topic Re: Canon XA-70 File+ Workflow questions in Professional Video

Canon XA-70 File+ Workflow questions

RastaMind — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 21:37:10 GMT

Appreciate any help!!! information has been hard to find when it comes to the camcorders.

Notes: Canon XA70 Camcorder using Premier pro and rec709 colorspace. for color grading and editing.

1. Do I need to transcode the XA-70 xf-avc files prior to editing (like ProRes 422 hq)

the goal is to get as high quality + highly editable files rather than H264/265.

2.Do I need an input LUT for color correction of xf-avc files

- does one exist?

-Do I need to make?

Re: Canon XA-70 File+ Workflow questions

AtticusLake — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 09:37:47 GMT

1. Do I need to transcode the XA-70 xf-avc files prior to editing (like ProRes 422 hq)
the goal is to get as high quality + highly editable files rather than H264/265.

Transcoding can not increase the quality. That would need the transcoder to add in detail that was in the original scene, and there's no way a transcoder can do that. In fact transcoding will always introduce some degree of generational loss.

Transcoding H.264/265 to ProRes could result in smoother editing. However, I would recommend that you look into using a proxy workflow instead. I always shoot H.265, and I use proxies to edit, and that works great for me.

2.Do I need an input LUT for color correction of xf-avc files

XF-AVC is a file format, not a colour space. A LUT could be used (among other things) to convert colour spaces, like LOG to Rec 709 for example; but XF-AVC can contain footage in any colour space, so linking LUTs to XF-AVC doesn't make sense.

I don't know what colour spaces the XA-70 can shoot (I don't have one), but skimming the manual it doesn't look like there's much choice. Maybe it's just Rec 709, in which case no LUT is needed, unless you want to export to a different colour space, like Rec 2020. But if you are doing that, you should already know about it.

Of course you might still want to colour correct/grade your footage, depending on how it's shot, but that typically would be done by hand.

Re: Canon XA-70 File+ Workflow questions

Kensxa70 — Sun, 13 Apr 2025 13:58:05 GMT

Hello Rastamind,

I am new to Davinci Resolve (version 19) and face the same questions you do, due to wanting to shoot with the XA70 in XF-AVC in the wide "look" (as it is called in the camera menu). What I have done to get really nice results is to go under "FILE" and select "Project settings" (Shift-F9), and under the color management tab, make these two changes: for input lookup table, choose "Gamma 1.0 to HLG" and for output lookup table choose HLG to Gamma 1.0".

At that point you can select "Color" at the bottom of the Resolve GUI and tweak.

It's not difficult to spin the lift, gamma, gain, and offset dials to suit your visual taste. And you also have Temp, Tint, Contrast, Pivot, and Mid/Detail to adjust as well.

I did not trasncode the Canon XA70 XF-AVC files, just copied to my PC from the SD card (the whole CLIPS001 folder). After all the adjustments were done, selecting the deliver icon (the little rocket at the lower right-hand side) gives you the menu to select whatever format and codec you'd like.

Re: Canon XA-70 File+ Workflow questions

Kensxa70 — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 02:25:48 GMT

Hello and Best To You RastaMind,

With regard to using the Canon XA70 camcorder (which is amazing when you use canon log3). Not log2, use log3. You must post process it to get the candy. Davinci Resolve handles it better than any other tool I have used. I've tried this with version 19 and version 20. You will need some codecs which are at the end of this message.
In Davinci Resolve free version #19 and #20. This is what I use to get most of the heavy lifting done:
Under Color management:
Color Science: DaVinci YRGB Color Managed
Select "Automatic color management"
Color processing mode: SDR
Output color space: HDR HLG
Lookup Tables.
Input lookup table: "No LUT Selected"
Output lookup table: BT2020_CanonLog3-t...R_33_FN_Ver.1.1._AC..)
Video Monitor lookup table: No LUT selected
3D lookup table interpolation: Tetrahedral

At this point you have very minor tweaks left depending on your mix of daylight and indoor lighting.

Davinci Resolve will benefit from some codecs it is missing, namely HEVC and HEIF. They are 99 cents from the MS Store. You must have HEVC and HEIF together for BMDR and Corel Video Studio to talk.

Where are the LUTs you need?
https://www.abelcine.com/articles/blog-and-knowledge/tutorials-and-guides/canon-luts
and less helpful...
https://canoncanada.custhelp.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1032577/~/canon-lookup-table-version-201911