GH4 Why you don't use VLOG-L for internal recording

I appreciate what those who take exception to the findings indicate, but I must say that I think you are being willfully ignorant. A lot of people are apologizing for what Panasonic released, instead of calling it what it is...brittle, fragile, thin.

It's been well proven that this isn't a post-camera pipeline issue, nor operator error. It's really, really, simple to demonstrate on any number of common, naturalistic scenes. Or if you prefer, MATH: Nobody is making-up the fact that the profile only uses about 60% of the usable, raw bit range, and worse biases the image towards areas that the codec compresses most.

It's very difficult to avoid...but even if you can...WHY would you want to? Why not just use a linear profile if recording internally? It's so tempting to WANT V-LOG L to work internally. Who wouldn't want an extra stop of latitude? But the truth is, unless recording 10-bit to cover its sins, trying to do so is a big bag of hurt.

I made this post because I happened to be testing V-LOG L for Paul Leeming's new LUT, and was reminded just how fragile it is.

macroblocking.jpg
 
I find that V-Log internal codec is brilliant in exterior locations exposed correctly (i.e. +1) white balanced correctly, such as streets, parks, anything colourful and contrasty, definitely more dynamic range and definitely better colours. Where it falls apart is in interiors. Mixed lighting is a nightmare but basically any grey walls are very troubling. But - Why would i ever choose to shoot a grey wall?? If shooting with a client job - i use a recorder for 10 bit particularly if I'm in interiors.

My experience - most V-Log LUTS don't do a good job, they usually clip the footage blowing out highlights or do odd things to colour. Leemings LUT is one of the better ones, but because of the need to adjust exposure on a clip by clip basis (if over exposing a bit) then I think its best to just grade using a single node in DaVinci resolve, bring in the blacks and whites, pump up saturation from 50 about 75-80. Thats it.
 
I've just spent a week shooting V-Log internally (alongside an F5 and A7s) on exteriors, skies, landscapes, streets, people all over London and the footage looks great. I'll upload some once the project is delivered. No issues with banding or colour weirdness. The key - getting white balance correct and Exposing to the right. The colours and detail match very well with Sony F5 (although its never going to be better) and I think it is far superior to the A7s footage we've got. I have an Atomos Assassin, but we were shooting so fast that we didn't go with it in the end. For exteriors I always locked the exposure at 5500k. Very gradable.
 
WWJD - its true right circumstances, but I found it generaly held up even when in fairly difficult circumstances by making sure white balance was nailed and I exposed a stop or two over. Mixed lighting is challenging - and interiors aren't as instantly good as exteriors in good light, but then no 8 bit camera does a great job of badly lit interiors.
 
nobbystylus said:
....I'll upload some once the project is delivered.
Click to expand...

Yes please. Looking forward to seeing them.

I'm going to Bath, UK in a couple of months and intend to spend a day filming in anamorphic V-Log, all internal. Also spending a couple of days in Iceland before that, and although a little nervous, I'm thinking of capturing that in V-log as well (not anamorphic).

On a related note, I found this very useful (not sure I understand all the math....:happy:)

http://blog.inventome.com/Blog/2016/3/LUTtruths/The-truth-about-LUTs
 
I have better luck with VLogL when underexposing by about a half or 2/3 of a stop. Using Shane and Barry's findings seem to help. Just got some Ninja 2's for my 7D Mark II's and might have to try external recording with my GH4 too. I'm sure the 10 bit will be better and live downsampling (since the Ninjas record HD) should look nice as well.
 
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