to use both of Lightroom's processing pathways for both colour and B&W films. Which sounds wierd but is useful.

Colour Film Process is only available in Lightroom 4 and when using the 2012 development process. If you are using Lightroom 4 and colour is not available, check the Camera Calibration settings group and switch Process to 2012.

• B&W process with B&W film - Incoming colour channel data is condensed according to the spectral response of the film/paper by adjustment of the B&W mix, further modulated by the colour filter, and then summed to a single monochromatic value and saved as the Luminance Tone Curve.

• Colour process with Colour film - When Colour Process is enabled, all three colour channels are treated separately according to the specific rules of the simulated film and/or print stocks. Three different tone curves are created and stored in the Red, Green and Blue curves.

• Colour process with B&W film - Each colour channel will be processed individually through the monochrome path causing a full colour output using the RGB Tone Curves. In this way, you can use the response characteristics of a B&W film for creating vibrant colour output.

• B&W process with Colour film - Processed as B&W film with the response curve controlled by the overall response of the simulated colour emulsions. You get a single monochrome Tone Curve with a B&W mix controlled by your selected lens filter.

Original Black Point Checkbox

When checked, the darkest black that will be produced by Nostalgia will be the darkest black possible on the film/paper -- a true DMAX match. This creates a more realistic looking simulation with lighter black tones.

When unchecked, blacks are moved downward towards the ultimate digital black. This will produce richer shadows and deeper blacks without losing the filmic contrast curve. It's not as realistic, but it looks great.

Max White 253 Checkbox

This setting ensures that no histogram level will be higher than 253 on a scale of 0-255. This setting is useful when you are creating output for printers that apply a gloss enhancer to portions of the image that are not pure white. By ensuring that the lightest tone in the image is not pure white, gloss enhancer will be evenly applied to the print.

Saving Your Settings

Apply Settings Automatically Checkbox

If this is checked, then changes you make to Nostalgia's controls will be reflected immediately in the image. Note this can make Lightroom respond slowly, and will also fill up your photo settings history with individual changes.

Apply Button

Creates a tone curve, but does not close the Nostalgia window.

Close Button

Closes the Nostalgia window without saving a curve.

Ok Button

Creates a tone curve and closes the window.

Simulation Roster

In the roster, simulations shown in Bold appear in the free version of Nostalgia. To access all simulations, please purchase the full version of Nostalgia.

See important trademark notice at the bottom of this page.

Camera Stock

Black and White Negative

• Adox 25 in D-76 (4 variants)
• Adox 50 in D-76 (4 variants)
• Adox 100 in D-76 (4 variants)
• Agfapan 25 in Refinal
• Agfapan 100 in Refinal
• Agfapan 400 in Refinal
• Fomapan 100 in Microphen (3 variants)
• Fujifilm Neopan 100 in Microphen (4 variants)
• Fujifilm Neopan 400 in T-MAX (3x), D-76 (3x), SPD (3x)
• Fujifilm Neopan 1600 in SPD (3x), D-76 (3x), Fujidol (3x), Microfine (3x)
• Ilford FP4 in Ilfotec HC
• Ilford PANF in Ilfotec HC (4 variants)
• Ilford Delta 3200 in Ilfotec
• Ilford ORTHO (6 variants)
• Ilford XP2
• Kodak HS Infrared Unfiltered in D-76 (very strong blue response), and filtered in D19, D-76 and HC-110 (note the simulation does not attempt to fabricate infrared light -- you get the red channel only)
• Kodak Imagelink HQ in Prostar
• Kodak Kodalith in Kodalith developer (1 variant) and D-11 (3 variants)
• Kodak TechPan in HC-110 (3 variants), Technidol (3 variants), and Dektol
• Kodak Tri-X in T-MAX (4 variants) and D-76 (3 variants)
• Kodak Verichrome Pan in HC-110 (3 variants) and D-76 (3 variants)

B&W Positive Film

• Polaroid Polapan 400 (3 temperatures)

Colour Negative

• Agfa Aviphot 100X (3 variations)
• Agfa Ultra 100
• Agfa Vista 100
• Agfa Vista 200
• Agfa Vista 400
• Agfa Vista 800
• Fuji Pro 160C
• Fuji Pro 160NS
• Fuji Superia 200
• Kodak Portra 160VC
• Kodak Portra 160NC

Colour Positive Film

• Agfa Agfachrome RSX II
• Agfa CTprecisa 100
• Agfa Aviphot Chrome 200
• Fuji Astia 100
• Fuji Provia 100F
• Fuji Sensia 100
• Fuji T64
• Fuji Velvia 100T
• Fuji Eterna-CP 3521
• Fuji Eterna-CP 3513
• Kodak Ektachrome 100D / 7285
• Kodak Ektachrome 64T / 7280
• Kodak Kodachrome 200
• Kodak Kodachrome 100
• Kodak Kodachrome 64
• Kodak Kodachrome 40 / 7268
• Kodak Kodachrome 25
• Polaroid 600 (3 temperatures)
• Polaroid 669 (3 temperatures)

Print

Black and White Paper

• Agfa Brovira-Speed in all six grades (0-5)
• Agfa Multicontrast Premium with all six filters (0-5)
• Agfa Record-Rapid in all four grades (1-4)
• Foma Fomaspeed, four grades (soft-hard)
• Foma Fomaspeed Variant III, six filters (0-5)
• Forte Fortezzo in Hard, Normal and Soft
• Ilford Multigrade IV Fiber, seven filters (00-5)
• Kentmere Art Classic
• Kentmere Art Deluxe in Grade 2 and Grade 3
• Kentmere VC Select seven filters (00-5)
• Kodak AZO in Grade 2 and Grade 3
• Kodak Polymax II RC in Dektol, six filters (0-5)
• Kodak Portra in RA-4 (just one variant)

Colour Paper

• Agfa Prestige 3
• Agfa Rapitone C1/C2
• Fuji Crystal Archive SP
• Kodak Pro Image II
• Kodak Ultra Endura
• Kodak Portra Endura
• Kodak Supra Endura VC

Important Trademark Notice

Company and product names used on this page and within the Nostalgia plug-in may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks. Use of these terms does not constitute endorsement. The use of these terms in the context of describing the transformation of a digital image is not intended as infringement -- it is an indication of homage and respect. In no way can a digital image manipulation be mistaken for the behaviour and appearance of traditional films, papers and chemicals. Thank you for 150 years of beautiful imagery.