Canon XA45 Camcorder and LUTs / Log files?

[uwldisneyra]

Hi! I'm super new to videography and have been trying to learn as much as I can through tutorials, videos, etc... One thing that has come up in a few videos I have watched is applying LUTs to log files?? I may be getting that wrong. Regardless, it seems like only certain kinds of cameras/camcorders can use these though, as I can't seem to find anything about this for my specific camcorder. Is this true? If not, where can I find this option / how do I use it for my camcorder?

[rs-eos]

I don't own an XA45, so not sure how much of the following features would be there. But here's a high-level overview of the two main log workflows:

• Apply a LUT (Look Up Table) in camera for previewing only. In this case, the LUT would not be baked into the footage. It's applied only to the preview to make it easier to see a good representation of what the final graded footage would look like. I do this myself with the EOS 70; applying a Rec 709 LUT. If you don't have this feature, the preview screen will show the footage as being very flat (very low contrast). You'd then apply the final LUT during post.
• Apply a LUT though bake it in. This is useful in cases where you need very quick turnaround and don't have time to post process.

[uwldisneyra]

Is there documentation about how to apply a LUT in camera? I take it not all cameras have this ability based on your comment?

[rs-eos]

I don't see any mention of LOG or LUT in the User Manual.  It appears you'll be limited to working in BT.709 Normal.   Note though that I did not look at any firmware update notes, so possible Canon may have added Log capability later to the XA45.

Whereas for the XA50 and XA55 models, you can then work with Canon Log 3 and BT.709 Wide DR (though I didn't see any reference to working with LUTs).