Working with HLG / Sony Color Modes / Matching Picture Profiles - FAQ

Summary

In this video, Gerald Undone addresses numerous inquiries about Sony camera settings, focusing on gamma, log, and subsampling. He clarifies the use of HLG for HDR, the importance of white balance, and the conversion between BT.2020 and Rec.709 color spaces. Gerald also discusses the application of LUTs, the concept of neutral picture profile settings, and provides tips for matching different profiles and grading footage. He critiques paid picture profiles and emphasizes the need for flexibility and post-production adjustments rather than relying on presets.

Takeaways

• 🎥 The video discusses various questions related to Sony camera settings, particularly focusing on gamma, log, and subsampling.
• 📷 Gerald Undone, the host, uses a Panasonic GH5 for his talking head shots, recording in 10-bit HLG and grading in Premiere with a technical LUT from Paul Leeming.
• 🌡️ White balance is typically set using a grey card for consistency, especially during testing and comparisons.
• 📚 HLG is designed for HDR but can be graded in a 709 timeline, offering excellent dynamic range and color potential.
• 🎨 Gerald prefers not to use creative or artistic LUTs, instead opting to do the creative grading himself, but acknowledges the utility of technical LUTs for initial color accuracy.
• 🖼️ Shooting in BT.2020 allows for better matching capabilities and retains full color information, even when converting to Rec.709 for display.
• 🔄 The conversion from BT.2020 to Rec.709 is automatic in Premiere Pro and involves adjusting curves and using a correction LUT for proper grading.
• 🛠️ Gerald advises against using paid picture profiles like EOSHD Pro Color One, as they can reduce flexibility and compatibility with other cameras or LUTs.
• 🔄 Matching different Cine profiles involves adjusting contrast, saturation, and color temperature in post-production to achieve a consistent look.
• 🔆 For low light conditions, Josh Yeo's recommended profile reduces dynamic range and increases contrast to minimize noise, but similar results can be achieved with any profile in post-production.
• 👨‍🏫 The video emphasizes the importance of understanding and adjusting camera settings based on specific shooting conditions rather than relying on 'magic' settings or profiles.

Q & A

What was the purpose of the video by Gerald Undone?

The purpose of the video was to address a number of questions from viewers regarding gamma settings, log, and subsampling for Sony cameras, and to provide additional information and advice on these topics.

What camera setup does Gerald Undone typically use for his talking head videos?

Gerald Undone typically uses a Panasonic GH5 with 10-bit HLG for his talking head videos, recorded onto the Atomos Ninja V.

Does Gerald Undone use LUTs in his video grading process?

Yes, Gerald Undone uses LUTs for corrective purposes, particularly the technical LUTs from Paul Leeming, to help with accurate color and to get started in the right direction.

How does Gerald handle white balance when testing and comparing footage?

Gerald sets a custom white balance off of a grey card for testing and comparisons to keep his shots more consistent.

What is HLG intended for, and how does it perform when graded in a 709 timeline?

HLG is intended for delivery in HDR. When graded in a 709 timeline, it provides excellent dynamic range, a clean image, and terrific color potential.

Why should one shoot in BT.2020 even if they are only converting to Rec.709?

Shooting in BT.2020 provides better matching capabilities with other cameras, retains full color information for future HDR use, and allows for better color range when converting to Rec.709.

How does Gerald Undone approach grading HLG footage in Premiere Pro?

In Premiere Pro, Gerald uses a technical LUT from Paul Leeming and then tweaks the image to taste within the Lumetri color panel, which works in Rec.709 color space.

What are Gerald's thoughts on picture profiles like EOSHD Pro Color and Cody Blue settings?

Gerald advises against paying for picture profiles as they are essentially buying numbers that may not create an accurate or flexible image and could reduce post-production flexibility.

What does Gerald mean by 'neutral picture profile' settings?

Neutral picture profile settings refer to the default settings on a camera that provide a balanced starting point for grading, with Gerald recommending to set detail to -7 for in-camera sharpening.

Can Gerald provide some grading tips for matching different Cine profiles?

Gerald suggests using a LUT for a quick match and then adjusting contrast, saturation, and color temperature as needed to match the profiles closely in post-production.

What is Gerald's recommendation for the best Sony Cine gamma for most users?

Gerald recommends Cine 2 for most users as it is the easiest to grade and is friendly to Sony's 8-bit limited bit depth, but also suggests that Cine 1 could be the best for those who know how to read a waveform and adjust output levels in post.

Outlines

00:00

📷 Sony Camera Settings Q&A

Gerald Undone addresses a plethora of inquiries about Sony camera settings, particularly gamma, log, and subsampling. He plans to cover the questions comprehensively, providing timestamps and a table of contents for easy navigation. Gerald assures that the video will be accessible to non-Sony users and promises to return to diverse topics after this video. He discloses his recent recovery from bronchitis, which might affect his voice quality, and lists the questions to be discussed, including the use of HLG, LUTs, white balance, color space conversion, and grading tips.

05:00

🎨 Understanding and Applying HLG and LUTs

The paragraph delves into the specifics of using Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) and Look-Up Tables (LUTs) in video production. Gerald clarifies that his videos are typically shot on a Panasonic GH5 using 10-bit HLG and are graded in Premiere with a technical LUT from Paul Leeming. He emphasizes the importance of custom white balance using a grey card for consistency. Gerald dispels myths about HLG being solely for HDR, explaining its benefits when used in a 709 timeline. He also discusses the rationale behind shooting in BT.2020 color space, even when converting to Rec.709, highlighting the advantages of better matching capabilities and retaining full color information.

10:02

🖥️ Post-Production Workflow for Color Correction

This section outlines Gerald's post-production workflow for color correction in different editing software. He explains the process in Premiere Pro, noting Lumetri's automatic color space conversion capabilities. For Final Cut Pro, he mentions the need for project settings adjustments for proper HLG footage appearance. In DaVinci Resolve, he describes the steps for native HLG work and the utility of correction LUTs irrespective of project color management. Gerald also critiques the EOSHD Pro Color profiles, advocating for flexibility and accuracy over preset picture profiles.

15:03

🌈 Matching Cine Profiles and Grading Tips

Gerald provides a detailed guide on matching different Cine profiles in Sony cameras, discussing the nuances of Cine1, Cine2, Cine3, and Cine4. He shares his approach to grading, emphasizing the importance of detail settings and the potential pitfalls of in-camera sharpening. He also compares the performance of various Cine profiles in terms of dynamic range and low-light conditions, suggesting that with correct exposure, they can yield similar results. Gerald demonstrates how to adjust contrast, saturation, and color temperature to achieve a consistent look across profiles.

🤔 Evaluating Custom Picture Profiles and Low-Light Settings

In the final paragraph, Gerald scrutinizes custom picture profiles like EOSHD Pro Color v4 and Cody Blue, comparing them with the baseline Cine profiles. He points out the limitations and potential issues with these profiles, such as reduced compatibility with LUTs and other cameras, and the challenges in achieving color accuracy. Gerald also discusses a specific low-light profile by Josh Yeo, which is designed to minimize noise in low-light conditions by reducing dynamic range and adjusting contrast. He concludes by reiterating the importance of practice and patience over relying on 'magic' settings or profiles.

Keywords

💡HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma)

Hybrid Log-Gamma (HLG) is a high dynamic range (HDR) video format developed jointly by the BBC and NHK. It is used for broadcasting and is compatible with standard dynamic range (SDR) displays. In the video, Gerald discusses using HLG for recording and its flexibility in color grading, particularly when converting to Rec.709 for regular SDR displays.

💡LUT (Look-Up Table)

A Look-Up Table (LUT) is a mathematical formula used in post-production to map one set of colors to another, helping to achieve desired color grades or corrections. Gerald emphasizes using LUTs like the Leeming LUT for color accuracy and ease in color grading, especially for HLG footage, while advising against creative LUTs that can be less reliable.

💡BT.2020 and Rec.709

BT.2020 and Rec.709 are color space standards defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). BT.2020 is used for HDR with a wider color gamut, while Rec.709 is the standard for SDR. Gerald explains the benefits of shooting in BT.2020 even if the final output is Rec.709, due to better color information and future-proofing for HDR delivery.

💡White Balance

White balance is the process of removing unrealistic color casts so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in the video. Gerald uses a custom white balance off a grey card for consistency in testing and filming, ensuring accurate color representation across different shots and lighting conditions.

💡Picture Profiles

Picture profiles are predefined settings in cameras that control various aspects of the image, such as gamma, color mode, and detail levels. Gerald discusses the pros and cons of different Sony picture profiles like Cine2, HLG, and custom profiles like Pro Color and Cody Blue, advising on their use based on specific shooting conditions and personal preferences.

💡Dynamic Range

Dynamic range refers to the difference between the darkest and brightest parts of an image that a camera can capture. Gerald highlights the dynamic range capabilities of different picture profiles and formats, such as HLG and Cine, and how to utilize them for better image quality and flexibility in post-production.

💡Color Grading

Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a video to achieve a specific look or mood. Gerald provides insights into his color grading workflow, particularly how he uses LUTs and adjusts curves in editing software like Premiere Pro to achieve a natural and consistent color balance.

💡Cine Gammas

Cine Gammas are specific gamma curves used in video recording to manage the transition between different brightness levels. Gerald compares various Cine profiles (Cine1, Cine2, Cine3, Cine4) for their ease of grading and dynamic range capabilities, recommending Cine2 for its balance of simplicity and performance.

💡Noise Reduction

Noise reduction refers to the process of minimizing visual noise, which appears as grain or static in video footage, especially in low-light conditions. Gerald discusses how different HLG profiles handle noise and the trade-offs between dynamic range and noise levels, suggesting adjustments in post-production to manage noise effectively.

💡Color Space Conversion

Color space conversion is the process of changing the color space of a video from one standard to another, such as from BT.2020 to Rec.709. Gerald explains how this conversion is handled automatically in editing software like Premiere Pro and provides tips on manually adjusting footage to achieve the desired look across different color spaces.

Highlights

The video addresses a multitude of questions about gamma, log, and subsampling for Sony cameras.

Gerald Undone provides timestamps and a table of contents for easy navigation through the video's topics.

The video clarifies misconceptions about HLG being only for HDR and its grading capabilities.

Gerald explains the technical aspects of BT.2020 and Rec.709 color spaces for image display.

The benefits of shooting in BT.2020 color space, even when converting to Rec.709, are discussed.

Gerald recommends Leeming LUTs for technical corrections in post-production.

Custom white balance using a grey card is suggested for consistent shots.

The video demonstrates how to convert BT.2020 to Rec.709 in Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro.

Gerald critiques the use of paid picture profiles and the limitations they impose on post-production flexibility.

The default neutral settings for Sony picture profiles are outlined to maintain consistency.

A comparison of different Cine gammas reveals minimal differences when properly exposed and graded.

Grading tips for matching Sony Cine profiles are provided, emphasizing the importance of contrast and saturation adjustments.

The video compares HLG and Cine profiles, noting the subtle differences and grading techniques.

Gerald evaluates and compares third-party picture profiles like EOSHD Pro Color and Cody Blue, highlighting their limitations.

The importance of adjusting black levels and contrast in post-production for low-light shooting is discussed.

The video concludes by emphasizing the need for practice and patience over reliance on preset profiles or LUTs.

Transcripts

Since making my last few videos on the gammas,

log, and subsampling for Sony cameras,

I've received an impressive amount of questions

from you guys wanting additional information and advice.

So, today we're going to try as many of those as possible.

Let's get Undone.

[offbeat music]

♪ Gerald Undone ♪

♪ He's crazy ♪

What's happening, everybody? I'm Gerald Undone

and I've not yee'd my last haw yet.

Alright, so here's how we're going to do this.

I'm going to list all of the questions we're going to cover

and provide timestamps in case you want to jump around,

and as usual, I'll put a table of contents in the description.

And because we'll be covering a bunch of topics,

we're not gonna be able to go too far in depth

with any of them to prevent bloating the video too much.

And I'm also gonna try and keep these concepts

accessible enough that even non-Sony users

will find some value here as well.

And speaking to you non-Sony users, don't worry,

I know with this recent string of videos--

I'm not becoming a Sony-only channel. We're gonna get back

to our regular antics right after this video.

Oh yeah, and I'm just getting over bronchitis,

so if I sound like I've been eating sandpaper, that's why.

So, here are the questions: Was this video shot using HLG?

Do you use any LUTs? What did you do for white balance?

Isn't HLG for HDR only and thus shouldn't be graded?

Why shoot in BT.2020 if you're just gonna convert it?

And how do you convert BT.2020 to Rec.709?

Have you tried ProColor or Cody Blue settings?

What did you mean by "neutral picture profile" settings?

How do you match the different profiles?

And can you provide some grading tips?

Alright, so let's start working through these.

Was this video shot with HLG?

Now, this question was obviously asked about

one of the previous videos, but to keep it simple,

all the previous videos are shot using the same setup.

So, unless otherwise stated, like when I provide

different samples, this talking head is almost always

recorded on a Panasonic GH5 using 10-bit HLG

and recorded onto the Atomos Ninja V.

I grade that footage in Premiere and start by using

a technical LUT from Paul Leeming,

which goes to answer out second question.

Yes, I do use LUTs for corrective purposes,

but I'm not a big fan of creative or artistic LUTs.

I like to do the creative portion of the grade myself,

but it helps when someone who has the tools

and the experience gets you started in the right direction

and with accurate colour. And for that purpose,

I highly recommend the Leeming LUTs.

Now, this video's not sponsored in any way

and I don't make any money off the sale of these LUTs,

but they worked really well for me and so if you wanna give

them a try, I'll put a link in the description below.

He supports a lot of different cameras,

including the Cine, HLG and S-Log for the Sony cameras,

but we'll talk more about dealing with that HLG clip

in Premiere in a moment. Next up, white balance.

Whenever I do testing and comparisons, I almost always

set a custom white balance off of a grey card.

I made a whole video about this, which I recommend

you check out if you haven't yet.

Basically, it keeps your shots more consistent

for the testing purposes and this talking headshot

on the GH5 right now was also set

with a custom white balance using this grey card.

Next question, which is about misconceptions about HLG.

Yes, HLG is intended for delivery in HDR.

And when kept in the 2020 space, it's true

that it doesn't grade as well as you might expect

a true Log profile to. But when used in a 709

timeline, those concerns are no longer relevant,

and what you're left with is excellent dynamic range,

a clean image and terrific colour potential.

And for those of you that don't know much about 2020

or 709, basically they're standards for how to display

an image on television.

It's the ITU-R Recommendation BT.2020

or BT.709, which is usually shortened to Rec

as in Rec.709 or as in BT.2020.

These recommendations cover many aspects,

including frame rate, bit depth and luma representations,

but any easier way to visualize it

is by the wider chromaticity.

BT.2020 allows for more colours and brighter ones,

which brings us to the next question I get asked a lot,

which is why shoot in 2020 if you're just going to convert

to 709, with many Sony users adding that choosing 709 as

the colour mode for HLG makes for a better looking image.

And they're not wrong. Right out of the camera,

the 709 will look better and that's kind of the point.

Unless you have a 2020 display,

the 709 content will look better because it's intended

for the 709 display you're viewing it on,

but that doesn't mean we shouldn't shoot in 2020.

First of all, shooting in 2020 will give you

better matching capabilities.

It'll match all the other cameras

that choose 2020 automatically when using HLG

or that don't have a built-in 709 conversion,

which is why most of the correction LUTs

are based on 2020. So, if you want to use a LUT

to make your life easier, like the Leeming LUT

I recommended, you'll have to shoot in 2020

or the LUTs not going to work. Also, you'll retain

full colour information, even if you can't see it

on your display so that when we bring it down to 709,

you'll have a better range to work with

and you'll be retaining that HDR content

so if you ever wanted to use that clip again in the future

for HDR delivery, it'll still be useful

where the 709 clip wouldn't be.

And, this is where a lot of you asked how to convert

2020 to 709, and of course, this depends on your NLE.

In Premiere Pro, it's essentially automatic

because Lumetri works in a Rec.709 color space

and converts for linear processing,

which is another reason the concern about

the non-linear response when grading HLG

is nothing to worry about because it's treated as linear

and grades beautifully when using a linear 709 tool.

Now, you will find that the image looks flat and green

when viewing HLG in 709, but this is completely normal.

It's here where you want to work with the curves

to get the image to get to look how you want,

but again, if you're using the correction LUT,

you can just skip these steps.

So, here's some GH5 HLG footage, completely untouched.

All I did was drop it into my timeline,

which is automatically Rec.709 in Premiere.

And, if we open this up in Lumetri and choose to add

the Leeming LUT for HLG for the GH5,

the battle's mostly won.

And then we could just move down and tweak the image to taste.

This is the same for Final Cut Pro in terms of the LUT.

Simply applying the Leeming LUT will correct

your HLG footage, but there is an extra step

with regard to colour space.

First off, you want to make sure your project is set

to standard gamut, but even then,

your clips will look blown out. So, you have to go down

to "Inspector" and choose "Basics" then "Settings"

then choose Rec.709 in the colour space override,

then your clips will look flat and green

like I showed you in Premiere. Now, I don't have Final Cut

because I'm a PC editor, so I can't really show you

a proper demo, but I will put a link to a guide

in the description below that will show you how to do this

step by step and will also show you how to add a LUT

from this stage. In Resolve, if you want to work

with HLG natively, you'll have to go into

the "Project Settings" "Color Management" section

and change the input and timeline colour space

to Rec. 2020 HLG, and then change the output colour space

to Rec.709 HLG. But, if you plan on using

a correction LUT, then you can skip this step

because a great thing about a Leeming LUT

is it will still correct your footage,

even if your project isn't colour managed.

Okay, so for the next question, which is more specific to SONY,

let's talk about some of those picture profiles

that are recommended online.

First off, the EOSHD Pro Color One.

Now, I don't want to sit here and bash someone else's work

because I know there's a lot of you

that like those Pro Color profiles,

but generally, I'd advise against

paying for picture profiles

because you're literally just buying numbers

and in my opinion, numbers that don't create

a very accurate or flexible image.

It's also why I don't recommend buying creative

or artistic LUTs. They just don't work reliably

unless you're shooting similar things

under similar conditions. And often, those LUTs

can be pretty easy to recreate with just

a little practice and knowledge with your color panel.

In fact, I think calling them LUTs

is a little bit of a misnomer.

They're really just glorified presets,

but at least artistic LUTs are non-destructive though.

You can always turn them off. But if you change

your picture profile with some wacky settings,

well, then your footage is gonna be captured like that

and you're drastically gonna reduce your ability to use

technical LUTs or even match to another shooter's camera.

But, let's take a look at what I mean

by establishing a baseline image.

So, this shot here is done with a Cine2

on the Sony a7 III using Cinema color

and all other settings left to their default

except for detail, which is set to -7.

Actually, let's take a minute here to answer that question

about neutral settings for picture profiles.

Some of you were concerned that if you reprogram

a picture profile that you used before,

that you would lose track of the neutral settings

or if you hit the reset button, that it would produce

a different result, but in either case,

these are the default neutral settings

that I was referring to. But I would set every profile

to -7 detail, even though that's not a default setting

because in-camera sharpening is terrible.

Always do it in post. Alright, so back to the shot.

This is the recommended profile for easiest shooting

and editing. The other Cines are good too,

but they capture levels outside of delivery range

because the highlights can go all the way up to 109%,

but Cine2 can't do that. It's capped out at 100%,

so it's the easiest to grade of the flat profiles.

It's also the friendliest

to the Sony's limited bit depth of 8-bit.

Each step we make toward an improved gamma with better

dynamic range reduces our flexibility in post because

of the bit depth limitations of Sony mirrorless cameras

and this is why the Cine gammas are great.

HLG is good, too, and that's as high

as I would go. I would avoid S-Log.

S-Log2 can be good in ideal conditions,

but S-Log3 is a non-starter in my opinion.

Now, you will get people telling you that

one Cine gamma will have better dynamic range

or perform better in low light than another one,

but in my experience, this doesn't read true.

Sony has all four Cines listed

as the same dynamic range on their website,

but there are different exposure requirements

in order to achieve that. So, it's possible that people

don't really know how to expose them, and then

they're complaining about the dynamic range differences.

But if you expose them all correctly

and then bring them to the same levels in post,

I bet that you will fail the Pepsi challenge

as to which is which. Now, that statement

is more pointed towards Cine 1 versus Cine 2

because Cine 3 and 4 do have more contrast,

but if you correct for that contrast in post as well,

they will all look almost identical.

And I'll show you how to match these Cine profiles

when we get to that question a little bit later on.

Now, if you know how to read a waveform

and are okay with adjusting your output levels in post,

then Cine 1 might be the best of the lot

because of that wider starting position,

which might allow you to hide more noise when you

lower the black level, and will have brighter highlights,

which can be appreciated on some screens without having

to deal with the extra contrast of Cine 3 and Cine 4,

but again, this difference is minor, as in less than 5%,

and if you don't want to mess with any of that,

Cine 2 is still a great option.

Now, when it comes to Cine, some people like to use

Pro Color here instead of Cinema color to make it

even more deliverable right out of camera.

But, I prefer to adjust the saturation and colours in post,

and find Pro to be a bit too much for my taste.

And it can sometimes cause these weird colour flares

that don't blend as nicely, which you can see

around the lights in this example here,

despite everything else being exactly the same.

Okay, so for grading this clip, we can either put on

the Leeming LUT for Cine 2 at this point,

or we can do a quick grade ourselves and we get a baseline

image that fairly represents what I and my space look like.

Now, I should probably mention that the grade that I put

on this clip, as well as the one that I use on the GH5,

has a little bit of extra purple in the shadows

and a little bit of cream colour in the highlights.

It doesn't change the mid-range colour accuracy too much,

but it's just something to be aware of moving forward.

But, here is before and after so you can get a sense of it.

And as for that grading tips question, while we're at it,

let's just go ahead and match all the other Cine profiles

as well; all with Cinema color with the rest of their settings

set to those neutral defaults, except for the detail

which is set to -7.

So, Cine 2 and Cine 1 are easy.

They grade pretty much the same.

As you can see, the settings are identical on the side

and the images look pretty much exactly the same as well.

Now, Cine 3 and Cine 4 is when you're gonna jump in

to that extra contrast that we were talking about.

But as you can see, I was able to match it pretty closely

to the Cine 2 and Cine 1, and to do that,

we just take the contrast down about -45

and take a couple points off of saturation.

We have it down to 98, and that's pretty much it.

Now, Cine 4 is a little bit harder.

If we jump over here, we can see how it's much more

contrast-y and there's a bit of a temperature change as well.

But we're able to get it to match pretty closely.

We dropped the contrast down to -45 again.

There was also a bit of a temperature change,

like I said, we had to warm it up a little bit

and take a little bit of the magenta out of it.

And then I bumped the highlights a little bit

because when you take so much contrast out of something,

often the skin gets a little bit flatter looking,

so I added a little bit to the highlights

and a little bit to the shadows and overall,

it doesn't look-- it's not as easy as Cine 3

because of how far they push Cine 4, but you can get it

pretty close. So, here's Cine 4.

Cine 3, Cine 2 and Cine 1.

The differences that I showed you on Cine 3 and Cine 4

were in addition to whatever changes you make

to make Cine 2 or Cine 1 look the way you want.

So, I actually have two different grades going on here.

The top one is what I did to grade Cine 2

and then the bottom one is just the differences

there of lowering the contrast. So, the top layer looks

exactly like the settings do here for Cine 1 and Cine 2.

Now, let's take a look at some HLG clips.

I used the Leeming LUT for these because I didn't

wanna to go through and monkey with all the curves,

but if you wanna do that, you're gonna wanna start

with pulling the green out and working your way

through from there. But if you're striving for accuracy,

without a ColorChecker, this is gonna be hard work.

It's fine if you want to do something artistic,

but if you're doing this for commercial clients,

it might not fly. And, this is where a good LUT

will save you time and make your work more consistent.

Now, the Leeming LUT was designed for the base

HLG gamma, so if you want to use HLG3, which is definitely

superior, you're gonna have to tweak it a bit.

When comparing my slider differences between HLG

and HLG3 using the Leeming LUT, I found that I had to pull

the saturation down quite a bit more for HLG3,

and I also didn't have to bring the highlights down as far.

But other than that, it wasn't that much different.

Now, HLG1 and 2 are sometimes recommended

because they have improved noise reduction

due to having a lower ceiling for max output

at 87% and 95% respectively,

so they're trading off dynamic range to reduce noise

by pushing down the signal and noise simultaneously.

But similarly to what I said about the Cines,

when you take the HLGs and expose them correctly

and then bring them to the same levels in post,

it becomes very difficult to detect the differences

unless you zoom in. I will acknowledge, however,

that even when corrected in post,

HLG1 does have less noisy blacks than HLG2 and 3.

It is minor though and might not be worth

the loss of dynamic range, so I would probably stick

with HLG3, unless I was shooting primarily shadows.

HLG1 and 2 also grade identically to HLG3,

so it's harmless to switch between them

as long as you factor in the lower max highlight range.

Now, if we compare these HLG shots to our Cine grades

from earlier, we have them all looking pretty similar.

Okay, so now let's jump back to those profiles

you asked about from EOSHD and Cody Blue

now that we have something to compare them to.

First up, we have Pro Color v4 and this one is just a mess

when it comes to matching our previous looks.

Now, I'm not going to provide you these settings because that

wouldn't be fair to the creator who's selling them,

but I can tell you that it relies heavily on

bumping the saturation a lot, and tweaking

each individual component of the colour depth section.

And, as I was saying earlier, this means we've destructively

altered our colour to no longer match other Sony cameras

and using LUTs isn't going to save us.

Now, this doesn't mean that the creator

intended to make bad settings or is colour blind,

but rather that these setting are tuned for the conditions

in which that creator shoots. And as I've already said,

this is a recurring problem with creative LUTs and profiles.

If you have different lighting, white balancing

or colours in your shot, these types of setting

will often do more harm than good.

There's a review for these profiles that I think

says this best. This customer first laid out

how bad of an experience they were having

with Pro Color v4 in most scenarios,

but then followed up by saying, "Last week, we went

to Slovenia for a small road trip, so I took my a7 III

and used EOSHD Pro Color V4 HDR for all footage.

In the end, I was very surprised how good the image looks

after a little bit of colour correction,

so my conclusion is this profile is great for travel videos

and for jobs where you don't have to be colour accurate."

And I think that's a reasonable expectation

to have when using settings like this,

but it's also the reason why I don't recommend them.

Now, they mentioned the HDR profile,

and I tested that one too, and it looks like this:

Now, this one's a little bit better in my opinion

than the previous version, but it's still suffers

from plastic skin and the same, inaccurate colours.

It's definitely not suited for this kind of indoor,

moody shooting environment. Now, let's try the Cine 4

settings from Cody Blue. This profile isn't too bad

at all but it does have some issues.

First off, the recommendation to set the knee to 80%

is going to crowd the highlight range

for people with really light skin, like me.

This will give the skin a slightly worse texture

and remove some of the subtle gradations.

This one also features a custom colour depth,

which as I've said numerous times, is a mistake

because it reduces your camera's compatibility

with LUTs and other cameras.

And changing the colour is easy to do in post,

and you can take your time with it and get it right

with more precise tools. And to prove this,

I'll show you how I matched the Cody Blue to our previous

Cine 4 vanilla settings from earlier so you can see

what's different about it and also how to fix it.

Overall though, despite my complaints of how we got there,

I do think this image looks pretty good.

If we turn on the effects here, we can see how I got it

to match the other ones because the reds are going

a little bit wild here. That was obviously a stylistic choice,

likes to boost the reds, but in order to get those to match,

I just went down to the HSL here and bumped up the reds

a little bit more purple-y and that brought them

closer to the correct colour of my shirt.

And then, in order to match the Cine 4 a little bit closer,

I had to take the contrast down by about 10,

lower the saturation by a notch

and I made the whole image a little bit more green,

and then collectively, it looks pretty close

to our previous Cine 4 now. If we take it off,

we go back to the Cody Blue look.

Cody Blue also has a HLG3 profile, but its in BT.2020,

so the similar instructions from earlier apply.

Other than that, it doesn't really change much

except for the black level and the knee.

This is definitely the wrong knee for HLG

and I'm not a big fan of raising the black level.

Most of the time, people raise the black level

to give it a pseudo-cinema filmic look,

but it's something that's better left to post

so you don't contaminate your blacks when you're recording.

The only time to touch your black level, in my opinion,

is if you're trying to deliver noise-free content

straight out of camera in a low-light environment.

Which brings us to our last asked about profile,

the low light profile from Josh Yeo.

Overall, though, the Cody Blue profiles are pretty good

and best of all, he doesn't charge for them.

He's just sharing the look that he likes.

So, Josh Yeo recommends this profile for low light shooting

using the Still gamma and Pro color

with a lowered black level and reduced saturation.

And this all makes sense. You're going to maximize

the contrast on what's important and push out the noise

and dirty shadows that aren't. The reduced saturation

is to fight off the intensity of Pro color

while keeping the shot deliverable right out of camera.

It's a logical configuration

that produces pretty clean results.

The only con is it's fairly limited in its use.

If you don't have high contrast details to work with

that you really want to separate from the background,

this profile won't really give you much to work with

because it has significantly reduced dynamic range,

but it is good at what Josh Yeo intended it for.

But again, you can accomplish this in post

by pushing down the blacks and upping the contrast

on an unmodified Cine profile.

Here's that Cine 2 clip with the contrast upped to 60

and the blacks set to -10. And if we zoom in on the shadow,

I would suggest that it's actually cleaner

in terms of noise than the low light profile.

And I think that's where most people get confused

with these low light profiles that are circling around.

Reducing dynamic range and hammering the blacks

into the ground can be accomplished on any profile

in post, and it's naive to think one set of settings

will somehow unlock this magic sauce that doesn't have to

adhere to the science of signal to noise ratio.

But if your goal is to find a profile that will squash

some noise when delivering right out of the camera,

then Josh Yeo's settings will work for you,

and it looks pretty good too.

Anyway, I think that's it for all the questions.

As I said in the previous video, I know that it's tempting

to try and find some magic combinations of settings

that's just gonna make all your shots look great,

but that's just not how it works.

Every time you change environments

or subjects, you're gonna have to re-evaluate

how you want to tackle the look of your project.

Tricks and gimmicks are not the answer

and that includes magic picture profiles.

It's always gonna come down to practice and patience.

But that's gonna be it for me. I hope you found this video

helpful or at least entertaining, and if you did,

make sure to leave it the old thumbs up

and consider subscribing if you haven't already,

but if you did not find this video helpful or entertaining,

feel free to hit the dislike button twice.

Alright... I'm done.