GH5 to Alexa Conversion

[mercer]

@Sage I can imagine you get requests every day to make Alexa color for the iPhone or for Sony or for the PixelVision 2000... lol.

There are a lot of ifs in my scenario, but if I go with a Panny, I’d imagine even with 8bit, your CineLikeD process could work? The magic is in the skintones so maybe even some experimenting with zebra strength could do the trick. If I go that route, I’ll keep you updated. Thanks. 

[Sage]

2 hours ago, majoraxis said:

@Sage  as you mentioned the Pocket 4k, any chance you are planning on creating  a Pocket 4k Raw and Pro Res to Alexa Conversion work flow?

Thanks!

Mark

Yes! That's what I'm thinking

2 hours ago, mercer said:

@Sage I can imagine you get requests every day to make Alexa color for the iPhone or for Sony or for the PixelVision 2000... lol.

There are a lot of ifs in my scenario, but if I go with a Panny, I’d imagine even with 8bit, your CineLikeD process could work? The magic is in the skintones so maybe even some experimenting with zebra strength could do the trick. If I go that route, I’ll keep you updated. Thanks. 

Ah yes, the PV2K!

CineD is just the ticket for the 8bit Panasonics. Moreso than VLog

[Mihnea]

I already bought your lut and I also planned to buy pocket 4K and I was thinking about the possibility of having an Alexa Conversion lut designed for it.

Great news!

[Ryley K]

Big fan of this LUT! I've been playing around with it for a little bit now. Here's some stills using it. This was graded in Premiere and the border was made by myself using different sources.

[A. L.]

My recent trip to Guilin China, shot on gh5s and color graded using the latest Verde version with overlay of ImpulZ film lut ? loving the colors.

 

[Sage]

On 8/12/2018 at 6:46 AM, Mihnea said:

I already bought your lut and I also planned to buy pocket 4K and I was thinking about the possibility of having an Alexa Conversion lut designed for it.

Great news!

That's what I'm thinking - granted I don't get hit by a bus or something

I always liked Black Magic

18 hours ago, Ryley K said:

Big fan of this LUT! I've been playing around with it for a little bit now. Here's some stills using it. This was graded in Premiere and the border was made by myself using different sources.

Those are really cool. What's your approach there? How did you set WB? I want to get a magenta/color light to experiment with in my next night shoot

[mercer]

Whew... I just read the entire thread... so I will say this, I don’t know what magic you’ve done here, and I still think the Alexa vs GH5 still is not a comparison but you’ve definitely done something amazing here. So congrats with that.

I may be in the market for a second camera (still on the fence because I am SO happy with ML Raw and I’m afraid a second camera would see little use) but if I can find a GH5 for a really good price around the holidays, I could pull the trigger.

If I go that route, I’d most likely shoot in CineLikeD at 1080p but I saw a really interesting rig on IG that keeps the portability of the GH5 but adds an external monitor.

So... I kinda remember reading that the GH5 does an internal 4K to 1080p downscale when hooked up to a 1080p recorder... is this true and if so, would that all-I 4K downscale to a 5” BMVA recording ProRes HQ be worth the trouble and get even better color and quality than recording 1080p in camera and transcoding to ProRes with your color conversion? Or will the difference be minimal and hardly worth the effort?

[Sage]

I applaud that feat! For the side-by-side, be sure to check out the V2 raw footage side-by-sides, which were correctly shot with the exact same settings and same lens (how V2 was made)

The 2k All-I mode is really spectacular (for 2K). The downscale is pristine, and with the Olpf settings it is silk. This is what I shoot, and at 59.9Hz, All-I 10 bit 60fps is available

Always Already is all 2K All-I with digital OLPF (download the 'Original' file)

[mercer]

4 hours ago, Sage said:

I applaud that feat! For the side-by-side, be sure to check out the V2 raw footage side-by-sides, which were correctly shot with the exact same settings and same lens (how V2 was made)

The 2k All-I mode is really spectacular (for 2K). The downscale is pristine, and with the Olpf settings it is silk. This is what I shoot, and at 59.9Hz, All-I 10 bit 60fps is available

Always Already is all 2K All-I with digital OLPF (download the 'Original' file)

That looks great! That 2K really adds some depth to skin texture that is lacking in most other cameras... that’s one of the reasons I went with the 5D3 to begin with. 

Do you put your 1080p footage on a 2K timeline to bump it up, or do you transcode before you bring it into the NLE? I’ve always transcoded all footage (even back in my t2i days) to ProRes before bringing it into FCPX.

I had a FZ2500 a couple years ago and loved the all-i 1080p... and that was just 8bit, so I can only imagine how good the 10bit is. I didn’t know it is downscaled in camera on the GH5. Is the 60p as well?

Honestly, the only reason I am even contemplating a second camera is for slow motion with 180 degree shutter and IBIS. I was adamantly against the GH5 until I saw your profile, deezid’s and wildranger’s work.

I’m hoping the price will drop a bit for the holidays and if it does, I think I will probably pick one up. I have a small collection of c-mount lenses that needs some exercise and there’s no better way to exercise old c-mounts than with IBIS.

But I have to get some lights and audio equipment before I even think about another camera... ugh... and I need to replace a lens I was forced to sell last year.

And even if I don’t end up getting one, I commend you on a job well done and I enjoy looking at everyone’s progress. 

[Sage]

@mercer I just export the 1080p timeline at 2.5K (from Premiere in the case of AA). This causes a more organic resample of the 1080p 'grid', though the main benefit is that good 1080 is possible on streaming sites when a 2.5K file is uploaded (sufficient bit rate at 2.5K for a rich 1080, listed as '2K')

Indeed the downsample is the same for 60. All pixels are used to create a very detail dense 1080p on the GH5. Paired with the OLPF settings (listed on the last page of the PDF), you can get a smooth, yet detailed image (like the Alexa and film). I love it!

[mercer]

@Sage good to know, thanks! I’ve heard that an upressed file exported as ProRes does help to trick Vimeo and YouTube.

Good luck with your film projects by the way!

[Sage]

15 minutes ago, mercer said:

@Sage good to know, thanks! I’ve heard that an upressed file exported as ProRes does help to trick Vimeo and YouTube.

Good luck with your film projects by the way!

Thanks Mercer, the next one should be pretty cool!

[Sage]

On 8/13/2018 at 5:12 AM, A. L. said:

My recent trip to Guilin China, shot on gh5s and color graded using the latest Verde version with overlay of ImpulZ film lut ? loving the colors.

Looks great, there were a lot of really nice shots. Is that with the LogC workflow?

[katlis]

@Sage Nice work on this, I had a chance to play with them last night with my new GH5. Can't wait to shoot something interesting!  

I have a question about something you mentioned on Vimeo, saying Full-HD All-I was the best shooting mode for GH5 (slightly upscaled to 1998x1080 [1.85:1 2K]) . Can you expand on that a little? Are you saying it's just better than 4K LongGOP or 4K All-I too?

[Ryley K]

On 8/13/2018 at 7:29 AM, Sage said:

That's what I'm thinking - granted I don't get hit by a bus or something

I always liked Black Magic

Those are really cool. What's your approach there? How did you set WB? I want to get a magenta/color light to experiment with in my next night shoot

Thanks! I set the WB to give off the best red and blue sky using V-Log. As for the border I took bits and pieces from different sources around the web and added them all in Photoshop and then animated the border movement in After Effects!

[Sage]

31 minutes ago, Ryley K said:

Thanks! I set the WB to give off the best red and blue sky using V-Log. As for the border I took bits and pieces from different sources around the web and added them all in Photoshop and then animated the border movement in After Effects!

Mmm I get it. Maximal color separation in the WB

I've got a cool idea for mixed artificial lighting that I'm going to test soon

[Sage]

23 hours ago, katlis said:

@Sage Nice work on this, I had a chance to play with them last night with my new GH5. Can't wait to shoot something interesting!  

I have a question about something you mentioned on Vimeo, saying Full-HD All-I was the best shooting mode for GH5 (slightly upscaled to 1998x1080 [1.85:1 2K]) . Can you expand on that a little? Are you saying it's just better than 4K LongGOP or 4K All-I too?

Its better than Long GOP; you'll be fine with either intra. The 2K is a great sweet spot, in that its an excellent downscale with copious bitrate, and 60p (and works on conventional cards). It is all the more important to use the OLPF settings with 2K, as the sharpened texture is inherently more apparent in 2K.

[katlis]

4 hours ago, Sage said:

Its better than Long GOP; you'll be fine with either intra. The 2K is a great sweet spot, in that its an excellent downscale with copious bitrate, and 60p (and works on conventional cards). It is all the more important to use the OLPF settings with 2K, as the sharpened texture is inherently more apparent in 2K.

Thanks for the tip! Last night I tested Full-HD All-I using the SLR Magic 1.33x anamorphic + 20mm and got some nice results. Desqueezing in Premiere nets 2560x1080 files (2.37:1). I'll try to post samples soon.

[A. L.]

On 8/14/2018 at 11:03 PM, Sage said:

Looks great, there were a lot of really nice shots. Is that with the LogC workflow?

Thanks... I used the main GHa workflow. The film lut used was for arri rec709, that flatten the image a bit. Looking to try out the next video to see the full color range of GHa conversion ?

[Sage]

On 8/15/2018 at 4:24 PM, katlis said:

Thanks for the tip! Last night I tested Full-HD All-I using the SLR Magic 1.33x anamorphic + 20mm and got some nice results. Desqueezing in Premiere nets 2560x1080 files (2.37:1). I'll try to post samples soon.

Looking forward to it!

17 hours ago, A. L. said:

Thanks... I used the main GHa workflow. The film lut used was for arri rec709, that flatten the image a bit. Looking to try out the next video to see the full color range of GHa conversion ?

They do support LogC directly, which would allow for a technically precise color shift - though I can see why the main+709 would be a compelling route