Mlrawviewer 5D Mark III Raw C-Log Vs Log-C vs S-Log Vs S-Log2

[goran]

Hello All,

Here's a short test I did:

This is a short and not very scientific test I did exporting the footage from Mlrawviewer in different log spaces to see how well they would look and grade and to see how wide of a range of usable Log spaces I could get from the 5D mark III footage.
All footage was shot with 5D Mark III in raw with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens at 1920x1080 resolution. Footage was opened in Mlrawviewer 1.3.4 on a Mac and exported in four different log spaces in this order: C-Log, Log-C, S-Log, S-Log2.
The files were exported as ProRes 4444. In Davinci Resolve Lite 11 I applied different LUTs from the excellent VisionColor Impulz package which were matched for the type of footage. For example, the C-Log footage had a C-Log version LUT of the Impulz emulsion, Log-C had a Log-C version of the LUT etc. Every shot received the same LUT and I have not changed the footage in any way except for applying a LUT. The LUTs have changed between different shots but for the same shot I used the same LUT matching the Log space of the clip.
I cannot remember the exact LUT I applied but it doesn't matter that much as I made sure I'm applying the same LUT for every clip in order to be able to compare the footage. The only thing changed, as I mentioned, is I matched the type of LUT to type of Log footage.
Some additional details:
First shot was shot under tungsten light at 800 ISO at f/1.4.
Second to fourth shots were shot at 100 ISO at f-stops between 16 and 22.
The last two shots were shot using a daylight coming from behind the camera at ISO 400 with f-stop around 4 but I'm not sure about that one.
Apart from Log-C not really being suitable for the 5D footage except for only the brightest of conditions I think all other log spaces are usable, with C-Log being clearly the best match for this camera.

I'd love to hear your opinion.

Goran

[nikki]

I've gotten to the point of viewing footage in the ml viewer...how do I export footage to devinci lite and then to final cut pro x on a mac?

[goran]

Nikki you can press E in mlrawviewer and it will export your file with your current settings.
You can press C to export entire directory of files with mlrawviewer.

[nikki]

thanks Goran....


once I hit E and it says exported....where exactly is it (the file to export)  and how do I get into Devince...also is there way to export directly to fcp X

[goran]

Press W to choose export folder. Your already processed file will probably be in the already specified folder.
After that you'll have to manually import the file into Davinci or FCP. There's no option for something like "dynamic link".

Goran

[nikki]

Which version of the ml raw viewer are you using?

[DeafEyeJedi]

Interesting comparisons.

was this done in MLRV 1.3.3, 1.3.4 or 1.4.2?

Thanks for sharing @goran!

[goran]

1.3.4

[ToS_Maverick]

Hi Goran, cool to see this in action!
FYI, I was the one providing the log formulas
https://bitbucket.org/baldand/mlrawviewer/commits/406eaabb69134fd2a9189971187c7063f0a67825

Just my 2c: I'd recommend to stick with S-Log2, as this is the most accurate formula that was available (via Sony whitepaper). S-Log2 is S-Log with a different exposure (mid gray at different value), but the same formula. There are also interesting 1D technical LUTs available (S-Log2 to r709 for example).

Cheers and rock on!

[DeafEyeJedi]

Good to know, Thanks for pointing that out @ToS_Maverick!

Funny though cuz according to my eyes SLOG-2 always looks so nice and clean from MLRV but kept telling myself to stick with Log-C cuz I assumed that was proper for 'Canon' but thanks for clearing that up!

[emoji106]