C300: LUTs vs color grading

[New_Zealand]

I have been asking tons of question about this camera (C300 Mki) and setting - many thanks for all that has given their feedback. I'm 18 days away from filming and will be shooting in two different countries. I do have another question what seems to be the best norm for color look - LUT or having someone color grade your film? Thanks

 

[puredrifting]

Both. Most feel that application of a LUT is the starting point for grading, probably more useful for you (the DP) and the director visualizing roughly what the output will look like in REC709 land during editing. A lot of people think a LUT is like magic, apply it and instantly you are "there" as far as what your picture will look like, but it's not. A LUT just applies a pre-determined correction to log footage, that's all, it definitely doesn't make the image look finished, although it could, depending on what you want to end up with. Many people who are skilled at CC and grading forgo applying a LUT though. Just depends where in the chain you are talking. I would leave that decision up to your colorist.

Also, keep in mind that you are shooting with an 8-bit camera. Nothing wrong with that but it means that you won't nearly the adjustment range of a 10-bit or RAW capable camera so you need to get it close to right as you shoot as far as exposure and dynamic range. You won't have the luxury of messing it up big time and having it be correctable in the grade. A lot of people feel C-Log in 8 bit may not even be worth it and shoot WDR, drop the blacks a touch, up the saturation and be done with it. That's why you should shoot some tests on your expsure and workflow and try to get the look you want before you roll. Right now is the perfect time, a few weeks before you shoot for real.

 

[New_Zealand]

Thanks

 

[puredrifting]

I did a corporate shoot last week with a clients C300, we sold ours. Still a great, simple, easy to use camera with amazing image quality, I like the C100/300 MKI cameras, in some small ways, better than I like my C200 and the C300 MKII. Simpler, easier to operate, media is dirt cheap and the downsampled 4K looks makes great 1080.