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I like the look, but I assume that plug in will degrade the image quality, so I have been trying to reproduce it by using conventional grading. Plus that CineLook plug in brings my Mac to a grinding halt. Thanks for the tips, and interest in my neverending tests... It's really appreciated!

They look really good. Great job!!! Davinici seems like an amazing program. My problem is that I am not that serious about grading. I am a screenwriter that also loves shooting, so I am looking for an outlet for my writing and a look for my films. For instance, here is a grab from a recent test shot with the same Tokina lens. CineLikeD with everything dialed down... Here it is with a minor curve adjustment and a little hue adjustment with red and yellow... And here's the next level adding the CineLook plug in. That last one also has a touch of gorilla grain.

Thanks a bunch. I have always wanted a pocket cam and I may have a little extra money in a couple weeks, so I've been contemplating picking one up. But I'm not sure. Do you shoot Raw with it or prores? Are the raw files dramatically better than the prores?

I agree, my goal is not to fix in post, I am trying to get it as flat as I can, without ruining the image, so I can pull as much information as I can from the footage. I really love the subtle nuances in shadows. Like many, I started with Canon as well using Prolost Flat. On most occasions, I'd only need to add a little contrast and that was it, and even lens choice played a bigger part in the look. With these newer cameras, there is so much more latitude and that extra stop or two is like fool's gold. Anyway, thanks for your help, I'm going to use that tutorial series to help with my next round of tests.

Thanks jagne, that helps a lot.

I noticed the same thing too. I had a good bit of latitude, but then... One more little tweak... and it fell apart... quick. And you are so right about the light. The problem I had with these shots were it was just bright enough to use an ND, but there was just enough pockets of shadow that I really had to be careful what I decided to blow out. Do you use zebras? I have mine set at 100, but I remember reading somewhere that you should set them at 80 or 85 when filming people. When your filming a person outdoors, do you set them at 80 or 85 and then use the histogram to help expose the rest of the shot?

Bio, do you have the BMPCC? If so, do you think it is easier to learn to grade with a more robust codec? Or is it better to sow your oats with 8 bit and learn how to manipulate a more fragile codec?

Yeah, I think I'll give that a go. Thanks!!!

Cool, thanks. I'll keep at it. I swear the more I try, the worse they turn out.

Yeah, he has a Scottish/Irish heritage. He isn't red headed or anything but he has freckled, blotchy (for lack of better word) skin.

Haha, I'll have to remember that. I was blaming my girlfriend because she kept talking to me while I was trying to nail the skin tones. But yeah, this Tokina lens is awesome. I didn't expect much from it when I bought it, but I'm a sucker for 28 and/or 35mm f2 lenses. Those look great, so you didn't use any LUT at all? I was getting the colors close, but they ended up looking too flat, how did you get that finish polish or sheen to it? Is it simply contrast? Thanks!

Panny, thanks that looks better than mine. The first version was the ungraded and the second was my graded attempt. I Color Finale, a plug in that works inside FCPX. I did not color balance, which may be why I am having so much trouble with it. I like the brownish almost golden background, but when I get that looking good, the red in it turns his skin too orange. I'll keep at it. Thanks. I also lifted the blacks a little because his jacket was very faded, almost grey. There seems to be a lot of information hiding in the shadows, but I think for my next tests I am going to ETTR.

Thanks Bio, I think I may have watched part of that a while back but I'll go back and give it a thorough watching. Do you use Color Finale?

As you can probably tell from a recent post of mine, I have been attempting to do a little color grading. You can probably also tell that I am not that good at it. So, I was wondering how many people would recommend, to a beginner, LUTS or a plug in from Red Giant like Magic Bullet or Mojo? I am in the middle of writing a script that was originally intended to be a short but has now ended up as a feature. There are few characters and even less locations, but is a high concept script and very feasible to shoot on an extremely low budget. For the past few weeks I have been running tests and trying to nail down a look for the movie. I have had the most luck using a plug in from Color Grading Central called CineLook, but it is extremely computer intensive and my Mac practically comes to a halt while editing. So, I decided to try my hand at grading some of the tests. In some ways I can come close to what I'm looking for, but it's still off, so to make a long story short, do slider plug ins like Magic Bullet degrade the image at all? Or would a simple LUT or FCPX "Look" be better? Or should I just bite the bullet and practice, practice, practice until I get better at grading? Also, would using a color chart to balance my color make my efforts more fruitful? Anyway, thanks.

Just got Vimeo's Newsletter emailed to me. It's basically a big pat on their own back. But one line seemed like an acknowledgment toward the complaints... "We’ve also done our best to give creators as much control as possible over their videos and how they present them to their audience." And that was it. To me it seemed like they acknowledge the complaints, but too bad because they have always tried. I would imagine it would take a drastic and huge movement of subscription cancellations for Vimeo to step back at this point. I assume all of the complaints were forwarded to the department who was the brain child of this new restriction... They will never admit fault, so unless a massive amount of subscribers unsubscribe and they see the drop in their quarterlies, it will be business as usual.

I found another clip that has Contrast at 0, and everything else dialed down, if you wanted to give that a try as well. I threw a LUT from SmallHD on top of it and adjust the curves a hair.

If this camera had a mic input, 24p and the Flat profile, I would seriously consider it... Especially at this price.

Here you go... I did a regrade using an inverted curve, only 50% strength on the cinelikeD LUT and a different finishing LUT. These were both shot in CineLikeD with everything dialed all the way down. It seems like there is a lot of latitude in the shadows... which is good because I underexposed these slightly. And both were shot with the RMC Tokina 35mm f2 lens. Have at it. Also they look like they could use a little noise reduction and some sharpening, but I don't have neat video... or even a good photo editing program.

Sure, no problem. Give me a few minutes to wake up. The ones I posted are jpegs, would you rather have a tiff?

Thanks, I am definitely getting better than I was when I first got the NX500. Yeah, I'd love to check out that Reddit site and any LUTS you can pass my way. I have been putting two of the same clips onto my timeline. One with a LUT and one without and then I practice coloring by trying to match my ungraded footage to the LUT. I find it's been helping me a lot.

The RMC Tokina 17mm is a great lens. It's a 3.5, but speed boosted, it should be plenty fast enough. I had the Canon FD 17mm and that was a decent lens too.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of their point and shoots get 4K before their rebel line. Actually, I think the eos-m4 will be their first consumer camera to have 4K... eos-m4K.

Thanks, I'll check that out. Honestly, I'm surprised how much latitude the G7 has before everything falls apart. As you can tell, I have pushed the shit out of these images. But I think the last one turned out okay, and that is CinelikeD dialed down, so there may be something there.

Lately I have been really into f/2 lenses. My obsession started with the FD 28mm, then I picked up a 28mm MD, which I traded for the Rokkor-X version and now I have the Nikkor ai 28mm f2 and the Olympus, which I think I am going to sell. And most recently I picked up the Takumar 35mm f2 and the RMC Tokina 35mm f2. The Tokina is blowing me away, a beautiful lens. So yeah, f2 lenses all the way. As far as dream lenses go, I would love to own the Contax Zeiss Distagon 28mm f2, often referred to as "The Hollywood," some day.

Thanks Bunk, not bad. I use Color Finale with FCPX and it comes with a basic CineLikeD to rec709 LUT. So, I use that for the first layer, then I adjust the curves, the master and the red and blue and then I finished it with an Impulz Tetrachrome LUT. I was trying to keep the warm glow of the afternoon sun on his face, but it was hard to keep it from looking like a spray tan. I originally used CinelikeD with Contrast at 0, Sharpness and NR at 0 and Saturation at -2, or -3. I was getting decent results, but everything I was reading said Natural was the best.