It’s been long awaited and long demanded, but C-Log is now officially coming to the Canon 5D Mark IV. It’s a firmware update, but not one you can do yourself. You’ll need to send your camera off to a Canon service centre, and hand over $99 to make it happen. While this isn’t going to make a difference to most photographers, it will be a welcome addition for video guys.
The paid upgrade is available from July, and new 5D Mark IV with Canon Log pre-installed will be coming soon. But, with the upgrade, you should be able to make the 5D Mark IV achieve a similar look to that of Canon’s Cinema EOS cameras.
In theory, C-Log allows the camera to capture a wider dynamic range in its 4K and 1080p Full HD footage. Essentially it compresses the dynamic range that the sensor sees into a smaller space. It produces a very flat image which you can then correct and grade in post to produce the final result.
Looking at Log footage as it’s being recorded, though, isn’t very nice. It’s not a great representation of how your scene will look in the final result. So, the upgrade also includes a “View Assist” setting, which provides a preview on the LCD of how the shot might look with post-processing tweaks.
Two Look Up Tables (LUTs) that correct the recorded images gamma and colour space when viewed on an external monitor are also included. There’s Canon Log 10 to Wide DR, which converts it to a wide dynamic range gamma. This preserves the highlights and shadow detail. And there’s also Canon Log 10 to ITU-R BT.709, which converts it to conventional Rec.709 consistent with an HDTV.
A great boost for 5D Mark IV video shooters, but $99? And you have to be without your camera while they do it?
You can find out more on the Canon Log website.
[via 4K Shooters]
