Exploring DLOG, Setting Exposure Using the Wave Form Scope, Creating a LUT for Dlog…

[CP Anson]

This is my first exploration into how to shoot the x5s using DLog, exposing using the Wave Form scope in the Go 4 app and using LUTCalc to create a LUT to convert to Rec709. I thought I’d share the journey in case it might help someone else. So here goes.

I found much of the information in the InspirePilots.com and DJI forums that I am using. I wanted to thank JRenner, Mike and Travis of Advexture in the InspirePilots.com forum and in the DJI forum in the Dlog/RAW with X5S and the How to expose correctly if D-Log is fixed to ISO500 !!?? threads, DJI-CAO, DrMrdalj, and raven4.

Here’s what I have so far.
Lens: Olympus 12mm f2.0 lens that has been calibrated to the camera.
Ratio: 16:9
FPS: 23.976 full FOV
SSD: 4444XQ
Prores 4444XQ: 3840x2160
Looks: DLOG
White Balance: Cloudy/6600k
Style Custom: Contrast -3, Sharpness -3, Saturation -3
Locked ISO: 500
Shutter: 50

To use the new Wave Form scope in the Go 4 app I select the camera setting, select the cog wheel on the upper right and scroll down to Enable Color Waveform and activate it. The wave form scope will show up in a small window in the bottom right of the screen. You can make it larger by clicking the expand button the upper left of the tiny Color waveform window.



To set my exposure I placed a 30” Impact 18% gray panel in the test area I am recording and using the wave form scope I adjusted the levels to approximately 478 IRE. This required adding a 2 stop ND filter and adjusting the f-stop to 13. The EV showed +1.3 at this point.

I recorded the footage on the SDD and then uploaded it into my Mac and into a Davinci Resolve timeline.

Next I needed to create a LUT in LUTCALC (LUTCalc) which would convert the DLOG into a Rec709. See image for my settings in LUTCalc. I used the Alexsa Wide Gamut as a test and was pretty happy with the results. I need to try some other Gamuts and see which I like best. There is no DLOG Gamut available.




Next I placed this LUT in the LUT directory for Davinci Resolve by going to Settings, selected the Color Management section and clicked the Show LUT directory. I dragged and dropped the LUT into the directory, closed the directory and then clicked Update lists. It took a minute or so for the list to update and then I clicked save.




In the timeline I selected the clip and in the first node I added the LUT I just created (DJIDLog_AlexaWG-BMDFilm4k_Custom) adjusted the output of the LUT to taste and tweaked the levels for the Lift(shadows), Gamma(midtones), and Gain(highlights). I have included the LUT zipped below.

Here is before:




Here is after:
BTW - SanCap let me know that the clouds were blown out in the previous version of this image and so I adjusted the highlights to correct that. Thanks SanCap!





Chris

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

Great post Chris. Shooting LOG can be very confusing for people who are just starting to use it. The EV of +1.3 is very common - in fact many LOG guidelines recommend shooting at up to 2 stops overexposed.

Thanks for starting this!

 

[CP Anson]

Thanks Michael! There is a lot to learn

 

[CP Anson]

Here is the dji dlog curve that was created by Ben Turley the author of LUTCalc i mentioned above. He reversed engineered this. raven4 shared this with me.

 

[qnyla]

A very helpful post.

 

[SanCap]

This is my first exploration into how to shoot the x5s using DLog, exposing using the Wave Form scope in the Go 4 app and using LUTCalc to create a LUT to convert to Rec709. I thought I’d share the journey in case it might help someone else. So here goes.

I found much of the information in the InspirePilots.com and DJI forums that I am using. I wanted to thank JRenner, Mike and Travis of Advexture in the InspirePilots.com forum and in the DJI forum in the Dlog/RAW with X5S and the How to expose correctly if D-Log is fixed to ISO500 !!?? threads, DJI-CAO, DrMrdalj, and raven4.

Here’s what I have so far.
Lens: Olympus 12mm f2.0 lens that has been calibrated to the camera.
Ratio: 16:9
FPS: 23.976 full FOV
SSD: 4444XQ
Prores 4444XQ: 3840x2160
Looks: DLOG
White Balance: Cloudy/6600k
Style Custom: Contrast -3, Sharpness -3, Saturation -3
Locked ISO: 500
Shutter: 50

To use the new Wave Form scope in the Go 4 app I select the camera setting, select the cog wheel on the upper right and scroll down to Enable Color Waveform and activate it. The wave form scope will show up in a small window in the bottom right of the screen. You can make it larger by clicking the expand button the upper left of the tiny Color waveform window.
View attachment 13601


To set my exposure I placed a 30” Impact 18% gray panel in the test area I am recording and using the wave form scope I adjusted the levels to approximately 478 IRE. This required adding a 2 stop ND filter and adjusting the f-stop to 13. The EV showed +1.3 at this point.

I recorded the footage on the SDD and then uploaded it into my Mac and into a Davinci Resolve timeline.

Next I needed to create a LUT in LUTCALC (LUTCalc) which would convert the DLOG into a Rec709. See image for my settings in LUTCalc. I used the Alexsa Wide Gamut as a test and was pretty happy with the results. I need to try some other Gamuts and see which I like best. There is no DLOG Gamut available.

View attachment 13602


Next I placed this LUT in the LUT directory for Davinci Resolve by going to Settings, selected the Color Management section and clicked the Show LUT directory. I dragged and dropped the LUT into the directory, closed the directory and then clicked Update lists. It took a minute or so for the list to update and then I clicked save.

View attachment 13603


In the timeline I selected the clip and in the first node I added the LUT I just created (DJIDLog_AlexaWG-BMDFilm4k_Custom) adjusted the output of the LUT to taste and tweaked the levels for the Lift(shadows), Gamma(midtones), and Gain(highlights). I have included the LUT zipped below.

Here is before:

View attachment 13604


Here is after:

View attachment 13605



Chris

Thank you for your post, I am still learning and posts like this help. I have not attempted to shoot in log yet. Looking at your after image the clouds seem to be blown out and banding (at least on my monitor) and the image still looks flat to me. Is there a reason for that?

 

[CP Anson]

Thank you for your post, I am still learning and posts like this help. I have not attempted to shoot in log yet. Looking at your after image the clouds seem to be blown out and banding (at least on my monitor) and the image still looks flat to me. Is there a reason for that?

Hello, The images I uploaded were just screen captures on my imac 5k. That may be why you are seeing banding. In Davinci they are not banded and I am not seeing banding in the image I uploaded but again it was a screen capture, more for example rather than a finished product. Could also be the way it was compressed during the upload.

I do see the blown out clouds. Good eye on your part. I went back into Davinci and looked at the wave form scope, I had pushed the highlights beyond 1023. I was able to back down the highlights and they were no longer blow out. I had plenty of room there. So that was user errror on my part. Just like you I am learning.

As for the correct image looking flat, on my system the corrected image looks much richer than the original, but I can see what you mean, and I also could have tweaked it even more for greater contrast and saturation than I did.

Thanks for you comments and insights,

Chris

 

[SanCap]

I was only seeing the banding in the clouds and might be using the incorrect term. Thanks again.

 

[CP Anson]

I was only seeing the banding in the clouds and might be using the incorrect term. Thanks again.

I thought you were talking about the sky area. That makes sense if the clouds were blowning out. I went it and lowered the hightlights. The clouds should look better.

thanks, Chris

 

[SanCap]

I thought you were talking about the sky area. That makes sense if the clouds were blowning out. I went it and lowered the hightlights. The clouds should look better.

thanks, Chris

I saw no other banding and the after image looks better. Oh and now I look like an idiot because you replaced the blown out cloud image No worries, that happens often with me!

 

[CP Anson]

I saw no other banding and the after image looks better. Oh and now I look like an idiot because you replaced the blown out cloud image No worries, that happens often with me!

I made a note in the original about your find and that I corrected it.

Chris

 

[Gregg Smith]

Great post Chris. Shooting LOG can be very confusing for people who are just starting to use it. The EV of +1.3 is very common - in fact many LOG guidelines recommend shooting at up to 2 stops overexposed.

Thanks for starting this!

Michael do you have any cheatsheet or table that you refer to for the settings? I'm used to the old DLOG model with the X5 on Inspire 1 where I would normally shoot at -0.3 to -0.7 versus the other way around. I wasn't aware of shooting over exposed in DLOG.

I just shot a bunch of footage this weekend using my old method and it came out ok, but I want to ensure that I'm doing it right. I was able to control exposure using aperture, ND filter and shutter settings to get correct exposure. I was afraid of using 500 ISO but was pleasantly surprised with the results and the ability to control exposure in bright sunny days.

 

[Gregg Smith]

DJI Forum Links - How to expose correctly if D-Log is fixed to ISO500 !!??
Dlog/RAW with X5S

 

[CP Anson]

Michael do you have any cheatsheet or table that you refer to for the settings? I'm used to the old DLOG model with the X5 on Inspire 1 where I would normally shoot at -0.3 to -0.7 versus the other way around. I wasn't aware of shooting over exposed in DLOG.

I just shot a bunch of footage this weekend using my old method and it came out ok, but I want to ensure that I'm doing it right. I was able to control exposure using aperture, ND filter and shutter settings to get correct exposure. I was afraid of using 500 ISO but was pleasantly surprised with the results and the ability to control exposure in bright sunny days.

Hey Greg, This is Chris. In regards to your shoot, did you have any unusual noise in the shadows. That's what happens to me when I am to underexposed. The challenge for me with the +1.3 or so is to be sure I am not blowing out the highlights and that is where using the Waveform scope helps me.

Chris

 

[Gregg Smith]

Hey Greg, This is Chris. In regards to your shoot, did you have any unusual noise in the shadows. That's what happens to me when I am to underexposed. The challenge for me with the +1.3 or so is to be sure I am not blowing out the highlights and that is where using the Waveform scope helps me.

Chris

I don't have unusual noise per se, but to bring up the exposure it starts to get that gray look versus the right coloration. So lesson learned. Will have to expose higher instead.

 

[aero1199]

This thread is a great resource thanks very much! Yesterday I flew my brand new Inspire 2 and x4s for the first time, the footage was a real step up over my Mavic but the colours were no good.

I shot 0,0,0 in D-log and tried all the LUTs I had including the well known PolarPro Mavic, GroundStation Mavic and some other randoms all to no avail.

Then I tried this LUT and it produced a great natural looking image with minimal corrections, thank you!!

So moving forward should I shoot D-Log -3 -3 -3 and +1.0EV ? (I will be using inspire 2 with x4s with ND filters and occasionally a ND/PL)

 

[CP Anson]

This thread is a great resource thanks very much! Yesterday I flew my brand new Inspire 2 and x4s for the first time, the footage was a real step up over my Mavic but the colours were no good.

I shot 0,0,0 in D-log and tried all the LUTs I had including the well known PolarPro Mavic, GroundStation Mavic and some other randoms all to no avail.

Then I tried this LUT and it produced a great natural looking image with minimal corrections, thank you!!

So moving forward should I shoot D-Log -3 -3 -3 and +1.0EV ? (I will be using inspire 2 with x4s with ND filters and occasionally a ND/PL)

So glad you found this helpful!
The settings you listed above would be a good starting place. As always, try variations and come up with what works best for you!

 

[rmb]

This is my first exploration into how to shoot the x5s using DLog, exposing using the Wave Form scope in the Go 4 app and using LUTCalc to create a LUT to convert to Rec709. I thought I’d share the journey in case it might help someone else. So here goes.

I found much of the information in the InspirePilots.com and DJI forums that I am using. I wanted to thank JRenner, Mike and Travis of Advexture in the InspirePilots.com forum and in the DJI forum in the Dlog/RAW with X5S and the How to expose correctly if D-Log is fixed to ISO500 !!?? threads, DJI-CAO, DrMrdalj, and raven4.

Here’s what I have so far.
Lens: Olympus 12mm f2.0 lens that has been calibrated to the camera.
Ratio: 16:9
FPS: 23.976 full FOV
SSD: 4444XQ
Prores 4444XQ: 3840x2160
Looks: DLOG
White Balance: Cloudy/6600k
Style Custom: Contrast -3, Sharpness -3, Saturation -3
Locked ISO: 500
Shutter: 50

To use the new Wave Form scope in the Go 4 app I select the camera setting, select the cog wheel on the upper right and scroll down to Enable Color Waveform and activate it. The wave form scope will show up in a small window in the bottom right of the screen. You can make it larger by clicking the expand button the upper left of the tiny Color waveform window.
View attachment 13601


To set my exposure I placed a 30” Impact 18% gray panel in the test area I am recording and using the wave form scope I adjusted the levels to approximately 478 IRE. This required adding a 2 stop ND filter and adjusting the f-stop to 13. The EV showed +1.3 at this point.

I recorded the footage on the SDD and then uploaded it into my Mac and into a Davinci Resolve timeline.

Next I needed to create a LUT in LUTCALC (LUTCalc) which would convert the DLOG into a Rec709. See image for my settings in LUTCalc. I used the Alexsa Wide Gamut as a test and was pretty happy with the results. I need to try some other Gamuts and see which I like best. There is no DLOG Gamut available.

View attachment 13602


Next I placed this LUT in the LUT directory for Davinci Resolve by going to Settings, selected the Color Management section and clicked the Show LUT directory. I dragged and dropped the LUT into the directory, closed the directory and then clicked Update lists. It took a minute or so for the list to update and then I clicked save.

View attachment 13603


In the timeline I selected the clip and in the first node I added the LUT I just created (DJIDLog_AlexaWG-BMDFilm4k_Custom) adjusted the output of the LUT to taste and tweaked the levels for the Lift(shadows), Gamma(midtones), and Gain(highlights). I have included the LUT zipped below.

Here is before:

View attachment 13604


Here is after:
BTW - SanCap let me know that the clouds were blown out in the previous version of this image and so I adjusted the highlights to correct that. Thanks SanCap!


View attachment 13651


Chris

Dude, you are the man! I am Davicci color guy and have had great results stating with an ARRI lut, but wanted more. I went over to lutcalc as suggested by a DP friend of mine and franklin swooned at the process and gave up. I am looking forward to trying your lut perhaps later today. Again thanks for the detailed post.
RB

PS. If you get board, I'd love to see you try your hand at a lut for DNG raw. There is sooo much more latitude there

 

[fefe]

This is my first exploration into how to shoot the x5s using DLog, exposing using the Wave Form scope in the Go 4 app and using LUTCalc to create a LUT to convert to Rec709. I thought I’d share the journey in case it might help someone else. So here goes.

I found much of the information in the InspirePilots.com and DJI forums that I am using. I wanted to thank JRenner, Mike and Travis of Advexture in the InspirePilots.com forum and in the DJI forum in the Dlog/RAW with X5S and the How to expose correctly if D-Log is fixed to ISO500 !!?? threads, DJI-CAO, DrMrdalj, and raven4.

Here’s what I have so far.
Lens: Olympus 12mm f2.0 lens that has been calibrated to the camera.
Ratio: 16:9
FPS: 23.976 full FOV
SSD: 4444XQ
Prores 4444XQ: 3840x2160
Looks: DLOG
White Balance: Cloudy/6600k
Style Custom: Contrast -3, Sharpness -3, Saturation -3
Locked ISO: 500
Shutter: 50

To use the new Wave Form scope in the Go 4 app I select the camera setting, select the cog wheel on the upper right and scroll down to Enable Color Waveform and activate it. The wave form scope will show up in a small window in the bottom right of the screen. You can make it larger by clicking the expand button the upper left of the tiny Color waveform window.
View attachment 13601


To set my exposure I placed a 30” Impact 18% gray panel in the test area I am recording and using the wave form scope I adjusted the levels to approximately 478 IRE. This required adding a 2 stop ND filter and adjusting the f-stop to 13. The EV showed +1.3 at this point.

I recorded the footage on the SDD and then uploaded it into my Mac and into a Davinci Resolve timeline.

Next I needed to create a LUT in LUTCALC (LUTCalc) which would convert the DLOG into a Rec709. See image for my settings in LUTCalc. I used the Alexsa Wide Gamut as a test and was pretty happy with the results. I need to try some other Gamuts and see which I like best. There is no DLOG Gamut available.

View attachment 13602


Next I placed this LUT in the LUT directory for Davinci Resolve by going to Settings, selected the Color Management section and clicked the Show LUT directory. I dragged and dropped the LUT into the directory, closed the directory and then clicked Update lists. It took a minute or so for the list to update and then I clicked save.

View attachment 13603


In the timeline I selected the clip and in the first node I added the LUT I just created (DJIDLog_AlexaWG-BMDFilm4k_Custom) adjusted the output of the LUT to taste and tweaked the levels for the Lift(shadows), Gamma(midtones), and Gain(highlights). I have included the LUT zipped below.

Here is before:

View attachment 13604


Here is after:
BTW - SanCap let me know that the clouds were blown out in the previous version of this image and so I adjusted the highlights to correct that. Thanks SanCap!


View attachment 13651


Chris

sorry for my question, but can you explain me why did you put your iso at 500 in d-log and not keep them at 100 thank you

 

[CP Anson]

sorry for my question, but can you explain me why did you put your iso at 500 in d-log and not keep them at 100 thank you

No worries. At the time I posted this, the firmware only allowed an ISO of 500. Does that help?