FYI,
I am a new "pilot", old "Transperancy" then "digital" still photographer, who prefers to capture and present it as it was; which means, I don't "Ansel Adams" the image to make it "artistic". Having been schooled in taking slide film before the onset of digital, I learnt the importance of getting as much correct as possible before taking the photo, which meant photoshoping input was relatively minimal when digital arrived.
But to achieve that you have to learn how the camera and the film "thinks". To that end I evolved into colour profiling my film, Fuji Velvia and Provia, my camera's, Canon A2, 3, 5DM's I, II, III and lately the Olympus EM1, so I could have a consistent starting point for achieving my objective, these days using the XRite Color Checker.
So in attempting to teach myself videography, and after much confusion with Adobe Prem Pro and Davinci Resolve, the fog started to lift; and, I too couldn't figure out why my images were looking mushy in the foiliage and not very good overall when using the video equivalent of camera raw - DLOG from a Phantom 4 camera.
I tried a few low cost LUT's and many of them were of no help.
Then I noticed a couple of downloads on the DJI website.
DJI Phantom 4 – Specs, FAQ, Tutorials and Downloads. .... with the word LUTS in them. After a bit of poking in the dark I realised they can be applied in Davinci Resolve, but not in Adobe Premier Pro. So I posted my problem on the DJI forum and one generous person linked me to
who show you how if you use "notepad" to add # in a couple of places in the LUT code the LUT's will then work in Prem Pro.
And as I was helped I thought I should help you. Because I couldn't understand why DLog was not doing what it should and giving "S...y" output in certain circumstances, which is what led me here. Now I do understand.
The DJI Luts are easily the best I have used, much of the image issues, discussed above go away with these LUTs. I am still figuring them out, though, as there are two DLog to SRGB luts and one rec 709 Lut, which I am yet to try out (because I have been using DLog). The mussy greens pretty much disappear, the image is sharper, the colours are still subdued, but workable, and good tonal balance. I was using the recommended DLog, -2-2-2 settings recommended by Dlog users online. My interest in photography and now aerial videography and photography stems from an interest in sharing what I find in the wilderness, so getting the foliage right is important, something I have been doing for a quarter of a century, building my first website in 1998.
So now I have a consistent starting point, using a camera profile supplied by DJI, to work with.
Having learnt what I have here, the question to answer for me is, "do you really need to use DLog, due to the limitations of the 8 bit camera DJI uses?" The advantage in DLog is that you have more play with the "F Stops"/Dynamic Range and you can attach different "looks" to them.
Is it necessary, though? Who is going to be your audience? Other net users, using uncalibrated monitors, (I calibrate monthly and know colours vary dramatically from monitor to monitor, especially on PC monitors), displaying the sRGB colour space? If so, does it really matter, then if your aerial video has the whites washed out a bit because the image has a stop or so less dynamic range, as the colours look OK in the RGB colour space, but not "arty", because you used the rec 709 recording profile?
Is using Dlog and then fart arsing around in Davinci or Prem Pro, using the DJI Luts as a starting point to then "photoshop" the video, to give a result that is not too far from using rec 709 or even DJI Color, worth the effort? I don't know yet, but I suspect from the examples earlier in the thread it is not worth it.
In other words, do I want spend more time using DLog to achieve a not too dissimilar output using rec 709 or DJI Color? I hope my notso wise words helps others. I am still "out to lunch" on the best way. Hopefully I will be out of my "nappies" soon.
As my objective is not to create art but share it as it was, I am leaning towards the simplest solution. (Which is also why the GoPro Karma looks appealing because, as I am also learning how to use a Hero 4 Black, I am amazed how powerful this little camera is, and when set to Medium view, how cinematic it looks. Using the GoPro was got me into buying the Phantom 4. The Phantom 4 when linked to the Litchi or Autoflight Apps beats the Karma, hands down, in allowing a single uset to achieve a superior cinematic experience on proven drone, because of the sophisticated flight and camera options that can be pre-programmed by these apps, compared to the fewer options of the Karma that also requires line of sight flying, (currently), but it also requires a lot of practice to learn these apps. The Phantom's weakness, compared to the Karma, will be the quality of the output of images. But I don't think GoPro will seek to emulate the flight options of Autoflight or Litchi because they take a bit of learning and investment in resources.)