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By Pravit Gandhi··8 min read

Apple Log workflow on Windows

Stuck with an iPhone Apple Log workflow on Windows, and overcomplicating it? What Apple Log is, what breaks off macOS, and the routes that work on a PC.

You are probably overcomplicating it. Apple Log on Windows is one real obstacle wrapped in several imaginary ones. The real obstacle: Apple's own conversion lives inside Final Cut Pro, which does not run on Windows, so you have to source the log to Rec.709 conversion yourself. The imaginary ones are the file format, the codec and the colour space, all ordinary and portable. An Apple Log clip from an iPhone is a ProRes file in a QuickTime container, and any editor that opens ProRes can open it. Put a conversion in front of it, correct exposure, then grade.

Which iPhones make Apple Log, and what comes out of the camera

Apple ties Log to ProRes. In the Camera app you turn on Apple ProRes in Settings, then choose between ProRes Log and ProRes HDR when you set resolution and frame rate. Apple's camera app offers no Log option outside ProRes.

The model list splits in a way that matters. Apple states that iPhone 15 Pro, 14 Pro and 13 Pro models support ProRes recording to built-in storage in HDR, SDR or Log encoding, while iPhone 17 Pro and 16 Pro models support ProRes recording in either HDR or Log encoding. ProRes itself needs iOS 15.1 or later.

Storage is the constraint people hit first. On a 128 GB iPhone, ProRes recording is limited to 1080p HD at 30 or 25 fps, and only at 256 GB and above do you get 1080p at 60 fps and 4K at 30, 25 or 24 fps. Apple says ProRes files are up to 30 times larger than HEVC, and that recording ProRes needs at least 10 percent of the device's storage free.

What actually breaks once the files are on a PC

Getting them across is the least of it. Apple's instruction covers Windows directly: a USB-C or Lightning cable with Image Capture on Mac, or a compatible application on a PC.

The first real break is Apple's conversion. Final Cut Pro carries built-in camera LUTs, which Apple describes as providing "log processing for media from video cameras that have a log recording option", and its table has an entry reading "Apple Log: Uses Apple's 3D LUT to convert Apple Log to Rec. 709." Final Cut detects the log format from metadata on import and applies that LUT automatically. The whole mechanism is macOS only, so on Windows nothing converts anything on your behalf and the flat grey picture in front of you is correct.

The second is that Apple's Log documentation is gated. The Apple Log profile white paper sits on Apple's developer download server, and requesting it redirects to an Apple ID sign-in rather than serving the file. Free, but not a link you can hand someone.

The third is narrower than it sounds. Apple publishes exactly one piece of Windows software here: Apple ProRes RAW for Windows, version 1.3, requiring Windows 10 64-bit at 837 KB. It enables playback of ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ, with Adobe After Effects, Media Encoder, Premiere Pro and Premiere Rush listed as compatible. Note what it does not cover. It is a ProRes RAW component, not a general ProRes decoder, and DaVinci Resolve is not on Apple's list. For ordinary ProRes 422 Apple publishes nothing for Windows, which makes support a question about your editing application rather than the operating system.

Letting the editor detect it and convert it for you

Try this first, because most current editors have colour management that recognises log formats from clip metadata and applies a conversion.

Two cautions. If your editor converts the clip, adding a LUT on top stacks two transforms, producing the over-contrasty, plastic-highlight picture people then try to grade their way out of: Premiere is applying a LUT to my log footage. And detection is only as good as the metadata, so a clip that has been through a transcode or a phone-to-cloud round trip may arrive with nothing to detect.

Whichever route converts the clip, that step is normalization. Exposure and white balance come after it, and the look after that.

Doing the conversion yourself with a colour space transform

If your editor exposes a colour space transform, use it, and set the input to Apple Log rather than approximating with a generic log setting. A transform computes the conversion rather than looking it up, so it does not clip out of bounds values the way a lookup table can.

The practical advantage is that a transform gives you a defined place to correct exposure. Input transform first, exposure and white balance in the working space after it, output transform last, look in between. With a conversion LUT the order changes: exposure has to be fixed upstream while the clip is still log, because once values pass through the table the skew is baked in.

Do not expect a transform, an ACES setup and a vendor LUT to agree. They will not, and that is correct rather than a fault. Why CST, ACES and LUTs look different explains why.

Getting a LUT when you are not on a Mac

The most reliable Windows-friendly source is the Blackmagic Camera app, which needs iOS 16.6 or later. Blackmagic's technical specifications state "Apple Log to Rec. 709 LUT supported on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max", and its LUT controls include Import LUT and Export LUT, so the conversion can leave the phone as a file with no Mac involved.

Apple's own developer download works from any machine if you sign in with an Apple ID, which is free to create. Third-party Apple Log LUTs exist in quantity and vary in quality. The honest test is a grey card: apply the candidate and check neutral stays neutral on the parade.

Apple Log 2 is a separate case

Do not assume one conversion covers both. Apple's tech specs for iPhone 15 Pro and 16 Pro list the feature as "Log video recording", while the iPhone 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max specs list "Apple Log 2" as a distinct line item alongside ProRes RAW, genlock and Academy Color Encoding System. Apple's newsroom calls the 17 Pro pair the first smartphones to support ProRes RAW, Log 2 and genlock.

Final Cut Pro carries them as two separate camera LUTs, the second reading "Apple Log 2: Uses Apple's 3D LUT to convert Apple Log 2 to Rec. 709." If your software offers an Apple Log input and the phone recorded Apple Log 2, you have a mismatch, and the result looks subtly wrong rather than obviously broken. The 17 Pro also records ProRes RAW, which Apple's Final Cut Camera documentation puts at more than 10 GB per minute at 30 fps full sensor, or more than 15 GB for ProRes RAW HQ.

Where the operating system stops being the problem

Once the conversion is sorted, everything left is ordinary grading work and the Windows question disappears. What replaces it is a machine question, because ProRes at 4K plus a transform on every clip is where laptops struggle: your grading performance problem is not your Mac and why your 4K render is taking hours.

Browser-based grading is a genuine category rather than a gap. Luttie, fylm.ai and Flixier all exist and all run in a browser. The honest limitation is that every tool which properly grades a whole timeline still needs a workstation or an NLE licence underneath it somewhere.

Leumos AI is our attempt at that part. It is a browser-based grading studio: you upload an edit, it detects the scene cuts, grades each shot toward a reference image, and returns a 4K ProRes or H.265 render from the cloud, with an ACES based input transform for Apple Log among the formats it handles. Nothing installs and there is no GPU requirement, so the operating system stops mattering. What comes back is rendered graded files, not LUTs or XML. Closed beta, waitlist at leumos.ai, and the broader case is in grading log footage without DaVinci Resolve.

If the iPhone is one camera among several, see matching Nikon Z footage with Sony and Canon and, for the per clip scaling problem, batch grading and exporting many clips.

Frequently asked questions

Can I edit Apple Log footage on Windows at all?

Yes. Apple Log arrives as a ProRes file, an ordinary format Windows editing applications handle. The only Mac-tied piece is Apple's automatic conversion inside Final Cut Pro, which you replace with your editor's colour management, a colour space transform, or a LUT.

Do I need Apple ProRes RAW for Windows?

Only if you shot ProRes RAW, which on iPhone means an iPhone 17 Pro model or a third-party app that records it. Apple's component covers ProRes RAW and ProRes RAW HQ playback and is not needed for ordinary ProRes 422 from the Camera app.

Where do I get Apple's Apple Log LUT without a Mac?

Two routes. Apple's developer download works from any machine but requires signing in with an Apple ID. The Blackmagic Camera app carries an Apple Log to Rec. 709 LUT and has an Export LUT function, so the file can leave the phone directly.

Why does my iPhone Log footage still look flat after I applied a LUT?

Either the LUT never applied, or something else already converted the clip and the LUT is a second transform in the chain. Apply exactly one conversion. If the picture is correct but lifeless in the shadows, that is exposure, and it gets fixed before the look.

Sources

All fetched 2026-08-15.