Make your Nikon Zf destroy the X100VI with these film profiles!

Nikon Zf camera on a tree.

While the Fujifilm X100VI is the latest photography sensation, with everyone checking to see the latest Fujifilm X100VI deals and stock status, what if I told all you Nikon Zf owners that you can have all the 'film simulations' you ever wanted – and it won't cost you a dime!

That's right, thanks to some free third-party software called Nikon Picture Control Editor (not to be confused with the official  Nikon Picture Control Utility) you can install image profiles directly to your latest Nikon Z or even your trusty Nikon DSLR and leave the X100VI's film simulations and recipes dead in the water.

Picture profile simulating Fuji Velvia 100F (Image credit: Dmitrij Sosnovsenko)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have Fuji Veliva replicated in your digital workflow on your trusted Nikon camera, or why the monochrome setting just isn't what Kodak T-Max 400 used to be on film? 

Well, thanks to this handy bit of software developed by Dmitrij Sosnovsenko (by way of Nikon Rumors), you can now load color or black-and-white profiles to your camera via an SD card, save them as custom profiles, and then switch between them to your heart's content – all for free, and an X100VI in sight!

For those who didn't know this was a thing (neither did I, but I'm certainly going to try it out), below I have added a brief checklist so that you can load your profiles to your camera – but I must say now, this is not official Nikon software so please do this at your own risk:

Picture profile simulating Kodak T-Max 400 (Image credit: Dmitrij Sosnovsenko)

How to load new Nikon Picture Control Editor profiles to your camera

1. Go to http://npc.biodiscus.com
2. Select the profile you want
3. Clik 'Download files'
4. Insert SD card into a card reader
5. Create a new 'NIKON' folder on your SD card
6. Open the '/NIKON' folder, and create a new 'CUSTOMPC' folder
7. Copy '*.NPC' files from your download folder to SD-Card in '/NIKON/CUSTOMPC' folder
8. Insert SD card into your camera
9. Press the MENU button
10. Open the Shooting menu
11. Go to Manage Picture Control
12. Go to Load/Save
13. Select Copy to camera
14. Select a profile and click 'Save'
15. Load that camera profile
16. Your new profile is ready to shoot!

Picture profile simulating ilford HP5 (Image credit: Dmitrij Sosnovsenko)

While this is a really interesting bit of software that you can certainly have a lot of fun with, it does make you wonder why Nikon hasn't done a deal to license some of the film looks officially.

I understand why simulations of Fujifilm offerings wouldn't be on the cards, but surely there is a door wide open for Nikon to approach Kodak or even Ilford and offer picture profiles of say Kodak Porta 800 or Ilford HP5. In fact, it seems like such a missed opportunity with the Nikon Zf, since a lot of users love shooting street photography with this camera. Still, now you can get those looks yourself!

You might be interested in the best retro cameras along with the best cameras for street photography and the best lenses for street photography.