Nikon N-Log color correction: Resolve, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro

Nikon N-Log comes out of the camera gray and flat. Nikon publishes its own LUT to convert it to Rec.709, and each of the three big editors has a slightly different way to use it. This guide gives the steps for DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro, using Nikon's own documentation, and shows where converting twice sneaks in.

Last checked 2026-10-10.

Nikon's official N-Log LUT

Nikon's Download Center has a download called N-Log LUT, version 2.00. It is a self-extracting installer: a .exe on Windows and a .dmg on macOS. You accept Nikon's agreement before you download. Run it and it unpacks a folder named 3DLUT with five .cube files.

One is the Technical LUT, N-Log_BT2020_to_REC709_BT1886_size_33.cube. Nikon says it converts the N-Log color space to the Rec.709 standard and is built on color science developed by RED. The other four, Achromic, Film Bias, Film Bias Bleach Bypass and Film Bias Offset, are creative looks. Use the Technical LUT for the conversion.

Nikon's page says it tested the LUT with Premiere Pro CC, Final Cut Pro X and DaVinci Resolve as of August 2024, and that it neither endorses those applications nor guarantees their operation. The earlier per-camera LUTs (version 1.07, for the Z 9, Z 8, Z6III, Zf and others) are still linked from the same page.

Step by step

1. 1. Confirm the clip is N-Log and get Nikon's LUT

   N-Log footage is gray and low in contrast. On the Z6III, Z8 and Z9, Nikon's manuals say N-Log needs a video file type of N-RAW 12-bit, ProRes RAW HQ 12-bit, ProRes 422 HQ 10-bit or H.265 10-bit, with N-Log chosen as the tone mode. Download the N-Log LUT from the Nikon Download Center, accept the agreement, and run the installer. It extracts a folder named 3DLUT. The file you want is N-Log_BT2020_to_REC709_BT1886_size_33.cube.

2. 2. DaVinci Resolve: set color management and add the LUT

   Nikon's own guide starts in Project Settings > Color Management. Set Color science to DaVinci YRGB, Timeline color space to DaVinci WG/Intermediate, Output color space to Rec.709 (Scene) on Windows or Rec.709-A on macOS, and 3D lookup table interpolation to Tetrahedral. Click Open LUT Folder, make a sub-folder (Nikon's guide calls it Nikon), copy the .cube in and click Update Lists. On the Color page, add serial nodes, click the last node and double-click the N-Log LUT in the LUTs browser. Do your grading on the nodes before the LUT node.

3. 3. DaVinci Resolve alternative: Color Space Transform

   Nikon's guide also shows a LUT-free method with the same project settings. On the first node, add Effects > Color Space Transform with Input Color Space Rec.2020, Input Gamma Nikon N-Log, Output Color Space DaVinci Wide Gamut and Output Gamma DaVinci Intermediate. On the last node, add a second transform from DaVinci Wide Gamut and DaVinci Intermediate to Rec.709, with Output Gamma Rec.709 on Windows or Rec.709-A on macOS. Grade on the nodes in between. Use this method or the LUT method on a clip, not both.

4. 4. Premiere Pro: use Nikon's LUT as the Input LUT

   Adobe's list of camera log color spaces has no Nikon N-Log entry, so Premiere reads an N-Log clip as Rec. 709 and leaves it flat. Select the clip, open the Lumetri Color panel, go to the Settings tab and expand Source Clip. Open the Input LUT menu, choose Browse and pick the Nikon .cube. Then set Media Color Space to Rec. 709, the color space the LUT outputs. Leave Preserve RGB off. To do a whole camera at once, select the clips in the Project panel and use Clip Modify, Color.

5. 5. Final Cut Pro: check the built-in Camera LUT or import Nikon's

   Final Cut Pro lists a Nikon N-Log Camera LUT. Select the clip, press Command-4, click the Info button, choose General, Extended or Settings in the Metadata View pop-up menu, and look at the Camera LUT menu. If it says None, choose Nikon N-Log. To use Nikon's file instead, choose Add Custom Camera LUT in the same menu, select the .cube (Final Cut accepts .cube and .mga) and pick Rec.709 in the Output Color Space menu. Use either the Camera LUT or a Custom LUT effect on a clip, never both.

6. 6. Set white balance and exposure on the converted picture

   With the clip converted, set white balance with the eyedropper or White Balance Selector on something neutral, clip by clip. Then open the waveform, bring faces to roughly 60 to 70 IRE and keep highlights from clipping. Trust the scope, not a laptop screen.

7. 7. Match the other cameras last

   Once the Nikon clips look right, match a second camera to them and only then add a creative look. The multi-cam order covers that part.

If you shoot N-RAW

Nikon's Premiere Pro guide is written for N-RAW footage, which Premiere opens as RED Wide Gamut (RWG)/Log3G10. It uses a different first stage: a separate Nikon LUT that converts RWG/Log3G10 to Rec.2020/N-Log, then the Rec.709 technical LUT, each on its own adjustment layer using Basic Correction > Input LUT. Do not use that first-stage LUT on ordinary H.265 or ProRes N-Log clips.

Where N-Log goes wrong

• Converting twice. A Camera LUT set to Nikon N-Log plus a Custom LUT effect, or a Color Space Transform plus the technical LUT, converts the clip two times. One route per clip.
• Grading before converting in Resolve. Nikon's LUT method puts the technical LUT on the last node and grades on the nodes before it. A grade placed after the LUT is working on the Rec.709 picture, not the log one.
• Using a creative LUT as the conversion. Film Bias and the other three are looks. They are not the plain N-Log to Rec.709 conversion.
• Using the N-RAW first-stage LUT on normal N-Log clips. It is for RWG/Log3G10 footage only.
• Swapping LUTs in a graded project. Nikon's notes on its older per-camera Z 9 LUTs say the V02-00 file can render slightly brighter than V01-00, so highlights may wash out if you replace one with the other mid-project. Pick one LUT per project and keep it.

Where Basecut fits

Basecut does not convert N-Log yet. It recognizes Nikon bodies and reads Nikon's N-Log tag when it checks whether a clip is log, but it has no N-Log conversion of its own, so for N-Log clips the steps above are the color workflow. It still culls, rates and sorts the whole card dump, including the Nikon body next to a Sony, a Canon or an iPhone, and hands the result to DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro.

The 14-day free trial has 5 free exports and needs no card. See it on real footage.