Senior Blackmagic Design trainer Simon Hall presents a short workshop covering basics of color grading in DaVinci Resolve 16. He shows all parts of the Color page in Resolve and explains how they should be used. Simon also shows a few practical examples of primary and secondary color correction. DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of color grading with Simon Hall. Image credit: cinema5D During this year’s Photo & Adventure trade show in Vienna, Austria, the cinema5D team was in charge of the “Cine & Video stage” program at this show. We invited many interesting guests to talk about various topics. You can see the initial post here. We decided to publish the most interesting topics again in separate articles. You can await these to be published in the next weeks. This article is covering Simon Hall’s presentation showing the basics of color grading in Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve 16. This content was originally streamed live from the Photo+Adventure – Film+Video Stage –  in November. We are re-publishing and highlighting some of the best content from the stage. DaVinci Resolve used to be known mainly as a color grading software. It still is one of the most powerful software for colorists. In recent years it, however, also became a powerful NLE editing software. Blackmagic Design managed to concentrate lots of functions from various stages of post-production in one application. DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of color grading with Simon Hall. Image credit: cinema5D Simon Hall is a senior Blackmagic Design trainer and an experienced editor. In summer, he conducted a short DaVinci Resolve training for cinema5D and we decided to invite him to Photo & Adventure trade show to show basics of color grading in Resolve 16. Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of Color Grading The focus of this short workshop is concentrated on the Color page of DaVinci Resolve 16 as that is where the whole color grading process happens. Simon starts the presentation with the description of tall the different windows in the Color page. DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of color grading with Simon Hall – Layer nodes. Image credit: cinema5D The top left-hand corner contains a Gallery. Users can save their grades there in the form of stills. Next to the gallery in the middle, there is a Viewer monitor. The top right-hand corner contains a Node window. Simon shows node workflow. He uses a few serial nodes and also explains layer nodes, which can bypass serial nodes. These are useful for instance when doing local color adjustments with qualifiers. Simon isolates the color of a face not to mess up the skin tones while grading as an example. Nodes can be labeled for better orientation because with complex grades, the node window can get a bit confusing. The stripe in the middle is a thumbnail view. It includes all the clips from the timeline. The bottom left-hand corner contains a window with many primary color correction tools. Most used ones are the primary color wheels – Lift (for shadows), Gamma (for midtones), and Gain (for highlights). Users can use these wheels to quickly correct exposure and color temperature of the clips. As an alternative to primary wheels, there are also log wheels. Log wheels are much more specific than primary wheels – the area they affect does not overlap so much. Log wheels are therefore useful for adjusting only a specific part of the image – for instance, highlights only. The danger with log wheels is they can give an unnatural look very quickly. The bottom middle window contains many secondary color correction tools, like for instance more types of color curves or color qualifiers. With the help of 3D color qualifier and tracker, users can change colors of various objects in the clip, like the face which Simon used as an example. Finally, on the bottom right we can find monitoring tools, like for instance many flavors of parades. Simon shows mostly RGB parade, which is useful also when adjusting the white balance of a clip. DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of color grading with Simon Hall – Layer nodes. Image credit: cinema5D Simon further shows the advantages of working with Blackmagic RAW. Users can work with Camera Raw feature in Resolve 16. With every clip, users can change ISO, color space, gamma, white balance, and more Resolve also has a couple of OpenFX effects on the Color page. Simon shows a Face refinement as an example of an effect. It recognizes a face in the image and tracks it. Users can then play with different sliders and adjust the look of the face. There is Eye retouching, Eye bag removal, Lip retouching, color corrections and more adjustments available. Simon also shows a new feature in Resolve called Object removal when he removed an airplane from a clip. DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of color grading with Simon Hall – Object removal. Image credit: cinema5D Resolve accepts a wide range of formats and it includes debayer settings for each of them, so users can grade material from virtually any digital camera. Simon also demonstrated how well Resolve 16 is optimized. It should be stable even on mid-range laptops, like Apple’s MacBook, which Simon used. Simon Hall had of course very limited time on our stage, but Blackmagic Design offers free training manuals and online videos for DaVinci Resolve like we just reported about recently.  Do you use DaVinci Resolve 16 for color grading or do you want to start? Did you find this short workshop useful? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

cinema5D invited Senior Blackmagic Design trainer Simon Hall to give a short workshop covering basics of editing in DaVinci Resolve 16. He explained key features of Media and Edit pages of Resolve and briefly touched the Fusion and Deliver pages as well. DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of editing with Simon Hall. Image credit: cinema5D During this year’s Photo & Adventure trade show in Vienna, Austria, the cinema5D team was in charge of the “Film & Video Stage” content at the show. We invited a series of interesting guests from our industry to talk about various topics. You can see the initial post here. We decided to publish the most interesting topics again in a separate articles. You can expect those to be published in the next weeks. This article is covering Simon Hall’s presentation showing basics of editing in Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve 16. This content was originally streamed live from the Photo+Adventure – Film+Video Stage –  in November. We are re-publishing and highlighting some of the best content from the stage. DaVinci Resolve used to be known mainly as a color grading software. It still is one of the most powerful software for colorists. In recent years however, it also became a powerful NLE editing application. Blackmagic Design managed to concentrate lots of functions from various stages of post production in one application. Simon Hall is a senior Blackmagic Design trainer and an experienced editor. In summer, he gave the cinema5D team a two-day DaVinci Resolve training, and because we liked it so much, we decided to invite him to Photo & Adventure trade show to show the basics of editing in Resolve. Blackmagic Design trainer Simon Hall. Image credit: cinema5D Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of Editing Simon started by describing the different pages (sections) of DaVinci Resolve. The app has 7 pages: Media page Cut page, which is DaVinci Resolve’s new fast editor mainly for multicam projects. Edit page Fusion page Color page Fairlight page Deliver page In his very short workshop on the cinema5D stage, Simon described key functions of the Media, Edit, Fusion, and Deliver pages. DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of editing with Simon Hall. Image credit: cinema5D Media Page Simon demonstrated how the Media page allows working with smart bins, how metadata can be used to rename batches of clips. He briefly showed how (using Blackmagic cameras) all kinds of metadata can be added to clips during shooting and then used to make the editor’s life easier when organizing the footage in Resolve. There is a neural engine in Resolve which has face recognition. It can analyze clips and group the same faces. It can then rename the clips and organize them in smart bins according to the characters included. Edit Page DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of editing with Simon Hall – Edit page. Image credit: cinema5D Edit page offers similar workflow like other NLEs. When importing the footage, J, K, and L hotkeys can be used to navigate through clips while I and O hotkeys can mark in and mark out the desired section. Resolve offers various different tools to make editign faster – selection tool, razorblade tool, trim tool, and more. It is possible to stack timelines, to look at more timelines at the same time, copy clips between them, and so on. Simon also showed the options of slowing down footage in Resolve. In the Inspector tool, there are more options for retiming and scaling. Optical Flow, for instance, makes Resolve generate new frames and smoothen the slowed down footage. Depending on the complexity of movements in the clip, there can be unpleasant artifacts sometimes. Fusion and Deliver Page DaVinci Resolve 16 – Basics of editing with Simon Hall – Fusion page. Image credit: cinema5D There are some effects and transitions available on the Edit Page, but for more complex effects ad compositing, there is a dedicated Fusion Page. Simon briefly showed the capability of that page with green screen masking and tracking. The Deliver Page is all about rendering out the completed projects. Resolve offers optimized presets for YouTube and Vimeo and there are also options for exporting in IMF format (for Netflix) or DCP format (not encrypted, for cinemas). Simon Hall had of course very limited time on our stage, but Blackmagic Design offers free training manuals and online videos for DaVinci Resolve like we just reported about recently.  Do you use DaVinci Resolve for editing? Do you miss some features from other NLEs? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

Besides DaVinci Resolve 16.1.2 update, Blackmagic also announced new firmware update for the URSA Broadcast camera. The new version 6.7 brings Blackmagic RAW recording format and many more improvements. The company also updates their viewfinders. The update can now be downloaded for free from Blackmagic Design support center. URSA Broadcast camera. Image credit: Blackmagic Design Blackmagic Design announced new DaVinci Resolve 16.1.2 update, which brought support for Blackmagic RAW format from the URSA Broadcast camera. Naturally, they also announced new firmware for this camera to support BRAW recording. Furthermore, they announced updates for URSA Viewfinder and URSA Studio Viewfinder. What exactly is included with these free firmware updates? Blackmagic Design URSA Broadcast Update 6.7 Apart from adding support for Blackmagic RAW recording, there are many new improvements and features. Please note, that the update will also remove Cinema DNG format recording – we have seen this recording option also removed from other Blackmagic cameras (like the Pocket series) in the past. Rumor has it (and Blackmagic CEO Grant Petty hinted at it) that this has to do with RED’s patent for camera-internal RAW compression and recording. Yet, Cinema DNG is considered old and storage inefficient for many purposes, which is why Blackmagic RAW seems like the better option in most cases anyway. URSA Broadcast camera. Image credit: Blackmagic Design This is a complete list of new features for URSA Broadcast: Add language localization support. Add new demosaic algorithm for improved sensor response. Add extra level of gain control up to +18dB. Add gain slider and 1/3 stop gain adjustment. Add lens correction for B4 lenses. Add ability to remap buttons on broadcast lenses. Add Blackmagic RAW recording format. Add LUT embedding in Blackmagic RAW clips. Add 720p SDI output on main SDI and 720p SDI input. Add sensor pixel recalibration in camera. Add ability to adjust line level audio. Add sidetone level adjustment. Add improved ballistics and scaling of audio meters. Add choice of -18 or -20dB reference levels for audio meters. Add ability to remap the HFR button. Add ability to disable function and HFR buttons. Add press-to-focus for EF, PL and B4 lenses with focus servo. Add quick media switching from the heads up display. Add support for HDR metadata in SDI output. Add ‘LUT’ icon to status text overlays. Add ‘PRE’ icon to status text overlays for preset timecode. Add 2:1, 1:1 and 4:5 monitoring frame guides. Add customizable frame guides. Add ability to lock timecode to SDI Input. Retain jam synced timecode after power cycle. Improved jam sync timecode accuracy after playback. Improved stability when using external or program reference. Improved compatibility for embedded audio on SDI outputs. Improved thermal performance. Improved ND filter status text. Improved Canon B4 lens support. Improved EF lens support. Improved auto exposure speed and performance. Improved auto focus performance. Improved media formatting user interface. Improved clip playback for renamed clips. Numerous performance and stability improvements. Removed old Cinema DNG format. New Features for URSA Viewfinders Blackmagic Desing also updates their viewfinders. The URSA Studio Viewfinder receives the following new features: Add support for new URSA Broadcast gain settings. Add support for new 4:5 and 1:1 frame guides. Add improved ballistics and scaling of audio meters. Add choice of -18 or -20dB reference levels for audio meters. Fixed bug where Focus Assist changes colour on power cycle. URSA Studio viewfinder. Image credit: Blackmagic Design The URSA Viewfinder receives the following updates: Add support for new URSA Broadcast gain settings. Add support for new 4:5 and 1:1 frame guides. URSA viewfinder. Image credit: Blackmagic Design Last but not least, Blackmagic Design updated Blackmagic RAW format. Besides the obvious URSA Broadcast support, BRAW version 1.6.1 brings general performance and stability improvements for Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro BRAW plugins. The new update can be downloaded for free on Blackmagic Design support center website. Please note, that there no new features in firmware 6.7 for other camera models. Blackmagic Design also announced they are working on a firmware update for the Blackmagic Camera & Studio Fiber Converters which will follow in 2020. What do you think about the new update for Blackmagic URSA Broadcast? Do you use this camera for your work? Do you like working with Blackmagic RAW? Let us know in the comments below the article.

Blackmagic released new DaVinci Resolve 16.1.2 which improves performance and addresses a few issues based on customer feedback. For example, it now brings support for CUDA based R3D with the latest RED SDK on Windows and Linux (shortly after RED announced the release of the SDK). The update is free for existing customers and can be downloaded from the Blackmagic support center website. Working with DaVinci Resolve. Image source: Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve, Blackmagic’s powerful color grading tool, has also become a very capable editing software in its latest generations. It depends on the complexity of each project, but in many cases, DaVinci can support the whole post-production process (also thanks to its Fusion page for effects and Fairlight page for sound). Blackmagic released a new version of DaVinci Resolve 16.1.2. What is new? DaVinci Resolve 16.1.2 According to Blackmagic, the new version improves performance and addresses a few issues based on customer feedback. Like always, Blackmagic recommends to back up all active databases and current projects before upgrading to this release. It seems after RED announced Metal GPU R3D acceleration for Mac users, the CUDA acceleration for Windows and Linux users follows shortly after it in the new DaVinci Resolve. These are the new features and improvements in DaVinci Resolve 16.1.2: Support for additional audio track formats for IMF and DCP renders Improved decode and encode performance for Kakadu DCP and IMF formats Support for CUDA based R3D with the latest RED SDK on Windows and Linux Adds Blackmagic RAW support for latest Blackmagic URSA Broadcast update Support for new audio-only and video-only editing modes on the cut page Added in and out buttons in the user interface on the cut page Support for audio playback when trimming on the cut and edit pages Improved zoom buttons for the timeline on the edit page Improved smart indicator in the cut page for when using in and out points Viewer resize icon on the cut page now correctly resizes the whole viewer Cut page divider between timeline and viewer can now be moved via the divider Close up edits in the cut page now vary the close up from 20% to 40% randomly Search dial is more responsive when using the DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard Removed auto jog mode on scroll with the DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard Better responsiveness using shuttle with the DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard Double press to clear in and out on the DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard Improved performance in collaborative projects with multiple DaVinci systems Support for monitor name in the workspace menu display options Support for copy/paste in Dolby Vision mid-tone offset values between clips New scripting APIs to move media items, LUTs, markers, copy grades and more Now uses 2 up view in sync bin when using live overwrite editing Fixes a bug that caused the clip dividers in the source tape to scroll with audio Opening the media folder in the cut page will re-sync to that folder contents Multiple performance and stability improvements The enormous reference manual, which includes the new DaVinci Resolve 16.1.2 features, can be downloaded from the Blackmagic Design website. The version 16.1.2 is a no-charge update for existing customers. It comes in both DaVinci Resolve (free software) and DaVinci Resolve Studio (paid software). DaVinci Resolve can be downloaded from the Blackmagic support center website. What do you think of this new update? Do you work with DaVinci Resolve? Are some of the fixed bugs familiar to you? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

NAB 2019 saw the somewhat surprising introduction of the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard. A $995.00 keyboard for video editing, containing specialized keys and a multi-mode jog wheel, with functions that are hard to even imagine, much less assign to keyboard shortcuts, a mouse, or any combination of third-party control panels. We took a closer look at this keyboard and put it through its paces. Here’s our take. DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard. Image credit: cinema5D Blackmagic has been offering their full-sized Advanced Panel for grading in DaVinci Resolve for years now and these have become standard inventory at grading houses all over the industry. But it was only a few years ago that Blackmagic started taking into account the needs of smaller production houses and individual filmmakers or colorists which couldn’t afford the $30,000 Advanced Panel, as well as the rather large grading suite to put it in, by offering the Mini and Micro Panels. However most major versions of Resolve since version 14, seemingly building on the software’s almost unchallenged dominance in the color grading realm, have been trying to improve on DaVinci Resolve’s usefulness to editors, VFX artists and sound editors alike, brushing up on the editing side of things by adding loads of features already present in other NLEs and integrating Fairlight and Fusion into Resolve without any additional cost upgrading. Consequently, versions 15 and 16 have, at least across Youtube and the Blogospheres, seen people announcing their switch to Resolve in troves, either from Adobe Premiere or Final Cut (arguably not as much from Avid though). So is this new keyboard part of the same strategic push by Blackmagic Design to further differentiate and distinguish DaVinci Resolve as a full-featured editing suite for editors or teams without the dreaded, time-wasting round trips? And who would actually seriously buy a keyboard for a thousand dollars? We will try and return to these questions a bit later on. Build Quality and Finish DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, bird eye view. Image credit: cinema5D Let me start out by saying that even if this keyboard was twice the price, the build quality would still feel outstanding for the price. It feels like the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard could survive bouncing around a case or rack for years and maybe even survive a drop – but don’t quote me on that. At the core of the keyboard is a US-style QWERTY setup of keys with the arrow keys integrated into the main block of keys and the “Home” key integrated into the Num-block. Function groups are color-coded, although the keys for those groups are not always grouped together. To the left of the QWERTY-block is a set of 17 special function editing keys, to the right of the Num-block you’ll find 5 more keys and the main event of the show: the jog wheel. The key switches themselves seem to be pretty premium mechanical ones, like those found in high-end gaming keyboards and feature a nice bounce and satisfying click – just don’t expect typing on this keyboard to be quiet. DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, connectivity. Image credit: cinema5D The panel surrounding the keys is metal, with a subtle grey coating and feels like you could drop a hammer on it. The handrest is plastic, coated with soft-touch rubber, that feels very comforting if not cushy even for extended use. The backside houses the main connection, a USB-C port that will also power the keyboard, as well as the other two USB-A ports to the sides of it. The bottom plate is plastic and has the standard rubber stoppers, two risers and four mounting connections for screws. DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, riser and mounting points on the keyboard’s backside. Image credit: cinema5D Star of the Show: the Jog-Wheel DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, jog wheel. Image credit: cinema5D Let me just say this: the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard’s wheel is just a pleasure to use. I have used the attainable competitors like Tangent’s control panels, Loudedeck+ and the Contour Shuttle wheels. However, this jog wheel is in a class totally its own in this price range and will probably hold its own in any. Its top side is metal, with the traditional indentation for a finger to turn the wheel, while its sides are made of textured rubber. The wheel as a whole can be clicked and the three keys above it will control its function to either shuttle, jog or scroll across the timeline. To be clear: this will not only change how the software reacts to the wheels input, it will change how the hardware reacts, with the wheel just turning until you physically stop it in the scroll- or jog-mode, but introducing two hard-stop reference positions at three and nine o’clock with nice resistance in shuttle-mode. This is simplifying the way most traditional jog wheels worked, where you had the inner circle be the non-resistive part and an outer, second ring for the resistive shuttle-function. The wheel itself is nicely weighted, feels substantial and has fantastic balancing for just the right amount of inertia. A decisive flick will keep it turning for seconds on end, while one finger on the rubber sides will make it stop immediately. What Normal Keyboards Can’t Do DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, special keys left. Image credit: cinema5D Now gushing about the jog wheel aside, a thousand dollar keyboard should provide tangible improvements over the way normal keyboards work: improvements that make you a faster, more efficient editor, with all the improvements that might entail for your particular working situation. Let’s examine the categories in which the keyboard tries to deliver on that: Quickly now, try to remember the key for “Play Around”!? Not a problem, I couldn’t either. So there is the obvious benefit of having commands written out on the keycaps, making it easier to both learn and remember/relearn and thus use key commands (think “Nudge”, “Previous Keyframe/Next Keyframe” and more) An even more useful benefit is having actual shortcuts melted into one key, making using that function a one-handed, instead of a two-handed operation and allowing you to advance to the next step more quickly (the “Undo” key is my personal favorite) Commands combining a keypress with a function of the jog-wheel, which would then potentially replace combinations of many, many mouse clicks and drags as well as keypresses into a single action involving both hands, with no need for the time-sink of constant mouse-grabbing and repositioning of hand on the keyboard Obviously, the second, and above all, the third category are central to the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard’s value proposition. Personally, my most used action here was trimming on the cut page. It works by just moving the play head over the clip you want to trim, then with your left hand holding down “Trim In” or “Trim Out” and starting to move the jog wheel. This will then make a two-up display of the bordering clip and the one that is being edited appear in the viewer, as well as two rows of film strips, giving you reference as to how many frames you trimmed into the clip the playhead is over. The trim will automatically make everything after it ripple and that is that. You are free to move on to the next edit. While people might argue that an expert level shortcut user might be just as fast, it is doubtful if she might be just as fast with the level of precision offered here. DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, jog wheel with special keys. Image credit: cinema5D The slip keys work in a similar fashion, just for the Slip operation, and the transition duration will allow you to change the transition the playhead is closest to with the jog wheel, or do a roll on the clip the playhead is over. Overall, this is probably the best, most unique part of the experience the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard offers and one of the smoothest, most enjoyable trimming experiences around. Quirks, Oddities & Issues DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, source window and timeline toggles. Image credit: cinema5D That said, those unique two-hand actions utilizing keypresses in combination with the wheel are mostly concentrated around six keys on the left-hand side and the respective editing operations. And while these may be important operations, the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard does present a rather opinionated take on how people edit, which to me seems to be geared towards getting a quick-turnaround first cut in an ENG environment. This might also explain the presence of keys, that I for one, wouldn’t see myself using in my work ever, like “Smooth Cut” (a transition meant to hide jump cuts by dissolving from one clip to the next) or “Close up” (basically automatic punch-in). So if that is not your usage profile, you might get a pretty expensive keyboard for not a lot of benefit. DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard, arrow keys integrated into main block of keys. Image credit: cinema5D Then there are the placement of the arrow keys, inside the QWERTY-block, which I couldn’t warm up to even after a month of use, the missing “End” key, with the “Home” key being present nonetheless, and maybe the most serious concern of all: the inconsistencies between the Cut and the Edit page. Make no mistake, the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard feels most at home on the Cut page and there are even keys that will work on one page but not on the other (“Trans”, “Sync-Bin”, “Trim Editor” and “Pic in Pic” only work on the Cut page, while “Hand” only works on the Edit page. On the Fusion or Fairlight pages even the Trim functions won’t work, and the Color page will just allow you to jog through your clip. So Who Is It For Then? DaVinci Resolve Editor Keyboard. Image credit: cinema5D This brings me back to the questions asked at the beginning of this review. The Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard does seem to be part of Blackmagic’s commendable efforts to expand Resolve’s user profile and also effectiveness per profile: Editor, VFX-artist, Colorist, Sound Editor, no matter what you actually do Resolve has you covered pretty extensively. But the Cut page in particular, and the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard as its hardware incarnation are a pretty divisive concept. Are cutting and editing really different activities, in that they require different user interfaces? Do you have a team where it might make sense to split those activities among different people? Do you wrangle so much footage, that the specialized trimming functions will make you that much faster, that they tangibly benefit your business? The answers to these questions will probably determine how useful the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard will be for you – that is, if you are fine with using JUST DaVinci Resolve for the whole process as the keyboard will just function like any other keyboard in any other NLE. Conclusion There is something to be said for the innovative concept, immense build quality and the beautiful concentration on the craft of editing, which a keyboard like this is able to support and I commend Blackmagic for being bold enough to dream it up and make it. It deserves a second version to iron out all the weird quirks and make it a product in itself, rather than an accessory to the Cut page. It will not become part of my desk setup just yet, but with some fixes to the minor quirks mentioned and some usefulness outside Resolve, it really just might. Would you spend $995.00 on a keyboard specialized in editing? Are you excited to try the Blackmagic Design Editor Keyboard? Let us know in the comments! If you want more reviews like this one, please support cinema5D by buying from one of our partners B&H or CVP below! It doesn’t cost you a cent more but helps us continue what we do best.

Blackmagic Design just released the final version of DaVinci Resolve 16.1. You now have access to enhanced tools on the cut page like a smart indicator, the new Boring Detector, Sync-Bins and other improvements – without having to worry using a beta version. The jump from DaVinci 16 to 16.1 doesn’t seem to be a very significant one but Blackmagic Design keeps impressing me with the vast number of new and improved features for each end every release. This time: New Boring Detector, new Smart Indicator, new Sync-Bins, new close-up feature,  auto-grouping multiple clips.. and that’s just the Cut page (full change log here) DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Blackmagic did something new this year. Not only did the company release its annual major release update on DaVinci Resolve on August 9th but also did they release version 16.1 as a beta version simultaneously. That way users could update to the stable version 16 on their production systems and still be able to play with some of the new features of 16.1 on another machine. That beta period is now over and the final version 16.1 is out in the wild. As always, you can download it for free. The Studio labeled version is $299 but this 16.1 update is free of charge if you already own a serial or usb dongle, of course. Watch the video below for a summery of DaVinci Resolve 16 (not 16.1, there’s no video for it, yet). For a full rundown of all the new features of version 16.1, head over to our article by Jakub Han where he’s covering the changes for 16.1 beta 2. The full change log for 16.1 can be found on blackmagicdesign.com, the list is a bit too extensive to be posted here, I think. Hopefully this final version of DaVinci Resolve, well, resolves all the wiggles users had with one of the beta versions. Make sure to post any bugs and/or weird behavior in the comments below! Blackmagic RAW 1.5.1 Also new is Blackmagic RAW in version 1.5.1 which seems to improve the overall stability of the developer SDK for various platforms such as the plugins for Premiere Pro or Avid Media Composer. With the publicly available SDK developers can compile their own plugins for decoding Blackmagic RAW files. Overall, Blackmagic Design keeps on pushing their software side of things. A few years ago nobody would have considered Resolve for something like editing or audio mixing. Now this piece of (free!) software is becoming a one-stop shop for all things video. Pretty neat! Link: Blackmagicdesign.com Do you use DaVinci Resolve for your editing/color/finishing jobs? What do you think about this update? Share your experiences in the comments below!

After part 1 and part 2 of our coverage of the new Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K we finally can bring the cinema5D Lab results to you. Interested to see how it fares? Will the lab reveal differences to the Pocket 4K? Well – let’s get started … Being a long time owner & user of the original Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera for 6 years now, and having tested the BMPCC 4K already in our lab a while ago, I was now really curious to get my hands on the new BMPCC 6K. The spec’s on Blackmagic Design’s website would list no difference to the Pocket 4K in terms of dynamic range – both cameras are listed with 13 stops dynamic range. So we decided to do our new latitude test in addition to the standard dynamic range and rolling shutter test with the BMPCC 6K and BMPCC 4K in order to see if we can find differences. And yes, as you will see below there are differences. But let’s start first with the rolling shutter measurements. BMPCC 6K Rolling Shutter Test We are using a new test method based on a high frequency, quartz & micro controller based strobe light at 300Hz. As the sensor readout happens from the top to the bottom, we are getting a sequence of black and white bars from the strobe. The strobe test reveals a rolling shutter of 19.8 [ms] – now we know why it cannot do full sensor readout in 6K faster than 50 frames per second (60fps at 1:2.4 aspect ratio) – there is simply not enough time for a higher frame rate in full sensor mode. This rolling shutter value is significantly higher than the BMPCC 4K which has a rolling shutter of 16 [ms]. BMPCC 6K rolling shutter result: 19.8 [ms] Dynamic Range of the BMPCC 6K Like always, we use our DSC Labs Xyla 21 Stepchart in conjunction with the IMATEST software to derive our results (see how we test here). The BMPCC 6K uses a dual ISO sensor with 400 and 3200 as base values, hence both will be shown below. Dynamic Range at full sensor readout, ISO400, 6K BRAW 25p Using the full sensor readout at the maximum resolution of 6K (6144×3456) with BRAW 3:1 constant bitrate settings, the waveform plot of the stepchart visually reveals about 12 stops of dynamic range. BMPCC 6K waveform plot of the stepchart. About 12 stops can be identified above the noise floor. Developing the raw files via DaVinci Resolve and exporting high quality tiff’s to IMATEST a dynamic range of 11.8 stops at a signal to noise ratio of 2 is calculated (12.9 stops for SNR = 1). BMPCC 6K IMATEST result of 6K BRAW ISO400. 11.8 stops are calculated for a signal to noise ratio of 2. This is 0.2 stops better than the result we got for the BMPCC 4K. Dynamic Range at full sensor readout, UHD ProRes HQ ISO400 Quite interestingly, using the ProRes HQ full sensor readout at Ultra HD, the dynamic range increases slightly from 11.8 stops to 11.9 stops at a signal to noise ratio of 2 (13 stops for SNR = 1). As mentioned by Blackmagic Design, the full sensor 6K resolution is scaled to Ultra HD, thereby reducing the noise hence increasing slightly the dynamic range – quite nice! Dynamic Range at full sensor readout, ISO3200, 6K BRAW 25p At ISO3200 the dynamic range drops quite significantly to 10.0 stops (SNR = 2, medium value in the upper right hand table below) according to the IMATEST calculations, see the result below.  BMPCC 6K IMATEST result of 6K BRAW ISO3200. 10 stops are calculated for a signal to noise ratio of 2. This is less than the BMPCC 4K which shows a corresponding value of 10.5 stops at the higher ISO setting of the dual gain circuit. But as mentioned many times before, while transmissive tests using stepcharts are the simplest/most accurate/comparable tests of dynamic range – they also give us very little information regarding how the camera responds to colors and detail across that range. That is why we are introducing an additional lab test, the latitude test. The cinema5D latitude test First results of this new test have been shown already in the Panasonic S1 VLOG article of my colleague Johnnie, but let me briefly explain again what it is. Latitude basically shows the capability of a camera to retain color and detail while over- or underexposing the image and normalizing it thereafter. In our latitude test, we have a standard scene where either Johnnie or Nino are sitting next to a Color Checker. Standard studio test scene showing Nino’s face at 60% luma value, the white sheet of paper at 65% luma. The face is exposed at max. 60% luma value, the white sheet of paper at 65%. From there on in a succession of tests we always double the shutter value from scene to scene, hence underexposing the scene by 1 stop from the previous one until we have reached 5 stops of underexposure. BMPCC 6K 5 stops underexposed Hence, we brutally underexpose the studio scene – and then normalize it back to 0 stops to reveal the color, detail  and noise. This is really a torture test and the images of most cameras with less sophisticated codecs break down already at 2-3 stops underexposure. Both the Pocket 4K (using 3840×2160 resolution) and 6K (6144×3456 resolution) were setup with BRAW 3:1 constant bitrate, ISO400 25p. The shots from both cams were graded in DaVinci Resolve using a Blackmagic film to video LUT, and then I tried to match both cams as closely as possible by some smallish tweaks. BMPCC 6K 5 stops underexposed – pushed back to 0 via the camera raw tab in DaVinci Resolve And above you can already see the result – the BMPCC 6K camera fares very very well in this test. It starts to show horizontal stripes (which cannot be removed by noise reduction as you will see further down) and the noise becomes excessive, but color information is retained very well. See below the same scene, shot with the BMPCC 4K, also 5 stops underexposed and brought back to 0: BMPCC 4K 5 stops underexposed, brought back to 0 using the camera raw tab in DaVinci Resolve Clearly, color information deteriorates with the BMPCC 4K and the image becomes pink. Let’s remember that both cams started like this: BMPCC 4K vs 6K at the zero underexposure studio scene setting. Here are both cams again side by side at 5 stops underexposure, brought back to zero: BMPCC 4K vs. BMPCC 6K at 5 stops underexposure, brought back to 0 Hence, in this test it becomes clear that the BMPCC 6K retains the color surprisingly well, whereas the BMPCC 4K image starts to become pink already at 3 stops under, and larger patches of pink noise appears – which is difficult to remove as you will see below. What I found interesting though, while the waveforms at zero underexposure look completely identical on both cams (after grading), the more we underexpose and bring it back by adjusting the exposure (by the exact amount of stops) in the camera raw tab in Resolve, the brighter the BMPCC 4K image appears. The BMPCC 6K image stays the same across the exposure range. BMPCC 4K vs. BMPCC 6K side by side at 3 stops underexposure, brought back to 0 using the camera raw tab in DaVinci Resolve – the limit of underexposure is reached with the BMPCC 4K whereas the Pocket 6K is still fine Now, as we shot in BRAW with both cams, the big question is whether using noise reduction in DaVinci Resolve can save some of the underexposed shots (temporal NR: 3 frames, threshold:30, spatial threshold: 10). Yes, it can, but only on to a certain point – as soon as the horizontal stripes start to appear in the image, noise reduction cannot get rid of those and I found that the pink chroma noise is not removed any longer at 4 stops underexposure with the BMPCC 4K. On the BMPCC 6K, noise reduction helps to get an almost stripe and noise free image up until 4 stops under – impressive! The 2x higher resolution of the BMPCC 6K along with noise reduction certainly helps to achieve this result. And this brings us also to the clear, final result, using noise reduction: BMPCC 4K is very clean until 3 stops under, BMPCC 6K until 4 stops under! (Note: this result is clear during playback of the video files – the static, scaled images in this article tend to look much better than the moving images). BMPCC 4K vs BMPCC 6K at 4 stops underexposure, brought back via the camera raw tab in Resolve, temporal and spatial noise reduction applied Conclusion The lab results obtained with the new BMPCC 6K are impressive to say the least. The combination of a very good dynamic range with a superb codec (Blackmagic RAW) leads to superb images. At a time where brand new much more expensive “cinema” camera’s are released with H.265 / H.264 as the only codec options, Blackmagic Design once more shows us all what is possible at this price point.  The only little drawback with the Pocket 6K that I see from the lab test is the rolling shutter value which is a bit on the higher side – given the lack of internal stabilization handheld shots are risky business with this camera. Have you made your first experiences with the new BMPCC 6K? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Blackmagic announced the release of DaVinci Resolve 16.1 public beta 2. This update improves the close up edit feature by using DaVinci Neural Engine to automatically find faces, zoom in and reframe shots. It also adds support for BMPCC presets in the 3D camera and camera tracker tools, improved render status indicators for saver nodes and support for ACEScg as a gamut option, and more. In addition, Fusion Studio 16.1 Public Beta 2 makes adding images with different resolutions to OpenFX and ResolveFX plugins more stable, improves color dodge and burn tools, the white balance tool and more. DaVinci Resolve 16.1. Source: Blackmagic At the beginning of August, Blackmagic Design announced new promising camera and software products. Probably the most significant announcement was the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K (BMPCC 6K) – take a look at our Pocket 6K review and our BMPCC 4K and 6K comparison in case you missed it. During their livestream on 8th August, Blackmagic also announced updates to their post-production software DaVinci Resolve. They announced the final release of DaVinci Resolve 16.0 and the new Resolve 16.1 public beta. The 16.1 public beta includes major updates to the Cut Page to help create the “world’s fastest editor”. It brought new features like smart indicator, cut clip icon, boring detector, sync bin, and more. For more information about the new features of the Resolve 16.1 public beta please refer to this article. Now after some user feedback, Blackmagic announced a new updated version – DaVinci Resolve 16.1 public beta 2. What is new? DaVinci Resolve 16.1 Public Beta 2 The public beta 2 reflects all the user feedback from Resolve 16.1 beta. Blackmagic fixed numerous bugs and improved many new features. The update is free for all existing customers and the new Resolve 16.1 beta 2 can be downloaded for free directly from Blackmagic support center webpage. In case you want to upgrade to the new 16.1 beta 2 from Resolve 15 or earlier, Blackmagic recommends to back up your database, both DiskDB and PostgreSQL if you use them, export your drp’s of your active projects and then restore the v15 DB before upgrading to v16 in preparation for the version upgrade as you can not go back to v15 with a v16 DB. While there is no change of the database format from v16, DaVinci Resolve Studio 16.1 requires a firmware update for the DaVinci Resolve Micro and Mini Panels. DaVinci Resolve 16.1 – Edit page. Source: Blackmagic Here is a complete list of what’s new in DaVinci Resolve 16.1 beta 2: Key Improvements Support for quickly creating close up edits using facial recognition to automatically reframe and zoom in on faces Support for Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera presets in the Fusion Camera3D and CameraTracker tools Support for retaining the original creation date metadata when restoring or importing projects Support for tooltips to show track names in the edit page in the mini track view Support for automatically selecting the newly added take in the take selector Support for a 2.0:1 output blanking preset in the timeline menu Support for user selectable audio sample rates for timeline renders Support for Fujifilm F-Log colorspace Support for additional flag and marker colors Improved handling of clips with multiple faces when performing a close up edit in the cut page Improved behavior when editing parameter values using Wacom tablets Improved playback performance in the media, edit and cut pages Improved scripting API with support for deleting a project Improved responsiveness when scrubbing the in and out points for long clips in range editor on the cut page Cut Page Improvements Support for quickly creating create close up edits using facial recognition to automatically reframe and zoom in on faces Improved handling of clips with multiple faces when performing close ups Improved responsiveness when scrubbing the in and out points for long clips in range editor Addressed an issue where resetting the speed tool in the cut page would not work correctly Addressed an issue where adding a clip with in and out points from source tape using place on top would sometimes incorrectly skip the audio Addressed an issue where waveform displays in source tape mode would show artifacts when one or more clips were offline Addressed an issue where performing a close up on a still image would not work correctly Addressed an issue where markers would get applied at an incorrect location when added after using timecode entry to change the playhead position Addressed an issue where stopping playback in sync bin mode would sometimes not correctly refresh the viewer Addressed an issue where Text+ titles in the Cut page would not show inspector controls correctly Addressed an issue where the sync bin playhead would be positioned incorrectly at playback stop if there was no timeline Addressed an issue where selecting an angle in the sync bin and applying trim in or trim out would apply it on the timeline Addressed an issue where audio waveforms would be displayed incorrectly in source tape if some clips were offline DaVinci Resolve 16.1 – Cut page. Source: Blackmagic Edit Page Improvements Support for tooltips to show track names in the mini track view Support for automatically selecting the newly added take in the take selector Improved dual screen behavior for the Edit page with support for single viewer and full height metadata and effects library Addressed an issue where creating a timeline from a media pool selection would sometimes initialize incorrect audio track formats Addressed an issue where the roll end to playhead action would not work correctly Addressed an issue where inserting a clip in the Edit timeline would place the playhead in an incorrect position when Live Save was enabled Addressed an issue where the new multicam dialog would not remember last used settings Addressed an issue where the normalize audio levels dialog would not remember last used settings Addressed an issue where selecting linked clips with an adjustment clip would sometimes cause a crash Addressed an issue where moving audio clips between tracks would sometimes not refresh the waveform color Addressed an issue where marker annotations would not be drawn correctly for some zoom settings Addressed an issue where the undo list would not show accurate text for some edit actions Addressed an issue where audio waveforms would not update smoothly when modifying gain keyframes Addressed an issue where opening an audio-only compound clip in the timeline would cause a crash Addressed an issue where audio would not play when performing dynamic trims in the Edit timeline Addressed an issue where applying Fusion effects to retimed clips with freeze frames would sometimes show an incorrect freeze frame Addressed an issue where angle names for sync clips would not be displayed correctly in the Edit page Fusion Page Improvements Support for Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera presets in the Camera3D and CameraTracker tools Addressed an issue where undoing an action from the application menu would not work correctly Addressed an issue where adding images with different resolutions to some OpenFX or ResolveFX plugins would cause a crash Addressed an issue where Fusion color dodge and burn would produce inverted results if the input image had invalid values Addressed an issue where the White Balance tool would sometimes show incorrect results when using GPU processing DaVinci Resolve 16.1 – Fusion page. Source: Blackmagic Color Page Improvements Support for a 2.0:1 output blanking preset in the timeline menu Support for Fujifilm F-Log colorspace Addressed an issue where adjusting OpenFX parameters on a shared node would not correctly update the render cache Addressed an issue where pre-clip and post-clip groups would incorrectly allow OpenFX parameters to be keyframed Addressed an issue where adding a Fusion composition to an EXR file would cause Color mattes to behave incorrectly Addressed an issue where switching between cut and color pages would not persist the video scopes dialog Addressed an issue where trying to move multiple on-screen points in ResolveFX Warper would move only one point Addressed an issue where dragging a node from the stills node graph dialog would not copy the node label Addressed an issue where using Mac display color profiles alongside a Blackmagic Design playback device would sometimes cause intermittent black frames Addressed an issue where the unmix mode would show incorrect previews for clips with straight alpha during playback Addressed an issue where shot matching some clips with output cache in the color page would cause a crash Addressed an issue where the gallery view would not automatically scroll to reveal newly grabbed stills Addressed an issue where exporting imported Dolby Vision metadata would only export the first trim for each clip Addressed an issue where exporting imported Dolby Vision metadata would not preserve the original L2 values in a Dolby Vision 4.0 project Addressed an issue where adjusting scopes parameters on some Windows systems would sometimes cause the viewer to show black frames DaVinci Resolve 16.1 – Color page. Source: Blackmagic Fairlight Page Improvements Addressed an issue where EQ and dynamics on bus mixers would not being updated correctly when switching timelines or reloading projects Addressed an issue where Alt/Option-clicking clip gain to add keyframes would not work correctly Addressed an issue where dragging a stereo clip to a mono track in range mode would behave incorrectly Addressed an issue where the timeline ruler could be dragged before the start of the timeline in some scenarios Addressed an issue where the patch I/O dialog would not reflect changing audio input devices without an application restart on macOS Addressed an issue where native input devices would not be detected in the patch I/O dialog when using a Blackmagic Design playback device Addressed an issue where video scrollers would not be updated correctly when editing video in the Fairlight timeline Addressed an issue where loudness graph would not be shown correctly for buses other than Main1 Addressed an issue where automation curves in Trim and Write modes would be represented in the same color Address multiple issues with synchronized audio and video playback when using a Blackmagic Design playback device with the Fairlight Audio Accelerator Addressed an issue where dragging media pool clips with custom audio track mapping to the Fairlight timeline would show incorrect waveforms Addressed an issue where setting up a B-chain with more than 60 input and output channels would cause a crash Addressed an issue where changing a track name would not refresh all channels in the space view dialog Media & Deliver Page Improvements Support for user selectable audio sample rates for timeline renders Addressed an issue where the pixel aspect ratio would not be read correctly from Blackmagic RAW files Addressed an issue where decoding some H.264 clips would cause a crash on macOS Addressed an issue where decoding some H.264 clips would show the last frame as offline Addressed an issue where exporting AAF timelines with muted tracks would sometimes cause a crash on macOS systems Addressed an issue where rendering DCP packages in the individual clips mode would incorrectly show errors about audio formats Addressed an issue where renders could be accidentally stopped by selecting a render preset from the MacBook Pro Touch Bar Addressed an issue where some DNxUncompressed clips rendered from DaVinci Resolve would be decoded with incorrect levels Addressed an issue where updating a render job referencing a deleted timeline would sometimes cause a crash Addressed an issue where saving a new project with a render job would sometimes cause a crash Addressed an issue where rendering using Resolve in headless mode would not work correctly Addressed an issue where uploading clips with accented file names to Frame io, YouTube or Vimeo would sometimes fail General Improvements Support for retaining the original creation date metadata when restoring or importing projects Support for additional flag and marker colors Improved behavior when editing parameter values using Wacom tablets Improved playback performance in the media, edit and cut pages Improved scripting API with support for deleting a project Addressed an issue where plugging in a monitor and switching to dual screen mode would sometimes cause a crash Addressed an issue where launching the preferences dialog using the shortcut would not work when the language was set to Portuguese Addressed an issue where changing decode quality for a clip would cause corresponding thumbnails in the People dialog to be incorrect Addressed an issue where custom keyboard shortcuts would not work correctly in the full screen viewer General performance and stability improvements Did you test DaVinci Resolve 16.1 public beta? If yes, how did you like it? Let us know in the comments below the article. Source: Blackmagic Design