GP-Log
Also known as: GoPro Log, GoPro log profile
GoPro flat recording profile, which keeps highlight and shadow information for grading in exchange for looking dull out of the camera.
Updated
What it means
GP-Log is GoPro implementation of a log curve. It records a wider range of brightness than a standard profile by storing it flat, which leaves the grading decisions to be made afterwards rather than in camera.
The footage looks wrong on purpose. Low contrast, washed colour and a raised black floor are what a Log profile always looks like before conversion, and judging a clip in that state tells nobody anything.
It arrived with 10-bit recording on the newer bodies, and the two belong together. A flat curve in eight bits spreads the available steps thinly, which is where banding in skies comes from.
How it works in practice
Conversion comes first and is not optional. A Technical LUT from GoPro brings the clip to a standard colour space, and every creative decision happens after that rather than instead of it.
Exposure discipline matters more than with a standard profile. Log protects highlights and reveals noise in shadows, so erring slightly bright and pulling down afterwards is the reliable approach.
It is worth it for a graded edit and not for a quick one. A session going out the same evening gains nothing from a profile that needs a conversion step before it can be looked at.
What to watch out for
Eight-bit log is the common mistake. Choosing the flat profile on a body or a mode that records eight bits produces Color banding in exactly the gradients action footage is full of.
Mixing it with standard clips doubles the work. Two profiles in one session need two different conversions before Color matching can even start, which is avoidable by choosing one and staying with it.
Noise reduction behaves differently on it. Denoise applied before conversion works on values that are about to be stretched, so the order of those two operations changes the result noticeably.
How RawClip handles it
Flat profiles are converted before anything else while a sequence is assembled, which is what lets a log clip and a standard one be compared at all. Footage recorded this way holds more detail for that step, and it is used identically otherwise.