GH4 Leeming LUT One – the best LUT for the Panasonic GH4

I'm working hard behind the scenes to see what's happening. I keep a long chain of fixes between each version on my timeline, so hopefully I'll nail down what went wrong (or if it's already fixed in my current betas) shortly.

For everyone, v105 is still the current release for a reason :) I'm trying a bunch of different things and different branches to see how things behave, so anything mentioned as beta is just that :D

I'm personally up to v120 here as I'm trying a few other settings to tweak colours at the high end, as I noticed a kind of ultra high saturation colour wrapping problem in my torture testing that I'm trying to figure out how to fix. Regressing to v105 fixes it, so it's something in the last fifteen betas :D

Fun times, but the end result will be the best LUT for the GH4 - of that I'm sure :D

Cheers from the lab,

Paul :)
 
I found the problem and have pushed v121 to both Joe and Dusty for checks and verification.

If they both like what they see, I'll make it the release version and send it to everyone who's bought it :)

Cheers,

Paul :)
 
I found the problem and have pushed v121 to both Joe and Dusty for checks and verification.

If they both like what they see, I'll make it the release version and send it to everyone who's bought it :)

Cheers,

Paul :)

I think it's all getting down to being subjective at this point. The LUT is doing what it was designed to do. Being a really good alternative to VLOG using CineD.

I see benefits to the Leeming implementation and I also see other benefits to using VLOG. Both have ups and downs.

I feel I can guide VLOG were I want a bit more in terms of look. Then there are the issues of possible banding and magenta blocks.
Were as the CineD Leeming is a strong and more conservative way at achieving a well balanced image and better look than stock CineD.

Which do I personally like better? Neither. They both need more experimentation and insight with actual use on good scenes.

Do they both help the Gh4 get a better image as opposed to a stock Gh4? Absolutely.
 
I'm on location, and I forgot to bring most of my original test files, so I can't give v121 a thorough testing. But, I did apply it to two files I happened to have on hand. Posted here for judgement:

Cine-D/Leeming One v121
chart_leeming.jpg
scene_leeming.jpg

Straight out of camera with no post processing except for applying the LUT.
 
I'm on location, and I forgot to bring most of my original test files, so I can't give v121 a thorough testing. But, I did apply it to two files I happened to have on hand. Posted here for judgement:

Cine-D/Leeming One v121
View attachment 105860
View attachment 105861

Straight out of camera with no post processing except for applying the LUT.
Thanks :)

Hard to say just based on the small and compressed JPGs, but the colours look spot on and your pink flower pot seems to have the desired saturation now. The brown box behind it seems free of the magenta chroma smearing of the V-Log version, giving all the browns in the image a more accurate colour, as they aren't artificially contaminated by magenta hues.

Cheers!

Paul :)
 
BTW...many, many thanks to Paul, Joe and Dusty for what you are doing here. It is very, very appreciated!
 
BTW...many, many thanks to Paul, Joe and Dusty for what you are doing here. It is very, very appreciated!

+1

@dustylense Thanks for the suggestion about using a LUT utility plugin. I ended up buying MLUTs from motionVFX which has a LUT utility. I purchased a bunch of stuff from them in the past and their plugins and templates are top notch. Now I can purchase Pauls Leeming LUT and the Neumann LUT.
 
would love to see Dusty's approval on the final version. He is after all the main driving influence until about 1.05
 
would love to see Dusty's approval on the final version. He is after all the main driving influence until about 1.05

The beta version paul sent me is pleasing. It works. It's an alternative and a good alternative to VLOG using CineD. Thinking of it, it's probably a good thing. Because you are shooting CineD which works anyway and using Pauls LUT helps get a pleasing image that mimics VLOG. Whats to lose? 

But I'm not giving up on VLOG. Let's just say that I feel there is a little more control on how to direct the image using various LUTS.

I'd say if you can spring the $15 (maybe bypass a Starbucks coffee twice) give Paul's LUTs a go and see if they please you.

I've got a straight 40 or so days of shooting ahead of me to finish out the year. I'll chime in when I can and see about shooting some real world comparisons if I have the chance. My best advice is to test it yourselves against your shooting style and expectations of final image.
 
Once I'm back at home base I'll re-do a thorough comparison, but my feeling right now is that unless I'm shooting with an external recorder, for now I will avoid V-LOG L and shoot Cine-D/Leeming as a replacement for my current "Natural" settings.

8(7) bit V-LOG L is too fragile. The conditions that reveal the YUV encoding error are too common. The in-camera exposure tools are too compromised.

Cine-D has its own issues, but with reasonable settings and Paul's LUT, it's a more workable in-camera solution. The manner in which Leeming LUT de-emphasizes shadow noise means that I'll have greater confidence shooting at higher IO's without running footage through Neat ... which is a godsend when needed, but I would rather avoid.

I am still going to continue to to test V-LOG L, and even variations of Cine-D. I don't care about the extended range in the shadows...they're a noisy mess anyhow...but the promise of even 1/3 stop more highlight detail is tantalizing.

Specifically, I'm going to study some of the available LUT's and consider if I can create one with a similar ethos to Paul's Leeming One. (Overall accurate, but which de-emphasizes the camera's weaknesses.) If someone knows of an existing LUT, or someone working on such a LUT, please let me know so that I don't waste time duplicating effort.
 
Specifically, I'm going to study some of the available LUT's and consider if I can create one with a similar ethos to Paul's Leeming One. (Overall accurate, but which de-emphasizes the camera's weaknesses.) If someone knows of an existing LUT, or someone working on such a LUT, please let me know so that I don't waste time duplicating effort.

there are a few LUTs similar to pauls work available as payware. but i don't know any free and technical well documented solution up to now. jbalazers work seems to be the closest and promising approach. he has working on exactly this kind of problems for a long time. not only as an ad hoc solution for gh4 users, but also for sony s-log refugees ;)

see: http://www.jbalazer.com/aces-in-sony-vegas

near the pottom of this page you will find the section: "Why Sony Cine1 (HyperGamma 4) is Better than S-Log". that's exactly, what paul has found out in the panasonic context a few days ago... :) jbalazers work is not so much related to color correction. he was chiefly studying the necessary gamma curve transformations. but he published all his insights and IDTs in an open way. they are available for everybody to make them better and build some one additional modules on top of them. that's a remarkable distinction, that sets it far apart from pauls development work. from my point of view, it's the only way to prevent, that others will have to invent the wheel again and again all the time....
 
Thanks to Dusty and Joe for all your feedback :)

Version 121 is now released, so I'm in the process of sending everyone who already bought it their free update. Keep your eye on your inbox, and happy shooting!

Cheers from Berlin,

Paul :)

EDIT: Seems that my mail server is experiencing some issues, so please be patient while my host sorts it out. As soon as it's up again I'll continue sending out the update. Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Back
Top