GH4 LUTS & LOG, help me out?

[filmguy123]

Why do we want V-Log or a Log curve on the GH4? What's the benefit? I guess I don't really understand LOG vs just shooting a flat Cine-D profile?

I use Adobe Premiere CC and am curious about grading with LUTs. Is this definitely a superior way to grade footage / improve the look of the GH4? Why so? Why not just shoot Cine-V and correct with 3-way Color Corrector? What does shooting flat in Cine-D and then using a LUT do that can improve the overall footage look? Help me understand..


Also, where can I get GH4 luts for use in Adobe Premiere Pro CC, and what settings should I dial in on the GH4? And - any specific LUT recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[mr bill]

This isn't a log camera - even cine D isn't that flat. Hence the myriad of posts complaining about skin tone when people have been shooting with crazy contrast and pedestal settings. There's no magical lut setting that will auto-grade your footage. You're better off nailing exposure and white balance, and when you get that right, there's surprisingly little to do in the grade, unless you're going for a heavily graded look.
my 02

 

[themac]

Well to put it simply log profiles help capture more info that you can work with in post. You'll tend to get more dynamic range with log profiles especially in the shadows. It's the next best thing if you can't capture raw video.

As for LUTs you might want to check out grading plugins like http://filmconvert.com/ or LUTs from http://www.vision-color.com/. You should have Speedgrade CC, I suggest using that instead for all your grading / color correcting needs, including apply LUTs.

 

[Realdvxuser]

Also, LUT's can - but not always will - give you a good starting point for certain looks made by good colorists. Some of the LUT's available in Resolve for example offer really nice looks when applied to fully flat image. However I fully agree that if you light and expose the GH4 with a Cine-V gamma, it needs very little tweaking to look great too. This is sort of Panasonic already applying a LUT in camera for you. They've done their share of work already to have it look good out of the box. There is no reason to fight Panasonics great color science. Just go with it and work from there.