Mystery Log: A Survival Guide Part 2 – Cineon Film Log

June 5, 2025

Learn to use Resolve's color transform node, offset adjustments, and HDR tools to grade footage lacking recording metadata with simplicity.


Series

Using Cineon as a Predictable Base When Metadata Goes Missing

In this second installment of Mystery LOG, we explore how the Cineon Film Log gamma, designed initially to digitize film negatives, can be a stable fallback when you don’t know your footage’s source settings. In Part 2, we use a Color Space Transform (CST) to create a “soft landing,” giving you a clean, editable image without committing to an inaccurate LUT or metadata guess.

Cineon Log as a neutral tone curve

In Episode 1, we covered the visual survivalist approach: grading blind using scopes, contrast clues, and your instincts. But what if you want more structure—something to anchor your grade without pretending you know what camera this came from?

Our Cineon Film Log Color Space Transform (CST) trick begins here.

The Color Space Transform ResolveFX with Input Gamma set to 'Cineon Film Log'.
In this workflow, using the Color Space Transform ResolveFX, you’ll select ‘Cineon Film Log’ in the Input Gamma.

I first encountered this technique while working on a series where B-cam footage came from an unknown DSLR with no camera reports. Not a single LUT worked; every alternative CST broke the image weirdly. So, I reached for something old—Cineon Film Log, initially developed by Kodak in the ’90s to scan film negatives.

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