Many Panasonic users have emailed me describing their dissatisfaction with the native colors that appear in their cameras. To address these issues, I decided to develop a LUT to emulate that on my Alexa mini, using a tried and tested process that I have developed on Sony, Canon, DJI, Blackmagic & RED cameras. While no camera is perfect, I personally consider the Alexa’s color science to be the gold standard for natural, accurate and beautiful colors right out of the box as a starting point for grading.

Over the course of several days, I shot exposure-matched test shots with the Alexa mini and S1h side-by-side, and with a matching Sigma Art lens, using zero ND. I shot in sunlight, shade, overcast, indoor daylight, indoor mixed lighting, controlled studio lighting, and with my trusty Xrite Color Checker Classic Card and Xrite Digital Color Checker SG Card. In total, I shot about 80 scenes this way.

For each setting, I recorded 3 exposures – 2 stops below and the correct exposure. With the vast amount of data collected, I was able to construct a very accurate emulation; taking into account not only the overall color response, but also the more subtle aspects of the Alexa’s color science borrowed from photochemical film, such as non-linear tonal response for rich, complex colors, subtractive color modeling that relates brightness to saturation dynamics, and the Alexa’s overall saturation profile for beautiful highlight roll-off and shadow falloff, among other things.

For S1h/S5 users who need to color match with the Arri Alexa, want more creative options for their post workflow, or are not satisfied with the standard Panasonic conversion 709 LUT provided, I developed a LUT that accurately emulates the Panasonic V-Log + V-Gamut color science of the Arri Alexa 709.

In addition to the emulation LUTs, there are 4 creative variation LUTs packaged as the Arri LUT 5 pack.

For the nostalgic among you, I have also developed 6 Film Simulation LUTs, each emulating a film stock from the past.

These LUTs are very easy to use and will help you achieve the most pleasing starting point for your LOG footage.