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C
CoenDeurloo31194997
Participant
May 20, 2026

Panasonic V-Log/V-Gamut footage overexposed in After Effects but correct in Premiere Pro

  • May 20, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 25 views

Issue

After Effects inconsistently interprets Panasonic V-Log/V-Gamut footage using the Embedded / Media Color Space workflow. One clip is converted correctly, while another clip from the same camera/project becomes extremely overexposed in After Effects. The same clips are interpreted correctly in Premiere Pro.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Open After Effects 26.2.1 or After Effects Beta 26.5.0.
  2. Create a new project.
  3. Set Project Settings > Color to:
    • Color Engine: Adobe color managed
    • Working Color Space: Rec.709 Gamma 2.4
    • Compensate for scene-referred profiles: enabled
  4. Import the two Panasonic Lumix S1 II V-Log/V-Gamut MP4 clips included here:
    https://bestanden.debeeldbrekers.com/shares/zGR8Tw
  5. Open Interpret Footage > Color for the clips.
  6. Confirm that After Effects detects:
    • Media Color Space: Panasonic V-Log/V-Gamut
    • Override Media Color Space: Embedded
    • Preserve RGB: disabled
    • Interpret As Linear Light: Off
  7. Place both clips in compositions.
  8. Compare the result in After Effects.
  9. Import the same clips into Premiere Pro Beta 26.5.0 with color management enabled.
  10. Compare the result.

Expected result

Both clips should be interpreted consistently in After Effects. Since both are Panasonic V-Log/V-Gamut clips from the same camera/project, they should both be converted normally to Rec.709.

The result should broadly match Premiere Pro, which interprets both clips correctly.

Actual result

One clip is interpreted correctly in After Effects, but the other becomes extremely bright/overexposed.

This happens in both:

  • After Effects 26.2.1
  • After Effects Beta 26.5.0

Changing Override Media Color Space from Embedded to manually selected Panasonic V-Log/V-Gamut does not fix the issue.

The same affected clip looks correct in Premiere Pro Beta 26.5.0 using its color management workflow.

Versions

After Effects: 26.2.1
After Effects Beta: 26.5.0
Premiere Pro Beta: 26.5.0
OS: Windows 11

Video format

Camera: Panasonic Lumix S1 II
Profile: V-Log/V-Gamut
Codec: HEVC
Resolution: 3840 x 2160
Frame rate: 25 fps
Container: .MP4

Sample clips:
https://bestanden.debeeldbrekers.com/shares/zGR8Tw

Additional note

This appears to be specific to After Effects’ implementation of the Embedded / Media Color Space workflow. Premiere Pro handles the same clips correctly, while After Effects produces inconsistent results between clips that should be interpreted the same way.

 

    1 reply

    C
    CoenDeurloo31194997Author
    Participant
    May 20, 2026

    Additional Metadata Checks

    I compared one clip that looks normal in After Effects, P1021869.MP4, with one affected/overbright clip, P1021892.MP4.

    The checks were done with FFmpeg/ffprobe 8.1.1, and I also inspected the MP4 metadata structure.

    Core Video Format

    Both clips report the same core video format:

    • Codec: HEVC / H.265
    • Profile: Main 10
    • Pixel format: yuv420p10le
    • Resolution: 3840 x 2560
    • Frame rate: 25 fps
    • Colour range: full range / pc
    • Stream colour tags reported by ffprobe:
    • color_primaries: bt709
    • color_transfer: bt709
    • color_space: bt709

    Panasonic Metadata

    The embedded Panasonic XML metadata in both files reports:

    • Camera model: DC-S1M2
    • CaptureGamma: V-Log
    • CaptureGamut: V-Gamut

    For the two example clips, the only obvious Panasonic XML differences are normal shot-specific values such as creation time, duration/frame count, and ISO:

    • P1021869.MP4: ISO 1000, V-Log, V-Gamut
    • P1021892.MP4: ISO 640, V-Log, V-Gamut

    I also scanned the whole folder. Ignoring one unrelated clip that was recorded as STANDARD/BT.709, the other clips are consistently marked as V-Log/V-Gamut in the Panasonic metadata.

    Possible Metadata Ambiguity

    I did not find a normal MP4 sample-entry “colr” box in these files.

    So there appears to be a split between the generic video stream tags, which report BT.709, and the Panasonic metadata, which reports V-Log/V-Gamut. This may be relevant to After Effects’ Embedded / Media Color Space interpretation.

    Decoded Luma Check

    I also checked decoded luma values from the two sample clips. The affected clip is brighter in the source footage, but it is not clipped or blown out in the file data.

    P1021869.MP4, first 50 frames:

    • Average luma: around 449
    • Max luma: around 890

    P1021892.MP4, first 50 frames:

    • Average luma: around 594
    • Max luma: around 825

    Conclusion

    The affected clip is not overexposed or clipped at the file level. The extreme overbright look seems to be introduced by After Effects during colour interpretation/conversion.

    Premiere Pro interprets the same file correctly.

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