How to Grade SLog Footage

In this video, I share my solutions and techniques for effectively grading Slog footage from Sony cameras in DaVinci Resolve, including what to look out for with the nuances and details that come with grading Slog material, so you can get consistent results and struggle less with this footage.

--------

Grade faster with my Voyager LUT Pack:

Get my free Kodak 2383 film print LUT for DWG and ACES here:

Get all of my freebies with my free Color Grading & Look Design Starter Pack!

Check out my ebook, The Colorist's 10 Commandments:

[ChadtheFilipino]

Cullen!! That Lum vs Sat trick is EPIC. I primarily shoot Sony after switching off of Black Magic and have always scratched my head with how to fix those clipped highlights even after exposing everything correctly in Camera. Just recently shot a music video outside during golden hour and I tried keying and feathering out a foggy and overcast sky, but I think this Lum vs Sat trick is the KEY. Really looking forward to enrolling in your course this spring.

[im_gldn]

I came here for the concept. I find your "working process" invaluable. thank you!

[CameraTim]

I’m really glad I watched this video. I was always grading Nikon footage at the beginning of the week and wondered why I always hated Mondays.

[tommyfilms]

This is such useful information! Thanks Cullen, can't wait to watch the other camera episodes!

[viethoangbui]

Finally!!! I work a lot with s-log. Thanks for the value you give.

[sashazephiria]

I could listen to these videos all day long and still not feel bored :D Definitly will try the Lum VS Sat technique for the highlights !

[Rolypopoly]

Great takeways re the shadow toe to reduce noise and desaturating the highlights. I read somewhere that the Alexa sensor desats them to give a smooth rolloff, so this helps mimic that

[FrancescoMucciFilmmaker]

Let's talk about that hiring...
great stuff as always💪🏼

[jakebaine]

The noise floor issue was a big deal with the original A7S2 and FS5. Possibly even the FS7.

With their new color science and sensors, I no longer have to ETTR. I expose with my light meter and the images are great. Super thankful too because exposing to the right was a pain in the ass.

[VowStoryFilms]

I JUST bought the Sony FX3 and have been toying with S-Log for the first time! Previously, I had been using HLG3 on my 8 bit color depth ZV-E10 so ETTR wasn't exactly a foreign concept to me. But man, S-Log for some reason has been tougher to get a handle on. That said, I've been scouring videos on YouTube all saying similar things about how to expose, when to expose, how to set Zebras etc. But what I really needed was to know all the in's and out's and likely things you're going to notice in POST when shooting S-Log. Enter my hero, with the perfect video at the perfect time. I can close all the other videos out!

[VincentDoesNotCare]

I love this all i use is sony rn. Especially the a7s3

[mrfroopy]

Just remember, noise doesn't have to be considered bad. What is film grain, that people love so much and constantly try to add to digital, than an analog version of noise? It can be embraced. As Cullen says bad noise reduction is way worse than a bit of "digital grain".

[Richard_Lutz]

This is great! I can't wait for you to go into to detail about working with Blackmagic cameras. I think there is a lot of confusion about when you should use things in the raw settings like the gamma controls.

[michaelshu]

Just found your channel, wish I found it sooner so I didn't have to waste money for the courses I've done 🙄 (color grading is very very new where i live so this is to be expected) but anyway, just wanna say thank you!

[dris]

Would love to see something with Clog (1, 2, 3)! Though I suspect it's basically the same.

[peturthor]

Nice gold nuggets there my friend. I shoot a lot of Slog on the fx6 and the a7s III. What I found to be great solution to squeeze every last bit out of those is I've made printed down versions from your lut packs to use as monitor luts. That way I can see, on the day, a good approximation of what my final outcome will be if I print down a stop (or even 2 stops if I going the the second base iso of 12.800)

This consistently yields cleaner results in my opinion.

The lum vs. sat is something I haven't played with and will test drive this weekend.

[bryzr]

Can you please do an episode on Fuji's Flog2 please... thank you master <3

[jonald]

Another great video Cullen. Do you use other applications (outside Davinci Resolve) to fix problem footage? If so, can you make a video about it, thanks.

[JohnFultonCGL]

I'm seeing it over YouTube, when do I start?

[robertper]

I would like your thoughts on grading RAw style footage. ie adjust white balance in the raw settings. I use a pocket 4k and like the option in Braw to recover highlights.