Trouble fixing Panasonic VLOG footage

I'm having an issue with 2 clips I shot with VLOG on my GH5. Is there anyone I could send a link to these files and see if they could take a shot at balancing them? I've tried everything!

Welcome to the forums!

You can send the files to ronnycourtens@mac.com

Or you can upload them to Wetransfer and post the link here so other people can test them.

-Ronny

Awesome, thank you! I really botched it on these lol.

drive.google.com/drive/folders/1blq-h6k9...uZMAErno?usp=sharing

Can you send me an email so I can send you the link to the balanced clips?

- Ronny

Attached is a frame grab from my attempt to color correct the 2nd clip. It is difficult because it's back lit, shot in VLog (which is very flat) but only using an 8-bit 4:2:0 codec which limits color correction options. There is some glare which might indicate no lens hood was used. If an ND was used those often mechanically conflict with a lens hood, so those situations are hard.

The GH5 supports 10-bit 4:2:2, which can help difficult cases like this. It won't play in Finder and is sluggish on FCP (except probably Apple Silicon), but FCP handles it OK if using proxies.

It was shot at 60 fps which can give nice 1/2 speed slow motion but it cuts light by 1/2. After grading there was some noise in the dark regions so I used Neat Video on that. I couldn't tell from the clip metadata what ISO was used.

I used Panasonic's VLog-to-Rec 709 LUT: na.panasonic.com/us/resource-center/v-log-v-709-3d-lut

However camera LUTs assume proper exposure so I had to first increase the exposure with color wheels. IOW you correct things like the before the LUT, not after. The window was virtually blown out so before the LUT I put a shape mask on it to slightly darken it. I cropped to the white dress using the vector scope to balance color, also checked a cropped region of skin to place it on the skin tone line.

Thanks for this, Joe. That actually looks better than what I have done. But I didn't use a LUT, did it all manually. And I left the image as neutral as possible so the OP could still adapt it further to match it with the other shots in his edit. Great job!

- Ronny

BTW except for Neat Video (which was not really needed) that was done using only FCP. I frequently see people buying color grading plugins under the assumption that grading with FCP alone is limited or difficult. But the built-in tools can do a lot.

I have Resolve Studio, use that on some projects, and it is sophisticated. However just basic training in color correction and grading is the most important. There are lots of good sources for this such as Ripple Training:  www.rippletraining.com/products/final-cu...-final-cut-pro-10-4/

It's great to have these plugins available. However for anybody wanting to improve the color of their productions, my suggestion is prioritize quality training over getting another tool. The above Ripple Training class costs less than some grading plugins. 

Yes, I'd say paying for proper color grading training is infinitely more valuable than purchasing some hyped-up 3rd party color grading plugin. I've gotten just about every 3rd party coloring plugin for FCP, used them all for a bit, and now I don't touch any of them because at the end of the day, they actually don't do any better of a job than using the build in tools, in my personal experience. And in some cases give worse results.

Thanks guys. I can say for weddings vlog is not the way to go (in my opinion). Too much work to just get it to look “normal”, let alone fine changes. Going back to the natural profile for today’s wedding. Plus I won’t be shooting directly into a window anymore lol.

I shoot exclusively in VLOG on my GH5S. However I also have a Ninja V so I can record 10-bit Prores 422 files. It can seem frustrating or overwhelming at first but once you get a knack for it, it's almost second nature. The only bad thing is that I'd rather edit than spend time coloring. Thankfully copy/pasting color grade filters over many clips all shot in the same room under the same conditions helps a lot. I just appreciate the greater amount of highlight and shadow detail that VLOG offers. The GH5S is incredibly grainy though... and it is not a natural-looking grain.

just go there
www.leeminglutpro.com

those LUT will start the process perfectly for Lumix footage, a lot of specific work behind