Question for those that use CineStyle profile

[Jeff Troiano]

Still figuring out my new 60D, I'm wondering for those that use the CineStyle profile, do you take your footage and grade from there? Or do you use the S curve LUT, and LUT buddy, and then tweak from there?

Also, anyone install the pic profile using a Mac? I'm on Lion, installed latest eos utility, follow CineStyle instructions, but once I get to the point to load a pic profile, I go to click on the "folder" icon, and nothing happens. It doesn't open and allow me to select the CineStyle profile I've downloaded. Am I missing a step? Is the camera suppose to be in a specific shooting mode? It allows me to access the drop down menu and select one of the default pic profiles (that came with the camera).

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks as always,
Jeff

[Chris Barcellos]

Good question. I am curious about that too.

I am on PC side. I convert raw files to Cineform, then apply Cineform's Cinestyle look in the video input scroll down menu, using first light. I then grade in Vegas, Premiere or After Effects.

[Murray Christian]

From memory you have to be in a photo mode to install it to the camera, then you have to go to video mode during operation to choose it.
There might be something I'm forgetting.

[Chris Hsiung]

Yeah, you first install it in stills mode (I had it on program), then when you are in video mode navigate to the picture style and choose the user default where you installed cine style, then hit info. Now if you select the Picture Style you should be able to select CineStyle. Convoluted, but it worked for me.

As for grading, I apply LUT buddy first then tweak. But I don't know if this is best approach.

[Seth Bloombaum]

I just grade from raw in Vegas.

An S-shaped curve in the Color Curves filter allows me to quickly dial shadows, mids and highlights.

It's quick and easy. I've done black-crushing and basic correction with this approach for years before going dSLR.

[Jordan Hooper]

Jeff,
As for the Mac part of the installation, when you download cinestyle it should be a zipped file that you double click to expand. Make note of where it is on your Mac (eg Desktop, Downloads folder).
Watch this:

How-To Download Technicolor CineStyle - YouTube

[Seth Bloombaum]

Being fairly new to cinestyle, I wanted to remind myself why I hadn't installed the LUT... Because the method isn't available for Vegas.

I did come across this simple clip on how to visually match Technicolor's LUT, using a color curves filter, much as I do it. Color Curves has been my first grading step for years, and I frequently don't do more than that. This method can be used on any NLE with a similar filter... Keep an eye on the waveform monitor.

How to use LUT files without a LUT plugin - YouTube

[Jon Onstot]

My experience has been with Adobe Premiere CS 5.5, so YMMV. PPro can edit native .mov files, so I don't transcode. I tried using LUT Buddy, but it slowed down my NLE monitor so badly that I gave up on it. fortunately, I found a PPro preset file of the full Technicolor s-curve on the web that someone was kind enough to publish, so I use that now and it works like a charm. Sometimes, the TC preset looks too severe, so I just make my own s-curve to my taste. It's surprising how few points are needed to define a decent look - as few as 2 in some cases! Actually, the fewer the number of points, the easier it is to manipulate. I'm sure that experienced color graders are cringing at my methods.....

[Rickey Brillantes]

Hi Jeff, when installing Cinema Picturestyle place your 60D dial in M mode, and follow the instructions, you should be good to go. This a great tool with Magic Lantern side by side.

[Jeff Troiano]

Thanks to all who gave advice. One other question. If you use your camera for stills also, do you use a folate profile, like this one, and grade in photoshop later?

[Seth Bloombaum]

I've used a flat approach to camcorder video for years, so it was a simple adjustment to flat profiles for video on the 60D, and I've been very pleased. All my video goes through post, though...

However, 60D is my first *still* camera with this flat of an available profile, and I'm finding it different.

Still working on it, but my approach so far is to do snapshots with a canon profile for minimal or no post work. I shoot more serious photography flat, intending to grade.

By the way, Cinestyle is the flattest, but Crooked Path and Marvel profiles are worth a look too. Flattest isn't always best!

[Sebastian Alvarez]

I've been shooting some footage with the 60D today with the purpose of seeing the difference between the standard preset and the cinestyle one after correcting with their LUT, so I set the camera on a tripod shooting different things around my yard and street but always two of each, one in standard and one with cinestyle, and then I brought the footage into After Effects because Premiere took forever to render the same thing using the Magic Bullet LUT Buddy plugin.

I thought it was going to look much better, but I was very unimpressed. It looks rather flat, and to me it doesn't look cinematic at all. The standard preset looks much more like a movie in my opinion, although with a color more faithful to reality. The footage with Cinestyle look like those B-Movies on Netflix streaming. It looks nothing like Hollywood movies.

I would recommend anyone planning on using Cinestyle to do the same thing I did to see for yourselves. Maybe it's a good idea to shoot with less contrast to get more details in dark areas, but the Cinestyle is way too flat.

[Chris Barcellos]

I think people are missing the purpose of Cinestyle. It is to give you a starting image that has the maximum latitude availalbe to make your image gradeable into your film look. In Cineform, for instance, you actually add the treatment adjustment ahead of any .lut you want. So you should in no way consider the .lut addition as your final product. It is only an intermediate step in the grading process.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Agreeing with Chris. If you want to pull footage out of your camera and use it without grading, avoid flat shooting!

Why use it? If you want more recorded latitude, taking the blacks to dark gray and the whites to light gray gives the sensor the ability to see a wider scene latitude.

Shooting flat isn't always desirable, but, frequently, with a stock profile, exposing for highlights will crush shadow detail that you might want to preserve. This method allows the preservation of greater shadow detail.

Ungraded, such footage is usually unacceptable for distribution. But, with appropriate grading, one can represent more of the latitude of the scene, more like what the eye saw. One can still crush/expand blacks, clip/blow out whites, adjust gamma, and color grade as desired in post.

In this sort of process, the Technicolor-supplied LUT is really only a starting point. It can't always give the best results by itself, because every scene is different, and different camera operators shoot and expose the same scene differently.

[Murray Christian]

Adding to that; Cinestyle is interesting because it lifts the baseline black from zero to 16. This can cause minor banding if you push it too hard in post (even though you can push it harder than native photostyles). I don't think some of the other flat styles do this. Not sure though.

I've never done it, but it makes sense that a boilerplate LUT would leave some room to tweak because I haven't had a cinestyle shot yet that didn't need custom tweaking. It's quite likely I'm just bad at it. But that's kind of the point. As others have mentioned, this isn't a 'plug it in, footage looks great' thing. It's adding a whole extra work process to your footage. So you gotta be a bit careful is all.