Switching base ISO mid recording in Cine-EI is causing some metadata issues in Resolve and perhaps other applications, so I strongly recommend you do not switch the base ISO mid shot.
DaVinci Resolve now reads the metadata from footage shot by the FX6 and FX9 in the Cine-EI mode to automatically add the correct exposure offset. So, shoot at 800 ISO base with the EI set to 200 and Resolve will add a -2 stop offset to the footage so that it looks the same as it did when you shot. Shoot at 800 ISO base and 3200 EI and again the correct +2 stop offset is applied.
However if you shoot at 800 base ISO, perhaps with 800 EI and then half way through the shot change the base ISO to high and 12,800 ISO, perhaps with 12,800 EI Resolve gets a bit confused. It will use the new base ISO but the original EI and as a result from the point where you switch base ISO the footage will look extremely under exposed.
So, if you must change the base ISO, it is better to stop recording, switch base and start recording again.
Tag Archives: resolve
DaVinci resolve Frame Rendering Issue and XAVC
There is a bug in some versions of DaVinci Resolve 17 that can cause frames in some XAVC files to be rendered in the wrong order. This results in renders where the resulting video appears to stutter or the motion may jump backwards for a frame or two. This has now been fixed in version 17.3.2 so all user of XAVC and DaVinci Resolve are urged to upgrade to at least version 17.3.2.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/uk/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion
DaVinci Resolve 16.1.2 Released.
Blackmagic Design have just released the latest update to DaVinci Resolve. If you have been experiencing crashes when using XAVC material from the PXW-FX9 I recommend you download and install this update.
If you are not a Resolve user and are struggling with grading or getting the very best from any log or raw camera, then I highly recommend you take a look at DaVinci Resolve. It’s also a very powerful edit package. The best bit is the free version supports most cameras. If you need full MXF support you will need to buy the studio version, but with a one off cost of only $299 USD it really is a bargain and gets you away from any horrid subscription services.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/support/family/davinci-resolve-and-fusion
New Training Videos For DaVinci Resolve.
Blackmagic Designs DaVinci Resolve is a really amazing piece of software, especially given that there is a free version that packs in almost all of the power of the full paid studio version.
Today, post production grading is becoming an ever more important part of the video production process. In the past basic colour correction functions of most edit applications were enough for most people. But now if you are shooting using log or raw it’s very important that you have the right toolset to take advantage of the benefits that log and raw offer.
For decades I have used Adobe Premiere for my editing and it has allowed me to create many great videos from broadcast TV series to simple corporates. As an edit application it’s still pretty solid. But now I shoot almost everything using log and raw and I have never been completely happy with the results from Premiere, even with Lumetri.
So I started to do my grading in Resolve and I have never looked back. The degree of control I have in Resolve is much greater. There are wonderful features such as DaVinci’s own Colour Managed workflow or the ACES workflow which makes dealing with log and raw from virtually any camera a breeze. If you want a film look choose ACES, for more punchy looks choose DaVinci Color Managed. You don’t need LUT’s, exposure adjustments are easy and you can then add all kinds of different secondary corrections such as power windows quickly and easily. The colour managed workflow are particularly beneficial if you wish to produce HDR versions of your productions.
But until recently my workflow was a 2 stage workflow. Edit in Premiere, then grade and finish in Resolve. But the last couple of versions of Resolve have seen some huge advances in its editing speed and capabilities. The editor is now as good as anyone else’s, so I am now editing in Resolve too. It’s a very similar to Premiere so it didn’t take long to make the switch.
One question that I am often asked is where to find good training information and guides for Resolve. Well clearly Blackmagic Design have been listening as they have now released a series of videos that will help guide anyone new to Resolve through the basics. In total there are 8 hours of easy to follow video. The manual is also pretty good!
If you have never tried Resolve then I really urge you to give it a go. It is an incredibly powerful piece of software. It isn’t difficult to master once you see how it’s laid out, how the different “rooms” work and how to use nodes. When I started with it I really found it all quite logical. You start in the “media” room to bring in your material, then progress on to the edit room for editing, finishing in the deliver room to encode and produce your master files and other output versions.
So do take a look at the videos linked below if you want to learn more about Resolve and do give it a try. Remember the free version will do almost everything that the full version will. The full Studio version isn’t expensive and features one of the best suites of noise reduction tools anywhere. It only costs a one off payment of $299.00 USD, no silly subscription fees to keep having to pay as with Adobe!
One last thing before I get to the videos: If you do a lot of grading you really should get a proper control panel. I have the Blackmagic micro panel and this really speeds up my grading. If you don’t have a panel you can only adjust a single grading parameter at a time. With a panel you can do things like bringing up the gain while pulling down the black level. This allows you to see the interaction between your different adjustments much more dynamically and it’s just plain faster. Most of the key functions have dedicated controls so you can quickly dial in a bit of contrast, switch to log mode, bypass a node and boost the saturation all through direct controls, very much quicker than with just a mouse. The use of the micro panel has probably halved the amount of time it takes me to grade a typical project – and – I’m getting a better result because it’s more intuitive.
So here are the videos:
Introduction to Editing.DaVinci Resolve, ACES and the “Sony Raw” input transform.
A quick heads up for users of Resolve with Sony Raw and X-OCN. Don’t make the same mistake I have been making. For some time I have been unhappy with the way the Sony raw looked in DaVinci Resolve and ACES prior to grading. Apparently there used to be a small problem with the raw input transform that could lead to a red/pink hue getting added to the footage. This problem was fixed some time ago. You should now not use the the “Sony Raw” input transform, if you do, it will tint your Raw or X-OCN files slightly pink/red. Instead you should select “no transform”. With no transform selected my images look so much nicer and match Sony’s own Raw Viewer so much better. Thanks to Nick Shaw of Antler Post for helping me out on this and all on the CML list.
Can DaVinci Resolve steal the edit market from Adobe and Apple.
I have been editing with Adobe Premiere since around 1994. I took a rather long break from Premiere between 2001 and 2011 and switched over to Apple and Final Cut Pro which in many ways used to be very similar to Premiere (I think some of the same software writers were used for FCP as Premiere). My FCP edit stations were always muti-core Mac Towers. The old G5’s first then later on the Intel Towers. Then along came FCP-X. I just didn’t get along with FCP-X when it first came out. I’m still not a huge fan of it now, but will happily concede that FCP-X is a very capable, professional edit platform.
So in 2011 I switch back to Adobe Premiere as my edit platform of choice. Along the way I have also used various versions of Avid’s software, which is another capable platform.
But right now I’m really not happy with Premiere. Over the last couple of years it has become less stable than it used to be. I run it on a MacBook Pro which is a well defined hardware platform, yet I still get stability issues. I’m also experiencing problems with gamma and level shifts that just shouldn’t be there. In addition Premiere is not very good with many long GOP codecs. FCP-X seems to make light work of XAVC-L compared to Premiere. Furthermore Adobe’s Media encoder which once used to be one of the first encoders to get new codecs or features is now lagging behind, Apples Compressor now has the ability to do at he full range of HDR files. Media Compressor can only do HDR10. If you don’t know, it is possible to buy Compressor on it’s own.
Meanwhile DaVinci Resolve has been my grading platform of choice for a few years now. I have always found it much easier to get the results and looks that I want from Resolve than from any edit software – this isn’t really a surprise as after all that’s what Resolve was originally designed for.
The last few versions of Resolve have become much faster thanks to some major processing changes under the hood and in addition there has been a huge amount of work on Resolves edit capabilities. It can now be used as a fully featured edit platform. I recently used Resolve to edit some simpler projects that were going to be graded as this way I could stay in the same software for both processes, and you know what it’s a pretty good editor. There are however a few things that I find a bit funky and frustrating in the edit section of Resolve at the moment. Some of that may simply be because I am less familiar with it for editing than I am Premiere.
Anyway, on to my point. Resolve is getting to be a pretty good edit platform and it’s only going to get better. We all know that it’s a really good and very powerful grading platform and with the recent inclusion of the Fairlight audio suite within Resolve it’s pretty good at handling audio too. Given that the free version of Resolve can do all of the edit, sound and grading functions that most people need, why continue to subscribe to Adobe or pay for FCP-X?
With the cost of the latest generations of Apple computers expanding the price gap between them and similar spec Windows machines – as well as the new Macbooks lacking built in ports like HDMI, USB3 that we all use every day (you now have to use adapters and dongles). The Apple eco system is just not as attractive as it used to be. Resolve is cross platform, so an Mac user can stay with Apple if they wish, or move over to Windows or Linux whenever they want with Resolve. You can even switch platforms mid project if you want. I could start an edit on my MacBook and the do the grade on a PC workstation staying with Resolve through the complete process.
Even if you need the extra features of the full version like very good noise reduction, facial recognition, 4K DCI output or HDR scopes then it’s still good value as it currently only costs $299/£229 which is less than a years subscription to Premiere CC.
But what about the rest of the Adobe Creative suite? Well you don’t have to subscribe to the whole suite. You can just get Photoshop or After Effects. But there are also many alternatives. Again Blackmagic Design have Fusion 9 which is a very impressive VFX package used for many Hollywood movies and like Resolve there is also a free version with a very comprehensive tools set or again for just $299/£229 you get the full version with all it’s retiming tools etc.
For a Photoshop replacement you have GIMP which can do almost everything that Photoshop can do. You can even use Photoshop filters within GIMP. The best part is that GIMP is free and works on both Mac’s and PC’s.
So there you have it – It looks like Blackmagic Design are really serious about taking a big chunk of Adobe Premiere’s users. Resolve and Fusion are cross platform so, like Adobe’s products it doesn’t matter whether you want to use a Mac or a PC. But for me the big thing is you own the software. You are not going to be paying out rather a lot of money month on month for something that right now is in my opinion somewhat flakey.
I’m not quite ready to cut my Creative Cloud subscription yet, maybe on the next version of Resolve. But it won’t be long before I do.
How to create a user LUT for the PMW-F5 or F55 in Resolve (or other grading software).
It’s very easy to create your own 3D LUT for the Sony PMW-F5 or PMW-F55 using DaVinci Resolve or just about any grading software with LUT export capability. The LUT should be a 17x17x17 or 33x33x33 .cube LUT (this is what Resolve creates by default).
Simply shoot some test Slog2 or Slog3 clips at the native ISO. You must use the same Slog and color space as you will be using in the camera.
Import and grade the clips in Resolve as you wish the final image to look. Then once your happy with your look, right click on the clip in the timeline and “Export LUT”. Resolve will then create a .cube LUT.
Then place the .cube LUT file created by the grading software on an SD card in the PMWF55_F5 folder. You may need to create the following folder structure on the SD card, so first you have a PRIVATE folder, in that there is a SONY folder and so on.
PRIVATE : SONY : PRO : CAMERA : PMWF55_F5
Put the SD card in the camera, then go to the File menu and go to “Monitor 3D LUT” and select “Load SD Card”. The camera will offer you a 1 to 4 destination memory selection, choose 1,2,3 or 4, this is the location where the LUT will be saved. You should then be presented with a list of all the LUT’s on the SD card. Select your chosen LUT to save it from the SD card to the camera.
Once loaded in to the camera when you choose 3D User LUT’s you can select between user LUT memory 1,2,3 or 4. Your LUT will be in the memory you selected when you copied the LUT from the SD card to the camera.
