Consumer 4K cameras using Full rather than Video Levels?

We just got in some 4K H264 files off a new Olympus TG-5 'Geotagging' camera.

For a $500 true Pocket sized outdoor 'stills' camera with a small 4000x3000 pixel senor, the 4K video pictures looked far better than they should, measuring at an average bitrate of over 100Mbps in every scene but the only problem we faced was that all the highlights looked blown. The operator knew what he was doing and had used a variable ND to keep the shutter speed low and was careful not to over expose.

As we always transcode H264/5 to DNxHR or ProRes 422 with TC and embedded Reels prior to any Edit or Grade, we noticed in our transocoder's report that the video data Levels were 0-255 rather than the usual 16-235. After switching DR15's Media Page Clip Attributes to Full rather than the default Video, suddenly the blown highlights were gone.

Is it now a trend with low cost 4K cameras to use 0-255 levels?

It's been like that for a good while now, going back to the days when 720p video capability on P&S stills cameras was just a novelty. I think it was Nikon who set the 'full range' ball rolling as video on these cameras was recorded in a proprietary Intra-MJPEG format. And that was perpetuated as standard when HD-AVC came on board. As I recall, Panasonic was the exception - most, if not all of their video-capable cameras recorded HD-AVC at Limited range only.

I have an older model Nikon (AW120) 'rugged/all weather' camera that I use for general family knock-about. It shoots records 30p/25p HD-AVC in mp4 (mov) and 60i/50i as AVCHD, both at full luma (0-255) range. At the time I bought it the video quality was judged to be 'best of breed' compared to the Panasonic Lumix and Olympus Stylus 'Tough' offerings.

I thought about upgrading to the latest W300 model that offers 4K and 1080/60p but I wasn't so impressed when I checked one out in-store and recorded some samples. HD quality was only marginally improved and the 4K looked like....well, same as the HD upscaled in post to 4K. I haven't taken the opportunity to check out the Olympus TG-5 myself but judging from reviews, the video capability and quality is dramatically improved over earlier models, with quite usable 4K - although I've read that the continuous auto-focus is still a little sluggish. Auto-focus in video mode on my AW120 is actually very good. All round though the TG-5 is definitely the current 'king of the crop', with it's interchangeable lenses. Mind you, it comes with a higher price tag.

On the odd occasion that have inter-cut higher quality HD-AVC/30p footage with clips from the AW120, for home videos, I usually just 'soft-clipped' Full range to Limited (Video) range with Resolve. Sometimes I would use the 'HL' (Highlight) control (not the log Highlight wheel) to bring 236-255 values down into range if it helped to preserve or enhance highlight detail. For the most part though, I rarely apply any more than the most basic colour correction when the white balance is off. The video quality is just not up to it.

Sounds like your TG-5 4K footage deserves more careful treatment though. I suspect if you imported the original camera clips into Resolve it would automatically default to Full Data levels. It didn't use to, but Resolve now (can't recall with which version) recognizes and correctly interprets full range flags.