Log video recording is something many haven’t heard of unless you are a video enthusiast or professional. Professional and more and more mirrorless cameras have got log as a format.

But what is log? Well log is short for logarithmic. So the video is recorded using a logarithmic format rather than linear. Right now I could go in to the mathematics behind it but what you really need to know is why.

Why use log? Well it gives you more flexibility when editing in being able to make adjustments to exposure and colour. This is known as grading. If you ever look at the credits of big television productions of movies you will see a Colourist listed there.

I use log all the time when I’m using my mirrorless camera as I can do so much with adjusting the exposure and colour, often there is nothing or very little to change.

Now when you switch log on immediately your image you see on the screen looks washed out, don’t worry there is nothing wrong. This is how log records in a flat format but it gives you the ability to bring that all out and that can be done with the click of a button.

To see what it looks like you need to add it to an editing application such as Final Cut for iPad, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. Here in this video I show you how it works in Final Cut for iPad.

What happens is a look is applied and this gives you a starting point, it will bring out the colours, you can make further adjustments but you might not need to. This look is called a LUT, lookup table, it has the settings to give you that starting point. Each manufacturer has their own LUTs and other people make them too. When you put this into Final Cut for iPad it automatically adds the Apple Log, same for Final Cut Pro and iMovie, there is a drop down box and you can choose others to see if they might be better. Others like Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve you might have to make the adjustments to get the look you want.

Now this might be a bit different but if you want to be able to do more with your video then give it a go.