Log Profile

A log profile is a recording gamma like S-Log, V-Log, or Log-C that captures footage with a flat, washed-out, low-contrast appearance on purpose. By distributing tones logarithmically, it preserves far more detail in highlights and shadows than a standard curve, giving the colorist maximum latitude to push the image in post. Log footage is not meant to be watched raw: it needs a transform or LUT to convert it into a viewable space like Rec. 709, after which the colorist shapes contrast and color. In practice you apply the conversion first, then grade on top, which protects highlight and shadow detail that a baked-in look would have thrown away. The tradeoff is a mandatory grading step and the need to expose log correctly on set to keep noise out of the shadows.