In light of recent COVID-19 “Coronavirus” development in Europe, Blackmagic Design, as a precaution, decided to postpone their DaVinci Resolve European Tour 2020 for the next two weeks. Currently, this impacts March dates in Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest, Vienna, and Warsaw. It is not yet clear when these dates might be rescheduled. DaVinci Resolve European Tour 2020 – Some Stops Postponed. Image credit: Blackmagic Design Since the end of January 2020, Blackmagic Design is on tour around Europe with its custom truck equipped with a mobile classroom. They have been teaching people the basics of DaVinci Resolve. The tour takes place in the course of five months and offers free training in over 35 cities. You can check our initial DaVinci Resolve European Tour 2020 article for more information. During BSC 2020 in London, we met up with the certified Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve trainer Simon Hall to get even more information about the tour. The article can be found by clicking here ,or, you can watch the corresponding  video below. In light of recent development of the COVID-19 (also known as Coronavirus) disease spreading over Europe, we have seen many restrictive actions. Italy, for example, has put their whole country in quarantine. Some other countries, like Austria or the Czech Republic, canceled all events involving more than 100 people. Blackmagic Design, as a precaution, decided to postpone their DaVinci Resolve European Tour 2020 for the next two weeks. On Monday, March 9, we received an official statement from Patrick Hussey, Blackmagic Design’s Head of Communications for EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa): In light of developments, we have taken the decision to postpone the tour for the next two weeks purely as a precaution. We will continue to monitor developments however our overriding priority has to be the health and wellbeing of our customers, channel partners, and staff. Currently, this impacts dates in Sofia, Bucharest, Budapest, Vienna, and Warsaw. It is too early right now to comment on when these dates might be rescheduled. DaVinci Resolve European Tour 2020 – Some Stops Postponed. Image source: Blackmagic Design On the official DaVinci Resolve Europen Tour 2020 website, these dates are now offline and it is not possible to sign up for them anymore. Did you plan to attend one of the postponed tour stops? Did the Coronavirus already have an effect on your business? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

Blackmagic Design just released the new Camera V6.8 firmware update for both Pocket 4K and 6K cameras. The new firmware improves camera stratup times and USB PTP control performance, and it fixes the issue with slow mounting of media containing large number of clips. Further, it fixes the issue with EF lens stabilization for the Pocket 6K camera. Blackmagic Design Camera v6.8 for BMPCC 4K and 6K released. Image credit: cinema5D Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and 6K both offer very nice image quality for the price. Although the cameras do have some shortcommings, which often need to be adressed by third party solutions (powering, media, etc.), they have gotten quite popular among filmmakers. To know more about these cameras, or to refresh some features and specs, make sure to check one of our older articles: Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K Hands-On Review BMPCC 6K Review & Footage – Five Reasons to Like the Pocket 6K Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Lab Test – Dynamic Range, Latitude, Rolling Shutter & More BMPCC 6K vs. BMPCC 4K – Which one is for you? Back in October 2019, Blackmagic Design has released Camera V6.6 firmware update, which brought some new recording modes, improved autofocus, and brought some more fixes. Now, they release the next update Camera V6.8. Blackmagic Design Camera V6.8 Firmware Update As Blackmagic Design published in their post today, the Camera V6.8 update is now live on their Support Center Website. Blackmagic Design Camera v6.8 for BMPCC 4K and 6K released. Image credit: BMD/cinema5D New features for Pocket Cinema Camera 4K: Improved camera startup time. Improved USB PTP control performance. Increased 4K 2.40:1 recording height from 1712 to 1720. Fixed issue with slow mounting of media containing large number of clips. New features for Pocket Cinema Camera 6K: Improved camera startup time. Improved USB PTP control performance. Fixed issue with slow mounting of media containing large number of clips. Fixed issue where EF lens stabilization cannot be turned on if camera is started with lens stablization turned off. The new Camera V6.8 firmware update is available as a free download through Blackmagic Design Support Center Website. Do you use one of the Blackmagic Pocket cameras for your video work? Did you have any of the issues listed above? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.

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!