PXW-Z90 HLG 2020 to Rec 709 LUT feedback

[Christopher Young]

Hi Folks

I know some of you are Sony PXW-Z90, HXR-NX80 and FDR-AX700 users so was looking for a bit of feedback. Strange though it may seem I have actually had an editing job come in. That's a turn up in these days! The job was shot on a Z90 in HLG3 in 2020 color space. Neither the client or I were super happy with the look when viewed on a 709 TV or monitor so I played around creating a couple of LUTs to bring the 2020 color space back to 709. Hence my post. Anyone who owns any of these cameras prepared to check out these HLG 2020 to 709 LUTs and give me a bit of feedback as to your thoughts, critiques etc. Where can they be improved etc. Not after a cinematic, hate the word, look but something suitable for a corporate production. LUTs can be downloaded from:

https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/nur3rm

The one with LC in its name is a lower contrast one and the one with +Sat is a higher saturation version.

Thanks in advance all. Stay safe now!

Chris Young

[Andrea Sedlmeyer]

Hi Chris,
for my taste it has a bit too much of a yellowish tint. The +Sat is better than the LC version though. Why not do a clean gamut conversion from Rec.2020 to Rec.709 with this LUT https://cc-lut.hotglue.me and then grade to your liking from there?
Cheers, Andrea

[Doug Jensen]

if you find yourself stuck fixing footage that has already been shot with HLG, that is one thing. But the better solution is NOT to shoot with HLG in the first place if you plan on grading in post. HLG is not intended to be graded and it is only an appropriate mode to choose when the footage (or live camera output) will actually be integrated into an true HLG environment. Which is almost non-existent in the real world. For any purpose outside of a true HLG workflow, the HLG mode is almost always the wrong choice with Sony cameras. On the Z90, I'm sure that S-LOG3 or a custom REC709 scene file would have provided a better starting point for grading. But if the HLG footage is already in the can, then you gotta do what you gotta do to fix it.