F3: Log C for the F3

L

lasikdenver

Well-known member
I know it is not the correct Log curve, but I tried Pomfort's S-Log plugin and was very disappointed. Then I tried the demo of the Log C for the Alexa, and was fairly impressed with what I saw. I then tried some footage, both outdoor and indoor with Resolve 10.0 and put the Log C 3-D LUT on it, and the skin tones were very nice, dare I say Alexa like? I also tried the S-Log 2 and it was not so great. Any one else try this, is it reasonable? I know that Resolve can do amazing things, most of which I have not figured out yet, but with a 3-D LUT and just a little white balance, it makes for a nice look.
 
Why use any LUT?

Just create a first node labelled "exposure" then make a second node where you can create your own adjustment to remove slog. This allows your first node to control exposure, and your second node to do the job of removing slog which you can do by adjusting the curves and other settings.

Just a thought.
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I am looking for a quick way to get the nice Alexa look without a lot of time on Resolve tinkering. If I white balance, get the exposure about right, and shoot S-Log, then use the 3-D LUT on the footage, there is great color, good highlights, and a very pleasing look. For what I do (Vimeo/Youtube delivery) this is a lot better than shooting in REC709 or a hypergamma, gives quick and easy workflow, and a very pleasing image. I have tried the node approach, and have typically used a de-log curve created in MB Looks, which also works pretty well. I understand that there is so much more that can be done with Resolve, but I am trying to make nice images quickly. I think this is sort of where the Amira will be going for doc shooting. I produce still photos with my video footage, and want the video to match these since they appear together. This approach seems to work for that. There are also some plugins which add grain, and I found that one, Film Convert, has a similar ability to add the Log C look to my F3 S-Log which also has a nice look. This does not have S-log as an option, but again, when I tried S-Log2 in Resolve, it looked terrible. It might have to do with the way I expose my skin tones a little hotter than what is typically called for and the C-Log gives a full range without making the skin look plastic. I have had the F3 for a few years, and was kind of happy to find this, so just wanted to pass it along.
 
We are looking for a LUT to give us Alexa look but no matter what you are always going to have to adjust the base before applying a LUT for best results.

If the c-log LUT is working for you then it's working with how you are exposing your footage, and if you like it then that's all that matters.

Post some frame grabs.

:)
 
Test (Resolve).jpg

The JPEG does not really reflect the actual image well, but all values were in legal range.
 

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wow that c-log LUT might be some secret sauce in the making. I like how your images look photo-like. The forest background is a little dark, but exposing for your talent it probably would be and the only solution would be to boost the forest shadows using a mask or similar.\

looks great.
 
I played with the Arri C log Curve in Final Cut Pro to good effect, but I needed a tryptich of filters to make it work.
First use the 3 way color corrector just to get the exposure in the right place to center on the curve - That was essential. The I used the Magic Bulllit LUT Buddy to apply the Arri CLog curve, however I still needed to bring back the top and bottom of the curve so I used a free plug-in that I love called Shadow highlight gamma.
This worked pretty well but I still thought there was too much chroma in the shadow and highlight areas. I never did get to that but maybe I could have with a pair of simple secondary corrections based on the luma levels. Sounds like a lot to do but it was pretty simple and looked good.
 
Here is something I shot yesterday, this is S-Log 10 bit 422HQ to Samurai into FCP X then directlly XML to Resolve 10 where 3-D LUT added and roundtrip back to FCP with no other grading done:
Test (Resolve) (Resolve).jpg

Here is similar frame which I had worked on from Magic Bullets, the colors are not quite correct here:
Yumi Kim2.jpg

To see the final footage using this method go to: www.fashionsnag.com which has the video on the home page.
 
Thanks for passing it along. In case you care about feedback, I think your shots are too wide and about a stop over. Her skin highlights distract me and I'm not seeing the clothes or shoes all that well with the acres of empty space filling most of the frame. All that bright sky as a background is also competeing with her too much.
 
I think her skin is fair to begin with and looks properly exposed to me.

In your two frame posts #8 actually the first one looks like typical "too much RED" in channel that I always see on Sony.

The 2nd frame grab seems to have this level of "red" reduced slightly.
 
I agree with you Dennis, was reading the manual last night, and I think the red needs to be toned down, maybe also the saturation. It looks like Resolve will let you grade log footage with LUTs applied by using the log scale for color adjustments. I will experiment with this some more. Thanks for the advice.
 
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