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Writer's pictureWilliam Ewart

Editing F-Log In DaVinci Resolve | With Downloadable Sample Footage(UPDATE)

Updated: Mar 7, 2023

One of the most powerful tools in Resolve is its color management. I love being able to import any kind of footage from any camera, and having Resolve automatically convert that to Rec.709 without having to manually create any Color Space Transform(CST) nodes. If Resolve does not automatically recognize the color and gamma of a clip you can manually tell it what those are. For most cameras that works just fine. With Fujifilm cameras it works when you shoot in HLG, but it does not recognize clips shot in F-log. Going into the list to change your F-Log clips what you will find is that the gamma is there but not the color space. That was the biggest hangup for me that kept me from using F-Log. I definitely did not want to use a conversion LUT to change the color on every clip that I edit which would just limit the image.



Well I recently made a discovery. Fujifilm very kindly provides their technical documents for their F-Log shooting modes(Now they also have F-Log 2. We will be looking at F-Log in this article). I had looked at this before but only paid attention to the 18% IRE. Turns out that it clearly states that the color space in F-Log is Rec.2020. That is the color space also used in HLG and HDR video.


Realizing that, I went back to Resolve, loaded up a F-Log clip, and applied the Rec.2020 color space and it worked.


Now I can use Resolves color management to its full potential. Using Davinci intermediate, or Aces is now possible.



Above: On the left is Resolve's Rec.709 conversion, on the right is the original F-Log.

Above: On the left is a basic grade applied, on the right is the Resolve conversion.


I have been experimenting since I found this out. I have created an Aces conversion node tree that I prefer the most, but I also have a Davinci intermediate one that is sometimes better. Choosing to use the direct conversion or an intermediate is purely personal choice. With HLG I usually only edited directly on the conversion, but with F-Log I have found that it edits better on an intermediate. I will be doing more articles about that process and supplying power grades for everything in future articles. This is at least a start.


The specific video clip I used for this article and for the others coming are available for download so that you can experiment yourself.


Thank you for reading. I hope this helped some of you with your F-Log recording. Stay tuned for future articles.

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