GH5 Paul Leemings New LUT for HLG Footage

I updated to FCPX v.10.4.

I import my HLG clips and change the settings to rec.709 by hitting Command J and selecting standard color gamut. In the browser, the clips look all blown out, but if you go to Preferences/Playback and select 'Show HDR as raw values', they look normal in the viewer when you play them. However, when skimming the clips in the timeline, the clips still look blown out. Not sure what I'm doing backwards.

Edit: I learned that you can view the clips in the browser normally, but 'Show HDR as raw values' has no effect on the clips in the timeline. So anyhow, as far as I can tell, I've converted the project to rec.709, but the clips in the timeline still appear as rec.2020. There is no tone mapping applied in v.10.4.
And when I apply the Leeming LUT, the image is all cherry red, which tells me the clips in the project are not rec.709 at all.

I'm about to give up!
 
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I'll have to find someone locally here in Holland with FCPX so I can see what's happening. It would be great to figure out the workflow for HLG in 10.4 in as consistent a way as DaVinci Resolve :)
 
Thanks, Paul. I was up all night, finally figured it out. Select the clips, go to the tab marked Basics at the bottom of inspector, hit ‘Settings’, then change color space to rec.709. In Apple’s white paper, they tell you to select the project and hit Control+Command+J, but that didn’t work for me.
 
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Thanks for your testing Jon! You rock :)

If we could figure out a native workflow and figure out the precise percentage to get the data within the proper 0-100 IRE range, then I can update the guide for everyone.

Cheers,

Paul :)
 
If you like, I can WeTransfer screen grabs shot with LED lights at 5500K with zebras set to 90% to you: one with no LUT applied, one with LUT at 30% and so on up to 100%, including the waveform monitor, if that would help.

Edit: Paul, I just emailed the screen grabs to you by We Transfer - using both LUT Utility from Color Grading Central and the Custom LUT feature in Final Cut.

I also updated my tutorial.
 
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jonpais said:
If you like, I can WeTransfer screen grabs shot with LED lights at 5500K with zebras set to 90% to you: one with no LUT applied, one with LUT at 30% and so on up to 100%, including the waveform monitor, if that would help.

Edit: Paul, I just emailed the screen grabs to you by We Transfer - using both LUT Utility from Color Grading Central and the Custom LUT feature in Final Cut.

I also updated my tutorial.
Click to expand...
Thanks Jon :) I've been busy rebuilding my main computer but will take a look soon and try to get the guide updated. Much obliged for all your help and awesome shots!

Cheers,

Paul :)
 
I've not tried the Leeming LUT One yet, but I did give HLG a trial run on my GH5 with the Nick Driftwood LUT (which converts Rec.2020 to Re, comparing results with CineD and other profiles using FCPX 10.4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6Pjhwp_jvM

Links to the Driftwood LUT and the Unsharp Mask plugin are found in the Description under my video.

The room you see in my video was lit only by noon-day sunlight entering from the window shown. I made this video not to show off impressive colors like in Jon Pais' excellent HLG videos, but rather to demonstrate dynamic range and how highlight clipping can be prevented by using HLG, even over CineD. I did not pay the $100 tax to Panasonic for vLog though so I cannot say how vLog compares with HLG.

I recorded on the GH5 in 1080p 60fps 10-bit using MOV, not MP4 HEVC. As you can see, I was able to get 1 stop of highlight protection out of HLG (in the MOV format) versus CineD (also in MOV). So I don't know if recording in MP4 HEVC is necessary when using HLG if your intent is like mine -- to convert to Rec.709.

I guess the next step for me would be to buy Paul's Leeming LUT One Combo Pack so I can test it on both CineD and HLG.

UPDATE: I bought the Leeming LUT One COMBO pack today and tried the HLG LUT. It seriously crushes the dark areas as compared with the Driftwood LUT. Using the same window-lit room scene as shown in my video above, the best grading I could achieve in FCPX, trying to match the brightness of the room between LUTs, resulted in slightly blown-out highlights in the Leeming HLG LUT as compared with the Driftwood LUT, as shown in these 1080p screen grabs:

https://cl.ly/oa6l/GH5-HLG_DriftwoodLUT_Ungraded.jpg

https://cl.ly/oaYT/GH5-HLG_DriftwoodLUT.jpg

https://cl.ly/oZlw/GH5-HLG_LeemingLUT_Ungraded.jpg

https://cl.ly/oa3O/GH5-HLG_LeemingLUT.jpg
 
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Nice video, JDW!
Here's another comparison between the Leeming LUT and Nick Driftwood's LUT.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NBmU7uIVH6M7e9i9TpAKfylpz1rx-kRB/view?usp=sharing
This was shot in my alley at around 7:30 at night with one 20-inch LED light in front of the model and one behind to accentuate her hair. The LEDs and camera were all set to 5500K.
I'm pretty sure the color of the lipstick and the top are more accurate in the Leeming LUT.
With the Driftwood LUT, the shadows are lifted, so they will have to be brought down, probably midtones as well, since it makes it look as though it was taken at midday.
Small details like the string of the model's top are rendered grey, whereas it was black.
I think it would be much easier to adjust saturation and contrast of the clip with the Leeming LUT a touch than to correct the colors of the Driftwood one.
I don't know how LUTs are made, but my understanding is that the Driftwood LUT is a direct tone mapping of rec. 2020 to rec. 709, whereas Paul's LUT makes specific corrections to the Panasonic colors to make them more accurate, with particular attention to skin tones.
We'll be shooting again Tuesday evening; I asked my model to come dressed the same, with the same hairstyle and lipstick, so I can have another look then.
Technically, I should have used a reflector to bounce light into the model's hair to the left, but I only had one assistant and not a lot of time. My bad! :)
 
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Jon,

Thank you for the side-by-side comparison of the Driftwood LUT versus the Leeming LUT for HLG. It’s clear that you are seeing exactly what I’m seeing. I agree that the color rendition is better on the Leeming HLG LUT, but the fact remains that details in the dark areas are crushed severely by the Leeming HLG LUT, making it difficult to grade details out of those shadows in post. And even if you can extract details such as individual hair strands shown at left in your side-by-side, those areas end up looking more gritty and noisy than with the Driftwood LUT.

This crushing of dark areas doesn’t have anything to do with HLG being fitted from 2020 into 709 as evidenced by the fact that the Driftwood LUT opens up the shadows better in Rec.709.

I therefore think what is needed here is a modification of the Leeming HLG LUT to retain it’s a great color rendition but show much more detail in the shadows (i.e., lighten shadow details), at least as well as the Driftwood LUT renders shadow detail.
 
I do prefer the Driftwood LUT rendition. There is plenty of room to work there, whereas the Leeming LUT rendition is almost over processed.

JDW said:
I therefore think what is needed here is a modification of the Leeming HLG LUT to retain it’s a great color rendition but show much more detail in the shadows (i.e., lighten shadow details), at least as well as the Driftwood LUT renders shadow detail.
Click to expand...
 
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