Sony A7 IV Color Grading Workflow: From Flat to Cinematic

Sony A7 IV Color Grading Workflow: From Flat S-Log3 to Cinematic Color

If you shoot video on the Sony A7 IV, you’ve probably had that moment where your S-Log3 footage looks flat, grey, and lifeless on the timeline. The good news is that this is exactly what you want for a powerful Sony A7 IV color grading workflow. In 2025, when so many filmmakers post every day to YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, knowing how to turn that flat log image into a consistent cinematic look is one of the best ways to stand out.

In this guide we’ll walk through how to set up your Sony A7 IV (S-Log3 vs S-Cinetone), how to correct and grade your footage in Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, or other NLEs, and how to combine LUTs with manual grading so you get both speed and control. Along the way, we’ll point you to official Sony and Adobe resources, plus related AAAPresets blogs and LUT packs that can help you move faster.

If you prefer to start from a strong base look rather than grade from scratch, you can drop your Sony A7 IV S-Log3 clips onto cinematic LUTs from packs like the 700+ Cinematic Video LUTs For Your Next Project and then refine the grade. These packs live inside the broader Cinematic LUTs Pack for Premiere Pro, DaVinci & Final Cut Pro, and you can take advantage of the Buy 3, Get 9 FREE offer when you add 12 packs to your cart.

Why Sony A7 IV Color Grading Matters (Especially in S-Log3)

The Sony A7 IV already looks good in-camera, but “good” is not the same as “cinematic.” When you shoot in Picture Profiles like S-Log3, you’re capturing a huge amount of dynamic range and color information that’s designed to be shaped later in post.

S-Log3 looks washed-out because it’s trying to hold detail in both highlights and shadows. That’s perfect for grading: you can push the look toward warm golden-hour romance, cool blue drama, or a neutral documentary style without destroying the image.

If you’re brand new to grading log footage, it’s worth checking out a dedicated log-focused guide like our guide to grading LOG footage in Premiere Pro so you understand the basics of why log exists and how to handle it on the scopes.

Step 1: Set Up Your Sony A7 IV for a Gradeable Image

Great color grading starts in-camera. With the Sony A7 IV, the two main options for a flexible workflow are S-Log3 and S-Cinetone.

S-Log3 vs S-Cinetone on the Sony A7 IV

S-Log3 gives you the widest dynamic range and the most flexibility in post. It’s flatter, noisier in the shadows if underexposed, and absolutely requires color correction and grading.
S-Cinetone gives you a lovely, almost ready-to-go image in-camera with soft highlight roll-off and pleasing skin tones. It still benefits from gentle grading, but you have less room to push the image around compared to S-Log3.

A good way to think about it:

S-Cinetone is ideal for fast turnaround (events, quick content, corporate work).
S-Log3 is ideal when you want a custom cinematic look or plan to intercut with other cameras.

If you want to go deeper on how different camera brands render color, you may enjoy our deep dive into matching Sony and Canon camera colors, which shows how log footage from different systems can be brought into the same color space.

Exposure Habits for S-Log3

S-Log3 rewards you when you expose it carefully. Sony’s own S-Log overview for filmmakers explains how the gamma curve is designed to capture more highlight and shadow detail than a standard Rec.709 curve.

In practical terms on the A7 IV:

Aim to slightly overexpose by about +1 to +1.7 stops compared to what looks “right” on the LCD.
Protect bright highlights (sky, windows, practical lights) from clipping.
Use zebras or false color if available to keep skin and highlight levels under control.

On one recent low-light wedding, I shot the Sony A7 IV in S-Log3 at a slightly brighter exposure than felt comfortable in-camera, then pulled the mids back in post. That gave me clean, low-noise skin tones while keeping candle highlights from turning into ugly blown-out blobs.

Step 2: First Steps in Post – Technical Color Correction

Once your S-Log3 or S-Cinetone footage is on your drive, it’s time to move into your NLE or color grading app. Whether you use DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, or something else, the first phase is always the same: technical correction before creative color.

Import, Organize, and Use Proxies if Needed

Import all your clips and group them by scene, location, or camera angle.
Create proxies if your machine struggles with 4K S-Log3 files.
Label or color-code clips that share the same lighting so you can grade them together.

This is also a great moment to review a broader filmmaker-inspired color grading workflow so your Sony A7 IV color grading sits inside a repeatable process from edit to final export.

Neutralize White Balance, Exposure, and Contrast

Next, you build a neutral Rec.709-style base image. In Premiere Pro, you’ll typically do this in the Lumetri Color panel; in DaVinci Resolve, you’ll use primary wheels and curves on your first node.

White balance: Use a grey card if you shot one, or pick a neutral area in the frame. Adobe’s tutorial on adjusting colors and white balance with the Lumetri Color panel shows how to use the eyedropper and scopes to remove color casts.
Midtones: Bring your mid-grey up to a healthy level. For most Rec.709 workflows, that’s around 40–55 IRE on the waveform for skin and mid-tones.
Contrast: Use contrast and curves to “unroll” S-Log3 into something closer to a standard curve without crushing the blacks or clipping highlights.

At this stage, you’re not chasing a “look” yet. You’re simply turning S-Log3 into a clean, neutral image. If you prefer to work with adjustment layers for non-destructive changes, see our guide on non-destructive color grading with adjustment layers.

Step 3: LUTs vs Manual Grading (And How to Combine Them)

This is the big question for most Sony A7 IV creators: should you rely on LUTs or grade manually?

Presets & LUTs vs Manual Color Grading

LUTs and presets are fantastic for speed and consistency. Drop a cinematic LUT designed for S-Log3 onto an adjustment layer, dial back the intensity, and you instantly see a stylized version of your shot. A pack like Cinematic Color Grading Video LUTs For Filmmakers lets you test several “movie” looks in seconds.

Manual grading gives you maximum control. You start with a neutral base and slowly shape contrast, hue, and saturation. It’s slower at first, but once you understand the tools, you can match any LUT and then tweak it to your exact taste.

A smart hybrid workflow looks like this:

Do your technical correction (white balance, exposure, contrast).
Apply a LUT designed for S-Log3 as a starting point on an adjustment layer or later node.
Reduce LUT intensity to 40–70% so it doesn’t destroy detail.
Use manual grading tools (wheels, curves, saturation, HSL) to refine the look.

If you want to understand LUTs in more depth, check out our beginner-to-pro breakdown in the LUTs blog series, starting with How to Import and Apply LUTs in Windows and Mac.

Official Resources Worth Bookmarking

For Premiere Pro basics, Adobe has a clear walkthrough on using the Lumetri panel for basic color correction, which pairs perfectly with Sony A7 IV footage.
For understanding Sony’s log curves in more detail, Sony’s S-Log technology page explains why S-Log3 behaves the way it does and how it preserves highlight and shadow detail.

Step 4: Build a Cinematic Look for Sony A7 IV Footage

Once you have a technically correct base and an optional LUT in place, you can shape a cinematic look that fits your story. This is where your Sony A7 IV color grading becomes truly personal.

Choose a Color Palette

Ask yourself what feeling you want from the scene:

Warm & nostalgic: Slightly lifted blacks, warm midtones, softer contrast.
Cool & dramatic: Cooler shadows, neutral or slightly desaturated skin, stronger contrast.
Neutral & clean: Balanced tones, moderate saturation, subtle contrast—great for commercial work.

For a classic “cinematic” Sony A7 IV look, many colorists use:

Cooler tones in the shadows.
Warmer tones in the midtones and highlights (especially on skin).
Slight overall desaturation to avoid that overly “video” feel.

If you want examples of how different palettes feel in context, our article on a filmmaker-inspired color grading workflow walks through specific scene types and moods.

Key Tools to Master

Lift / Gamma / Gain (or Shadows / Midtones / Highlights): Use these wheels to push cool blues into the shadows, warmth into highlights, and fine-tune overall brightness.
Curves: Add a gentle S-curve to increase contrast, and adjust individual RGB channels to subtly steer the hue of shadows or highlights.
Saturation and Vibrance: Pull overall saturation down slightly, then selectively boost important colors (like skin or wardrobe) with HSL or Hue vs Sat curves.
Skin tone line: Use your vectorscope to keep skin sitting close to the skin-tone line, even when the rest of the scene pushes into stylized color.

When I pushed a teal-orange LUT onto a drone sunset shot from the A7 IV, I noticed the sky started clipping and skin turned radioactive. Dialing back the LUT, softening the curve, and using a Hue vs Sat curve to tame orange brought the look back into “cinematic” instead of “cartoon.”

Secondary Corrections and Local Adjustments

Once the global look is set, clean up local issues:

Power windows / masks: Brighten faces, darken corners, or subtly guide attention using masks and vignettes.
Hue vs Hue / Hue vs Sat curves: Desaturate distracting greens in foliage, shift annoying neon signs, or calm down overly strong clothing colors.
Shot matching: Copy grades between similar clips, then fine-tune exposure and white balance per shot.

If you want to see how log from different brands responds in a node-based workflow, our deep dive into S-Log, C-Log, and BRAW grading is a good companion read.

Step 5: Final Polish, Consistency, and Export

The last 10% of your Sony A7 IV color grading workflow is about making the whole project feel like a single film, not a collection of clips.

Add Subtle Film Texture

A light layer of film grain and, where appropriate, gentle halation can help blend digital sharpness and give the image a more organic feel. Use these effects sparingly—think “texture,” not “Instagram filter.”

Check Consistency Across the Timeline

Scrub through your edit with scopes open to watch exposure levels.
Look away from the screen, then glance back to see if a shot suddenly feels too warm or too dark.
Group-grading similar shots can help maintain a consistent Sony A7 IV look across an entire sequence.

Export Settings and Color Space

For most online delivery, you’ll export in Rec.709. Make sure:

Your timeline color space matches your delivery (usually Rec.709).
Your export preset keeps the same resolution and frame rate you shot at.
You choose a bitrate high enough to avoid banding and compression artifacts.

A Practical Sony A7 IV Color Grading Example

Let’s put it all together with a simple workflow you can follow today:

Shoot: Record in S-Log3 with slightly brighter exposure, protecting highlights.
Import: Bring clips into Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve, organize by scene, and create proxies if necessary.
Technical correction: Use the waveform and vectorscope to balance white balance, midtones, and contrast into a neutral Rec.709 base.
Apply LUT: Add a cinematic LUT from the 700+ Cinematic Video LUTs For Your Next Project pack on an adjustment layer and reduce intensity to taste.
Refine manually: Use wheels, curves, and HSL tools to fine-tune shadows, highlights, and skin tones.
Secondary corrections: Add masks to brighten faces or darken backgrounds, and clean up any problem colors.
Final polish: Add a subtle film grain overlay, check consistency across the whole edit, and export in Rec.709.

Once you’re comfortable with that base workflow, you can experiment with more advanced techniques like node trees, creative LUT stacks, and complex shot-matching workflows explored in our filmmaker color grading series.

If you want to build a reusable toolkit around your Sony A7 IV, consider combining multi-purpose LUT bundles like the 700+ Cinematic Video LUTs For Your Next Project with flagship packs like the 1000+ Master Lightroom Presets Bundle. You can mix filmic looks for your video with matching styles for your thumbnails and stills—all under the Buy 3, Get 9 FREE offer.

FAQs: Sony A7 IV Color Grading & S-Log3

Do I have to shoot S-Log3 on the Sony A7 IV to get a cinematic look?

No. S-Cinetone can look fantastic with a light grade, especially for quick work. S-Log3 simply gives you more dynamic range and flexibility, which is ideal when you want a highly customized Sony A7 IV color grading workflow or need to match multiple cameras.

Which is better for beginners: LUTs or manual color grading?

Start with LUTs to see quick improvements and learn what different looks feel like, then layer in manual grading to fix exposure, white balance, and skin tones. Over time, you’ll rely less on LUTs for “fixing” footage and more for creative styling.

What’s the biggest mistake people make with S-Log3 footage?

The most common mistake is underexposing S-Log3 and then trying to rescue noisy shadows in post. Slight overexposure, careful highlight protection, and clean midtones will give you much better results when you grade.

How should I monitor S-Log3 while shooting on the A7 IV?

Use a Rec.709 or S-Log3-to-709 LUT on your monitor if possible so you’re not judging exposure from the flat log image. Combine that with zebras or false color and regular checks on your histogram.

Can I reuse my Sony A7 IV color grading across multiple projects?

Yes. Save your node tree or Lumetri grade as a preset, and build a small library of “base looks” for different scenarios—golden hour, interiors, night exteriors, etc. You can then tweak each look per project instead of starting from scratch every time.

Written by Asanka — creator of AAAPresets (10,000+ customers).