Hello there - so im loving the mini pro 4 for photography - and a great starter drone for me. I am beginning to use video recently with camera and drone - using final cut pro for simple edits, and colour balancing etc. On a recent job i have been asked to shoot some video clips with my drone in addition to photography on the ground - yet here's the thing - on day 1 i got some good footage using Normal Mode and then on day 2 i thought i got a bit carried away and switched into D Log M mode and my question here is regarding using both sets of clips in a project. I haven't yet used the DJI Lut ( or any others ) and guess at this stage i would prefer just to edit the files how i like using final cut pro tools, to start with - but my question is regarding being able to match the edits with both D Log and Normal files... so they can be used in same project - I'm guessing D Log M is a bit like working with Raw camera stills and i can generally edit them to match with a JPEG or comparable file type. Any tips on what would be the best workflow here to correct my error of switching modes during a shoot - try to edit the Normal Mode clips to match the D Log M or vice versa ? - or is there a way to convert the D Log M files back to Normal mode -so as i can get some consistency with the clips from both days. I know i should probably have not switched to D Log M half way through a project but any advice on how to approach getting similar results with both sets of images would be appreciated - i am also aware that this may not be possible and will need to reshoot, but grateful for any advice... Im used to editing stills but am only just getting on the learning curve with video! thanks
video editing advice re D- Log M and Normal Mode - Mini Pro 4
- Thread starter lookupbrightnow
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Droning on and on...
Well-Known Member
Dlog literally uses a log transform to provide greater resolution in dark areas while also compressing the luminance so they are brighter than their true contrast with the overall scene. A process of "color grading" is used to restore the image to normal, with the preservation of detail in shadows and other dark areas that get lost with a linear quantization of luminance.
You should do a bit of on line study on color grading, learn about color curves, adjusting shadows and highlights, saturation, etc. It's actually pretty straightforward, and you'll be an amateur pro in no time.
To answer your question: Yes, you can mix dlog clips with normal profile clips – you just need to color grade them. I've never used the DJI LUT, but if it does a first-pass color grade, I'd try it and then compare to your normal clip.
Or, do a crude grading by adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, and color temperature. Tweak until it looks close enough. You can also tweak it after applying the LUT... that's just a starting point.
You should do a bit of on line study on color grading, learn about color curves, adjusting shadows and highlights, saturation, etc. It's actually pretty straightforward, and you'll be an amateur pro in no time.
To answer your question: Yes, you can mix dlog clips with normal profile clips – you just need to color grade them. I've never used the DJI LUT, but if it does a first-pass color grade, I'd try it and then compare to your normal clip.
Or, do a crude grading by adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, and color temperature. Tweak until it looks close enough. You can also tweak it after applying the LUT... that's just a starting point.
Thanks for your response - and encouraging to know it should be possible to get a close match for both sets of clips - with a bit of careful tweaking either via lut or manually to the Dlog M files. I probably should have shot it all in Normal Mode as there is not extreme contrast or lighting in either set - but at least I'll get my head round editing D log and potentially Luts - thanks!
Droning on and on...
Well-Known Member
Learn color grading and shoot dlog in camera PRO mode with a fixed exposure and White Balance for anything where you need the result to be the best it can be.
For shooting regular "memories" kind of stuff – 4th of July picnic, birthdays, etc. – Normal in Auto will be fine.
For shooting regular "memories" kind of stuff – 4th of July picnic, birthdays, etc. – Normal in Auto will be fine.
I always leave my settings on D-Log M and edit in Adobe Premier Pro with the free DJI LUTS which are usually very good. I can still edit the LUT video. Using the LUT saves me a lot or repetitive edits, and give me more dynamic range for opening up shadows. Unfortunately it is not yet possible to selectively edit skies as I do with the MASKING tool in Photoshop. See below- before and after. First image- sky is blown out. 2nd image the sky is enhanced with masking tools. Hope that helps.
Dale
That thing at around 4:00 is a dead palm frond. There are, indeed, alligators here and many signs warning walkers along the trail to stay away from the water. It is not unusual to see them here.
good explanation....although if I hadn't spent the last few years experimenting with drone video, that 1st paragraph would have had my eyes glazing over
I 'graduated' from a Mini 3 to a Mavic 3. Still have the Mini 3 but almost always reach for the Mavic 3
the first thing is that video shot in normal mode on a Mavic 3 is pretty darn good. Often, the chances I can improve the video thru normal editing are about even with the chances I make it worse. The Mav3 camera is pretty impressive
if I do go to Dlog, I have found that my best results are from applying the DJI Rec 709 Vivid cube rather than the standard 709 cube. A lot of the time that lut transforms the video into one I can't really improve. Sometimes the saturation is a bit much, but for me, it seems I get better results from incrementally dialing back colors, saturation, contrast, etc than from trying to enhance. Maybe I'm too lazy to learn better methods
one issue I always had, whether it was Resolve, or Vlogger or CapCut: I do a lot of landscape videos where I'm traveling over ground at 200-350 feet AGL. At normal speed that can get kind of boring because the variance is so slow. So I took to speeding up my videos X2 or X3 or even X4. Well, in all of those editors, that speed-up process introduced artifacts like shimmering or oscillation, especially over uniform landscape like sagebrush or trees. CapCut is by far the best editor at limiting those artifacts (Resolve was poor).
Now, I had been using Avidemux to initially edit my videos by cutting out unwanted portions. In copy mode it was pretty fast to end up with a final 'raw' video, in either normal or DLog mode. What I discovered was that Avidemux had a 'blended' option that sped up my videos without creating artifacts. It even has an option to add a LUT. And it has simple editing of colors, temperature, contrast, etc. It's an extremely useful tool for me and often, I can get a final product from Avidemux and don't need to boot up CapCut of Resolve. The free price is certainly attractive
My 2 cents.... Don't try to match the Normal to the DLog. Normal is 8 bit and will 'break' if you try to color correct it very much. The DLog should have the appropriate LUT applied and color grading then applied to match the Normal. In FCP the color wheels (or whatever) should be set above the LUT within the Inspector panel. The order in which the two things are set is critical. It's important to understand your NLE and how to set the LUT and the Color Correction panel. FCP is top down, I think Premiere is from the bottom up (the LUT goes above the CC panel and Resolve makes it obvious with arrows. When you apply the proper LUT it should/will transform it directly to a Rec709 color space which should be very close to Normal. Minor tweaking should be all that is needed. Here is the best information I've seen (and I've seen a lot) about how to properly edit Dlog and the use of LUT's which are really important to understand and use properly. It explains why a LUT is important to use with DLog and how to properly use color grading tools with a LUT.
. He has some free LUTs and some for sale. They are excellent. I don't quite understand why this or that LUT seems to work better at various times as they should all be mathematically created to convert some specific camera (ie..Mini 4 pro) DLog to Rec 709 but many are not that specific so a bit of trial and error may be needed to find the LUT that converts your Dlog to a Rec 709 that matches your Normal. Do watch that video and look at some of his other work. It's the very most informed video on the subject that I've seen.
Kiwicbrthou
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1gratedulflyingdawg
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