Sony S-Gamut3 or S-Gamut3.Cine, and which LUT you need

Same brightness curve, different colours. Pick the wrong one and your whites and greys look fine, while every colour is quietly a little off.

Already know which you shot? PursuitLuts for Sony has a file for each.

The short version

When a Sony camera records S-Log3, you choose between two colour ranges. The brightness curve is the same S-Log3 either way. So neither holds more detail in the highlights or shadows. Only the colours are recorded differently.

S-Gamut3.Cine is the one most people use. Sony says it covers a slightly wider area than DCI-P3, the colour range digital cinema uses. Sony also says it's designed for easy post-production.

S-Gamut3 is wider still. Sony calls it the widest a camera can capture. Sony calls it a good choice for ACES, a colour system used in film and effects work, and for Rec.2020 and archiving.

For YouTube, TV and most client work, S-Gamut3.Cine is the practical choice. If you're not delivering high dynamic range or wide colour video, the extra range has nowhere to go.

How to tell which you shot

Many Sony cameras have picture profile presets. On the FX3, PP8 is S-Log3 with S-Gamut3.Cine and PP9 is S-Log3 with S-Gamut3. Check which one was used, or open it and look at Color Mode. Newer models put the same choice in a Log Shooting Setting menu.

If the footage is someone else's, try both. Put the S-Gamut3.Cine file on the clip, then the S-Gamut3 file. Look at something colourful, like a blue sky, an orange or a green. Whites and greys won't change at all. The colours will, and the right file is the one where they look natural.

The Sony pack includes both files, so you can try both on your own clip.

What the wrong one does, measured

We ran a standard colour chart through our Sony files both ways round. Our Sony conversions match Resolve's own to within a hundredth of a step. So what you see below is the choice itself, not an error in the files.

• Whites and greys: unchanged.
• Colours: turn about 3.5 degrees around the colour wheel on average.
• Shot S-Gamut3.Cine, read as S-Gamut3: colours come out about 3% weaker. Blue sky swings the most, by about 9 degrees.
• Shot S-Gamut3, read as S-Gamut3.Cine: colours come out about 3% stronger. Strong blues gain the most, around 13%.
• Skin: shifts a little less than oranges and blues do. It's clear side by side and easy to miss on its own.

On its own, a shot converted the wrong way looks plausible. Cut next to footage converted correctly, the sky and skin won't match. No single colour slider fixes it, because every colour moved by a different amount.

If you use the Color Space Transform effect instead

The same choice appears as Input Color Space: Sony S-Gamut3.Cine or Sony S-Gamut3. Set Input Gamma to Sony S-Log3 either way. Here are the settings for every camera.

The PursuitLuts Sony pack includes both. The files are named Sony SLog3 Cine, and Sony SLog3 SG3 for S-Gamut3. You don't have to decide before buying.

Updated 2026-09-13. All guides