Canon has a blue problem. This is a little bit of news to me since I’m mainly a Sony shooter (and we have our own problems).
Anyway, if you are shooting with an EOS R5 C or similar modern Canon camera you may be very happy with the color science – except for the fact that blues tend to lean a bit more towards purple and that can shift the feel of your footage.
There’s a fix for that! Understanding the problem and then making the appropriate adjustments should let you take full advantage of Canon’s color profile without the unfortunate blue shift. If you want to learn then look to this video from filmmaker Carlos Quintero.
Settings up the R5 C in a simple studio shot where Carlos is the subject alongside a color chart you can see where things go wrong. Shooting in Canon Log 3 and then applying the Canon-provided Rec.709 Wide DR LUT you can see that the blue isn’t as blue as you would hope.
Both his jacket and the blue chip on the chart are definitely leaning purple. This explains why he isn’t a huge fan of the Canon LUTs. They are a good starting place but do need some extra work to get right.
The fix he developed was a technical LUT. These are designed simply to remaps the colors to the appropriate targets while creative LUTs are designed to push and pull the image in potentially unrealistic ways.
Image Credit: Canon
Along with the blue correction, the LUT Carlos developed will also control the saturation of the red channel and make a slight tweak to the greens. By remapping the primaries everything becomes a lot easier to control. You will still need to make sure your exposure, contrast, and white balance are correct.
This is far from a final grade. You’ll then want to apply your preferred LUTs or corrections to get it ready for delivery. The technical LUT will give you a better starting point.
The catch is that the LUT isn’t going to be free. If you don’t have the time and/or know-how to build your own LUT then this could be very worth it. Here’s the download.
What do you think about this blue problem and fix?
[source: Carlos Quintero]
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