Best practices with Technicolor Cinestyle Profile and S-Curve LUT

DTPix wrote:

Hello,

First post in this sub-forum.

I've installed the Technicolor Cinestyle Profile on my Canon DSLR.

http://www.technicolor.com/en/solutions-services/cinestyle

And, after much hunting, I found the "CineStyle S-Curve" LUT in .cube format to use in Davinci Resolve.

After filming with this profile and applying the lut in Resolve, I'm very impressed with the resulting footage. Having also made the filming tweaks to favor a cinematic look, it does have a nice film-ish sheen to it.

But - being a film-making newbie, I don't know if I'm done there.

What might a film pro do next?

I've watched lots of videos about post processing - color matching, grading, effects, etc., but they generally don't start with the Cinestyle profile. And instructional videos I can find about using the profile generally don't then go into what to do after applying the S-Curve. Or they describe other ways to correct without the S-Curve. I guess I'm wondering if the Cinestyle system, when the S-Curve is employed, is supposed to do it all, or is it just a nice clear baseline to start from?

For example, I noticed that correcting white balance in Resolve, in a node after the LUT node, made a difference that my eye likes.

I realize this is a very general, vague question. The lazy-bones in me wants someone to answer "Every pro knows that when using Cinestyle, then you apply x, y and z, and bingo, top quality result." Since that's pretty unlikely, any helpful guidance will be greatly appreciated.

Cinestyle  is in effect a pseudo log profile,   And whilst many folks will apply a lut,   We don’t.   We grade from scratch to get what we need....  applying a lut is a easy way to get a particular look,   But it’s just one route to a result.

The real advantage of using a log profile or cinestyle,  is to match cameras more easily in post.   So we use Cinestyle on the mk3, mk4 and 7dmk2,   And we use a customised CineD profile on the gh5,  slog on the Sony,   And as a consequence all of them are easily matched in post.

Our normal work flow is to get everything matched,  exposures and saturation where we want,   And then apply or work up a particular look/grade as part of the finishing.

Frankly I can’t see much of an advantage for the 5d series if you gonna go from cinestyle to a straight rec709 lut for output,   The cameras produce a nice look straight out and a mod st flat profile will suffice for most needs... given its low data rates and 420 sampling.

If you wanna make the most of a log profile,  you really should be able to grade without a lut... this will expand your expertise to allow you to have better control and thus be better equipped to do something interesting.

Andrew S10 wrote:

Like I said, I don't shoot Canon, I shoot with the equivalent Nikon and Sony profiles. I use a LUT to convert LOG footage to REC709 for my starting point, and then dial everything else to taste.

All the principles of color grading apply; here's some good color grading resources:

Learn Color Grading

Ripple Training

Goat's Eye View

David Torcivia

Aram K

Bear in mind that shooting flat is only useful when trying to preserve highlight detail. I generally apply some highlight recovery and use a gradient power window to get a graduated ND effect.

I have the freebie Da Vinci 12, and a paid AE CS6, so what is the AE gradient power window equivalent? And what does the Da Vincin Power Window get you?