📖 Theory · Module 01B · Lecture 1B.2
Raw vs Log vs Normal
You open a clip and it looks flat, grey, and washed out. Nothing is wrong. The camera did this on purpose. Here is exactly why — and what the difference is between the three types of footage you will encounter.
🎬 The Big Idea
Same Camera. Three Different Choices.
👨🍳
Think about three different ways to buy food. A home cook buys a ready-made curry paste — opens it, heats it, done. Looks good immediately. No flexibility to change the flavour. A professional chef buys fresh sorted ingredients — pre-washed, pre-measured, ready to cook. Takes work but full control. A farm delivers vegetables still in the soil — roots and all, completely untouched. Maximum control, maximum work.
Normal footage = the ready-made paste. Log footage = the fresh sorted ingredients. RAW footage = the vegetables in the soil.
⚠️ Important: Log footage is NOT the same as RAW footage. They are two different things. Log is processed — just flattened. RAW is completely unprocessed sensor data. Two separate worlds.
Normal footage = the ready-made paste. Log footage = the fresh sorted ingredients. RAW footage = the vegetables in the soil.
⚠️ Important: Log footage is NOT the same as RAW footage. They are two different things. Log is processed — just flattened. RAW is completely unprocessed sensor data. Two separate worlds.
🎬 Take 1
Normal Footage — Rec.709
The camera captures the scene and immediately processes it internally — it bakes in the contrast, the colours, the brightness. The finished image is written directly to the file. What you see on the screen is the final processed result.
What It Looks Like
Bright. Colourful. Contrasty. Looks good immediately straight out of camera. Skin tones look natural. Colours pop. No extra work needed to make it watchable.
The Problem
The camera already made all the decisions. Shadows that are dark — are dark. Highlights that are blown — are blown. You cannot undo what the camera baked in. Crushed blacks and blown highlights are gone permanently. No recovery possible.
When You'll See It
Entry-level cameras, phone cameras, some DSLRs on auto mode. Occasionally on backup cameras in a wedding shoot. If a guest's camera footage is used — almost certainly Rec.709.
🎬 Take 2
Log Footage — Why It Looks Grey
Log footage is the footage type you will work with almost every day in a wedding production house. So you need to understand it completely — not just what it is, but exactly why it looks the way it does.
A camera sensor can only record a limited range of brightness — from pure black to pure white. We call this the dynamic range. Think of it like a measuring cup — it can only hold a certain amount. Real life has far more variation in light than that cup can hold in one shot.
📊 How Much Light Each Format Captures
Normal — Rec.709
LIMITED RANGE
Log — S-Log2 / S-Log3
WIDE RANGE — MORE DATA PRESERVED
RAW — Full Sensor Data
MAXIMUM RANGE — EVERYTHING THE SENSOR SAW
No Data
← Amount of Light Information Captured →
Full Data
Log solves the limited range problem by squeezing the full real-world light into the camera's recordable zone. The shadows are lifted up so they don't clip to black. The highlights are pulled down so they don't clip to white. Everything gets compressed into the safe middle zone.
📈 How The Camera Encodes Brightness
Normal
Straight line. Camera records exactly what it sees. What you see = what was recorded.
Log
S-shaped curve. Shadows lifted. Highlights compressed. Everything squeezed to the middle = flat grey image.
RAW
Pure sensor data. No curve applied at all. Flattest of the three. Needs full processing from zero.
💡 Why Grey = Good
That flat grey washed-out look is not a mistake. It is the camera telling you: "I preserved everything. Now you bring it back." Inside that grey image is a massive amount of colour and detail — waiting for you to unlock it in the Color Page. The flatness is hiding the data.
What Log Looks Like
Flat. Grey. Washed out. Low contrast. Colours look dull. Skin tones look grey and lifeless. Shadows that should be dark look lifted. Highlights that should be bright look flat and dim. This is correct. Do not panic.
When You'll See It
Sony FX3 and Sony M4 shooting S-Log2 or S-Log3. This is what you will open 99% of the time in a wedding production house. The exact difference between S-Log2 and S-Log3 is covered in the next lecture — Lecture 1B.3.
🎬 Take 3
RAW Footage — Pure Sensor Data
RAW goes one step beyond Log entirely. In Log — the camera still processes the signal slightly before writing it. In RAW — the camera writes the pure unprocessed data directly from the sensor. Every photon of light that hit the sensor is recorded as a number. Nothing is thrown away. Nothing is processed. Not even white balance is baked in.
What It Looks Like
Even flatter than Log. Often looks greenish or strange because there is zero processing applied. Needs specific software to even open and display correctly. Maximum recovery possible from blown highlights and crushed shadows.
Where RAW Is Used
Big film productions. Hollywood. Netflix originals. High-end commercial shoots. Cameras like RED, ARRI Alexa, Sony Venice, Sony FX9. You will almost never see RAW in a wedding shoot. If you do — the client hired a very high-end cinema crew for something very specific. Know what it is. Recognise it if you see it. That is enough for now.
🎬 Take 4
Same Scene. Three Different Files.
The bride standing in the mandap. Overhead lights. Golden decorations behind her. Same camera. Same moment. Three different footage modes — three completely different files handed to the editor.
🎊
Normal
Rich colour. Good contrast. But decorations behind her already slightly blown. Shadows under mandap already slightly crushed. What you see = final image. No going back.
🎊
Log
Flat. Grey. Skin looks washed out. Decorations look dull. But — all the detail is inside. The editor can bring everything back in the Color Page.
🎊
RAW
Even flatter than Log. May look greenish. Maximum data inside. Needs the most work but gives the most control of all three.
🎬 Take 5
What This Means For Your Job
In a wedding production house using Sony FX3 and Sony M4 — you will almost always be opening Log footage. S-Log2 or S-Log3.
📌 When You Open a Flat Grey Clip
Do not adjust the exposure. Do not call the camera operator. Do not assume something went wrong during the shoot.
The footage is not broken. The camera did its job correctly. Now it is your turn — in the Color Page.
We will cover how to apply a temporary LUT in DaVinci to neutralise the flat Log look so you can properly see the footage during clip selection and editing. This is a temporary preview fix only — not a permanent colour grade. That comes later.
The footage is not broken. The camera did its job correctly. Now it is your turn — in the Color Page.
We will cover how to apply a temporary LUT in DaVinci to neutralise the flat Log look so you can properly see the footage during clip selection and editing. This is a temporary preview fix only — not a permanent colour grade. That comes later.
⚡ Pro Tip
Always Check the XML Files
You cannot always tell the colour profile just by looking at the clip in DaVinci. The colour profile information is recorded in the XML sidecar files that come alongside the footage when you copy from the memory card. Always copy those XML files together with the video files — never just the video files alone.
If you are unsure what profile was used — check the XML files, or ask the videographer who operated the camera that day. Never guess. Never assume.
If you are unsure what profile was used — check the XML files, or ask the videographer who operated the camera that day. Never guess. Never assume.