Nikon Releases New LUTs for N-Log in Collaboration With RED

IBC 2024Camera News

by Francesco AndreolaSeptember 13^th, 2024

Ahead of IBC 2024, we’re starting to see the first small fruits of Nikon’s acquisition of RED. Indeed, the Japanese corporation has just released a free pack of creative LUTs for their N-Log capable cameras adapted from LUTs that were originally crafted for RED DSCM3 cameras. Let’s take a look!

Back in 2020, RED released the Creative LUT Kit for their digital cinema cameras. In particular, these LUTs are built around RED’s Image Processing Pipeline 2 (IPP2), so they are meant to be used with RAW footage developed (or ProRes footage encoded) using the Log3G10 gamma curve and REDWideGamutRGB color gamut. They are very handy for previewing a specific look on set or for a quick color pass in post-production.

Recently, I tried applying these LUTs to footage shot on the Nikon Z 9 and the new Z 6III using a Color Space Transform in DaVinci Resolve. With just a few manual tweaks, I found the result to be quite pleasing. But now, Nikon and RED have teamed up to officially port over these LUTs to the Nikon Z mirrorless ecosystem. Let’s take a look!

RED Creative LUTs for Nikon N-Log – overview

The RED N-Log LUTs package includes four creative LUTs inspired by RED’s color science as well as a redesigned Rec.2020/N-Log to Rec.709/BT.1886 technical LUT. The LUTs are compatible with all Nikon cameras capable of shooting in N-Log, either internally or externally, from the original Z 6 to the Z 9, Z 8, and the new Z 6III.

Among the 32 Creative LUTs currently available for RED cameras, Nikon x RED only picked up four looks for this first release. Below, you can find a quick example taken from a project I’m currently shooting on the Z 6III. Images are straight out of the camera, and I only applied the creative LUT.

• Achromic – a low-contrast monochrome look that is claimed to retain details in the shadows;

• Film Bias – a warm, film-like look with golden tones and hues, balanced colors, and natural looking skin tones;

• Film Bias Bleach Bypass – emulates bleach bypass film processing, resulting in a harsh, high-contrast image with desaturated colors;

• Film Bias Offset – emulates the subtle warmth of vintage film through split-tone offsets for highlights and shadows;

The LUTs come as 33x33x33 .cube files, so they can be loaded into most external monitors to provide a preview of the final image on set or applied in pretty much any post-production software. However, they cannot be loaded directly into the camera, as no Nikon camera currently supports custom LUTs, unfortunately. I think this is a considerable limitation of Nikon’s current lineup that should be addressed as soon as possible.

Moreover, these LUTs should now make it easier to mix and match footage from RED and Nikon Z mirrorless cameras when using RED’s creative LUTs as a base for your color grade. And while it might take a while to see a new cinema camera combining Nikon and RED’s tech, this seems to be a good starting point.

New N-Log Technical LUT

On top of the four technical LUTs, the package includes a new Rec.2020/N-Log to Rec.709/BT.1886 conversion LUT. Nikon had already updated their N-Log to Rec.709 conversion LUT upon launching firmware 3.0 for the Z 9 in order to improve color reproduction as well as the rendering of shadows and highlights compared to the original LUT. However, this new technical LUT seems to be another attempt at enhancing the accuracy of the N-Log to Rec.709 conversion.

Price and availability

If you’d like to test out the new Nikon x RED LUTs with your own N-Log footage, you can download them for free from Nikon’s website. Feel free to share your conclusions in the comments down below.

For more information, please visit Nikon’s website here.

What do you think of this new LUT pack for N-Log? What do you expect from the Nikon x RED acquisition? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!