How to Get Your Canon 5D Mark III RAW Footage Looking Like Arri Alexa
Suffice it to say some lucky, happy campers here at NFS have recently (finally) gotten their hands on a refurbished Canon 5D Mark III. Substances will surely flow in the not-too-distant future -- and by substances I think I mean "footage." We recently came across an overall-helpful 5D3 RAW DaVinci Resolve workflow tutorial from DP Hunter Hampton Richards, which we have found very helpful in our early experiences. Hunter has devised his own custom LUT to Alexa-ify your 5D CinemaDNG RAW footage, emulating that camera's Rec. 709 output. Hunter also digs Purity Ring, so you'll definitely want to check this out.
Be forewarned, there's a little bit of NSFW language in Hunter's Tut for Hunter's LUT -- and that's because he tells it like it is. First, some details from the video description:
Its meant for exposing the 5DM3 when shooting raw at around -1/2 stop to 2/3 of a stop underexposure, but feel free to experiment with both over and underexposure. The reasoning behind the LUT: The majority of footage from the raw hack you come across on the internet is processed incorrectly, saturation is usually way too high, skin looks strange, shadows are lifted to the extreme, highlights are brought down way too far so you can see the hard clip to white -- films don't look like that.
What this LUT does is mimic the Rec. 709 image out of an Alexa (I actually modified it from a Log-C to R709 LUT), the highlights roll to white and clip nicely, the blacks as well roll into black -- skintones are soft and for the most part -- accurate, nothing is over saturated, just an overall pleasing look strait "out of camera". Once you apply this LUT and learn the workflow, you shouldn't need too much *if any* additional color correction. I will continue to develop the LUT to improve it -- feel free to do the same.
IMPORTANT NOTE!: Resolve defaults color temp to 6500k in this workflow, you can change that white balance setting in the Camera Raw tab and apply to the needed clips.
You can access Hunter's custom LUT here.
Given that the tutorial and description info pretty much speak for themselves, I'll leave you guys with one of Hunter's pieces as Director/DP, beautifully captured with the Sony F35 and (from the looks of things) a little bit of love.
Be sure to check in with Hunter and send him some props if you find his video helpful 'like' his LUT -- or his video -- or both! Also be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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