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I have created a new set of LUTs for Panasonic cameras. Having spent the last year and a half reviewing footage from my camera (the GX7) and various others, I have become quite familiar with its colour characteristics. In general I do find them very pleasing but in some respects they are quite flawed. And I wish to have pleasing colours without resorting to film emulation. My new LUTs do the following: Fixes the shift of reds to orangeGives greens and blues a subtly deeper and more satisfying colour.Stops the abrupt shifts of orange to yellow (which is generally what causes the poor skin tone rendition)Stops yellow from becoming overpowering.Allows film emulation LUTs to be applied without certain colours going mad The set includes two types of LUTs. One is called “Pleasing” and it gives a Canon-like rendition. The other is called “Neutralising” and gives a RAW photo look (ie. very neutral). Within each type, there are several alternatives. “A” is the main one to use, whilst “B” and “C” are offshoots with slight differences. Each LUT is actually quite subtle in how it changes the image, but its the subtle differences that can change how natural an image looks. The LUTs will also make it easier to apply film emulation LUTs without certain hues going out of control (eg. yellows becoming nuclear). Download now: Inazumas_Panny_LUTs A note on camera settings: Having done a lot of testing of camera profiles, I do believe Standard is the best. Some people recommend Natural but it shifts a lot of colours towards orange, which looks good for grass but is a bit unnatural. It also makes people look orange. Contrast at -5 is good but saturation at -5 is a bad idea if you plan to increase saturation in post anyway. This is because when you increase saturation in post of the 8bit footage, you will get loads of colour noise in the footage. I also have iDynamic on Low and highlights at -5. I use preset whitebalances with the adjustment dot set to M5 (5 points below the centre). I don’t have a GH4 so I can’t say how well it will work for CineD footage. Some images: Without LUT: With LUT: Without LUT: With LUT: Without LUT: With LUT: Original post here

Im sure I sent you them a couple months ago? Theres not much to say about it really. It is what you expect. A cconvenient camera for a one man band. The sharpness of a Panasonic with the colour/tonality of a Canon and the usability of a camcorder. And some ludicrous low light ability.

Yes, what we need is something that survives a supernova, which as we know film does.

Save yourself the time/hassle & get a good 35mm or even a 28mm. Mir-24M or N (M=M42, N=Nikon Mount) - I've had v.good results with the bigger focus through Isco lens (Widescreen 2000mc) & this lens. Or go Nikon or something similar.

But then comes a strong sunstorm and we loose all the dataaaa.

Sure, whatever.

I already do that sometimes. For stills. There are many fun ways to make images with chemicals from a drugstore.

Yesterday I discovered something I kind of knew in the back of my head but never checked out. I was doing a grade on the neutral grade I did earlier on the S-log3 footage Andrew was so kind to share with us. All looked fine, but the part of the couple near the pedestrian crossing. .The colours in the girls face felt apart. I reset the effect I was applying …and this time I only used the master curve, to get the two skin tones -which were falling apart- to match as close as possible. When I finished I had basically drawn a squeezed S-log3 curve. Next I Googled for the biggest pictures I could find for S-log and V-log. I opened them in Photoshop and traced the curves. In a separate layer I created a square divided in 8 rows and columns, just like the background of my master curve looks like. Next selected the ‘traced curve’ and with the transformation tool forced the x-dimension inside the square. Flattened the image, imported it in my NLE and with three points recreated the curve in the master curve window. Bingo! Saved the the curve to an .acv format for later use. ….And that is al there is to de-logging a 1D-LUT or spline. It’s easy to create, something you can do yourself. So how does that work in practice. I can tell how I do it and think something alike should be possible in all NLE’s I work in AE and use Color Finesse. I think it was at some point in time distributed for free with AE in the states. Not so in Europe, I had to pay the full price …but I really like the plugin and have no regrets. The plugin is added as an effect to the footage. Under curves the ‘Log curve’ is loaded. Under Levels the input levels are adjusted (leave the grayscale handle as is, that’s why you created the LogCurve) and output if necessary. The changes are applied. Brightness and contrast are now adjusted, no color adjustment is done. Basicly what the C300 gives as a preview option for it’s log. Next an Adjustment layer is added to the timeline. ColorFinesse is applied to the Adjustment Layer and under HSL Saturation under Shadow and Midtones is set from 100 to 133,33, Highlights left for what it is. My guess is that when 33,33 % saturation is added to each channel, you would get full Saturation. But that is just a guess. You now have a ‘basic color corrected de-logged file’. To grade further let you imaginations go wild… In the linked mov with Andrews footage I adjusted the curves like so. By banding the red curve downward you add a slight red cast to the footage as the curve to the top is no longer straight. Doing the opposite with green curve amplifies it. Blue curve is kept as straight as possible while adding blue to the shadows. HSL curves speak for themselves. Alas the girls skin still falls apart, so there must be something wrong with the footage With above methode I’m less plagued by the YCbCr macro blocking on GH4 footage as with my other custom methode. Will have to do some more testing. I thought I share my findings as maybe it’s of some use to others as it makes Log grading kind of simple.

You realize Nick Driftwood posted a bunch of those months ago, right? And actually, those same magenta/green artifacts are present in the other GH4 picture profiles too. They're just much more pronounced in V-LOG L. DVX User had an interesting thread about it. As you theorized, the profile simply isn't meant for use in 8-bit. For best results, you need an external recorder. And if you're not used to shooting and grading non-Canon LOG, it's very easy to **** up your exposure/color correction. Research is your friend! Although...I've actually seen some excellent examples of good-looking stuff shot on internal V-LOG. Check it out:https://vimeo.com/139600006 https://vimeo.com/139922620 (Not sure why only one link posted as a preview...)

Andrew mentions it... When every hipster in the world has awesome image IQ and steady shots, what will you be doing that makes your work more impressive than that trust fund kid standing in the same spots as you? Creating interesting stories is what's gonna matter. Tell a better story. Be a better editor. Those skills are your future currency.

Great review. It's nice to have someone speak some truth. I haven't had the sunspot problem, US version, but agree on most of the other issues. Coming from the Blackmagic world, 420 8 bit it just a bummer. At least give the option of 422 10 bit via HDMI. Hell, even develop a proprietary recorder like Panasonic did for the GH4. I'll buy it if I get better quality for grading. I'm most likely switching to Slog2 since it's not quite as flat. And yeah, the rolling shutter really is awful. You really can't move around with this camera. As for adapters, not sure if it was an individual occurrence, but the Sony LAEA3 destroyed the aperture control on the camera. Both me and the B&H guy have never seen anything like it. I had to exchange the camera. Honestly, I'm on the fence and might return it altogether. The FS5 looks promising even though it has other issues. At least it has 10 bit 422 in HD. Plus that variable ND is looking pretty amazing. On a side note, could we stop calling cameras "beasts" and/or "monsters". It's driving me nuts

ISO 400 is the worst. Shoot 800 or 1600 and expose a bit to the right. It looks a little noisy in the shadows ungraded, but it's corrected by adding a LUT. I've found that the Varicam LUT is not good at all. The 2 best are Impulz Cineon to Film Contrast 1, and FilmConvert V Log profiles. I'm not opposed to that but what are you looking forward to with GH5 that's improved over GH4? Only thing that I see them adding as a bonus is 4K 60p, and HD 120fps. No way they'll add 10 bit 4:2:2 in camera. The camera that I hope Panasonic makes is the FS7/Cx00 competitor.

Why does the consensus seem to be that it is harder to grade S-LOG? Because it's 8-bit, 4:2:0? Are people confusing color grading with color correcting? It isn't raw. You have to set the white balance correctly for every lighting change. That is as easy as holding up a grey card or using an expo disk and shooting a custom white balance. Done. I find it is much more difficult to do a final color correction on Red footage because no body ever shoots a grey card. I might have a bit more room to tweak colors, but I HAVE to do a job that someone COULD have done in the field. I haven't noticed any banding.

I've had the a7sII since launch (bought it from BH), and I'm not getting the sunspot issue you're getting. I've tried pretty hard to re-create it... and nothing. Just white, bright, light... I'm also not having an issue with heat, either. I've used it on 4 pretty long (12-15hr) shoot days, and never have I had it overheat. *I should note, I wasn't recording continuously. Each take was between 20 seconds - 2 minutes max. But the camera was running mostly all day, recording 4k, powered through v-mount, running video to a SmallHD 502 and a Paralinx Triton and I never had any heat issues. I do agree that the Gamma Assist LUT should be adjustable. It mainly hangs in the dead center for me. I never had an issue under-exposing, but I was mainly checking exposure through the 502 and using a quick, LUT I built in Resolve. As far as adapters go, I recently learned to love E-mount lenses after picking up a used 35mm Sonnar, and I'm a bit blown away by the auto-focusing and face tracking modes. I've set Focus Hold to C1 and I like it enough to double down and sell my 24-105 Art for a Sony 24-70 Vario-Tessar. It isn't as sharp, but offers better contrast and is also nearly 1 1/2 lbs lighter.

I've got the commlite adapter and almost no issue at all when speaking communication between lens and body. I got 16-35 2.8, 35 1.4, 50 1.4, 85 1.2 and 135 2 (magical one...). The only major problem i can see with this commlite is strange flares when the sun hits corners of the lens... Due to the material used inside the adapter or anything else... Don't really know. Metabones problems are well known with the combo Sony Alpha body and Canon lenses. Commlite one is 85 euros compared to the 530 euros for the metabones... Ouch !!!!!

Nope that's not worth pointing out one single bit. Please link to a forum where I have claimed that its so. All I said was that I don't believe that 90% of all cameras sold goes to a person that has grand children. Either way Tug, Im sorry, but you have reached the status of a "Troll" in my book quite some time ago so I wont debate you. No point since you only read what you want and dismiss facts with your own guesses. I just don't care enough to spend the time. Where I live the big "Best Buy" type of stores carry Olympus, Panasonic, Sony and Fuji. But they are just not selling very well. Not to mention the used prices. I bought the NX1 when it was pretty new. My regular store gave me 20% discount just to try and get the sales going. Now they have stopped carrying it all together. The smaller Panasonics like the gm1 and gx7 are selling well now when they are just under $300. Same with the E-M5. I remember the Sony Nex-5t also got a boost at the $170 with lens sale just before it got taken of shelves. So I think those US stores are simply playing it safe. Inventory costs money and why bother when DSLRs are still selling just fine. Either way its great for me that can buy cheap gear. The little GM1 I picked up is a great house camera that we use for all kinds of stuff. Im also seeing an E-M10ii when it hits 50% of its current price. Should be before spring.

Just for the sake of debate. I have highlighted all the mirror less so they can be found. Strange that so many "grandpas" are buying camera that they push the statistics this way. Most used cameras on Flickr 2014 Top Camera Brand: Canon 13.4% (+0.4% since the year before) Runner ups: Apple (9.6%), Nikon (9.3%), Samsung (5.6%), Sony (4.2%) Best selling cameras as of today on B&H Nikon D750 Sony A7sii Canon 5Dmkiii Sony A7rii Canon Rebel T5 Nikon D810 Canon 7Dii Canon 6D Nikon D7200 Samsung Galaxy Best selling cameras as of today on Amazon Canon EOS Rebel T5 Canon EOS Rebel T5 Kit Canon EOS Rebel T3i Digital SLR Canon EOS 5D Mark III Nikon D3200 Canon EOS 6D Nikon D7200 Nikon D750 Canon EOS Rebel T5i Fujifilm FinePix S8600 Most popular cameras as of today on a Swedish price comparison site. Panasonic GM1 (on sale for $300 with lens) Canon 70D Canon 6D Canon 70Dii Nikon D7200 Canon 700D Nikon D750 Sony A7rii Nikon D610 Samsung NX500 (Price just dropped)

but in the case of GH4 you are bending twice. Once to flatten into LOG, then again back to a final graded look. What I'm saying is if the Natural/Portrait looks can retain enough info in highs/shadows to create a LOG image, then why not just make the tweaks in a Rec 709 LUT, and skip the middle process.