Do LUTs exist for the Varicam's Film-Rec Curve?

Mike Krumlauf

Mike Krumlauf

Award Winning Filmmaker
I have been searching all over the net for this with no luck so i turn to you guys. For the Varicam Film Rec Gamma Curve, is there any LUTs made specifically to deal with this tonal range? Would i be treating Film Rec as a LOG or Rec709 curve when applying? I know the older varicams like my varicam f lack a whole lot of documentation online given their age, but i would have thought there would be more.. its almost as if this camera never existed.. almost everyone seemed to have focused more on Sony's F900 (and besides the 1080 res i really dont understand why as i feel the varicam produces a nicer/more filmic image and through SDI can be blown to 1080p without anyone being the wiser)

Thanks
 
If you don't find one specifically made for your Varicam, your best bet is to test various LUTs on your footage. Maybe start with LUTs made for other Panasonic cameras and see how that looks. I have also used LUTs made for other cameras on other cameras (you'd be surprised at some of the results).

Through this experience and experimentation, you'll learn what works and looks good to you (or your client) and that's all that matters.

The only downside is that most of the LUT packs/bundles cost money, but I think are well worth it if you shoot and grade a lot, and find some good ones.
 
Mike Krumlauf said:
I have been searching all over the net for this with no luck so i turn to you guys. For the Varicam Film Rec Gamma Curve, is there any LUTs made specifically to deal with this tonal range? Would i be treating Film Rec as a LOG or Rec709 curve when applying? I know the older varicams like my varicam f lack a whole lot of documentation online given their age, but i would have thought there would be more.. its almost as if this camera never existed.. almost everyone seemed to have focused more on Sony's F900 (and besides the 1080 res i really dont understand why as i feel the varicam produces a nicer/more filmic image and through SDI can be blown to 1080p without anyone being the wiser)

Thanks
Click to expand...

I would really like to see someone come up with a way to "burn in" the AJ-HDC27 Varicam look and/or apply it in post to S-Log 3 on an FS7/F5/F55. I'll never forget the first time I used an SDX-900 and realizing whatever I shot, it looked amazing. After that, even with the little HVX200 in "Cine V" everything looked amazing. Hmmmm, this site is named after a little camera capable of that look and nobody has figured out how to get it back???
 
I think the reason you didn't find any Luts for the old Varicam is because they probably don’t exist. I don’t think the old Varicam ever shot Log, which is when you would need a Lut. So no reason for Luts for the old Varicam.
 
Sttratos said:
I think the reason you didn't find any Luts for the old Varicam is because they probably don’t exist. I don’t think the old Varicam ever shot Log, which is when you would need a Lut. So no reason for Luts for the old Varicam.
Click to expand...

You are correct that the AJ-HDC27 didn't have the ability to record in Log, but what it did have was beautiful built in presets/gamma curves unique to Panasonic. We are interested in the old "look". A Varicam/Film-Rec/Cine-V look I could load into my FS7 via an in camera LUT, LOOK & post LUT would be a wonderful thing.
 
General practice is LOG LUTs go on LOG footage and REC LUTs go on REC footage. But every LUT reacts different to the colors/values/sensor science/etc. of a camera.

As mentioned, practice/experimentation is always best.
 
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