In the world of expensive cameras like the Sony A7s III and Canon EOS R5, there are those who use Canon’s budget cameras like the Canon Ti Series, SL series, etc. With those cameras, there’s a common picture profile being used called Prolost Flat. It’s good and all, but the most difficult thing about it is getting the footage to look great while editing. That’s were LUTS come into play.
(Downloadable Prolost Flat to Linear LUT can be found below.)
First off, What is Prolost Flat?
Prolost Flat is a modified Neutral Picture Style with these settings.
- Sharpness set to zero
- Contrast set to all the way to the left
- Saturation set two notches to the left
- Color tone set to zero
This profile has less contrast and saturation to help preserve information within your cameras dynamic range, specifically in the highlights and the shadows.
Let me throw the Rec. 709 format into the pot and explain what that represents. And then tell me your head will not reel. The reality: it is pretty simple. However, therein lies a lot of “depends” in terms of whether you use a log or LUT or in how one might relate to the other or not at all. First, let’s explain what a “Log” is.
Linear LUT for Prolost Flat
Lowering the contrast in cameras causes the shadows, mid tones, and highlights to curve. As a result, grading straight from a flat footage doesn’t always have a favorable look just by bumping up the contrast and saturation. Bumping the contrast and saturation only stretches the waveform generally from the mid tones out towards the highlight and shadows. Instead the footage should be converted into a linear color space first.
Here are some test shots from Prolost Flat to Linear.
FREE Sony S-Log 2 to Rec.709 LUT. THIS LUT IS MADE FOR FOOTAGE SHOT IN S-LOG2. IT HELPS YOUR COLORS BE BEAUTIFUL. If you like this, you'll love Renegade 2, our S-LOG 2 LUT Pack that lets you add pro color grades to your footage with one click! BEAUTIFUL SONY FOOTAGE. A very powerful tool is our REC.709 to S-LOG converter. This tool enables you to use all kind of footage with our S-LOG LUTs and looks. You can now even use our LUT’S with your IPone or compact camera and footage. Our REC.709 to S-Log converter is unique in the industry.
Adding the LUT causes the flat video to have a bit more color and better contrast than Prolost Flat to have a starting point for the color grading process. Keep in mind the contrast and saturation controls were not used during the making of the LUT. The only thing that changed was the curve.
Download the Prolost to Linear LUT here.
What Now?
Assuming that you exposed and white balanced your footage, you can bump up the saturation and contrast as you like and grade the footage after adding the LUT.
Enjoy!
Additional Information
The Linear LUT will only work on the Prolost Flat Picture Profile with specific settings:
18% Grey @ 50% IRE for ProlostFlat_to_Linear_EV0.cube
18% Grey @ 62.5% IRE for ProlostFlat_to_Linear_EV1.cube
This LUT was create by me and I’m not claiming to be a professional colorist or a LUT creator. I made this LUT for experimentation and will continue testing. If you would like to support the continuation and making of the LUT feel free to message me!
Sony S Log2 To Rec 709 Lutheran
If you would like to get a hold of a Prolost to Rec.709 LUT visit Adrian Bacon’s article.
Q&A
Is this a conversion LUT to Rec.709?
Not necessarily, but take is as you will. I don’t have Rec.709 to compare with Canon’s sRGB color space so I won’t call this Prolost to Rec.709, but Prolost to Linear.
How did you come up with this LUT?
Gerald Undone, a youtuber, has made a very informative video on Common Log Grading Mistakes. I took information from his video and created the LUT.
Why does the 11-Step Gray Scale image look like that?
The 11-Step Gray Scale image I shot isn’t the true dsclabs 11-Step Gray Scale Chart. It’s a screenshot image of the 11-Step Gray Scale Chart. Although it may not be it’s true color I had to work on the Prolost Flat footage relative to my camera’s Neutral Picture Profile, not the screenshot image. This keeps a consistent curve conversion.
Rec 709 Lut Download
One thing that may be flawed is the light coming from the monitor itself effected the 11-Step Gray Scale screenshot. Monitors are known to be inconsistent with exposures while look at the monitor at different angles.