Technicolor developed a Picture Style for Canon DSLRs, the 'Technicolor CineStyle'. It captures the full dynamic range of camera's sensor by using a Logarithmic color space (Technicolor use a log color space in their in-house work and realised Canon should too). It was developed for the 5D II but also works with the 7D, 60D, 600D etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa5vtP_o0L4 - Joshua Pines, one of the creators of CineStyle.

http://www.technicolor.com/en/hi/cinema/filmmaking/digital-printer-lights/cinestyle

They also include a Look-Up-Table (LUT) to convert Log CineStyle to linear color space. However, Kdenlive can't import the LUT. Technicolor say if software can't use LUTs, use gamma correction or better still, manually create a Bézier curve. So I followed online instructions and carefully created a Bézier curve in KdenLive. I also checked the curve works properly by doing a side-by-side comparison between video frames exported from Kdenlive and Photoshop (which can import the Cinestyle LUT indirectly).

Here's the curve: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2055577/Cinestyle.xml

Place Cinestyle.xml in /home/USERNAME/.kde/share/apps/kdenlive/effects/

To use the curve choose Add Effect -> Custom -> Cinestyle

Hope people find this helpful.

wow this seems really great. thanks for sharing.

i hope to get to test it soon. have you? any comments?

cheers! :D

Filming in CineStyle has a much bigger dynamic range, so it helps prevent clipping of highlights and improves detail in dark areas of image. It brings out allot more detail, especially in contrasty scenes. Also, when filing I don't have to worry as much about light levels or changes in color balance, CineStyle is very forgiving and color correction can be done later with little loss of quality.

Also, I forgot to mention, when you use CineStyle you have to adjust the camera's picture style settings:

Sharpness : 0
Contrast : -4
Saturation : -2
Color Tone: 0

And ISO must be a multiple of 160.

It's easy to overlook.

Could you upload some sample footage? That'd be interesting :) (I'm on a Nikon and therefore cannot test)

Regarding the LUT, is it available for download somewhere?

Simon

Sure, I'll upload some footage tomorrow!

The LUT is available on Technicolor's website, both as a .mga file and a text file.

http://www.technicolor.com/en/hi/cinema/filmmaking/digital-printer-lights/cinestyle/registered-users-download

Nice. I will definitely have to try that one out. I'm currently using Marvels Cine Picture Style (http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/marvels-cine-canon/).

@ganymede: I don't see a reason to use it when there's RAW available.

Could maybe be added here: http://userbase.kde.org/Kdenlive/Manual/ShootingHints ?

Here is footage of a classic car rally I shot using Technicolor Cinestyle.

http://vimeo.com/26180489

Sorry it took me a while to upload this video. I have a terrible wireless router, I had to buy 20 meters of Cat 5 cable.


"- Are you also using kdenlive for color correction and rendering of these "CineStyle" videos ? Or do you have to use another software ?
- This picture style is designed for video, but does it also make sense to use it for photo ?"


1. All color correction and rendering is done in Kdenlive. I made the Bézier curve, found in Kdenlive's color correction menu, to re-create the Look-Up-Table (LUT).

2. Well from what I read, sRGB and Rec. 709 use the same chromaticities, so photos and video should be directly comparable.

This seems to crash Kdenlive every time for me.


project monitor connected
clip monitor connected
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
QWidget::insertAction: Attempt to insert null action
KCrash: Application 'kdenlive' crashing...
KCrash: Attempting to start /usr/lib/kde4/libexec/drkonqi from kdeinit
sock_file=/home/[[usernameredacted]]/.kde/socket-gatewaylaptop/kdeinit4__0
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 35 and type 'Read', disabling...
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 23 and type 'Read', disabling...
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 28 and type 'Read', disabling...
QSocketNotifier: Invalid socket 37 and type 'Read', disabling...
: Fatal IO error 9 (Bad file descriptor) on X server :0.0.

** (:20802): WARNING **: Serious fd usage error 12

** (:20802): WARNING **: Serious fd usage error 16

Works here, 64bit Natty with kdenlive from sunabs svn PPA.

David thanks for the curve.

The Cinestyle effects file as referenced at the top of the thread was never working for me: it only applied to one channel instead of to all RGB channels. I don't understand what the reason is, so I recreated the filter file myself from the spline settings of Cinestyle.xml, see below. My version is named "Protune RGB" as I'm applying this effect to my GoPro Hero3 Protune video footage.

The difference I notice is that there is now an LC_NUMERIC="C" attribute included. I'm using the German locale, so for that reason the number fraction delemiter is "," instead of ".". Could that have been the cause of my problems with the original Cinestyle effect settings? A locale problem?

So, here's my "Protune RGB.xml" file:

<effect version="0.2" tag="frei0r.curves" type="custom" LC_NUMERIC="C" id="Protune RGB" disable="0">
<name>Protune RGB</name>
<description>Color curves adjustment</description>
<author>Till Theato, Maksim Golovkin</author>
<parameter default="0,5" type="list" value="0,5" name="Channel" paramlist="0,5;0;0,1;0,2;0,3;0,4;0,6;0,71">
<paramlistdisplay>RGB,Red,Green,Blue,Alpha,Luma,Hue,Saturation</paramlistdisplay>
<name>Channel
</parameter>
<parameter default="1" type="list" value="1" name="Luma formula" paramlist="0;1">
<paramlistdisplay>Rec. 601,Rec. 709</paramlistdisplay>
<name>Luma formula</name>
</parameter>
<parameter default="-1;-1#0;0#0,1;0,1|0,9;0,9#1;1#2;2" depends="Channel" type="bezier_spline" value="-1,414;-1,73159e-16#0;0#0,387;0|0,619;1#1;1#2,41421;1" name="Bézier spline"/>
<version>0,3</version>
</effect>

@David Jordan, could you please put the file CineStyle.xml again?

Thank you.