Color Grading with Scopes: Log to Rec.709 and Your Own LUT

Online tool for color correction and color grading of video: footage shot in a Log profile is converted to Rec.709 by the camera maker's formulas, and the color is set by the instruments — waveform, RGB parade and vectorscope. Exposure, white balance and the color wheels work on the live picture; the result is saved as a finished video, a still, or a .cube LUT for an editing program.

How to color grade a video

4 steps
1
Load a clip or a still

MP4 and MOV from a camera, a phone or a drone all work.

2
Name the shooting profile

For Log footage choose your camera — the picture is converted to Rec.709.

3
Set the color by the scopes

Exposure and balance first, then the wheels for shadows, midtones and highlights.

4
Save the video or the LUT

A finished clip, a still, or a .cube table for an editing program.

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Turn gray Log footage into a finished picture and keep your color as a LUT

Choose a video or a still to grade
A clip shot in a camera Log profile, or ordinary video
MP4, MOV, WebM, JPG, PNG ·
0:00 / 0:00

Save

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Features

Log to Rec.709 by the camera formulas
Sony S-Log3, Panasonic V-Log, Canon Log, Fujifilm F-Log, Nikon N-Log, DJI D-Log, Apple Log and ARRI LogC3: the maker's inverse formula, the change of gamut, and a soft highlight roll-off instead of clipping.
Waveform, RGB parade, vectorscope
The scopes show the signal itself, not what a screen makes of it: clipping lies on the top line, a color cast shows as three columns of the parade, skin tone follows a line on the vectorscope.
Numbers for those who cannot read scopes yet
Under the scope it says what share of the frame is clipped, what share is crushed to black and where the middle sits. The Auto button sets balance and levels as a starting point.
Three color wheels
Shadows, midtones and highlights — each by color and by brightness. A wheel is oriented like the vectorscope, so a push toward red on the wheel is a move toward the R mark on the scope.
Color like the reference
A reference frame you load gives the clip its overall tone, contrast and saturation; the strength of the match runs from 0 to 100 %.
Your own LUT as a .cube file
The whole correction is saved as a table of 33 or 65 points that DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, Final Cut and on-camera monitors open. The preview, the video and the LUT are computed from the same table.

Questions about color grading video

Why is Log video gray, and what fixes it?

In a Log profile the camera records the logarithm of the light so the whole brightness range fits the file, which is why the picture looks washed out untreated. Contrast and saturation do not fix it: it takes the inverse formula of that exact profile. Choose the camera in the list — the formula and the gamut are applied for you.

How do the scopes tell me the exposure is right?

On the waveform the trace should not lie flat on the 100 mark (clipping) or on the 0 mark (crushed black). A face in ordinary light sits between 50 and 70. Under the scope you see the percentage of the frame that has gone past either end.

What is the difference between a 33-point and a 65-point LUT?

It is the number of nodes along each axis of the table. 33 points is the industry norm: the file is about a megabyte and every program and monitor reads it. 65 points follow sharp bends of the curve in the shadows more closely, but the file is eight times larger and not every monitor accepts it.

What if my camera is not in the list?

For profiles like Flat, D-Cinelike or CineD the formulas are not published — choose the flat profile: it restores contrast and saturation approximately, and the wheels and scopes do the rest. Ordinary phone video needs no conversion.

How do I get the same color on several clips?

Grade one clip and save the LUT — it can be applied to the others in an editing program. The other way: save a still of the finished clip and load it as the reference for the next one.

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Who is this tool for?
🎬 Video Creators
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