diff --git a/chart/templates/deployment.yaml b/chart/templates/deployment.yaml
index 5d99fe3a4..c9582ff35 100644
--- a/chart/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/chart/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -128,7 +128,9 @@ spec:
             - /app/canary-checker
           args:
             - operator
-            - {{ .Values.logLevel}}
+            {{- if .Values.logLevel }}
+            - {{ .Values.logLevel }}
+            {{- end }}
             - --httpPort
             - "8080"
             - --disable-postgrest={{ .Values.disablePostgrest }}
@@ -141,6 +143,9 @@ spec:
             {{- if gt (int .Values.replicas) 1 }}
             - --enable-leader-election=true
             {{- end }}
+            {{- if .Values.jsonLogs }}
+            - --json-logs
+            {{- end }}
             {{- range $k, $v := .Values.extraArgs}}
             - --{{$k}}={{$v}}
             {{- end }}
diff --git a/chart/values.yaml b/chart/values.yaml
index dd065175a..3dbc8dfd8 100644
--- a/chart/values.yaml
+++ b/chart/values.yaml
@@ -33,7 +33,10 @@ grafanaDashboards: false
 
 # Turn on pprof /debug endpoint
 debug: false
-logLevel: "-v"
+
+# -v, -vv, -vvv
+logLevel: ""
+jsonLogs: true
 
 # restrict canary-checker to monitor single namespace for canaries.  Leave blank to monitor all namespaces
 canaryNamespace: ""