Frequently Asked Questions
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Phantom LUTs are compatible with all editing software that supports the use of .cube LUT files. This includes software on Mac, PC and Tablet/Mobile apps.
Compatible Editors Include:
Davinci Resolve Studio (All Versions)
Adobe Premiere Pro (All versions)
Final Cut Pro (All Versions)
CapCut
LumaFusion
Capture One
Kinemaster
Avid Media Composer
Sony Vegas
If your software can load a .cube file, then it is compatible! If you are still unsure, send me an email at hello@joelfamularo.com
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This is a very common question, and I'm glad to say that if you're shooting on a Sony camera, you've come to the right place!
Currently, I offer three LUT packs specifically designed for Sony cameras: the FS7 Legacy Pack, the A7SIII & FX6 Pack, and the FX9 & Burano Pack.
Thanks to the similarities in Sony's colour science across various camera systems, many of my LUTs can be used interchangeably across different models, and many users in our community have reported successful results.
The table below details compatibility across Sony cameras.
FS5, FS7, A7III, A7RII, A7RIII, A7RIV, A7SII, ZV1, ZV-E10, A6400, A6500, A6600
A7SIII, FX3, A7IV, A7C, A7CII, ZV-E1
FX6, FX30, A7CR, A7RV, A9III, A6700, ZV-E10II
FX9, Burano, A1, A1II
Purchase them here: https://www.joelfamularo.com/colour-sony
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Yes, they do!
These LUTs will expect Log footage in the particular Log format that your camera shoots with. So, when loading RAW Video into your NLE (Non-Linear Editor) ensure that you set the output to Log, and set the correct Colour Space (eg. S-Gamut3.Cine/Canon Cinema Gamut etc.)
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Once you have selected your supported camera and made your purchase, you will immediately receive an email with a download link to your LUTs Pack.
This link will remain active after purchase for you to download your LUTs at any time.
Please ensure you have double checked your email address is correct before making your purchase.
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Since I first launched Phantom LUTs in 2018, I've been continuously refining each LUT based on my own personal daily shooting and feedback from the many users in our community of filmmakers. I understand that the latest camera isn’t always the “best” camera, so providing ongoing support like product updates and improvements for the existing range of LUTs is a significant part of ensuring that you receive the best possible product long after your purchase. Based on your feedback, I regularly send updates via email to everyone who has purchased a LUT pack, so you'll always stay in the loop!
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TLDR: 65x LUTs are high-resolution LUTs used for editing in post-production thanks to their high accuracy, while 33x LUTs are used in-camera and for external monitoring due to their compute efficiency and smaller resolution.
65x LUTs are high-quality LUTs that provide a more accurate and precise colour transformation than a standard LUT. They achieve this higher level of colour accuracy by offering more colour values per channel than a standard LUT. Due to their high resolution, 65x LUTs are typically used for colour grading in the NLE of your choice and are, as such, our recommended LUTs for editing (with NLE interpolation set to Tetrahedral).
33x LUTs are still perfectly suitable for editing, though they contain less colour information than their 65x counterparts. Due to their smaller size, 33x LUTs are more efficient and are intended for monitoring, as they often meet the size and computational restrictions for viewing LUTs in-camera or on a monitor. 33x LUTs may be used in certain circumstances (such as live streaming or online media), but due to their simpler construction, they can sometimes lead to image artefacts and are generally not recommended to be baked into footage unless in these specific circumstances.
Grab your High-Res LUTs here:
https://www.joelfamularo.com/colour -
TLDR: As a general rule, apply your LUT after Exposure/White Balance and Colour Adjustment, but before Effects.
The longer answer: Ultimately, it’s up to you! There are many ways to achieve the look you're after. Keep in mind that how and when you apply LUTs can vary depending on your preferred workflow, and there are plenty of forum discussions and YouTube videos debating the "right" way to do it.
With that said, here's my basic node structure recommendation for DaVinci Resolve to help get you started:
1. Using Davinci Resolve, create your First Node. This is where you can start with Exposure Adjustment and White Balance (these can be two separate nodes for a bit more control).
2. Your Second Node is where you can perform any Colour Adjustments to the footage.
3. The Third node is where you can select the LUT to use.
4. If you are using effects (noise reduction, grain etc) create a Fourth Node and apply the effects to this node.
This basic setup WB/Exp → LUT → Effects ensures that all color adjustments are done before the LUT, and all effects are applied after (in order to include all previous changes in your effects algorithm). More advanced users can experiment with adding extra color nodes before or after the LUT, but this basic method should work for the majority of your footage.
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Here is a basic and simple step-by-step to get you started in Premiere Pro:
1. In Premiere Pro after loading your footage, go the Lumetri Colour
2. Select Creative
3. In the creative section in the Look dropdown, select your Phantom LUT from your LUT folder
Because Phantom LUTs contain a number of built-in CST’s to take your footage from Log into Rec.709, we always recommend applying one LUT at a time and using them at 100% intensity. Placing the LUT in the Creative tab (rather than Basic Correction) means that the LUT is placed after any manual user adjustments that are made to white balance and exposure.
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Whatever your editing software may be, ensure your Timeline Color Space is set to Rec.709, as this is what your LUT will be delivering.
DaVinci Resolve Colour Management Settings
Navigate to Project settings > Color Management, and input the following settings:
Ensure your Color Science is set to: DaVinci YRGB
Set your Timeline Color Space to Rec.709-A for Mac users, Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 for Windows users
Leave Output Color Space set to Same as Timeline
Lastly, ensure 3D lookup table Interpolation is set to Tetrahedral
Adobe Premiere Pro Colour Management Settings
Navigate to Project Settings > General, and set the following settings:
Under the Color Management section, set 3D LUT Interpolation to Tetrahedral
Navigate to Sequence > Sequence Settings, and select the following settings:
In the Video section, ensure that Working Color Space is set to Rec. 709
Ensure Premiere does not Automatically Detect Log Video Color Space:
Navigate to Preferences (or Settings) > General…
Then untick Auto Detect Log Video Color Space
Lastly, ensure that Premiere has not automatically transformed each clip by double checking that Colour Space Override is set to Rec. 709:
Right click the clip and select Modify Clip
Under Interpret Footage set Color Space Override to Rec. 709
Final Cut Pro Colour Management Settings
Navigate to File > Library Properties, and click Modify
In Change the color processing setting for the library ensure Standard Gamut SDR is selected
Once your LUT has been added, ensure that both input and output are set to Rec.709:
In the Custom LUT toolbar, set Input and Output to Rec.709
Ensure that Automatic Color Conform is turned off:
Navigate to Settings…
In General next to HDR: untick Automatic Color Conform
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TLDR: Ideally, it's best not to bake LUTs into your footage if you can avoid it. However, for live streaming or lower-resolution video, baking-in the LUT may significantly streamline your workflow. We always recommend shooting in Log and applying a 65x LUT in post for the highest quality footage.
The longer answer: You can bake the LUTs into your footage; however this is generally recommended only for specific situations, such as for live-streaming media, lower-resolution video, or when convenience and speed are crucial. Whenever possible, it is always more beneficial to apply a 65x LUT to your footage in post-production in order to maintain the highest colour accuracy possible.
The reason for this is that 65x LUTs contain more colour information than 33x LUTs. Most cameras will only accept 33x LUTs, and as cameras are generally limited to Trilinear interpolation (rather than Tetrahedral) and because 33x LUTs contain less complex colour information, baking a 33x LUT into your footage may limit the overall quality of the image and in some circumstances lead to image artefacts and other distortions due to the trilinear interpolation of the 33x LUT. In other words, the camera reads the lower accuracy LUT with a lower quality interpolation method.
If you’re hoping to perform additional colour grading in Post, baked-in footage can also be less versatile, because the footage has already been conformed to the Rec.709 colour space.
That said, 33× LUTs are best used for in-camera and external monitoring. 33x LUTs are perfect for this job because they don’t require much processing power and are excellent for smaller monitors. To ensure high-quality footage, it’s not recommended to bake LUTs into your footage unless it’s absolutely necessary. Instead, always endeavour to shoot in Log and apply 65x LUTs to your footage with 3D LUT interpolation set to Tetrahedral within your editing software (as Tetrahedral is superior to Trilinear interpolation).
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The most common reason is that you may be attempting to load the 65x version of the LUT instead of the 33x version onto your camera or monitor. Currently, most cameras and external monitors do not support 65x LUTs due to the complexity of their colour information and the processing power required to interpolate them. Cameras and monitors instead support 33x LUTs because their smaller files are simpler to process (they do not require as much processing power from your device).
The second reason is that your camera may not support the ability to load LUTs (such as the older generation of Lumix cameras). In this case, it is recommended that you use an external monitor (if possible) to load your 33x .cube LUT in order to preview your footage. For Lumix cameras specifically, we have included VLT files in your pack which can be loaded using the "Real Time LUT" feature on your Lumix camera. These VLT files are a proprietary LUT type created by Panasonic for their cameras and are limited to 17x (compared to the high-quality 65x files used in editing) so external monitoring is still recommended over VLTs in this instance.
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For Panasonic Lumix, EVA1 and Varicam cameras, you can load the VLT files included in your Panasonic LUT pack using the “Real Time LUT” feature on your camera. These VLT files are a proprietary LUT type created by Panasonic, and are designed to allow the user to preview their LUT locally. VLT LUTs however are limited to 17x LUT files (17×17×17 LUTs), so 33x external monitoring is still recommended over VLTs in this instance.
VLT LUTs can also be loaded onto your Panasonic camera if it does not support the ability to load .cube LUTs (as with some Lumix cameras). In this case, it is recommended that (if you can) you use an external monitor from which to load 33x .cube LUTs in order to preview your footage.
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If you have just purchased a Phantom LUTs Pack - Congratulations! You should have been emailed immediately after payment is confirmed with your download link. If for any reason you did not receive an email, or you have lost your download email - please contact us at hello@joelfamularo.com and we can help you out.
Once you’ve made your purchase (or if you have existing purchases), you can set up a Sendowl account by clicking the download link included in your email. When at the downloads page, you should then see your name in the upper right corner. Click your name in the upper right corner to set up your account. Once your account is set up, you will be able to see all of the LUT packs associated with your specific email address.
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If you’re footage immediately looks oversaturated, you’ve probably entered a “Double LUT” scenario. In an attempt to save you time, your NLE (Non-Linear Editor) has automatically converted your Log footage without prompting you. So when you apply the Phantom LUT, the result is a highly contrasted and oversaturated image - because two conversion LUTs have now been applied to the Log footage.
This often occurs because both Final Cut Pro and Premier Pro have a feature that automatically ‘Colour Transforms’ LOG and RAW footage based on its metadata in an effort to accommodate both SDR and HDR clips in the same timeline.
According to support.apple.com; “By default, Color Conform is set to Automatic, so that if you add a clip to a project that has a different color space setting, the clip’s color space is automatically converted to the project’s color space.”
The issue arrises because the Phantom LUT is designed to handle the colour space transformation by bringing it from Log into the Rec.709 colour space. If your NLE has already applied this transformation , and then another LUT is applied, it results in a “Double LUT”.
To remedy this in Final Cut Pro:
1. Click Final Cut Pro then click Settings
2. Navigate to General and Uncheck the Automatic Color Conform checkbox
To remedy this in Premiere Pro:
1. Select all clips in your timeline
2. Right click the clips and select Modify > Interpret Footage…
3. Under Colour Management ensure there is no LUT applied, and set Color Space Override to Rec.709
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Unfortunately, these LUTs will not work for photo as well as they do for video.
This is primarily due to the differences in RAW image files vs Log files, as well as the differences in sensors for various cameras. Phantom LUTs .cube LUT files are designed for Video Only.
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The Sigma 18-35mm Art f/1.8 was chosen primarily for its exceptional optical quality. It’s compatible with a wide range of mount options and offers just enough zoom to cover most fixed focal length cameras, including drones and action cams. Overall, the Sigma 18-35mm proved to be a versatile and easily accessible lens, with excellent build quality and strong all-around performance.