Log Profile

What this is about

Shooting log is a promise to grade later. The camera hands over a washed-out, grey image that nobody would show a client, but it carries far more information between the darkest and brightest parts of the frame than a baked-in profile does. That only pays off with enough bit depth and a colourist who reshapes it afterwards. On set, the crew monitors through a conversion LUT so the director sees a sensible picture while the recording stays flat. A project that never books a grade is better off shooting a normal profile.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• Log without a planned grade wastes the advantage and delivers a dull image instead
• Monitor through a conversion LUT on set so nobody judges exposure on the flat signal
• Log needs bit depth: ten bit or more, otherwise the grade tears the gradients apart

With TillyGen

If a grading pass is part of the plan in TillyGen, the decision to shoot log stops being a camera preference and becomes a scheduled step.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.