this video is all about when you should
not be shooting log footage and a little
bit about when you should if you're new
here my name is Javon dovey I do a lot
of filmmaking tutorials a bunch of
camera reviews some cool adventure stuff
and today we're talking about log
footage and if it's something that you
should shoot more and more today cameras
are coming out with the capabilities to
shoot log but log is is a flattened
image but the reason that you shoot log
footage is to preserve the highlights
and to preserve the darks so what it
does is it basically flattens out your
exposure so you're shooting right in the
middle of highlights and darks and what
that does is it preserves your dynamic
range and every camera has a specific
dynamic range native to the camera so it
might be 14 stops it might be 16 it
might be 18 whatever your camera may
have and there's a specific range of the
amount of stops of light that your
sensor will pick up now log preserves
the most amount of steps within that
dynamic range when you shoot something
like standard your highlights are going
to blow out faster your darks are gonna
get crushed so the reason that you shoot
log is to preserve your highlights and
to preserve your darks so that later you
can color grade it and get more exposure
so your skies aren't white they're blue
now or for example your shadows aren't
completely black you actually have
something in the shadows that's when you
would use log however I have six reasons
why you should not be shooting log
footage the first is bit rate so bitrate
is basically boiled down the quality of
the file that it is that you're shooting
so if you're shooting an 8-bit file
versus say a ten bit file there's
actually less data in that file so it's
harder to color great when you have an
image that shot at 8-bit and you're
trying to push the colors around and the
exposure around you're gonna introduce a
lot of noise you're gonna introduce
what's called banding and that's when
the colors create these bands and say
the sky and so it has a lot more issues
when you try to grade it so one reason
you won't shoot it is just the bitrate
that's coming out of your camera so
that's something you need to understand
if you're shooting lower quality footage
then you shouldn't necessarily be
shooting lock for example in the gh 5 I
have an option to shoot 400 megabytes 10
bit footage which grades very nicely or
you can shoot a hundred Meg's
that footage and it's not as easy to
great it actually breaks apart a little
quicker so you don't have as much range
when you're editing the second reason
you shouldn't shoot log is it introduces
noise into your image it introduces more
noise because you're bringing up your
box and anytime you bring up your blacks
you introduce noise into your footage so
if you're shooting flat and your blacks
are towards the middle of your exposure
you're introducing a lot more noise than
if you'd shot at a standard profile
where the blacks are down where they
should be different cameras will
introduce a different level of noise so
it just depends on what camera that
you're using okay the third reason is it
takes more time to grade and that's
obvious you're now adding on another
stage of the editing process and if
you're just creating videos that need to
get out quick this is not something that
you want to add on to your workflow it
just takes time to grade and get your
footage to where you want it to be now
if you're interested in grading quick I
do have a video all about that I'll put
it up in the card up here so check that
out it's the quickest way I've found to
grade my footage if I'm just trying to
use log footage for the aspects of being
able to preserve the highlights and
darks but be able to pump things out
quick so I'm not spending forever
grading footage all right number four
depends on your gear which is it's
harder to monitor when you're out in the
field so if you're shooting log and
you're looking at this flat image while
you're out shooting you really don't
have a sense of your image and you it's
harder to actually compose your shots
and see focus and things like that now
there are ways that you can use external
monitors that allow you to add a LUT so
you can get something close and be able
to have a burnt in image but it's not
being recorded to the actual footage
there's also tools within your camera
some will I to add lots some will have a
preset kind of LUT that basically just
gives you more contrast in your image so
that you're able to monitor it but still
they don't work that well compared to
shooting in like a standard profile
something to keep in mind it is a little
bit harder to monitor log footage when
you're shooting ok the fifth reason you
wouldn't shoot log footage is that
you're in a low contrast scene so if
you're shooting and there's not crazy
highlights there's not crazy darks you
don't necessarily need to shoot log
footage log is giving you the ability to
preserve your dynamic rein it but if you
don't need to preserve that dynamic
range there's not that many exposure
values in the footage that you're
shooting
you might not need to shoot logs number
six goes right along with that and that
is you're controlling your lighting for
example right now I have lit this room
I've blacked out the windows I've used
all my own lights I've completely
controlled the lighting in this shot and
so because this I don't need to use log
I can use a burnt an image start editing
not have to worry about that another
phase of editing which is color grading
because I've controlled the lighting so
if you're controlling the lighting and
you're shooting a project you don't
necessarily need to have that dynamic
range because you're not dealing with a
huge range you can control how it looks
so I would not shoot log in this setting
now if I'm shooting and there say like a
window behind me then I would probably
use log I would want to preserve the
exposure that's outside ants can be very
different than what's in this room so if
you control your lighting if you control
your settings then you don't necessarily
have to shoot log it will speed up your
workflow if you don't need to color
grade your footage as much I would say
don't shoot log but if you're going into
a heavy color grade if you're going into
a very specific look then I would say
use log footage and also if you're
trying to preserve highlights and the
details within your highlights and your
darks then I would shoot Locke but
otherwise you don't necessarily need it
I run a production company and a lot of
the stuff that we shoot I never shoot in
log format because I don't need to
preserve the highlights because I'm
controlling the light if I'm in a studio
I can completely control it and if
something is too bright in the image
I'll bring down a light instead of
trying to bring it down and post the
biggest piece of advice is control as
much as possible in camera so that when
comes time to edit you're not just
leaving it for post because not
everything gets fixed in post and
sometimes it takes a lot more time fix
it in post all right is that it make
sure you hit that subscribe button if
you haven't already and if you want to
see some cinematic editing tutorials
check out the videos right here I've got
a playlist all about that or if you want
to see another video from my channel
check out that down there
and guys that is it I will see you on
the next one