The Perfect Workflow for Slog3 Color (for me) - Sony A7S III, FX3, FX6, FX9

With the introduction of the sensor used in Sony A7S III, FX3 &FX6 we are now closer to getting Film-like/Arri-like colors than ever before.

Historically Slog3 was never the easiest log to grade, even with color transforms from Slog3 to LogC and color gamut transform from Sony’s color to Alexa Gamut.

However, recently I developed the perfect workaround for the Sony A7S III color workflow that consistently gives me results I am super happy with, every time.

I’ve tried Phantom Luts as well as Buttery Luts and while they were pretty good, I was still not happy with the results most of the time and had to spend a lot more time grading the image to get the look that I wanted and needed.

How I ended up finding the perfect solution for me

I found this video on YouTube and I really loved the workflow that Doug Stanford presented there. He used a free software created by Ben Turley (a genius of its kind) called LUTCalc.

This software allows you to take Slog3, Sony S-Gamut3.cine and convert them to Alexa-X-2 Gamma and Gamut (and not you cannot replicate it with color transform in Davinci, at least I did not find the Alexa-X-2 Gamma and Gamut there).

Plot twist: Phantom Lut feels to me just like the free LutCalc generated lut using the method in this video, but with a slight green tint added to it, which actually makes it worse. (I really feel sorry for all those who purchased it for 50$ and I was among them as I wanted to see what was so amazing about it because so many people praised it in the Sony A7SIII facebook group).

Comparison between luts

Here you can see the comparison between four different color grading methods:

1. Buttery Lut
2. Phantom Lut
3. Free LUTCalc Lut
4. LUTCalc Lut + My workflow

Please note: all shots had the same exposure and white-balance settings, the difference is only in the picture profile settings on the last one.

My workflow

Below I will explain which method I use to generate the lut using a free LUTCalc plugin, which picture profile settings I use on the camera and how I expose my image.

1. Generate the free lut using a free LUTCalc plugin using these settings (see screenshot as well):

• Camera: Sony PXW-FX9 (there is not A7SIII there yet, but FX9 setting will be just fine)
• Stop correction: 0 (but you can choose -1 or -2 if you overexpose your image, however I am changing my exposure settings in Davinci prior to applying the lut, I will explain the correct node tree that I use later in this article)
• Rec Gamma: Sony S-Log3
• Rec Gamut: Sony Sony S-Gamut3.cine
• Out Gamma: All Alexa-X-2
• Out Gamut: All Alexa-X-2

Click on Generate LUT after dialing all the settings down

2. We all know that Slog3 is best used when overexposed. However, I am not always overexposing it for +2 stops. My workflow is the following:

• If you are not in a controlled environment and doing run and gun filming, I suggest using the built-in histogram in the camera. Just check that all of the color data is in the middle of the histogram, highlights are not clipping and blacks are not crashing.

• I also recommend using zebras, set to 95 level to make sure you are not crushing your highlights, to have a nice highlight roll-off and to be able to tone them down in post.

3. Finally I want to explain which picture profile settings I use as they are the key “secret” ingredient here and without using them you won’t have the same results.

• I am adding the saturation inside the camera by basically baking it in the picture profile. I did dozens of tests and found that this is the best way to achieve organic colors and tweaking the saturation, color boost, playing with color or anything else in Davinci simply took too much time for achieving the same look. Based on my tests this method did not crush any color or by any means add any artifacts or noise pollution to the image.
• I am using these settings for the picture profile and consider them to give me the best look with LUTCalc lut as well as huge flexibility in color grading in post:

1. Black Level: 0
2. Gamma: S-Log3
3. Black Gamma: Wide
4. Knee: Auto
5. Color Mode: S-Gamut3.Cine
6. Saturation: +14
7. Color Phase: +2
8. Color Depth: R +1; G +1; B 0; C -1; M -1; Y +1.
9. Detail: -7

Best picture profile (IMO) for the free LUTCalc generated lut

You can skip this step and try to reproduce the result in the Davinci Resolve and I plan to do it somewhere in the future and release it as a power grade, but for now I use this method and it works great for me.

That’s it! I hope my explanation of the workflow was clear and easy to replicate. I also hope that this will help you to improve your footage!

A few recommendations and important notes

I would also like to give you a few suggestions on how you can improve the way you shoot with Sony A7S III as well as how you color grade your footage and apply the lut in post.

1. Please use Davinci Resolve for your color grading. It’s 1000x better than anything else on the market + it’s free (Studio paid version has some great features and you can purchase it if you need them of course).
2. Buy a display for monitoring your image. The model does not really matter. The only things that matter are: the ability to import your luts ability to have color histograms and ideally it should be bigger than 4 inches and brighter than 800 nits. This can probably be the best purchase after your camera and lens.

3. When color grading your image, please make sure to adjust exposure and apply noise reduction before applying the LUT. Ideally use this structure of your node tree: Noise Reduction > Exposure > Lut > Color adjustments and further grading > Applying additional adjustments for a creative look. This works the best for me.

P.S. I definitely do not claim this method to give you the most precise colors or to make your skin tones perfectly match the skin tone line on the vectorscope. If you want to test this method with a color checker — feel free to do it, it’s free. I am using my eyes and a calibrated monitor (with X-rite pro) to judge the results based on my personal taste.

I have also created my perfect workflow for the DJI Mavic Pro 2

I have also developed my personal perfect workflow for DJI Mavic Pro 2 color to retain the highest possible dynamic range its sensor allows for. Here are some examples of the shots colorgraded with this workflow. All of them are Dji D-logM and Dji D-Gamut.

If you are interested in those, please let me know in the comments to this article. Also if you are interested in a video explaining my workflow — please let me know as well.

Cheers!