V-Log gives you a flat, low-contrast image that holds the most dynamic range your LUMIX can capture - ideal for grading, but hard to judge while you shoot. That's exactly what a LUT is for. Here's how V-Log LUTs are designed to be used: preview the look in-camera while recording flat, then finish with the same LUT in your editor.
The way they're designed to be used: preview the look, record flat (V-Log View Assist)
This is the recommended workflow and it gives you the most flexibility.
- Set your camera's photo style / picture profile to V-Log.
- Copy your .cube LUTs to the SD card and load them into the LUT Library (Image Quality > LUT Library > pick a set > LOAD).
- Open the V-Log View Assist (LUT Assist) menu and select your LUT.
Now your screen and EVF show the graded look, so you can frame and expose to the final image - but the camera still records in flat V-Log. The LUT is only a preview; nothing is baked in. You walk away with footage that keeps its full dynamic range and total flexibility for the edit.
The other option: bake it in as a picture profile
You can also apply a V-Log LUT as the picture profile so the look is recorded straight into the file. It's a common way people shoot, but it comes with a trade-off.
Warning: baking a LUT into the recording is permanent. You can't undo it or recover the flat-log range later, so you lose flexibility in post. Only do this when you want a finished file straight out of camera and you're confident in both the look and your exposure. Rule of thumb: View Assist and record flat for maximum control; bake-in only when you want it done in-camera.
Finishing in Premiere Pro - and the one rule that matters
Use the same V-Log LUT in your editor:
- Select your clip and open the Lumetri Color panel.
- In the Creative tab, load your V-Log LUT in the 'Look' / custom LUT slot.
- In the Basic Correction tab, balance the shot - exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites/blacks and white balance.
The golden rule: the LUT goes last, on top of your corrections
Here's the logic, made simple. A creative LUT takes your wide-range flat log image and maps it into a finished, screen-ready look. In doing that, it squeezes and clips the brightest highlights and darkest shadows down to what a display can show - and that extra range only ever existed in the flat log. So the order you work in really matters:
- Correct your exposure on the flat log first. Then the LUT transforms an already well-exposed image and everything lands where it should - full highlight and shadow detail intact.
- Don't push exposure after the LUT. If you try to recover highlights or lift shadows once the LUT has been applied, the range is already gone - the LUT clipped it - so blown highlights stay blown and crushed shadows stay crushed. You end up fighting the image instead of using its full latitude.
The good news: Premiere does this for you automatically. Inside Lumetri, the Basic Correction tab is processed before the Creative LUT - so when you adjust exposure in Basic, it happens underneath the LUT, exactly as it should. Just keep your main exposure work in Basic, let the LUT sit on top in Creative, and make only small creative tweaks after. (Same principle in DaVinci Resolve: do your primary correction first, and put the LUT on a node at the end of the chain.)
Bottom line: correct first, LUT last. That order preserves your full dynamic range and gives the cleanest, most flexible grade. Our V-Log LUTs are built to work exactly this way - preview them in-camera, then finish with the matching file in post. Browse them on the LUMIX V-Log LUTs page.