# Apple Log: what it is and how to use it on iPhone > What Apple Log and Apple Log 2 are, which iPhones record them, how to turn Apple Log on, why the footage looks grey, and how to convert a whole shoot to Rec.709. Canonical: https://batchtone.com/blog/apple-log 20 October 2026 · 5 min read Apple Log is the flat, log-encoded video profile on the iPhone 15 Pro and later. It keeps more highlight and shadow detail than standard iPhone video, so it looks grey until you convert it. To use it, turn on Apple ProRes with Log encoding in Settings > Camera > Formats, then apply the Apple Log to Rec.709 LUT before any look. The iPhone 17 Pro adds Apple Log 2, which needs its own conversion. Apple Log is the log video profile on the iPhone 15 Pro and later. It records a flat, grey image that keeps more highlight and shadow detail than normal iPhone video. You turn it on in the Camera settings, and you convert it to Rec.709 afterwards with a LUT or your editor's Apple Log transform. Most of the confusion around it comes from that second step. The footage is supposed to look washed out off the phone, and it only looks right once something converts it. ## What is Apple Log? Apple Log is a log curve: instead of baking contrast and saturation into the file, the iPhone stores the light it saw on a flatter curve. That leaves room to pull back a bright sky or lift a dark corner in the edit, which a standard video file has already thrown away. It is the iPhone's version of what camera makers have done for years with S-Log3, C-Log3, V-Log and D-Log. [Log footage](https://batchtone.com/blog/log-footage) covers the idea in general; everything there applies here. ## Which iPhones record Apple Log, and what is Apple Log 2? | | Apple Log | Apple Log 2 | |---|---|---| | iPhones | iPhone 15 Pro and later | iPhone 17 Pro | | Gamut | Rec.2020 primaries | Wider than Apple Log | | Conversion | Apple Log to Rec.709 LUT | Apple Log 2 to Rec.709 LUT | | LUTs interchangeable | No | No | Apple Log 2 keeps the idea and widens the colour gamut. That one change is why an Apple Log LUT gets Apple Log 2 colours wrong: the conversion expects different primaries. Check which one your clips are before you pick a LUT. ## How do you turn on Apple Log? 1. Open Settings > Camera > Formats. 2. Turn on Apple ProRes. 3. Set ProRes Encoding to Log. 4. In the Camera app, switch to Video and tap ProRes before recording. In Apple's Camera app, Apple Log records as ProRes, and ProRes files are large, so check your storage before a long day. Since its 1.1 update in November 2024, Apple's Final Cut Camera app can record Apple Log as HEVC instead, which keeps the files much smaller. ## Why does Apple Log look grey? Because it was never meant to be watched as it comes off the phone. The flat curve is the extra range, stored where a viewer cannot see it yet. A conversion LUT maps it back to normal contrast and colour, and only then do you judge exposure or add a look. If footage looks grey after a LUT, the usual cause is a creative LUT put straight onto log. Creative looks are built for converted footage, so they need the conversion underneath. [iPhone LUTs](https://batchtone.com/blog/iphone-luts) covers which Apple Log LUT to use and where the Apple Log 2 one comes from. ## Should you shoot Apple Log? Shoot it when the light is hard: a bright window behind a face, sun and shade in one frame, a sunset you want to keep. Skip it when the clip is going straight to a phone screen today, because standard iPhone video already looks finished and Apple Log adds a step. | Shoot Apple Log when | Skip it when | |---|---| | The scene has bright highlights and deep shadows | The light is even and the clip is going out today | | You plan to grade, or match other cameras | You will not convert it afterwards | | You can afford the storage | You are short on space and in the Camera app | ## How do you convert Apple Log to Rec.709? Apply the conversion first, then adjust exposure, then add any look. Final Cut Pro applies Apple's LUT as a camera LUT, DaVinci Resolve has an Apple Log colour space transform, and Premiere Pro takes it as a Lumetri input LUT. [Rec.709 LUT](https://batchtone.com/blog/rec-709-lut) explains what the conversion targets. That is quick for one clip. A phone shoot is rarely one clip: it is forty, shot walking from inside to outside, and each needs the same conversion at a slightly different strength. ## How BatchTone handles a whole Apple Log shoot BatchTone is a Mac app that applies one LUT across a folder of photos and clips. It ships no LUTs, so you import Apple's conversion (or your Apple Log 2 file) once and it stays in the library. 1. Drop the folder of clips in, with any HEIC stills from the same day. 2. Pick the conversion. A frame from each clip is previewed with it applied, so you judge it on your own footage. 3. Lower the strength on the clips that need less; the rest stay put. 4. Export H.264 MP4 to a folder you choose. Audio is copied untouched and the originals are never written to. The iPhone's MOV files go straight in, because the ffmpeg build inside BatchTone decodes ProRes as well as H.264 and HEVC, 10-bit included. It runs on macOS 12 or later on Apple Silicon, and the seven-day trial has everything unlocked, so you can test it on your own Apple Log clips before paying. [Download BatchTone free on the Mac App Store](https://batchtone.com/download) ## Common questions ### Is Apple Log the same as ProRes? They are separate things. ProRes is the codec that stores the video; Apple Log is the curve the picture is recorded on. In the Camera app you get Apple Log by choosing Log as the ProRes encoding, and Final Cut Camera can put Apple Log into HEVC instead. ### Does the iPhone 15 have Apple Log? Only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. The standard iPhone 15 and 15 Plus do not record it. ### Do I need a LUT for Apple Log? You need a conversion, and a LUT is the most common one. Editors such as DaVinci Resolve and Final Cut Pro can also convert Apple Log with their own built-in transforms. ### Can I use an Apple Log LUT on Apple Log 2 footage? It will get the colours wrong, because Apple Log 2 uses a wider gamut. Use an Apple Log 2 to Rec.709 conversion for iPhone 17 Pro footage shot in Apple Log 2. ### Is Apple Log worth it for social media clips? For a quick clip posted the same day, usually not, since standard iPhone video already looks finished. It pays off when the light is difficult or you will grade the footage anyway. **About this article.** Written by the team that builds BatchTone, a macOS app that applies .cube LUTs to whole folders of photos and video. Spotted something wrong or out of date? Write to [support@batchtone.com](mailto:support@batchtone.com). ## Read next How-to 21 September 2026 · 8 min read ## [Apple Log LUT: Apple Log to Rec.709 on iPhone 15, 16 and 17](https://batchtone.com/blog/iphone-luts) The Apple Log LUT to start with is Apple's own Apple Log to Rec.709 LUT. Apply it, or your editor's built-in Apple Log transform, before any creative look. iPhone 17 Pro footage in Apple Log 2 needs the Apple Log 2 LUT instead. Ordinary iPhone video is already Rec.709 and needs no conversion. For a whole shoot, apply the same conversion to every clip at once, then lower it on the clips that need less. [Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/iphone-luts) Explainers 29 September 2026 · 7 min read ## [Log footage: why it looks grey and what to do with it](https://batchtone.com/blog/log-footage) Log footage is video recorded with a logarithmic gamma curve, which spreads the sensor's full dynamic range evenly across the file instead of shaping it for a screen. That is why it looks grey and washed out straight off the card: it has not been finished yet. To use it, expose it correctly for the profile (usually at its minimum or native ISO, and slightly bright), then convert it to Rec.709 with the manufacturer's conversion LUT or a colour space transform, and grade on top of that. [Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/log-footage) Explainers 28 September 2026 · 6 min read ## [Rec.709 LUT: which one your footage actually needs](https://batchtone.com/blog/rec-709-lut) A Rec.709 LUT converts log or flat footage into the colour space screens actually display, so it is a technical correction rather than a style. The right one is specific to your camera's profile (S-Log3, C-Log3, V-Log, N-Log and D-Log each need their own), and the manufacturer's own conversion LUT is almost always better than a generic pack. Apply it first, as the base, then grade on top of it; doing those in the other order is what makes a conversion look wrong. [Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/rec-709-lut) Explainers 19 September 2026 · 4 min read ## [What is a LUT? The whole idea in five minutes](https://batchtone.com/blog/what-is-a-lut) LUT stands for lookup table. In video and photo editing, a LUT is a file that says, for a grid of input colours, what each one should come out as. Applying a LUT means looking up every pixel in that grid and interpolating between the nearest entries. [Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/what-is-a-lut) ## One look. A whole shoot. BatchTone applies your .cube LUTs across photos and video at once, with a strength dial on every file. Seven-day trial, everything unlocked. [Download for macOS](https://apps.apple.com/app/batchtone/id6821727167)