Really Nice Images All Films 4 Pro: Analog Flavor, Digital world

In July 2016, Really Nice Images (RNI) announced the availability of their RNI All Films 4 film-simulation plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop ACR and Lightroom. For digital photographers that long for the look of film but not quite ready to jump into film, digital film-simulation software like All Films aims to provide a solution for photographers looking for that aesthetic without incurring the potentially high costs of film processing and development.

RNI All Films 4 sets itself apart by using their proprietary technique to create near 1-to-1 emulation results from both existing and discontinued film stocks. Speaking of which, All Films 4 includes 58 different film stocks with over 300 presets including some iconic names like AGfa Optima, Kodak Portra, Ilford Delta, and Kodak Tri-X. In all, there are 5 categories of film including Negative film, Slide film, Instant film, Black & White, and Vintage films (hello, Kodachrome).

Adding to the appeal, RNI All Films 4 includes custom camera profiles for just about every camera manufacturer and major camera release over the last decade including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Hasselblad, Panasonic, Olympus, Pentax, Leaf, Sigma, Samsung, and more. Built for Adobe Photoshop ACR and Lightroom, All Films 4 is made to easily integrate into your existing workflows.

Included Presets:

Negative films:

Agfa Optima 100

Agfa Optima 400

Agfa Vista 100

Fuji Natura 1600

Fuji Pro 160C

Fuji Pro 160NS

Fuji Pro 400H

Fuji Pro 800Z

Fuji Superia 200

Fuji Superia 400

Fuji Superia 800

Fuji Superia 1600

Kodak Color Plus 200

Kodak Color Plus 400

Kodak Ektar 100

Kodak Gold 100

Kodak Gold 200

Kodak Gold 400

Kodak Portra 160C

Kodak Portra 160VC

Kodak Portra 400

Kodak Portra 800

Rollei Digibase

Slide films:

Agfa Precisa 100

Agfa RSX II 100

Fuji Astia 100F

Fuji Fortia SP

Fuji Provia 100F

Fuji Provia 400X

Fuji Sensia 100

Fuji Velvia 100

Fuji Velvia 100F

Fuji Velvia 50

Kodak E100G

Kodak E100GX

Kodak E100VS

Kodak E200

Kodak Elite

Kodak Elite Chrome 100

Instant films:

Fuji FP 100C

Fuji Instax Mini

Polaroid 600

Polaroid 669

Polaroid 690

B&W films:

Agfa Scala 200

Fomapan 100

Ilford Delta 100

Ilford Delta 3200

Ilford Delta 400

Ilford Delta 800

Ilford FP4

Ilford HP5

Ilford Pan F Plus

Kodak T-Max 100

Kodak T-Max 3200

Kodak Tri-x 100

Kodak Tri-x 400

Vintage films:

Agfacolor 40s

Agfacolor 50s

Agfacolor 60s

Agfacolor XPS 160

Kodachrome 1958

Kodachrome 1959

Kodachrome 2000’s

Kodachrome 40s

Kodachrome 50s

Kodachrome 60s

Kodachrome 64

Technicolor 2 (Approx)

RNI Toolkit:

– Lightroom Only

Jpeg tone compensation

Fade

Hard Fade

Grain

Slide Frames

Smart Contrast

Vignette

Analog Softness

Vintage Lens Effect

For the purposes of this review we will be focusing exclusively on the black and white film stocks.

Family Moment – processed with RNI All Films Ilford HP5 – Faded

Installation

Getting started is a simple enough process: download RNI All Films (there’s a Pro or Lite version) for either OS X or Windows and walk through the prompts. For this review, we used All Films 4 Pro for OS X.

Once you unpack the zip file, simply follow the instructions on the .PKG Installer which will walk you through the rest of the process, however, if you absolutely must install the plugins manually, RNI has you covered. Their step by step manual installation guide will guide you through the process. After you’ve installed the plugins, simply open up Lightroom or Photoshop as you normally would and you’ll find the tools available.

RNI promises photographers ease of use and the ability to focus on creativity; this is a definitely the case in terms of setting up and diving in.

Lightroom RNI Presets

Diving in

Whether you’re using Photoshop ACR or Lightroom to handle your digital processing, All Films 4 is extremely intuitive and easy to fine tune. My workflow revolves around editing in Lightroom and All Film’s integration with Lightroom means all my tools are conveniently stacked neatly under the Navigator (left-hand column). Simply selecting the desired film emulation and developing preset gives you the starting point for wherever your creative vision may take you.

RNI’s approach goes beyond adding a filter as the case is with many web-based editors, All Films allow provide a jumping off point and not a final destination. All Films works as part of the non-destructive editing environment so any changes made can be fully undone as well as tweaked for the desired effect.

Making adjustments to any of the film stocks is a matter of using the typical Adobe adjustment sliders – in Photoshop ACR you’ll do most of the tweaks prior to opening the RAW file or after applying the film stock in Lightroom. If you’ve ever used Photoshop or LIghtroom either will be a walk in the park; if you’re a Photoshop or Lightroom newbie, no need to fret as the entire process is not unlike adding a filter on Instagram but to a much more aesthetically pleasing effect.

So is it accurate?

The biggest promise made to users is a result that looks as close to film as you can get without actually picking up an analog camera and hit the darkroom (but you really should try it). That’s a tall order especially given some of the film stocks being emulated including personal favorite – Kodak Tri-x. After getting acclimated with All Films and only using their film emulation for editing my photos, ultimately the results are pleasing and very close to their namesakes. Although an image from a crop sensor camera will never look exactly like an image taken on a medium format camera, RNI does an amazing job of replicating the feel of film with a pleasing grain and accurate representation of grain pattern on their emulations.

Kodak Tri-X 400

Kodak Tri-X 100