On this page · 9 sections
◆ Key takeaways
- What is a LUT? A fixed table that remaps every input color to one output color.
- Log footage keeps more highlight and shadow latitude, but it needs a conversion LUT built for that exact log curve.
- A 10-bit file holds 1,024 levels per channel against 256 for 8-bit, so log and 10-bit travel together.
- Shoot log only if every clip gets graded. Post straight from the phone and a standard profile looks better.
What Is a LUT?
LUT stands for lookup table. It's a precomputed list of color pairs where each input value has one assigned output value, so your editor looks up each answer and skips the math for every pixel of every frame.
Feed a pixel's RGB value in and a new one comes out. A pale gray-blue patch of flat sky goes in, and a deeper blue comes out.
A 3D LUT doesn't store every possible color. It samples a grid, commonly 17, 33 or 65 points per side, and the software interpolates between the points. A 33-point cube holds 35,937 entries, a tiny fraction of the 1.07 billion colors a 10-bit file can describe. The .cube format is the one you'll meet most, and DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro all import it.
1D vs 3D LUTs
A 1D LUT adjusts each channel on its own. Red in, red out. It can change contrast, gamma and brightness, but it can't move one hue without dragging the others along.
A 3D LUT maps the full RGB combination to a new combination. It can push a green toward teal and leave skin tones where they were. Camera conversion LUTs and downloadable looks are normally 3D.
Technical LUTs vs Creative LUTs
A technical LUT, also called a conversion or transform LUT, converts one camera's log curve and color space into a standard one, usually Rec.709. A creative LUT, or look LUT, applies a style such as film emulation or teal and orange. Monitor and viewing LUTs are a third kind. They make a log image look normal on an external screen while you record, without baking anything into the file.
DJI offers the clearest action camera example. The DJI Osmo Action 6 downloads page lists a free "DJI OSMO Action 6 D-LogM to Rec.709 LUT," version V1.0, dated November 13, 2025, as one .cube file for Mac and Windows (checked Sep 30, 2026). That D-Log M LUT is DJI's own answer to what its flat footage should look like.
DJI does not officially sell the Osmo Action 6 in the US (checked Sep 28, 2026), so US buyers get it through retailers such as B&H.
GoPro lists "GP-Log2 With LUT" on its MISSION 1 series spec page, and the HERO13 Black page mentions "GP-Log encoding with LUT."
◆ Key finding
A technical LUT is built for one log curve. Put a D-Log M LUT on I-Log or GP-Log2 footage and both color and contrast come out wrong.
What Is Log Footage?
Log footage is video recorded on a logarithmic brightness curve, which fits more of the sensor's dynamic range into the file than the Rec.709 display curve can hold. The cost is the look. Straight out of camera, log is gray, low in contrast and low in saturation. The format is built for the edit.
What is log video used for? Holding a bright sky and a shaded trail in one shot, then deciding in editing how much of each to keep. It also helps you match clips from two cameras, or from one camera in changing light, because every clip starts from the same neutral base.
Every brand names its curve differently. DJI calls it D-Log M, Insta360 calls it I-Log and Apple uses Apple Log 2. GoPro log footage comes in two versions, with GP-Log2 on the MISSION 1 series and GP-Log on the HERO13 Black. Cinema cameras have their own curves, such as Sony S-Log3 and Canon C-Log3, and each curve needs its own conversion.
Here is what each manufacturer publishes (manufacturer pages checked Sep 30, 2026):
| Camera | Log profile | 10-bit | Official LUT | Other listed profiles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GoPro MISSION 1 and MISSION 1 PRO | GP-Log2 | "8-Bit, 10-Bit" | "GP-Log2 With LUT" | Vibrant, Natural, Cinematic, Flat; HLG HDR Video |
| GoPro HERO13 Black | GP-Log | 10-bit color listed | "GP-Log encoding with LUT" | HLG HDR listed |
| Insta360 Ace Pro 2 | I-Log | not published on product page | not linked on product page | Leica Natural, Leica Vivid, Standard, Vivid, Flat and 13 others |
| Insta360 X5 | I-Log | not published on product page | not linked on product page | Vivid, Standard, Flat |
| DJI Osmo Action 6 (no official DJI sale in the US) | D-Log M | not published on spec page | "D-LogM to Rec.709 LUT," V1.0 | Normal, HLG (per ACA's settings guide; not on DJI's spec page) |
Swipe for 2 more columns →
Log Profile vs Flat Profile vs HLG
A log profile applies a logarithmic transfer curve and expects a LUT or color management in editing. A flat profile is a standard profile with contrast and saturation turned down. Insta360 lists Flat on the Ace Pro 2 and X5, and GoPro lists Flat beside GP-Log2.
Flat grades without a LUT and holds less latitude than log, which makes it a gentler first grade. Picking between flat, standard and vibrant profiles comes down to whether you'll edit, because flat footage that never gets graded looks worse than standard straight out of camera.
HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma) is a different animal. It's an HDR delivery format, meant to be watched as shot on an HDR screen. The ITU-R BT.2100 HDR standard defines HLG alongside PQ, specifies 10- and 12-bit coding and says HLG "offers a degree of compatibility with legacy displays."
You don't need a conversion LUT to watch HLG on an HDR display. You also don't get log's grading room.
8-Bit vs 10-Bit: Why Log Needs the Extra Data
Bit depth sets how many brightness steps each color channel can record. An 8-bit file has 256 levels per channel and a 10-bit file has 1,024, which multiply out to 16,777,216 and 1,073,741,824 colors.
For video, both totals overstate the usable range. The Rec.709 standard, ITU-R BT.709, specifies "8 or 10 bits/component" and puts video black at code 16 and nominal peak at 235 in 8-bit, or 64 and 940 in 10-bit. An 8-bit video file therefore uses 220 luma steps from black to peak. A 10-bit file uses 877.
Log squeezes a wide brightness range into those steps, and the LUT stretches it back out. With 220 steps the stretch leaves gaps, and gradients in skies, water and snow break into visible bands. With 877 there's far more to stretch. GoPro lists 10-bit beside GP-Log2 on the MISSION 1 series, and it's the pairing to look for on any camera you plan to grade.
Monitor ads use the same 8-bit vs 10-bit numbers for display panels. A 10-bit panel shows finer gradients, but it can't repair banding the camera already recorded in an 8-bit file.
What Is Color Grading?
Color grading is the creative stage of editing, where you set the look of footage once color correction has made it accurate. Correction fixes problems such as exposure, white balance and clips that don't match. Grading makes choices about contrast, saturation, skin tones and mood.
Scopes keep both stages honest. A waveform shows brightness across the frame, a vectorscope shows hue and saturation, and a histogram shows how exposure is spread. They read the same on a phone in sunlight as on a calibrated monitor. Your eyes don't.
A technical LUT is one step inside that process. It turns the log image into a normal starting point, and every decision after it is still grading. DaVinci Resolve can hold it in its own node. Premiere Pro's Lumetri Color panel has an Input LUT menu under Basic Correction and a separate Look menu under Creative.
How to Use LUTs on Action Camera Footage
Tutorials disagree on where the LUT goes. The order below keeps a technical LUT doing its one job, in any editor that reads .cube files:
- Shoot log and expose to protect the highlights. You can lift shadows at a noise cost, but a clipped sky has nothing left to recover.
- Import the clip and confirm it was shot in log. A conversion LUT on standard footage crushes it.
- Correct exposure and white balance before the LUT, so it receives the input level it was built for.
- Apply the camera's own technical LUT. In DaVinci Resolve, a Color Space Transform can do the same conversion without a LUT file.
- Fine-tune contrast, saturation and skin tones on the converted image.
- Add a creative LUT only if you want a look, and lower its strength or opacity to taste.
- Check the scopes, then export.
Phones are where support gets patchy. LumaFusion handles 10-bit and reads Apple Log with LUT import, and GoPro Quik handles 10-bit and log from select GoPro cameras. CapCut publishes nothing about 10-bit or log handling, and Insta360 publishes nothing about it for the Insta360 App.
A gray clip in an app that can't convert it stays gray, so which phone editors read log and import LUTs decides whether log is worth shooting for a phone-only edit.
Should You Shoot Log on an Action Camera?
Log belongs on footage you'll grade, and a standard profile belongs on clips you post as shot. The same split decides the Osmo Action 6 color profile settings, with D-Log M for footage you'll edit and Normal for everything else.
Light is the other condition. DJI's spec footnote gives the Osmo Action 6 a max ISO of "12800 (normal color) or 6400 (D-Log M)" at 8K. Lifting shadows in a log grade raises noise as well, and small sensors have little to spare.
I'd leave log off after dark. Sensor size, aperture and a named low-light mode count for more than profile choice in any action camera for low light.
If grading is the whole point, the phone in your pocket may be the stronger source. Apple lists Apple Log 2, ProRes RAW and the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) for the iPhone 17 Pro, and no action camera offers that grading pipeline, which settles the editing side of iPhone vs action camera before mounting enters it.
The iPhone is harder to strap to a helmet, which is the usual reason to own an action camera at all.
What Manufacturers Don't Publish
DJI's spec page for the Osmo Action 6 lists no dynamic-range figure and no bit depth. The 13.5-stop figure DJI has claimed for it appears only in a press release. Insta360's product pages for the Ace Pro 2 and X5 do not state a bit depth either, and neither page links an I-Log LUT.
We found no transfer-function document for D-Log M, I-Log or GP-Log2 on the product pages we checked, so the math behind each curve is not published there. Dynamic range fares better. Insta360 publishes 13.5 stops for both the Ace Pro 2 and X5, and GoPro publishes 14 stops for MISSION 1. A log curve is how those stops reach your edit.
Frequently asked questions
Is LUT the Same as Color Grading?
No, a LUT is not the same as color grading. A LUT is one fixed transform that maps each input color to a set output, while grading is every decision you make about contrast, saturation, skin tones and mood. A technical LUT gives the grade a normal starting point. It can't judge the shot for you.
Can You Use LUTs on Non-Log Footage?
Yes, you can use LUTs on non-log footage, as long as they are creative LUTs made for standard video. Technical log-to-Rec.709 LUTs are the exception. They add contrast and saturation to a flat image, so on standard footage they crush shadows and oversaturate color. Standard or Natural footage usually needs a light look at most.
How Do I Know If My Video Is 8-Bit or 10-Bit?
You can tell whether a video is 8-bit or 10-bit from the camera's recording settings or the file's properties. Open the clip in MediaInfo or your editor's clip info panel and look for a line such as "Bit depth: 10 bits." A camera that offers both records whichever one you selected, so check the setting before a graded shoot.
How Do You Create a LUT?
You create a LUT by grading a clip in an editor that can export one, then saving that grade as a .cube file. In DaVinci Resolve, right-click the graded clip's thumbnail on the Color page and choose Generate LUT. The file keeps only global color and contrast changes. Masks, tracking and noise reduction don't carry over.
Is Color Grading Hard?
Color grading is not hard at the basic level, because correcting exposure and white balance and then applying the manufacturer's LUT follows a fixed order. Matching clips shot in different light and keeping skin tones natural take more practice, and both get easier with a waveform and vectorscope open.
Pick the Profile Before You Pick the LUT
The question of what is a LUT gets a different answer on every log curve. On D-Log M footage it's DJI's free .cube file. On GP-Log2 it's the LUT GoPro lists beside the profile, and on I-Log the Insta360 product pages don't link one.
That answer ships with the camera, so settle the log curve and its LUT before you choose the best action camera.