Nikon N-Log to Rec.709 in Premiere Pro, step by step

N-Log clips from a Nikon Z body land in Premiere Pro gray and flat, and Adobe's list of camera log formats has no N-Log entry. Nikon publishes its own LUT that converts N-Log to Rec.709. This guide shows where to get it, which of its five files to use, how to attach it as an Input LUT, and how to avoid converting a clip twice.

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. You accept Nikon's agreement before you download. On Windows it is a self-extracting .exe that unpacks a folder named 3DLUT, and on macOS it is a .dmg. Either way it holds 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.

What Premiere Pro does with N-Log on its own

Adobe's Color Management options page lists the camera log color spaces Premiere can assign to a clip. Nikon N-Log is not one of them. Adobe also warns that QuickTime, MXF and MP4 files may or may not carry metadata Premiere can use to assign a color space, so an N-Log file is easy to leave unidentified and read as plain Rec. 709. Do not pick another maker's log entry on the assumption that it is close enough, because the curve is different. The safe route is the LUT Nikon made for N-Log.

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. Nikon's Z 6III manual says N-Log is chosen as the tone mode, with a video file type of N-RAW 12-bit, ProRes RAW HQ 12-bit, ProRes 422 HQ 10-bit or H.265 10-bit. A clip that already looks normal was shot in another tone mode, and Nikon's LUT will ruin it. Download the N-Log LUT from the Nikon Download Center, accept the agreement and open the installer. The file you want is N-Log_BT2020_to_REC709_BT1886_size_33.cube.

2. 2. Pick one conversion route for the sequence

   Select the sequence, choose Sequence > Sequence Settings, and open the Color tab. For a Rec.709 delivery, Direct 709 (SDR) is the preset to look for. Adobe describes it as letting SDR media pass through while log and wide-gamut sources are tone-mapped and gamut-compressed on input. An N-Log clip that Premiere does not identify passes through untouched, which leaves Nikon's LUT to do the whole conversion. Adobe's Disable Color Management preset turns every automatic conversion off for people who work fully by hand, and the steps below assume Direct 709 (SDR).

3. 3. Open Source Clip and read Media Color Space

   Select a Nikon clip in the timeline, open the Lumetri Color panel, go to the Settings tab and expand Source Clip. If Media Color Space says Rec. 709 and the picture is flat, Premiere has not converted the clip. Adobe's list of camera log color spaces has no Nikon N-Log entry, so do not count on it. Do not pick another maker's log entry to fix the clip, because that is the wrong curve.

4. 4. Set Nikon's Technical LUT as the Input LUT

   Still in Source Clip, open the Input LUT menu and choose Browse (or pick the LUT if you saved it to Premiere's Input folder). Select N-Log_BT2020_to_REC709_BT1886_size_33.cube. Then set Media Color Space to Rec. 709, the color space the LUT outputs. In Adobe's words, Input LUT does the conversion and Media Color Space tells Premiere what the LUT produces. Leave Preserve RGB off.

5. 5. Do the whole batch at once

   Back in the Project panel, select every clip from the same camera and tone mode and choose Clip Modify, Color, then set the same Input LUT and Media Color Space on all of them. Keep N-Log clips and normal-mode clips from the same body in separate batches.

6. 6. Check the picture on the scopes

   Open Window > Lumetri Scopes and show the waveform. Blacks should sit near the bottom without crushing and highlights should not clip. If the clip looks washed out or far too contrasty after the LUT, check that you did not apply two conversions before you reach for the sliders.

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

   Premiere converts at the clip's input, before Lumetri's Basic Correction, so what you adjust there is already the converted picture. Use the White Balance Selector on something neutral, then bring skin to roughly 60 to 70 IRE on the waveform. Match the Nikon clips to your main camera last, as in the multi-cam order.

Where to put the LUT file

You can import a LUT from anywhere with the Input LUT menu. To make it show up in the menu every time, copy it into Premiere's Input LUT folder (Premiere Pro 24.0 and later list these in Source Clip). If it does not appear, restart Premiere.

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/LUTs/Input
• Windows: C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\LUTs\Input

If you shoot N-RAW

Nikon's own 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 in Premiere

• Converting twice. An Input LUT plus a Media Color Space or a second LUT on the same clip stacks two conversions. One route per clip.
• Using a creative LUT as the conversion, or on top of it. Film Bias and the other three are looks, and their file names also read N-Log to Rec709. Use one in place of the Technical LUT.
• Another maker's log entry as Media Color Space. The curve is wrong for N-Log. Use Nikon's LUT with Media Color Space set to Rec. 709.
• The N-RAW first-stage LUT on normal N-Log clips. It is for RWG/Log3G10 footage only.
• A LUT on a normal-mode clip. Footage shot in a normal tone mode is not log, and Nikon's LUT adds far too much contrast to it.
• 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

A wedding card dump puts a Nikon body next to a Sony, a Canon or an iPhone. Basecut 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. For N-Log clips, Nikon's LUT is the conversion, and the steps above are the color workflow.

Basecut still culls, rates and sorts the whole card dump. In Premiere Pro it opens a project with label colors, markers and a sequence for each verdict, and it does not apply color there. The 14-day free trial has 5 free exports and needs no card. See it on real footage.