Overview of automatic log video detection, interpretation, and timeline tone mapping workflow

Good question ... as someone who works for/with/teach pro colorists, this is something they struggle with quite frequently. And has a large part in getting appropriate color management and correction, especially vis a vis the other media types in your project.

I know that the Premiere Properties panel can show what specific clips are. I wonder if there's some field if you check through the Metadata workspace options ... hmmm. 

@Johnny29957850d8g6 More information about exactly what you are experiencing would be useful. The features that are described in this post are all optional and they default to being off. 

I'd be happy to get on a call with you to discuss what you are seeing. Please send me a DM if you are interested. 

Regards,

Fergus

I doubt it ... as you'd have to have the file keep all the header information, which I don't think a t-code to anything else does.

From what I've been around, I don't think Premiere could be recognizing log type from the image data, it needs the file header data to indicate the nature of the file. A staffer would need to give a definite yes/no, but from my experience Resolve can't do this kind of reverse sorting either.

And I think a ProRes file would simply say it's a ProRes file of X bps, Y framsize, Z color space, and Q fps. With the audio channel data also.

I work over at MixingLight, with my 'beat' primarily teaching colorists based in Resolve or Baselight, as to what Premiere can and/or does do in color and color management. I've seen your problem raised there, and also both on the LGG colorist's forum and the BlackMagic forum for Resolve users.

It's common & it's a right royal pain. Just think of getting a couple huge drives, with 35TB of files between them. With a few thousand files, some used, some not. And ... some of the files are the camera originals, some are like your situation, t-coded and ... intriguing.

Because they probably aren't really 'normalized' perfectly within typically the Rec.709 dynamic range or color space. So for someone who does CM controls to properly place everything in their chosen working color space in Resolve as their first step ... what the HAY do you do with these files that are ... Heaven only knows what?

And at times the client can tell you enough to at least help, or give the original files. But a lot of the time, it's just simply trying different processes to see what gets at least a better result.

And if you can apply a change to a batch of files in a bin & get all or most of them pretty darn close, great ... move on to the next group. Perfection probably ain't a reasonable goal. And deadlines are just that ... deadlines.

Very frustrating work but ... survivable.

Neil

I cannot figure out why they have to make the color management controls unusable at times. Such as in your example. And I've seen the same with BRAW and with some regular mov files, where one file of the group had a grayed-out CM control section.

Like your example, I couldn't find anything different, I shot the files on the same cam, same day, and the MediaInfo header and file information on both was identical except for the name.

I've had a number of files sent me by users here & elsewhere, and most of the time on my PC I could get the CM controls to work. But some, same thing as this ... it's grayed out.

Same thing in the new Settings tab of the Lumetri panel in the public Beta. That's where apparently is the CM section of the current Interpret Footage dialog seem headed there.

Subsections for Input, Working Space, Clip, and Display. But the clip section was always grayed out. On posting back, well ... you have to have the clip selected in the Project panel for the clip section to be available.

?

And even then, for several whole projects, not one clip would give an active Clip section. I got one yesterday though. But no clue why ... and the others were still grayed out.

I've got more experience than most with Lumetri, and Premiere's CM. And I can't figure that out.

Neil

Hi Max, 

Footage from your camera should definitely work with this feature. Can you tell me more about what you're trying to do and what's not working? A screen recording might be the best way to show this. 

Regards,

Fergus

As far as I know and can test ... and I've put weeks into testing this ... (though @Fergus H is certainly welcome to jump in!)

Auto-Log only works with the media it recognizes specifically. To see which are included, the Override-To list of log media types is what is 'recognized' at any one time. If your media isn't listed by name there specifically, the Auto-Log doesn't work.

They don't have a specific recognition ... "profile"? ... set for that Filmic variant, so the auto-log isn't being applied to it.

For log media that isn't 'recognized', you can either use the preferred input LUT of your choice in Intepret Footage, or .. .set the Override-To option to the color space to be used with it. Then do your modifications to the image in Lumetri as needed.

Neil

Hi Jorge Jaramillo Hdz,

Thanks for writing to us. 

The 2nd footage that you shared is the sequence or from the source monitor?

If its from sequence then you can try by toggling the tone map checkbox for sequence. If its from soruce monitor please try by removing the input LUT if any applied under Interpret Footage for source media.

Regards,

Davinder Kaur