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GH4 Firmware 2.3, V-log for $99, Epic Panasonic marketing fail
  • 1451 Replies sorted by
  • @xenocide I've been saying that this whole time, thank you for laying it out there.

  • @shian No problem, I've got more testing to do before I draw any final conclusions but right now I'm torn.

    The magenta/cyan blocking issue can be more severe in some scenes when using V-Log L as compared to other profiles but it doesn't always show up and the other profiles can have the issue as well. The extra DR and smoothness of V-Log L is very tempting and I want to use it but I have to be able to trust it.

    Right now I'm about 50/50 on the internal codec and shooting V-Log L. As I go through more footage, hopefully I can reach an ultimate conclusion on what's going to work for the majority of my shooting.

  • Can someone with firmware version 2.4 please perform this short test for me and report the result?

    Set the photo style to Standard and the ISO to 400. Point the camera at something and adjust the exposure until the camera's exposure meter reads +0.0. Then switch the camera to V-Log L, keeping the same exposure and ISO setting. What does the exposure meter read now?

  • I did some tests.

    Took some video of a white wall and graded it in three different ways.
    1. With just curvs 2. With V-log to Rec 709 only gamma LUT 3. With V-log to rec709 Gamma and gamut lut (most visible because added saturation)

    I took 7 different exposures, but no matter the exposure... Macro blocking is there! No matter what LUT is applied.

    But... It was rather easy to fix with 3D LUT Creator

    Orginal.jpg
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    Curvs only.jpg
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    Gamma only.jpg
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    Gamma and Gamut.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 219K
    Marco Blocking in 3D LUT creator.jpg
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    3D LUT Creator close up.jpg
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  • I must say that I'm very impressed of the color of V-log when using a v-log->Rec709 with gamma and gamut translation.

    Here is a real life example of a raw still to jpg without any color/contrast modifications done and a same situation in V-log. Sorry that I did't remember to test a Cinelike D/V profiles then.

    Would you be able to spot macro blocking in this, if this would be moving shot of 5-10s? 8bit is visible in the red jacket...

    I think I will start using V-log as my standard profile...

    Raw still.jpg
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    V-log.jpg
    3840 x 2160 - 1M
  • So pls explain more about gamma gamut translation you used?

  • @Xenocide38

    But only V-Log made it so apparent that now we are all looking at it! :(

    You can see this in my first picture, were both side of separation line have that magenta/cyan tint blocks but only in V-Log are disturbing.

    @joonas_t

    1. Well, I'm using the LUT Panasonic told us to use... :( (http://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/enhance/gh4/index.html)

    2. Is it possible to make a LUT to put in chain with V-Log 2 Rec709, so it correts this?

  • @joonas_t it's hard to say whether I'd see it or not in motion but I hope I would! That jacket looks pretty awful and distracting haha

  • I'm still getting really bad results with the internal V-Log L stuff. I'm sure there are people who don't notice or don't experience these issues, so if you want to shoot with V-Log L, go for it. Use whatever makes your footage look the best.

    That said, I don't think I can generally recommend V-Log L for internal shooters, even ones with color grading experience. Log is more to work with and post will slow you down but these issues will give you even more of a headache.

    @joonas_t has shown a couple times how to fix this issue with 3D LUT Creator but that is only helpful if you have time to fix each shot, shot by shot by shot.

    These artifacts can affect ANY picture profile on the GH4 but they are most prominent with V-Log L when shooting internally on the cam. During this test shoot, I did a factory reset on the camera as some people were saying that helped. I don't see much difference.

    Workflow: 1. Shoot ETTR 2. Import files into After Effects 3. Switch to 32-Bit Mode 4. Apply Panasonic LUT to V-Log L Footage 5. Add Curves to adjust color

    Please, if I am doing something wrong or there's a better way to handle this, let me know. I would love to be able to use V-Log L but I'm not seeing a lot that gives me trust in it.

    Granted, this is a nightmare scene for V-Log L, and other environments may not show these artifacts as much.

    If anything, all this V-Log L stuff has given me more validation to thought that you should get it pretty close to final in camera. I've been shooting Cinelike V for awhile and I think I'm going to stick with that. But like I said, I'd like to be proven wrong.

    Cinelike D ISO 1600.jpg
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    V LOG L ISO 1600.jpg
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    V LOG L ISO 3200.jpg
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    V LOG L ISO 1600 RESET.jpg
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    V LOG L ISO 3200 RESET.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 672K
  • Panny. Just use all 8 bits instead of 7. Firmware v2.5 please?

  • Shot some very quick stuff in available light today and I'm finding this 8bit internal stuff really challenging to grade. it doesn't want to bend the way I'm used to bending. Having to employ some careful techniques I haven't used since my PD150 DV days back in the late 90's-early 2000's. But once I dial it in....wow. If I'd only had a simple bounce or 1 light I'd be get some really stunning stuff. The Falloff and skin tones are so worth it. Still some things that V-log is just not suited for. Luckily, I can shoot those in another profile for now.

    Screen Shot 2015-09-21 at 9.59.57 PM.jpg
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  • @shian, can you provide a short clip of the raw footage?

  • Just finished testing V-Log L vs Standard profile. Settings: 4k UHD 25P, Kit lens 12-35mm, ISO 3200. Exposure set to give white histogram on both settings. Graded in DaVinci Resolve 12. Used a X-Rite chart to play with in Resolve.

    No LUT used.

    Results are very good using the Resolve colour chart tool to match V-log using Alexa C-log source gamma setting, all other settings are rec709. Standard profile setup the same way but with all chart settings rec709.

    V-log shows much better colour (hue) accuracy than Standard, with better highlights (softer rolloff) and more even spread of detail in the low grey areas. The low grey areas show a little more noise due to the better visibility. Overall the image has a slight green cast, possibly due to the Alexa C-log setting used in the colour chart setup. Magenta/Cyan macro-blocking is visible but nothing like the examples currently demonstrating the issue.

    I agree with Shian; V-log is very nice for smooth mid-tones but is difficult to expose properly on exterior wide shots with high contrast. Interiors with proper lighting and controlled exposure should be great.

    V-log is not a 'run and gun' setting by any means!

    V-log on left, Standard on right.

    V-LOG Chart Test_1.16.1.jpg
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    V-LOG Chart Test_1.17.1.jpg
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  • @caveport Could you send one frame of the original material of that shot. I would like to look around it with the x-rite Color Checker in it.

    @shian I took a look at your software but I didn't quit understand how this software works. It would be interesting if you could share some of your techniques in theory, about what you are doing to save the footage. Are they kind of tricks you too do to the footage, like recreating some channels again with algorithms of some sort or is it careful translations between color spaces.

    @robbin you can create gamma and gamut LUT's with a Software called LUTCalc, It's free in 8 bit and 3eur/usd as a standalone 10bit software. One reason why the v-log has better color is that it's coded in Panasonic v-gamut color space, witch is wider that Rec709 gamut space.

    @Xenocide38 I'm trying to get my head around the macro blocking. Because it's rather easy to fix and because it always magenta/cyan, It just might be that it's located always in the same spot in the color space. I just need to find a way to see it and create a lut that might just fix it independent of the v-log footage it's been used. And of course I'll share the lut here, if I can get it to work.

  • @joonas_t V-log on the GH4 is still recorded in sRGB colour space. Profiles and colour space are independent. V-gamut is used on the Varicam. If I send you an original frame, it will have been decoded from the original H264 clip. I can't post a large file here & can't upload anything to a server now.

  • I don't have enough technical knowledge about color, but the one thing keeps me trying V-Log is color... to my eyes color is just fantastic.

    I also see a green cast in Alexa LogC (easily compensated with some magenta) and the greens seems to have too much lightness (almost neon like at times).

    The noise, not only macro blocks, is much worst than Natural in same ISO setting (and I still can use ISO 200 to lower it further...).

    If only joonas_t could get a LUT that eliminates macro block problem in most circumstances... :)

  • @caveport Wow standard colour really sux. V-log looks spot on. Noise looks totally fine to me.

  • @caveport you are right I use terms wrong, because this all is rather new to me. But I'm quit positive that V-log records to Panasonic V-gamut. The colors are totally off If I only correct the gamma and leave the gamut alone when translating v-log to Rec709 with a lut. Do you get the colors to be precise with the Color checker with out a gamut translation lut? So you use any luts?

    Could you just render a frame for me in jpg format from the video. It doesn't matter if it low res or jpg compressed.

  • @Jopereira People using alexa logC lut have a green cast because LogC luts re-maps colour wrong if used to v-log footage. If you want to use grading luts that are meant for logC you should first translate the v-log to LogC.

    Here you have one lut for that: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k76v10jzeky2zmm/V-log_to_LogC.cube?dl=0 (link might go down later) Test it and tell me if I did't things right. Done with LUTCalc software.

  • @joonas_t The GH4 does not have V-gamut at all. It has only sRGB and Adobe RGB. When shooting video it defaults to sRGB, and that is from the GH4 user manual, plus I have tested extensively. I don't know how you can be positive about something that you have not checked!!! Also the test was done at ISO 3200 not ISO 1600. here is the still frame for you.

    As per the earlier post: NO LUT'S USED.

    test still_1.19.1.jpg
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  • Good news for people with photoshop.

    I was trying to examine the macro blocking issue closely and then I remembered that I actually found a solution to this all ready when I was unhappy with my Cinelike D footage.

    It's photoshop, Camera raw filter applied to video embed in a smart object. And in the camera raw filter open noise reduction and put some color noise reduction to the clip. WOHOO! Macro blocking is gone. This will degenerate color, but you can add some vibrance and mask some highlight areas and add some color cast to them selectively if really needed.

    Here is some examples

    Color noise close-up.jpg
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    Color noise be gone close-up.jpg
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  • @Caveport thanks for the clip! I'll like to play around with it.

    And I'm still quite positive that GH4's V-log gamut is V-gamut. Here is raw still as a reference (raws have picture profiles embed so I think we can use it as a reference of accurate color) and one video frame with gamut (and gamma) translation from v-log to rec 709 and one with only gamma translation from v-log to rec 709.

    But this is so confusing and I'm trying to get my head around it still. V-log is v-gamut, but the codec in h.264 is Lab, or wait... sRGB or is it, is it rec709 or what!!! Confusing!

    Raw still.jpg
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    Panasonic v-gamut to rec709-gamut.jpg
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    V-log to rec 709 with out gamut translation.jpg
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  • This shit needs to be hacked for better noise structure. After all its 8 bit compressed 4k what to expect if not some blokiness.???

    Although for 8 bit and all it makes awesome images, i still prefer GH2 image structure.

  • Most strange, at least for me, is where it appears: in mids/highlights.

    @caveport

    Are you sure those pictures are 3200 ISO? Do you want to exchange your GH4 with mine? :) :)