GH4 Exposing V-LOG L

Are well expecting the cheapest decent 4K camera on the planet to do even more amazing things when it may already be pushed past its ability?
 
Color accuracy needn't come at the expense of color precision. V-Log L demonstrates that the GH4 is capable of good color accuracy.
 
balazer said:
Color accuracy needn't come at the expense of color precision. V-Log L demonstrates that the GH4 is capable of good color accuracy.
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Indeed. Let's hope panasonic release a new profile with Varicam colour science in a rec709 space. Hopefully preserving the extra 2 stops, but that doesn't bother me that much.
 
TheDingo said:
Since I already own the batteries and chargers that I use for other gear, my cost will be $1,446 + tax total.
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What about the extra storage cost related to recording externally?

Right now I offload all my internally recorded GH4 footage onto a 24TB RAID 5 array. After only 20 months this array is 75% full. If I begin recording externally to a PIX-E5H or Ninja Assassin using ProRes422 then that's going to fill up my storage in just a few weeks. I'll have to buy a new array, in fact I'll need at least four of them considering the following:

GH4 UHD 24p Internal Bitrate: ~12MB/s
UHD 24p ProRes 422 Bitrate: ~68MB/s
UHD 24p ProRes 422 LT Bitrate: ~48MB/s

So even if I record everything in ProRes422 LT I'll still need 4x my current amount of storage space. Those 24TB RAID 5 arrays run about $1675. So that's an extra $6700 on top of the costs related to the external recorder.

All this just to be able to use the V-log that was supposed to work internally?
 
After the debacle that is internal V-Log recording, I decided to go back to first principles, knowing I should be able to do a better job!

So I've been playing with the different linear profiles, settings etc in camera to figure out how to squeeze the ultimate dynamic range from the camera while keeping completely accurate colour, avoiding banding etc.

I'm not completely ready to reveal the secret sauce yet, but results so far are exceeding my expectations for what is possible internally.

The attached images are NOT V-Log, and they are recorded internally to a normal SD card.

ETTR was used to hold maximum highlights in each shot with NO over-exposure of any element.

Zurich.Footage.00_15_10_04.Still001s.jpg


Colour.Profiling.00_04_19_14.Still004s.jpg


Here are direct links to the uncompressed 4K PNG files (around 12MB each):

http://www.visceralpsyche.com/misc/web_images/Zurich.Footage.00_15_10_04.Still001.png

http://www.visceralpsyche.com/misc/web_images/Colour Profiling.00_04_19_14.Still004.png

Pay particular attention to the dynamic range. These are done at ISO 400. No noise reduction of any kind has been applied. Only my custom LUT I've been building has been applied to the out-of-camera image, along with some levels and saturation adjustments.

Those of you disappointed by V-log like me are going to have another (much, much cheaper) option soon that will make you see the GH4 and its 8 bit 4:2:0 recording in a whole new light!

Let's just say that V-Log internally is dead. I'm that confident.... ;)

Stay tuned.... :D
 
visceralpsyche said:
Pay particular attention to the dynamic range. These are done at ISO 400. No noise reduction of any kind has been applied. Only my custom LUT I've been building has been applied to the out-of-camera image, along with some levels and saturation adjustments.

Those of you disappointed by V-log like me are going to have another (much, much cheaper) option soon that will make you see the GH4 and its 8 bit 4:2:0 recording in a whole new light!

Let's just say that V-Log internally is dead. I'm that confident.... ;)

Stay tuned.... :D
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DR is nice, but I'm looking forward to some samples showing skin tones as accurate as V-LOG L profile and the VLOG709 LUT. Then I'll throw $100 your way ($1 more than I'll pay Panny!)
 
joe12south said:
DR is nice, but I'm looking forward to some samples showing skin tones as accurate as V-LOG L profile and the VLOG709 LUT. Then I'll throw $100 your way ($1 more than I'll pay Panny!)
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Really?! That's a lot more than I plan to charge for it :D

I used my LUT and camera settings for a paying client and I'm incredibly excited about how accurate skin tones are, so I will take your Pepsi challenge :D Unfortunately I can't post the images of that job, which is a crying shame, because the word that comes to mind is 'filmic' in a way I've never seen from the GH4.

I created the LUT using my girlfriend as guinea pig, as skin tones are top of my list for accuracy too, but she asked me not to post the images either, so I'm respecting her wishes too!

Tomorrow I will do a selfie shot with my LUT settings and a colour chart/grey card in frame etc, then post that :) I'll shoot V-Log too for an apples to apples comparison. Stay tuned!
 
ukfilmer said:
Indeed. Let's hope panasonic release a new profile with Varicam colour science in a rec709 space. Hopefully preserving the extra 2 stops, but that doesn't bother me that much.
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That would be my daily driver :D

Cinelike D already has the same dynamic range minus some red channel clipping (easily solved by setting saturation to -3). So that shouldn't be a problem. ;-)

To get better color science out of Cinelike D (colors are comparable to what v-log does) you can try my luts. :)

http://compcardinmotion.de/downloads/ccim-dlog-lut-package/
 
DeeZiD said:
That would be my daily driver :D

Cinelike D already has the same dynamic range minus some red channel clipping (easily solved by setting saturation to -3). So that shouldn't be a problem. ;-)

To get better color science out of Cinelike D (colors are comparable to what v-log does) you can try my luts. :)

http://compcardinmotion.de/downloads/ccim-dlog-lut-package/
Click to expand...

Downloaded the pack. Your VLOG > 709 LUT doesn't seem to attempt to address the low saturation chroma errors. Is that correct? Any chance you could make a version that lowers saturation just in areas that are "neutral"?
 
joe12south said:
What settings does dLOG expect for input?
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Cinelike D
Contrast 0 (best tonality)
Sharpness -5 (filmic, less artifacts)
Noise reduction -5 (fine grain, more detail)
Saturation -3 (avoids red channel clipping)
Hue 0
IDynamic low (better shadow detail)
IResolution OFF
Master Pedestal 3 (avoids crushing of red and blue channel and color shifting)
Highlights/shadows 0/0
0-255
 
I dowloaded this Dlog and it doesn't come close to simulating a LOG, especially VLOG. You're welcome for the $27 buck. Go buy a strudel.
 
danap said:
Not fun and possibly stigmatising. Could you elaborate more about your stereotypes concerning Germany?
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I'm full blooded 3rd gen German. I gave him $27 and he can go get breakfast.

The guy has awesome work. But his DLOG is nowhere near shooting VLOG.
 
No if he would like (and being that I donated $27 bucks) I challenge him to go shoot some VLOG vrs his DLOG and post screen grabs with waveforms.
Shoot something simple like a sunny high contrast street.
post Cine D
Post Cine D with his DLOG convert
Post Cine D w DLOG graded
Shoot VLOG
Shoot VLOG graded

All screen grabs with waveforms.
 
dustylense said:
No if he would like (and being that I donated $27 bucks) I challenge him to go shoot some VLOG vrs his DLOG and post screen grabs with waveforms.
Shoot something simple like a sunny high contrast street.
post Cine D
Post Cine D with his DLOG convert
Post Cine D w DLOG graded
Shoot VLOG
Shoot VLOG graded

All screen grabs with waveforms.
Click to expand...


I totally agree with you as well on the fact that this in now way the same as shooting Vlog. I bought his pack as well and then used it, and then waited for the Vlog to come out. To me native Vlog is way better than that or the Eoshd version of log as well.
 
OK folks. Here's what I've got so far for my LUT work:

Colour Profiling.00_08_12_04.Still009.jpg


Colour Profiling.00_08_21_07.Still010.jpg


Yep, you read that right. ISO 6400 on the second shot :D

Almost no chroma issues at ISO 6400, only sensor luma noise. Zero at ISO 400. Perfect colour and tonality. Dynamic range from holding the sky and the sun's reflection off the white building in the background, to being able to see into the shadows under the green car and more.

Grab the full 4K PNG files here:

http://www.visceralpsyche.com/misc/web_images/Colour_Profiling.00_08_12_04.Still009.png

http://www.visceralpsyche.com/misc/web_images/Colour_Profiling.00_08_21_07.Still010.png

All from Cinelike D....

Thoughts? Questions? Just need to conduct some night testing to make sure the LUT holds up before releasing it for sale (it'll be cheap!), but given the science behind it I can't see that it'll be a problem :D

Cheers from Berlin,

Paul :)
 
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