Exporting N-Log

P

patrickbaldwin

Well-known member
I had a two camera shoot where the Z6 was shooting 10 bit N-Log HD externally and had scratch audio. I need to synch up the sound with the other camera. In order to do this I created a multicam using the sound from the other camera as a way of getting the reference sound into the Z6 clips. So I now have a timeline of just the Z6 log footage that I want to export as a Prores clip to then hand off to an editor. When I go to export it is a rec 709 colour space. I can change it to rec 2020 but I don't see any difference. I am worried that by exporting it to rec 709 for instance that I might be throwing away the advantage of Log shooting. Am I? Do I need to do something else? Any comments on the workflow in general are greatly appreciated. This is my first experience of Log shooting so I feel out of my depth. Normally I would be editing but it is all being handed off.
 
Wouldn't it be simpler to give the editor the raw Z6 footage along with the high quality audio track to be synced in the edit? FinalCut & Resolve natively support automatized syncing by audio waveform, I can't remember if Premiere does, but the editor could use PluralEyes. I would imagine that an editor would be accustomed to syncing high quality tracks with scratch tracks.

P.S. To my knowledge, Nikon hasn't released an official corrective LUT for N-Log, which could cause problems if the editor isn't familiar with color grading.
 
Thanks for replying. I want to guarantee that they don't use the scratch audio. The reference audio is in-camera audio from my Sony FS5 so it's not a stand alone audio recording. I'm using FCPX to synch it up. Pluraleyes has become redundant for me since FCPX is so efficient at it in my experience. Is exporting these new synched clips out in a rec 709 colour space problematic down the road given it's N-log footage. It doesn't seem to be when I bring them back in to FCPX test.
Many thanks.
 
patrickbaldwin said:
I am worried that by exporting it to rec 709 for instance that I might be throwing away the advantage of Log shooting. Am I? .
Click to expand...

If your footage is log then it looks flat and grey?

For it to look decent you will need to grade it or apply a LUT.

This grading must happen while the footage is in 10bit codec.

If you compress to an 8bit codec you dump 75% of the colour information and the images are hard to grade after that point.

Thats basically it.

--
709 and 2020.. I dont know here but if you dont have a super expensive 2020 monitor you wont be able to see any difference. The basica difference is that 2020 can produce maybe a deep magenta or bright green that 709 cannot.. but if your monitor cant show it then you are not going to be able to see it.
 
morgan_moore said:
If your footage is log then it looks flat and grey?

For it to look decent you will need to grade it or apply a LUT.

This grading must happen while the footage is in 10bit codec.

If you compress to an 8bit codec you dump 75% of the colour information and the images are hard to grade after that point.

Thats basically it.

--
709 and 2020.. I dont know here but if you dont have a super expensive 2020 monitor you wont be able to see any difference. The basica difference is that 2020 can produce maybe a deep magenta or bright green that 709 cannot.. but if your monitor cant show it then you are not going to be able to see it.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much Sam. That clarifies things very well for me. I exported the synched clip which was Prores 422 10 bit back out to the same so I guess I'm ok.
Many thanks. Patrick.
 
Denny16 said:
Additionally, NLog can be easily imported into Resolve for coloring and editing.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Thanks very much Denny. One day I will try Resolve but I am still getting to grips with FCPX! Right now I'm very happy with what I am getting out of N-log although I wouldn't pretend I am "grading" just adjusting the exposure to look good!
Thanks again.
 
patrickbaldwin said:
Thanks very much Denny. One day I will try Resolve but I am still getting to grips with FCPX! Right now I'm very happy with what I am getting out of N-log although I wouldn't pretend I am "grading" just adjusting the exposure to look good!
Thanks again.
Click to expand...

I would suggest that Resolve is easier than FCP
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top