{"id":8937,"date":"2015-12-15T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-15T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suggestionofmotion.com\/?p=8937"},"modified":"2015-12-15T17:29:55","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T03:29:55","slug":"panasonic-gh4-setup-v-log-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suggestionofmotion.com\/blog\/panasonic-gh4-setup-v-log-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Said No to V-Log on the Panasonic GH4"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Panasonic GH4 finally has a log profile, but there are a few reasons why V-Log may not right for your projects<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n
EXT. PORCH – DUSK<\/div>\n
\n

SOL sits on the porch, peacefully watching the sun set.<\/p>\n

A delivery van pulls up to the driveway in front of the porch.
\nFRIENDLY DELIVERY MAN (FDM) gets out of the van and ambles over to the porch’s front gate carrying a small white box.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

FDM<\/div>\n
(holding up the white box)<\/div>\n
Hiya, friend. I’ve got your V-Log delivery from Panasonic here.<\/div>\n
SOL<\/div>\n
No.<\/div>\n
FDM stares blankly at SOL. Without a word, he turns around, walks back to his van, and drives away.<\/div>\n
THE END<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

It took well over a month for the V-Log activation to arrive at my doorstep after I had placed my order. I suppose I should thank Panasonic for taking so long to ship it, because by that time, I was able to thoroughly test a GH4 with V-Log in a variety of situations and determine that it currently is not a good fit for my needs.<\/p>\n

In fact, there are several situations where using V-Log degrades image quality<\/strong>, compared to using one of the GH4’s default profiles.<\/p>\n

If you’re wondering whether V-Log is right for you and worth the investment, read on to find out why I said “no” to V-Log.<\/p>\n

Banding, Banding, Banding<\/h2>\n

Look, up in the sky! What’s that?<\/p>\n

Banding.<\/p>\n

\"V-Log<\/a><\/p>\n

V-Log’s propensity to cause banding is particularly visible in blue skies and other large areas with subtle gradations of shades and colors. Instead of blending smoothly from one to another, the colors appear as distinct bands<\/strong> of separate colors.<\/p>\n

Banding may not be too visible at first (especially when viewing the native log footage), but it quickly starts creeping in when you begin grading the image.<\/p>\n

\"Banding<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s a more extreme example that more clearly shows banding in the sky when shooting in V-Log. It’s not as severe as the Sony a7S II’s banding when shooting in S-Log 3, but it still ruins the shot.<\/p>\n

\"Extreme<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s the same scene shot in Cine-D for comparison. It’s far from pristine, but in motion, the artifacts are much less noticeable than the fixed banding you get in V-Log:<\/p>\n

\"Extreme<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the key reasons to shoot in log is to have more flexibility for color grading, so V-Log’s tendency to cause banding is definitely limiting. You’ll often have to stick with a very light grade to keep banding from standing out too much, and even then you might not be able to avoid it entirely.<\/p>\n

I shoot a lot of outdoor footage in places like Hawaii, California, and Japan, where expansive blue skies are in every single shot, so banding definitely poses a problem. This makes V-Log a non-starter in these types of environments, though it can even be an issue when shooting interiors, as demonstrated in this test by Zak Forsman:<\/p>\n