Wedding multi-cam color matching: Sony, Canon and iPhone in one timeline

A wedding shot on a Sony, a Canon and an iPhone cuts together badly by default. Each records a different color language, each guesses white balance its own way, and the room light changes every hour. Matching them is mostly bookkeeping done in the right order. This guide gives that order. It works in any editor.

Last checked 2026-10-10.

Why these three do not match

A Sony shooting S-Log3 records a flat log curve. A Canon shooting C-Log2 or C-Log3 records a different curve, and the two Canon curves are not interchangeable. An iPhone 15 Pro or newer can record Apple Log, which uses BT.2020 primaries, a wider gamut than Rec.709. And a standard iPhone clip is not log at all: supported iPhones can record HDR video (Dolby Vision), which behaves differently again.

Put those on one timeline without telling the editor what each clip is, and every clip is misread in its own way. The fix is to stop trusting what each file says about itself and be deliberate about three things: which camera made the clip, what color space it is in, and what you want it to become.

The order that works

Seven steps, in order. Steps 1 to 5 are measurement and correction. Step 6 is the first creative choice.

1. 1. Tag every clip by camera and format before you edit

   Sort the card dump so each clip is labeled with its camera and recording format: S-Log3, C-Log2, C-Log3, Apple Log, standard Rec.709 or HDR. An unlabeled mixed card costs the most edit time, because every later step depends on knowing what each clip is. Do not trust a file's own metadata blindly. Files that were re-encoded can lose their camera tags. In Basecut the log profile is detected per clip, and if a file has lost its tags (for example re-encoded V-Log) it asks you which profile it is.

2. 2. Pick one reference shot and one target

   Choose a well-exposed clip from your main camera, usually the Sony or the Canon on your primary angle, as the reference. Everything else is matched toward it. The first target is plain, neutral Rec.709. Leave the creative look for the end and apply it to every camera at once.

3. 3. Neutralize white balance on each clip, while it is still log

   White balance is the biggest cause of mismatch, because every camera guesses it differently and the room light changes through the day. Fix it clip by clip, aiming for true neutral: grays should read gray on the scopes. Do this before any conversion LUT, because a LUT on top of a color cast bakes the cast in. Aim every clip at neutral rather than at the reference clip's color. If you match one clip's color to another, you copy that clip's leftover cast onto everything. Warm candlelight or golden hour will look flatter at this stage, which is expected. The warmth comes back with the look in step 6.

4. 4. Convert each format to Rec.709 with the transform made for it

   Use the conversion that matches the camera and the exact profile: S-Log3 for a Sony, C-Log2 or C-Log3 as shot for a Canon, Apple Log for an iPhone that recorded it. C-Log2 and C-Log3 are different curves, so a conversion for one is wrong for the other. Apple Log also needs its BT.2020 gamut converted to Rec.709, not only the curve, or greens run too green. A standard iPhone clip is not log, so it needs no log conversion, but check whether it is HDR. Supported iPhones can record HDR video (Dolby Vision) under Settings, Camera, Record Video, and an HDR clip needs its own handling next to standard Rec.709 clips. If nobody is shooting Apple Log, ask whoever films on a phone to turn HDR Video off before the day. The per-camera guides cover each conversion: Sony S-Log3, Canon C-Log, Apple Log, and the free log to Rec.709 LUTs.

5. 5. Match exposure and contrast to the reference, using the scopes

   Bring skin to the same level in every camera, then match black point, white point and mid gray against the reference, camera by camera. In our per-camera guides the target for skin is about 60 to 70 IRE on the waveform. Trust the scopes over your eyes and your laptop screen, because your eyes adapt within seconds. Do this per clip, or per scene: the ceremony, the portraits and the reception have different light, and each camera reacts to it differently. Match saturation to the reference last.

6. 6. Check skin on the vectorscope, then apply one look to everything

   Skin tones should land on the same line on the vectorscope for all three cameras. When they do, apply one look to the whole timeline or to a group of clips. A look on mismatched clips only gives you mismatched clips wearing the same look.

7. 7. Re-check at each change of location or light

   Re-check white balance when the shoot moves from the ceremony to the cocktail hour to the reception. The biggest color gap is usually the reception, so leave extra time for it. Match drone footage last, to your ground target. If you can, give the cameras a shared reference moment, a few overlapping seconds of the same scene, so matching has an anchor.

Before the day: set the cameras up to match

Most of the matching is easier if the cameras are set up for it. These are the habits from our one-page cheat sheet, which you can download at the bottom of this page.

• Pick one target look, usually your primary camera, and match every other camera to it.
• Write down what log format and gamut each camera shoots. Unlabeled mixed cards cost the most edit time.
• Expose each camera to its own scopes. Meter numbers will not match between bodies.
• Match Kelvin across cameras wherever you can set it by hand.
• Monitor each camera with its own log to Rec.709 conversion.

What to watch for on each camera

• Sony S-Log3: shadows are noisy if you underexpose, and no grade recovers them. See S-Log3 color correction.
• Canon: check C-Log2 or C-Log3 on every clip, especially when a shoot mixes bodies. See Canon C-Log color correction.
• iPhone: Apple Log needs both the curve and the gamut converted, and standard clips may be HDR. See Apple Log color correction.
• Drone and action cameras: match them last, to your ground target. See DJI D-Log color correction and GoPro Protune color correction.

By hand, or automatically

By hand, steps 1 to 6 happen per clip. That is fine for a two-camera interview. A wedding comes back with several hundred clips, so the work grows with the number of clips, not the number of cameras.

Basecut automates the measuring and correcting. It detects the log profile per clip, converts to Rec.709, neutralizes white balance clip by clip, and then matches each clip's exposure curve and saturation to a reference clip. It corrects color and does not apply a creative grade, so the look stays yours. It runs on your computer.

What reaches your editor depends on the editor. In DaVinci Resolve (Studio, or Free before 21.1) the baseline grade is applied for you. In Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro it arrives as one .cube file per clip that you attach yourself. Here is exactly what each editor receives. There is a 14-day free trial with 5 free exports and no card, so you can test the match on your own footage. See it on real footage.