Skip to main content
D
djparkerdiver
Known Participant
October 10, 2017
Answered

Colour grading in Premiere pro

  • October 10, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 1195 views

Hi,

I have recently started shooting video and also using Premiere Pro to edit.

I have a canon 5d mark iii and I don't shoot my video in RAW so it is shot in H.264. I have read a lot that it is best to shoot in a flat picture style and then apply colour grading in post. Does this apply when not shooting in RAW though? Ie. Can i continue to not shoot in RAW but start shooting in a flat picture style then apply colour grading in post using premiere pro?

Many thanks in advance to any help.

Dan

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer chrisw44157881

    the better the codec, the more you can grade in post. going from best to worse is listed below:

    best is RAW, then flat 10 bit prores or other lightly compressed codec, 10 bit h.265 4:2:0, 8 bit h.264 flat/prolost or natural profile, h.264 style1(or something with rec. 709 curves burned in)

    the closer you are to a burned in profile with limited latitude and only 8 bit color, the less you can heavily grade without getting posterization. not to say you can't grade lower bit depth and chroma values, you just need to nail white balance in camera and exposure

    and not push colors to extremes as there is not as much highlight recovery without RAW.

    3 replies

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    October 10, 2017

    While Chris has a good in-depth answer, I'm with Jim ... stills & video are very different, and I've yet to see the camera that is in 8-bit where RAW or Log internal settings help ... more often, they hurt.

    Shooting "flat" is good, if you test it. When the GH3 first came out, as so many had "hacked" GH2's with good results with crazy flat profiles, everybody set the GH3 to lowest contrast and saturation settings ... and got crap in post. Going to the lowest contrast setting for most users actually cut off just a bit of dynamic range, and lowest saturation definitely passed through so little color information that you couldn't recover in post.

    In testing, the best files seemed to come from contrast set one click up from lowest (to get the widest dynamic range data to chip) and Saturation maybe two clicks up from the bottom (to keep from clipping on the Red channel) to preserve most usable color.

    I'd recommend testing a colorful scene, probably some red roses on very green stems, and shoot with a few different combinations of contrast & saturation settings. Look at the scopes in Lumetri, both Vectorscope YUV (to check saturation) and Waveform (Luma) to check for any 'line' at the top or bottom of the data indicating clipping in-camera.

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
      D
      djparkerdiverAuthor
      Known Participant
      October 12, 2017

      Thanks Neil. That sounds very helpful. I think I'll stay away from the really flat settings while I'm still on my 5D iii in h.264.

      I'll give your advised less extreme contrast and saturation profile settings a go and see how i get on. Can you tell me, what would you advise the sharpness and colour tone to be on?

      Much appreciated advice.

      Dan

      E
      excited_Genie16B8
      Legend
      October 10, 2017

      In my limited experience, shooting flat or Log should be reserved for codecs recording 10 bit, 4:2:2 or better.

      I don't believe the Mark III qualifies.

        D
        djparkerdiverAuthor
        Known Participant
        October 12, 2017

        Thanks Simon. I think an upgrade is on the horizon for me.

        chrisw44157881
        chrisw44157881Correct answer
        Inspiring
        October 10, 2017

        the better the codec, the more you can grade in post. going from best to worse is listed below:

        best is RAW, then flat 10 bit prores or other lightly compressed codec, 10 bit h.265 4:2:0, 8 bit h.264 flat/prolost or natural profile, h.264 style1(or something with rec. 709 curves burned in)

        the closer you are to a burned in profile with limited latitude and only 8 bit color, the less you can heavily grade without getting posterization. not to say you can't grade lower bit depth and chroma values, you just need to nail white balance in camera and exposure

        and not push colors to extremes as there is not as much highlight recovery without RAW.

          D
          djparkerdiverAuthor
          Known Participant
          October 12, 2017

          Thanks Chris. Much appreciated.

          Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
          Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices