What to do with the Mavic **2** Pro D-Log?

[waynesi]

Hi,

I have Mavic 2 Pro for a few years, but honestly I still don't know what's the best way to do with the D-Log colour profile. I always shot in D-Log though, hoping one day I will master the colour grading technique and bring out the beauty of the scenes.

My questions are
1. Do I have to use the official LUT to convert the D-Log to REC709 and then colour grade in the REC709 colour space?
2. Is this REC709 colour space is smaller than the D-Log can offer? So basically the LUT is a lossy conversion?
3. Is it possible to produce HDR video from the D-Log without involving REC709 if the answer to question 2 is yes? Is there any tutorial or instructions on how if it's possible?

Thanks a lot in advance for any help and advice. Those questions really bugged me for years!

 

[dixter]

There are many videos on YouTube showing how to color grade with davinci. It is a free program. You are not limited to 709. You can even convert it to Ari Alexa if you want

 

[waynesi]

Hi dixter,

Thanks a lot for your advice. I do use Davinci for colour grading but I'm an absolute amateur so I always had to use the official LUT. Hence my questions. If the LUT is the only way to work with the D-LOG, then I perhaps just switch to the normal colour profile and make my life easier. I did check YouTube many times seeking the answer, but unfortunately I couldn't find anything specific to the DJI Mavic 2 D-Log :-(

 

[zeusfl]

Hi dixter,

Thanks a lot for your advice. I do use Davinci for colour grading but I'm an absolute amateur so I always had to use the official LUT. Hence my questions. If the LUT is the only way to work with the D-LOG, then I perhaps just switch to the normal colour profile and make my life easier. I did check YouTube many times seeking the answer, but unfortunately I couldn't find anything specific to the DJI Mavic 2 D-Log :-(

Check this Mavic 3 LUT for Davinci. I am using it with good results. I need to try with the M2P. With the M2P I used to use Ari Alexa as well.

DJI Mavic 3 D-LOG LUT

With the new Mavic 3, the color science seems to have changed a little and the existing D-Log to Rec709 LUTS are giving poor results. In almost all cases, the Natural setting will provide much better-looking images than using any of the existing D-Log LUTS. I set out to create a much more...

filmmakercentral.com

 

[waynesi]

Hi zeusfl,

Thanks a lot for the LUT. I will give it a try. Both you and dixter mentioned this Ari Alexa, sorry for my ignorance, what is this if I may ask please? Thanks.

 

[zeusfl]

Ari Alexa is a color profile LUT included with Davinci that works really well as well. Need to be corrected but is a good start.

 

[dixter]

The only thing a LUT ( look up table ) does is make it easy to bring in the color features... a Lut is made by someone that takes d-log footage, that footage is color corrected how the person making the lut just color corrected it.... so a d-log footage could have thousands of different luts.... you could yourself color grade your d-log footage the way you like it to look and save your work to your personal lut... its just an easy and fast way to color grade...
I just now went to youtube and searched for " how to color grade how to color grade dji mavic pro 2 " there are many to chose from...

 

[zeusfl]

I created this video from a Normal color profile and all camera settings in automatic on the M3. The video is still unlisted because I need to change the music but you can see the quality of the normal color profile. I will be using D-Logs only when I know I need to recover from dark in low light videos or if you want to do something special. The Normal is just great.

This video was made in Davinci Studio 17. My only concern with Studio 17 is that the timeline for the Mavic 3 I need to select a custom 5120 x 2700 and is not a native template. but it works. The other video was made in Premiere that has the option as native.

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[dixter]

Hi zeusfl,

Thanks a lot for the LUT. I will give it a try. Both you and dixter mentioned this Ari Alexa, sorry for my ignorance, what is this if I may ask please? Thanks.

A Ari Alexa is a camera that is used in movies... its claim to fame is that it has a very very nice sensor and software has been optimised for that sensor shot in RAW or D-log format.... so its luts are very very good.... if you wanted to emulate the same then you need a plug in called Cinematch .... with that plug in you tell the app that you are shooting with a DJI D-log format as the original and then the app lets you choose at your choice of how you want the format matched to a different camera... the Airi Alexa is a $70K camera so it just gets mentioned the most... but the cinematch has most if not all major brands of cameras... you could just as easily choose your d-log footage to turn into RED footage... you can pick and choose whats best for you...

 

[zeusfl]

Where i can get that plugin?

 

[Harro]

Hope this helps:

CineMatch

www.cinematch.com

 

[waynesi]

Thank you all for your great advice. So much to learn and try! Will be good fun.

Regarding YouTube, dixter, yes there are lots on colour grading DJI footages, but most if not all involve rec709. But the main reason I shot in DLog is I hope one day I can produce HDR from DLog but rec709 is obviously not right for HDR. That's why in my OP I wondered if rec709 LUT can be skipped.