3 Tips to Get Less Noise in Your Log Footage (CLog 1 & CLog 3 on the Canon R6/R5 & EOS R)

[@yarospringglory]

why are these smaller channels always 10X more easy to understand and have all your questions answered unlike the big channels that beat around the bush and don't actually answer the question i'm looking to get answered! ERIC! thank you so much for this video, been looking for this explanation and better yet showing it !!! you the man ! SUBBED

[@SPECTRA890]

Since I started getting seriously into video outside of photography. I've come to realize there is a big difference between the actual film makers and the KZbinrs 80 - 90 % of them that have real jobs and go out and shoot have very small channels. They don't sell luts that are very use specific or vaporware advice. They aren't crazy about gear and gears. It's opened my eyes to KZbin in a different way. It's much easier to get away with it in photos

[@TheRealBarkinMadd]

Thanks for posting this video. Very helpful. As a fourth tip... For Canon Clog-3, use zebras and set zebra 1 to 40% to expose your middle grey (skin a bit higher, typically, more like 55%, I believe, depending on skin tone) and you can also set zebra 2 to 80% to get a sense of where your highlights are. Get the middle grey to around the 40% mark and then increase exposure by about 1 stop (e.g., double your ISO or reduce your f-top if you are OK with the change in DoF). Too bad the R6 doesn't have a waveform display but this technique with the zebra patterns works quite well to bookend your exposure. It's amazing how important it is to over-expose Clog footage as you rightly pointed out. Otherwise there is too much noise in the shadows when trying to recover them.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Glad you found the video helpful! Thanks for the tip on zebras! I usually never use them because I keep focus peaking on but I may have to now

[@QARNISTUDIO]

I can't find the custom button to turn zebras on and off in canon r6 so how i can fix it please ? Thanks

[@TheRealBarkinMadd]

@@QARNISTUDIO You can assign a custom button to turn zebras on/off. I use the depth-of-field button located on the front of the camera for this purpose.

[@udy0243]

The Clog3 Technical paper says 95% white is represented as 56% in Log… Middle gray around 35% and skin tones shall between 42-46.

[@TheRealBarkinMadd]

@@udy0243 you are correct - those are textbook numbers - I tend to over expose slightly to reduce the muddy darks but I do need to be careful not to clip the highs. I’m using practical tests and then using a color managed workflow in Resolve to view the results.

[@DonLinoSamuel]

Thank you, everyone tells you to overexpose but no one tells you how that works, but you explained why. Great video, really helpful

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Glad you found this helpful! I had the same issue with videos when I was researching about Clog noise, so I’m happy to hear that this video cleared some things up :)

[@slatermoorephotography]

This helped me a ton. I was really struggling to understand slog3 ! Thanks

[@Penfriendrocks]

This is SUPER helpful, thank you! I shot something indoors yesterday using two studio lights and couldn't believe how noisy the footage was. I think I was shooting at maybe 1000 ISO in CLOG 1 but have just switched to CLOG 3 after seeing this video and have made notes about doubling the ISO each time. I had no idea about having to over expose CLOG so thanks for that too!

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Glad you found it helpful! I hope this gets rid of the noise issue you’ve had!

[@PaulGroom-UK]

Great video, thanks... the rule of doubling the base ISO upwards is one I wasn't aware of, so appreciate you bringing this to my attention!

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Glad you found it helpful! Yeah the ISO doubling took me a bit to figure out but since I did it’s made a huge difference in my more contrasty shots

[@norringtonmedia]

Same! Huge tip

[@AstralviewsUK]

Hey Eric, this was really well-presented. Thank you for your concise delivery of the cogent points here. You have definitely helped me to dial in my clog3 footage. Chris

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Thanks Chris! Glad you found the video helpful!!

[@ecmjr]

Oh man, I didn't know about the ISO doubling technique and the logic behind it, and the same with +1 EV. I bought the EOS R and need more practice with Log. Great Video!

[@Thecante]

Thank you so much man, I've now watched soooo many videos but this is by far the most easy to digest! I appreciate you sir 🙏🏾

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Yay! Glad you found it helpful!

[@photograph_e75]

The rule of doubles was definitely very informative! Just really getting into cinematography now and i've been playing with clog3 on my r6mkii and I definitely needed to know that! Thank you!

[@bonkmedia]

This was such a helpful video! I was way under exposing on clog and couldn’t figure out why it was so noisy

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Awesome! Glad it was helpful for you!

[@natalietucker8280]

I WAS DOING THE SAME! I thought the noise was from the ISO being too high, but it was actually too low! my mind is blown!!!!

[@richritter]

Great tips! I tried the raising the ISO on my R5 to 1600 while watching this, and it DID look pretty clean. At least while reviewing through the EVF. Thanks!

[@RoccoGermani]

Definitely agree with you about the overexposure tip. Great video!

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Thanks Rocco!

[@jameldecasseres8638]

excellent tips! especially on the base iso. Thank you for sharing!

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

No problem! Hopefully they’re helpful!

[@trevgrossjr]

Super helpful!! Using C-log has helped my podcast look a bunch but i have been puzzled with the noise in my shorts. But doubling the iso… who knew lol thank you

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Thanks man! Glad you found it helpful!

[@SouthpawAutoworks]

Really appreciate this video. Thank you. Been getting more familiar with shooting log, but have been using the View Assist feature. Talk about a misnomer...

[@Mafatgid]

Thank you ! I'll keep these tips in mind!

[@RyuBlaze24]

a lot of help didn't know about base iso for log

[@fluffycast92]

This video saved my footage event last week bro thank you

[@joshuaduraikoilpillai4220]

Hi Eric, thank you so much for this video. This is great and answered a lot of my questions.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

No problem! I’m glad it was helpful!

[@andrewallenmedia]

Extremely helpful, going to use the tips on iso next time I shoot C-Log 3

[@studiotwentyone]

That was super helpful thank you. I was worried there was something wrong with my R6..

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

I did too! Took me a good amount of time and testing until I realized what I was doing wrong. Glad it was helpful!

[@jasondering]

This is very helpful! Thank you so much!

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Glad you found it helpful!!

[@GoGYR]

Great tips. I have a Canon R6 MK2 and have been shooting in log lately. I'm interested why I can use exposure only when ISO is set to AUTO, otherwise that option is locked for me?

[@augustogomes_photo]

Very nice tips! Thanks!

[@BeInspiredToTravel]

Thanks Eric for the info, really helpful 👍🏻

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

No problem!

[@grahamf695]

Interesting video, thanks. I have a couple of questions please. 1. Cameras have minimal noise at the lowest ISO, so why set the camera to 400 or 800 ISO? 2. If you want a shallow depth of field, you need a wide aperture. At 50-60fps, that will drive you to a low ISO in many situations. Do you use a neutral density filter to compensate?

[@QARNISTUDIO]

I can't find the custom button to turn zebras on and off in canon r6 so how i can fix it please ? Thanks

[@ABIEZHANELADYZHANE]

learning something new , thank you

[@JordanDWorkProductions]

Very helpful, thanks!

[@richryanphotography]

Great info!!

[@MarcC1973]

Very new to shooting in log. Basic question about 800 ISO…what to you if your shooting outdoors and you want to use wide open f-stop. Do simply need a great ND filter to expose correctly? Thx

[@lacaraja]

Good info. Let me add one more tip. When editing, it is better to use the Rec 709 lut, but using it also overexposed at the same level you did on the camera when recording, not just the native Rec 709. That helps a lot. There are youtubers that sell those. (sorry about my english, hope it makes sense).

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

You’re English was great! Thanks for the tip! I don’t usually use luts but I’ll see how it works.

[@yt_support-03]

Nice thanks. Shutteespeed Below 250 is ok?

[@TheGiobbanni]

In indoor shooting you prefer to shoot videos in Clog or Clog 3. You find it right to use the Clog for shooting dark scenes with low light, both in indoor and outdoor scenes in the evening, while the Clog3 only for shooting outdoors in daylight or strong brightness? I'm trying to figure out when it is more correct to use the Clog profile than the Clog3 profile.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

I pretty much only shoot in clog 3 now. Even indoors. Clog 1 just doesn’t have the dynamic range and colors I like to have in my image. I’m a big fan of the cinema gamut colors in clog 3 so I stick with it for all shooting scenarios.

[@sjcproductionsandmedia]

When I have bright sunlight and use Clog3 with iso 800 and 60 fps & 1/125 my footage is still always overexposed. It seems counterintuitive to use an ND when you're following a subject from a bright light to dark shadows...wouldn't that make the darker light look worse? The question is to use an ND or not use an ND I guess??

[@natalietucker8280]

HELP! How do you overexpose your shot if your F stop is open all the way? Sorry, I'm new to C log.

[@sjcproductionsandmedia]

& why does my CLOG3 SOOC look so bad compared to when I use my Atomos? I import into PP 2024

[@prayogoputra__]

Why on my r6, the c-log 3 shift the red color to orange.. but it’s true color when i use c-log 1… any idea ? I’ve tried all with bt.709/2020/cinema gamut.. is it normal or ? Thankyouu..

[@timog7358]

great video

[@STGFilmmakers]

Great talking points. Thanks

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Thank you!

[@leonklaastephotography]

I will definitely try this and make a video about it, you got yourself a new Sub, I will recommend this video when I upload mine 👌🏾, thanks for the tip

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Appreciate man! Again, I hope it helps you out! Can’t wait to see the video!

[@b1llmoo]

Thank you. I have been killing myself trying to figure why I have so much noise in my EOS R shooting in c-log. keeping my ISO under 800 with view assist. Any tips for that. I am going to try your overexposed using 1600 ISO without view assist trick., Hope this helps me. I Mainly shot indoors on an RS2, with an 16-35 f.28

[@ValourTV]

Really good video man I had no idea about doubling the base iso! I have the R5 but I have been really tempted to sell it to get the C70 or even the Sony FX3 because of the overheating and shortcomings of the R5. I really love canon though so im having a hard time deciding.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Thank you!! That is a tough choice! C70 and FX3 are both great options, each with their own benefits and setbacks as well. I’m also partial to Canon and I am working up to getting a C70 at some point in the future so that’s where my heart would lie, but The FX3 will still get you great results

[@ValourTV]

@@EricMaloneyFilmmaker Yea I’m really considering the C70 it has a beautiful look. That’s going to be a perfect setup you’ll have with a R6 and C70!

[@dougdina]

Thanks for the advice. Though, I am a bit puzzled by one thing. Why doesn’t Cannon have a setting such that bumping up the ISO would auto land on a multiple of 800 (for log3)? I mean, it sure seems like an easy program to add. When I’m shooting, there are 1,000 things I’m thinking about and it sure would be nice if the camera helped alleviate those tasks/checks. FYI, I’ve seen many many how-to videos and some suggest zebra stripes set to 40% and others to 70%. I tested 70% today and it looked very good after added the C-log3 transform with no other adjustments. In other words, I’m thinking 40% is too low.

[@theyoungsphoto]

The rule of "doubling" ISO, should be rephrased in the video to "adjust iso in FULL stop increments". Generally, the cameras are set in 1/3 increments. You should be able to go into your settings and change your ISO settings to Full stops, and not 1/3's, to "alleviate those tasks" as you put it.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

That’s definitely a better way of phrasing it! Thanks!

[@dougdina]

@@theyoungsphoto Here’s a bit of info for you; I’ve been on several calls to Canon USA about this same exact topic and they have no idea why many people suggest using any ISO setting whatsoever, except that the higher ISOs will increase grain, of course. I pushed them on this several times as I’d like a clear answer from them. I was on hold for a bit then the tech rep returned and said that their high-end team will contact me within the next few days. All that aside, I have R lenses on my Canon R6 and I typically bump the ISO only as much is needed to produce a histogram that is as wide as possible. This will yield a very good dynamic range and affords an easy time color grading. In extreme low light tests, I had the ISO up to 32000 and found the 4K resultant video quite acceptable after adding a color space transform. HOWEVER, the same test at 64000 looked horrible. I’d never shoot past 6400 let alone 32000. I can safely say that, after 100’s of hours, underexposed LOG footage is very difficult to use based on my limited experience. I will glad update you when Canon responds.

[@theyoungsphoto]

@@dougdina I definitely agree that shooting at 6400 is pretty bad. In all of my testing on this topic, I found that the ISO at full stops was always better than the 1/3 stop below it. The grain was smoother and less apparent, resulting in a cleaner image, at 1600 vs1250, 3200 vs 2500, and even though I would never go this high unless absolutely necessary, 6400 looks much better than 5000. I typically like shoot about 1 stop over, when shooting in LOG in dark scenes, and then bringing the shadows and blacks down to reduce the noise. That also is much better than exposing perfect, and having to bump up the exposure (via blacks and shadows) in post.

[@dougdina]

@@theyoungsphoto Hey, thanks for the feedback. I’ll have to do some testing based on your information. Thank you.

[@Webrisernl]

Is using a lut on the monitor make log3 exposure more easy as now you wont see a flat image on the monitor? Is that reliable?

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

If you have a monitor then you should have better exposure tools like waveforms and false color to help with exposure. Applying a lut in the mount shouldn’t have an impact on exposure

[@augustlundby8753]

I'm very pale, so if I don't underexpose a bit, the colors on my face blow out completely, and I look like a shiny ghost. But, if I expose properly for my skintone, the background gets extremely noisy... How to fix?

[@gabrielladesantis235]

Does anyone have a good source for canon eos r luts?

[@brandgomedia1]

curious....for Clog I had to bump up the sharpness on each clip to around 50 but in Clog3 it seems I don't need to do that step anymore.....thoughts?

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Hmm interesting! I haven’t used Clog 1 in a bit. I might have to record some in each and compare.

[@brandgomedia1]

shoot I meant Clog3...do you need to bump up sharpness in Clog 3

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

@@brandgomedia1 I haven’t felt the need to up the sharpening much. Maybe a little, but not up to 50

[@lauradbrown5521]

where can I find the Rec 7 o9 or the clogs? where is it in the camera setting?

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

It’s in the red menu on page three under Canon Log Settings. You can pick your log profile and turn on or off the view assist

[@birding_by_ear]

If you want skin tones to be correct it seems you have to underexpose in clog when you cannot control background light outdoors. I’m so confused. I’d rather have skin tone be at 55 IRE and have noise, rather than overexposed skin to make the rec709 lut work in post.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Hmm… I haven’t notice this. Skin tones when over exposed by one to two stops seem alright to me.

[@elcasanelles5806]

Great tips. But can't think of how the view assist system adds noise. Isn't it only that a view assist?

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Thanks! Yup, you’re right, View Assist doesn’t directly add noise to your image. I found with my experiences shooting with the view assist on that I was underexposing my shots. As a result I’d have to boost my shadows in post and that would reveal noise. View assist just makes it trickier to overexpose your log footage properly so noise isn’t as present in your image and your not blowing out your highlights too much.

[@elcasanelles5806]

@@EricMaloneyFilmmaker good point then. Despite the inaccuracy of the view assist I find it easier to eyeball exposure form it.

[@mongehsonjong4673]

Thanks for this

[@TheGiobbanni]

Hi Eric, have you ever seen horizontal stripes in the dark areas of your clips in your video clips shot in C-log or C-log 3? I can't get her to go away in the shoot, if this ever happened to you, do you have any suggestions for me?

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

I had those when I first started using log and I was underexposing my image. When I pulled up my shadows I could see those pixelated lines. Once I started overexposing by one stop of light it fixed the issue.

[@TheGiobbanni]

@@EricMaloneyFilmmaker Thanks for your reply, it was reassuring and decisive. I still have a question for you, when you say you overexposed the exposure by one stop, did you increase the ISO or the aperture? Because obviously if I increase one stop with the ISO then it means in the case of C.LOG3, going from a native ISO 800 to ISO 1600 to make an exposure stop, which would result in a noticeable increase in video noise in the shadow areas. You go up one stop by just adjusting the aperture right?

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

I always start by opening the aperture to introduce more light. I only start boosting ISO if I can’t open up the aperture any more and I still need to overexpose which is normally indoor settings or at blue hour/night.

[@TheGiobbanni]

@@EricMaloneyFilmmaker Thank you for your answer. It was a great help to me. So every time I have to take a shot especially in CLOG3 I have to check if these scraps occur.

[@themachadoss]

Obrigado pelas dicas.

[@cornlourd]

Is it okay if I bump up my ISO just to overexpose? I understand that we reduce noise by overexposing and bringing it down in post. But ISO increases noise by bumping it up. Both ways seem a bit contradictory, especially if my aperture is already maxed out and can't overexpose that way.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Yes definitely! You can bump up you ISO if you’re shooting wide open and still need to overexpose your Image. I’d recommend bumping it up to ISO’s 1600, 3200, 6400 and I would max out at 12600. These are the ISO with the cleanest amount of noise. Bumping it to 1000 or 1250 might not show too much noise, but 1600 will still be cleaner.

[@cornlourd]

@@EricMaloneyFilmmaker thank you! I did a little experiment. 12800 is definitely less noisier than 8000 and even 4000! I'll remember to use full stop values in the future and not the weird thirds. 12800 is still very impressive for the R6!

[@clintongoss9276]

Most of my shots are done on the move and in an indoor setting where lighting can change from spot to spot. Would it be bad to set the exposure meter to +1 or +2 and just use auto ISO? I use an R6

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

That’s a good question! I haven’t really used auto ISO. If you are putting it at +1 or +2 then you’ll be good one overexposure, but my biggest concern is that it wouldn’t abide by the rule of doubling from the base ISO for log profiles. If your in a lowlight setting the auto mode might put your ISO at one that has more noise like 2500 or 4000 when you should be at 3200 or 6400.

[@clintongoss9276]

@@EricMaloneyFilmmaker gotcha, that makes sense. This may sound like an amateur question but when looking at the histogram, how do you know if youre at a good exposure? I just need a practical example of what good exposure looks like on the screen. Where I shoot, the highlights and shadows change so quickly so it seems almost like a poor idea to shoot log or have a continuous shot

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Gotcha! Well I mostly rely on the exposure meter rather than the histogram. I wouldn’t rely on the histogram too much to guide exposure in log. You can use it to see where shadows and highlights fall after overexposing, but I wouldn’t use it as the main tool. To get a good idea of proper exposure for log, again I recommend turning off view assist in log. That way you can see the full amount of dynamic range and it’s best to gauge overexposure when using the exposure meter.

[@elimayer193]

for me i can only shoot 100 iso or else it just becomes to grainy, is there a way to reduce this because I really wanna take advantage of maximum dynamic range, i really do

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Are you overexposing by one stop in log? If you don’t overexpose and you lift the shadows in editing then you’re gonna get a lot of noise.

[@elimayer193]

@@EricMaloneyFilmmaker what iso should I shoot at and what should I lower or raise in post to reduce noise

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Base ISO for Clog3 is 800. If you’re shooting outdoors you’ll want to get an ND filter to manage exposure or you can raise your aperture. In post if your footage is exposed to be one stop over, you should be able to lower your shadows and blacks, and add some contrast. Noise should be barely noticeable after that

[@elimayer193]

@@EricMaloneyFilmmaker so what would be one stop overexposed indoors, 1600 iso?

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

@@elimayer193 depends on your lighting situation and the aperture of your lens. You should use the light meter on the camera to judge your exposure. There’s a part in the video that talks about it

[@CEODeliveryBoy]

Jesus. Yes. That was very helpful. I'm a beginner on the C300..log1. So the double iso rule was like...wow. I read it's recommended at 400 but when I had to go up I was just guessing. I also have this problem of always crushing my blacks and it's driving me crazy cuz I'm trying to keep the noise out.. so stop up eh?

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Glad you found it helpful! Yeah definitely in log overexpose by at least a stop if you want to prevent crushing your shadows in post and minimize noise in the image.

[@adi_yaakov_hamaoshar]

Thank you

[@benjamin.kelley]

One word - Zebras. Kind of tricky to get the hang of, but way more useful than the histogram - that doesn't do anything for you in Log.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

You’re definitely right! Zebras do help even though their tricky. I like to keep focus peaking on though and on the R6 you can’t do peaking and Zebra’s simultaneously, so I just like to have a method for exposing properly without Zebra’s. I more rely on the exposure meter than the histogram and if I’m I using a monitor I’ll use false color.

[@Bozemancurtis]

Thanks!

[@Lillesandfotografen]

thanks man

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

No problem! 👍 Hope these tips help!

[@DimanKemer]

Many words - but very few deeds!

[@udy0243]

Basically, its a nothing burger video. Sorry bro, not useful at all.

[@EricMaloneyFilmmaker]

Hey, we’re all entitled to our opinion. Some people aren’t looking for anything too technical and some are. No problem with either, but I’m glad I can help some people with what I learned.

[@OscarRivera-lo7zz]

Very helpful thanks!!

[@_projectdrift]

extremely helpful, thank you!

[@remcoalbers]

Thanks!