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Phantom LUTs for Sony FX9 and Sony Burano

The FX9 and Burano have great features like Dual Native ISO, Impressive Dynamic Range, Full Frame Sensor and many more.

The problem I set out to address was with the colours - Sony has always strived for ‘accurate’ colours but this has often left Sony users wanting something a little more impressionistic or creative out of their conversion LUTs. In particular I found the rendering of skin tones looked quite unhealthy and stale.

To me, the gold standard for colour science is still to be found in the ARRI Digital Camera family, and so using my own ARRI Alexa Mini as a benchmark, I developed a LUT that emulates the colour science of the Alexa709 LUT, which I’ve always found to look great straight out of camera; The result is my ‘Phantom Neutral LUT’.

Using this ARRI Emulation as a base, I further developed 10 additional creative LUTs divided into two LUT Packages centred around two themes:

The 'ARRI Looks’

The 'Film Looks'

‘ARRI Look’ 5 Pack - $49 USD

‘Film Look’ 6 Pack - $49 USD

All 11 In One Bundle (Most Popular) - $79 USD

The ARRI 5-Pack

Along with the emulation LUT, there are 4 creative variation LUTs that come with it packaged as the ARRI LUT 5 Pack.

The ‘ARRI Look’ LUT pack was developed alongside my ARRI Alexa Mini to first and foremost provide a way to emulate the Alexa709 look with the ‘Neutral LUT’. Included with Alexa709 Emulation LUT are four look LUTs to act as creative variations and alternatives for further colour grading options.

Comparing my LUT’s Characteristic Curve to the Arri Alexa 709 LUT you can see they’re practically identical right down to the 10 bit values and middle grey IRE level. Ensures for very simple and intuitive matching with the Alexa. This curve is the b…

Comparing my LUT’s Characteristic Curve to the ARRI Alexa 709 LUT you can see they’re practically identical right down to the 10 bit values and middle grey IRE level. Ensures for very simple and intuitive matching with the Alexa. This curve is the backbone of the Alexa look largely responsible for the silky smooth tonality which makes it famous.

The 5 ARRI LUTs Described Below:

    • Developed to emulate the Alexa Rec709 LUT as close as technically possible.

    • Featuring immaculate Alexa-like skin-tone reproduction.

    • Drastically Improved colour accuracy with all primary colours and skin tones for a clean, neutral starting point for grading

    • A slightly warmer golden cast designed to be utilised for subjects bathed in tungsten light.

    • Ice Blue - Blue, colder cast with punchy, deep blues (looks amazing on subjects with blue eyes).

    • Green and gold cast - distinctive, rich, filmic greens and beautiful golden skin tones.

    • The most filmic look of the LUTs

    • Blood red reds and filmic blues and greens with a slight boost in contrast.

    • It’s my personal take on what Utopia would look like.

The FILM 6-Pack

For the nostalgic among you, I have developed 6 Film Emulation LUTs that each emulate film stocks from the past.

The ‘Film Look’ LUT Pack contains 6 LUTs inspired by real film stocks designed to give your S-LOG Footage the Film Look. The emulations are based on my own research and subjective impressions of the film stocks listed.

  • ‘Vision’ - Modelled on Kodak Vision 5274

    • Shot on: The Matrix, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Gladiator

    • The most colour accurate stock with accurate blues, slightly cool greens, accurate skin tones which slightly skew pink/gold

    • Strong contrast and filmic subtractive colour model in saturation

    • Gentle roll off and rich, smooth fall off in shadows

    • Skews green in shadow areas and when underexposed

    • Classic film character but less stylised than any other stock

  • ‘Eastman’ - Modelled on Kodak Eastman 5247

    • Shot on: Apocalypse Now, Bladerunner, Alien, ET

    • Vintage, dated Kodak look and feel.

    • Saturation strongest in mids and falls off in shadows and highlights.

    • Greens skew warm, blues slightly turquoise, gold/pink skin-tones.

    • Smoother contrast than modern stocks.

  • ‘Eastman RM’ - Variation on Kodak Eastman 5247

    • Classic Eastman Look but modernised (Orange & Teal)

    • Greener in cast than the more magenta original Eastman 5247

    • Modelled on the Re-Graded versions of classic films from 70s & 80s

  • ‘Vision Teal’ - Variation on Kodak Vision 5274

    • Subtle Orange/Teal colour scheme.

    • More stylised version of ‘#1 Vision’. Less realistic - ‘prettier’.

    • Greens are slightly warmer, blues slightly turquoise and skin more golden.

    • Overall lift in saturation and contrast compared to ‘Vision’ but still balanced.

    • Can elevate a dull scene with its look but not overpower a rich scene.

  • ‘Eterna’ - Modelled on Fuji Eterna 8563

    • Shot on: Captain Phillips, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Butler

    • Overall smoother contrast and rolloff compared to Kodak.

    • Rich but not overpowering colours and saturation characteristics.

    • My go-to for Fashion and Beauty but can work with almost anything.

    • Very flattering skin-tones.

    • Greens are cool and rich, skin is golden, blues skew turquoise and modern, colour accurate yellows compared to Kodak.

  • ‘Bleach’ - Modelled on Fujifilm Super F 8552

    • Shot on: Munich, War of The Worlds, Crash

    • Modelling the Bleach Bypass process for strong contrast and low saturation.

    • Aggressive, gritty look - halfway between black and white and colour film.

    • Great for War Films, Crime, Urban Fashion.

    • Works especially well with heavy film grain.

The 6 FILM LUTs Described Below:

The images below are taken from video projects that were colour graded with Phantom LUTs.