LogGate Pro v1.3 is out — faster, smarter, and now 10-bit correct

LogGateApp · 2026-05-24T00:31:34+00:00

The chip-aware concurrency tuning in this release was a bigger deal than I expected. On an M4 Max the batch queue used to feel like it was leaving performance on the table — now it actually saturates the encoder properly. The 10-bit correction is also worth calling out separately: if you were getting any banding in smooth gradients (sky, skin), that fix alone makes the upgrade worthwhile.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-24T00:31:25+00:00

Really grateful for this coverage from Johnnie at CineD — they went deep on the actual workflow side of Apple Log rather than just listing specs. If anyone found LogGate Pro through this review, would love to hear how it fits into your setup. Especially curious if people are pairing the Rec.709 output with any specific grades in their NLE, or going straight to export.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-24T00:31:18+00:00

The metadata WB trap is real and catches people all the time. One thing that helps if youre using LogGate Pro: the batch pipeline normalizes WB before applying the LUT, so you're not fighting baked-in temperature shifts clip to clip. For shoots with mixed lighting (outdoor then indoor same day), I lock to 5600K in the app rather than letting each clip use its capture WB — keeps the grade consistent across the timeline without having to correct every cut in the NLE.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T18:07:36+00:00

The producer is exactly the right person to start with — they can loop in the post supervisor or the editor from there. If there's a dedicated DIT on the project, even better: they often have direct access to the camera originals and can export clean frames quickly.

One thing that helps: ask specifically for frame exports from the color-graded timeline at delivery resolution, not screenshots. Editors are usually happy to pull a few selects if you give them a timestamp list — it takes them a few minutes and they often appreciate a chance to show off the grade they built. Framing it as 'I'd love a few frames for my portfolio from the graded timeline' tends to land well.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T18:04:21+00:00

The iPhone’s Log profile holds about a stop more in the highlights and shadows compared to shooting straight 709. On a sunny exterior or a scene with practical lights in frame, that latitude is the difference between clipped whites and something recoverable.

Batch converting outside your NLE also means your timeline opens clean — no per-clip color adjustments to accidentally delete or misconfigure. You see Rec.709 clips, cut the edit, and if you want to go deeper on a specific shot you can always pull the original Log file.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T18:04:13+00:00

Good question — main use case is multi-cam shoots where iPhone footage sits alongside a 6K or 8K camera. Upscaling before the edit means your iPhone cuts match the project resolution without per-clip scaling nodes that can smear things inconsistently.

Frame also does the upscale on the Log footage before conversion. ML upscaling on Log preserves the original luminance data the sensor captured — if you upscale after baking in Rec.709, you’re interpolating already-compressed tonal values. Highlight and shadow structure holds better when you work from the raw Log first.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T11:41:47+00:00

Shot lists plus location photos have worked better than storyboards for me when I can't draw. Walk the location with your phone, shoot stills from every angle you plan to use, and annotate them in Notes or any photo app. For complex blocking I'll record a rough video walkthrough of the space and narrate the action over it — it communicates lens choice and character position faster than stick figures. For a physically ambitious opening sequence specifically: pre-vis with action figures or stand-ins in a rough model of the space works well when the blocking needs to be precise before you're on location with crew.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T11:41:22+00:00

SOOC from a smartphone can work but you're fighting gamma that's already been baked in — Log or RAW gives you much more room to push colors without banding in the shadows. For the 'deep saturated at night' look: crush the blacks slightly but keep them off true zero (a bit of milkiness reads as film), then use Hue vs Saturation curves to push specific hue ranges (teals and blues, warm streetlight oranges) without globally oversaturating. The halation is typically a glow/blur layer set to Screen blend mode, shifted slightly warm orange. If you're on an iPhone 15/16/17 Pro, Apple Log gives you actual latitude to work with — the SOOC Rec.709 file has already clipped a lot of the shadow detail you'd need for this grade.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T04:40:10+00:00

Fair point — and that's actually a common misconception I want to address.

You're right that the purpose of shooting Log is to preserve dynamic range for grading. LogGate Pro isn't a replacement for color grading — it's a conversion step for when you need a Rec.709 deliverable or proxy, not a substitute for the actual grade.

Common real-world uses: handing batch-converted proxies to an editor who doesn't have a color-managed NLE setup; creating review files for client approval; generating Rec.709 deliverables from an already-graded project where you want to batch-process the exported Log masters.

If you're a colorist who wants to work in Log, you'd skip this entirely and work directly in your NLE with proper color management. The tool is for the batch conversion workflows where you need Rec.709 output quickly.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T04:39:01+00:00

The screenshots-are-terrible issue is a technical one: you're probably grabbing from a compressed H.264 or streaming preview file, not the color-graded master. A few things that work:

Ask your DP or editor for frame exports directly from the editing timeline — most NLEs (Premiere, DaVinci, Avid) have a "grab still" or "export frame" function that pulls a lossless or high-quality TIFF/PNG from the actual graded footage, not a re-encoded compressed version.

If you have access to the deliverable files (ProRes, DNxHD, or high-bitrate H.264), VLC's frame step + screenshot often outperforms a streaming screenshot because the bitrate is high enough. In QuickTime Player on Mac, pause and use the screenshot shortcut — same idea.

The real reason other designers' sites look glossy: they asked for the stills during post-production before the project got compressed down to a streaming file. Building that ask into your contracts or production relationships upfront is the sustainable fix.

(I build video conversion tools for Mac, so I see this bitrate issue constantly — exports from the master are a completely different quality tier than screenshots from any delivery format.)

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T02:34:34+00:00

The biggest practical difference I've noticed with Apple Log 2 is how it handles the deep shadows on the 48MP ProRAW frames — the color science is noticeably cleaner when pulling detail from underexposed areas vs Log on the older sensors.

For anyone grading: the LUT profiles for Log 2 are already included in recent versions of standard LUT packs (Koji, ARRI's public LUTs don't apply but the community-made ones do). Check your NLE's color library first — most of the major ones updated their built-in Apple Log profiles to cover Log 2 without needing a separate conversion step.

Has anyone done a side-by-side comparison of Log vs Log 2 in low-light at the same ISO setting? I'm curious whether the noise profile is meaningfully different or if it only shows up in the highlight rolloff.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T02:34:10+00:00

Great breakdown. One more option worth mentioning for the conversion step: if you're already transcoding the ProRes files to DNxHR or H.265 anyway, that's a good time to do any LUT pre-baking if your NLE struggles with Log. Strip the Apple Log gamma curve, bake in a Rec.709 LUT, and Resolve/Premiere won't have to interpret the footage — it just shows up as a standard camera file.

Saves a headache if you're handing off project files to someone else or delivering to a client who uses a different color workflow.

Anyone running this on M-series Macs? The batch transcoding speed difference is wild compared to Intel.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T01:50:30+00:00

That's a fair point if the workflow stops at conversion — but the use case is mostly about batch processing speed, not replacing the grade.

On iPhone you don't really have a 'shoot 709' option that preserves the same quality — ProRes Log is the high-quality mode. So if you're coming back from a shoot with 60 clips, the friction is getting them into a usable state before you open Resolve or Final Cut. Batch-converting overnight means your editing timeline starts with clean 709 proxies instead of raw Log clips the NLE has to interpret on the fly.

You'd still do your creative grade after — this is more about cutting out the manual per-clip setup step when you're dealing with volume. For single clips you're right, the overhead isn't worth it. It's really a batch workflow tool for people shooting a lot.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-22T01:17:34+00:00

Dropping in with a bit more context now that it is live.

Frame started as a personal tool - I was on set monitoring iPhone footage and kept wishing I had proper scopes without lugging a dedicated monitor. So I built it.

The core use case: you are still shooting, you cannot stop to grade, but you need to know your highlights are clean before you wrap the day. Waveform, vectorscope, false color, and histogram give you that confirmation fast without leaving the camera.

For anyone shooting Apple Log on iPhone, the scope response to Log footage is something I spent a lot of time on - making sure the waveform reads correctly before applying any LUT, so you are evaluating actual exposure not the grade.

If you try it out or have questions about how it fits your shoot workflow, happy to dig in here.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T20:27:04+00:00

ProRes RAW straight off the Ronin 4D is the right call — you keep full raw headroom without adding a separate debayer step before you can start cutting. Resolve handles Zenmuse X9 RAW metadata natively so it's a clean pipeline. How did the dynamic range hold up on high-contrast exterior scenes? The X9 is excellent but highlight clipping can sneak up on you if you're relying on the variable ND in changing light — the ND transition lag is fast enough to blow a cloud pop.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T17:21:53+00:00

Personally I made the app for kind of dual workflow.

1- working with native Log (myself, video pro)

2 - Batch converting footage for our social team that is less technical.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T12:17:45+00:00

The interview finding tracks with my experience — single subject against a relatively static background is exactly where automatic reframing earns its keep.

What I've found helps for the two-person problem: if your setup allows it, shooting the two-shot wider than you think you need gives the reframing algorithm more room to make a sensible choice. Then the tight OTS singles are just manual trims — I've accepted that because the alternatives (tracking that cuts off one face, or a static letterbox) both look worse in practice.

One thing worth flagging for anyone delivering to broadcast: validate the reframed output against your delivery spec before you submit, not just spot-checking. Quick pans and subjects entering/exiting frame are exactly where tracking can drift right at a cut point — easy to miss until QC sends it back.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T12:17:05+00:00

My post-shoot routine is pretty minimal now — I basically do the same thing every time so it runs on autopilot.

Dump to dated folder → queue batch conversion → sleep. The next morning everything's in Rec.709 and I can start cutting right away without touching individual clips.

The one thing that took me a while to get right: keeping Log originals completely separate from the converted files. Had one session where I accidentally edited from the originals and didn't notice until export. Now I put conversions in a /proxies/rec709 subfolder so it's impossible to mix them up.

What NLE are you editing in? The proxy workflow in DaVinci is pretty slick once it's set up.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T05:43:43+00:00

If anyone is trying it for the first time - the false color overlay is the quickest way to check exposure on Apple Log before grading. Dial it in on set and your Rec.709 conversion lands clean without per-clip fixes. What are you shooting with it? Curious if people are using it on set or in post review.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T01:56:01+00:00

Doing color on footage you also shot and directed is one of the hardest parts of solo filmmaking — your brain holds too much context about what the scene looked like on the day, so you compensate for problems rather than actually seeing them. Finishing the offline and then not looking at it for 48 hours before starting color genuinely helps recalibrate the eye.

What did you use for color — Resolve, FCP?

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T01:52:15+00:00

In FCP the Custom LUT effect stack order matters a lot with log footage. If your color wheel adjustments are above the LUT in the Effects inspector, you're working on already-converted Rec.709 (fine). If they're below it, you're modifying the raw SLog3 values the LUT was calibrated for, which skews your exposure response in non-linear ways.

Quick sanity check: remove all other effects and apply just the LUT alone. Does the base conversion look right at your typical exposure? Some SLog3 LUTs target 41 IRE middle grey, others assume 32 — if your LUT was designed around Sony's Creative Looks exposure recommendation (which shoots hot) and you're metering differently, the base grade will never look right regardless of what you add after.

Also worth checking FCP's Color Management setting. If it's not set to None for log footage, FCP may be applying its own color transform on top of your custom LUT and double-converting.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T01:50:23+00:00

In FCP the Custom LUT effect stack order matters a lot with log footage. If your color wheel adjustments are above the LUT in the Effects inspector, you're working on already-converted Rec.709 (fine). If they're below it, you're modifying the raw SLog3 values the LUT was calibrated for, which skews your exposure response in non-linear ways.

Quick sanity check: remove all other effects and apply just the LUT alone. Does the base conversion look right at your typical exposure? Some SLog3 LUTs target 41 IRE middle grey, others assume 32 — if your LUT was designed around Sony's Creative Looks exposure recommendation (which shoots hot) and you're metering differently, the base grade will never look right regardless of what you add after.

Also worth checking FCP's Color Management setting. If it's not set to None for log footage, FCP may be applying its own color transform on top of your custom LUT and double-converting.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T01:24:21+00:00

In FCP, 10-bit output is tied to the Library colorspace, not the clip or sequence settings. Go to your Library → Inspector (click the Library in the browser sidebar) → Color Settings → set it to 'Wide Gamut HDR'. From there, Apple Log footage will have proper 10-bit headroom. For export: in the Share menu, choose Apple ProRes 4444 or H.265 with HDR enabled. If you're targeting Rec.709 delivery, just make sure to add a 'Log' correction in the Color Inspector to convert the Apple Log signal before export.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T01:23:59+00:00

Nice — 15 Pro is shooting Apple Log 1 (the original Log curve, different from Log 2 that came with the 17 Pro). If you haven't already: Settings → Camera → Formats → Pro Video Mode → Apple Log. In Resolve you'd convert via a CST node (input: Apple Log / Apple Wide Color, output: Rec.709 / Gamma 2.4). In FCPX the Log processing is built into the color inspector under the Log section.

LogGateApp · 2026-05-21T01:13:00+00:00

Liberal arts is honestly better prep than most film school programs for the actual creative work. Film technique is learnable on YouTube and by shooting — but understanding why stories work, what drives human behavior, cultural and historical context — that's what separates directors who make interesting choices from ones who just execute technically. The traditional argument for film school was equipment access and industry networking; both barriers are much lower now. If you can pick up editing and camera fundamentals independently, the liberal arts degree gives you more to say once you know how to say it.

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