Tutorials Cinematography & Color Science

Log Profiles vs. HDR Video: S-Log, C-Log, V-Log & HDR Standards

Intermediate · ~9 min

A 1960s mid-century comic book style editorial illustration showing a cinematographer comparing flat Log gamma curves on waveform monitors against high peak luminance HDR display monitors.

Overview

One of the most frequent misconceptions in video production is confusing Log camera profiles (Sony S-Log3, Canon C-Log3, Panasonic V-Log, Nikon N-Log) with High Dynamic Range (HDR) display formats (HLG, PQ, HDR10, Dolby Vision). While both deal with dynamic range, Log is an intermediate camera capture curve, whereas HDR refers to display-referred delivery standards. This guide breaks down the color science differences and post-production workflows for both systems.

Log Profiles (Camera Acquisition Curve)

A Logarithmic (Log) curve is a mathematical gamma transfer function applied during camera recording to compress the high dynamic range of a digital camera sensor into a 10-bit or 12-bit video container file:

Flat & Desaturated Appearance: Un-graded Log footage looks low-contrast and washed out because light levels are distributed logarithmically across the bit-depth scale.
Sensor Range Preservation: Protects specular highlights from clipping and shadow details from crushing before post-production color grading.
Intermediate Format: Log footage is never intended for direct viewing by end audiences. It must be mapped via LUTs or Color Space Transforms (CST) into a final target display format (Rec.709 SDR or Rec.2020 HDR).

S-Log3

Sony S-Log3 / S-Gamut3.Cine

Optimized for Sony Cinema Line sensors. Distributes shadow, midtone, and highlight stops almost linearly on a logarithmic scale similar to film negative scans.

C-Log3

Canon C-Log3 / Cinema Gamut

Provides a wider dynamic range curve with clean noise handling in midtones and straightforward conversion to Rec.709 monitors.

V-Log

Panasonic V-Log / V-Gamut

Delivers 14+ stops of dynamic range matching the Varicam and Lumix full-frame sensor response, utilizing Cineon log curve characteristics.

HDR Video (Display-Referred Delivery Standards)

High Dynamic Range (HDR) defines how video brightness and color are rendered on modern consumer displays (OLED, Mini-LED, TVs, smartphones) capable of peak luminance levels from 1,000 to 10,000 nits:

HDR Standard	Transfer Function	Peak Luminance & Metadata
HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma)	ITU-R BT.2100 HLG	Backwards-compatible with SDR monitors. No dynamic metadata required. Peak ~1,000 nits.
HDR10	SMPTE ST 2084 (PQ)	Absolute luminance curve (up to 1,000 nits). Uses static MaxFALL / MaxCLL metadata.
Dolby Vision	SMPTE ST 2084 (PQ)	Dynamic frame-by-frame metadata (up to 4,000+ nits) for display-specific tone mapping.

Comparison Summary: Log vs. HDR

Feature	Log Profiles (S-Log, C-Log, V-Log)	HDR Video (HLG, PQ, Dolby Vision)
Role in Pipeline	Production / Acquisition (In-Camera Capture)	Post-Production / Final Output Delivery
Visual Appearance	Flat, desaturated, grey contrast	High contrast, vibrant color, extreme highlights
Target Device	NLE Color Grading Timeline	Consumer HDR TV, OLED Screen, Smartphone

Where This Fits

This guide covers one specific part of colour and grading. The wider picture, grading in Resolve from a technically correct starting point through building a look that holds up across a sequence, is in Color Grading in DaVinci Resolve, which frames the discipline as a whole and links out to the detailed guides underneath it, including this one. If you are starting from scratch rather than solving a specific problem, read that first and come back here.