Ready to take your big boy camera to the skies? The DJI M600 is DJI’s latest flying platform and a heavy lifter that can even carry the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K. Check out this M600 review and see which things you should consider if you’ve got your eye on the latest toy in affordable drone and camera technology. The DJI M600 was first introduced to us during NAB 2016 in Las Vegas. It is a large hexacopter camera drone for serious professional aerial cinematography. What makes the DJI M600 so interesting for us is that it competes with other large camera drones and can lift heavy payloads, but is comparably easy to use (more on that later), affordable and integrates with DJI’s ergonomic flying solutions compatible with many camera types. DJI M600 Review – The Boss of the Skies Compared to DJI’s earlier large drones, the DJI Spreadwings S900 and S1000, the new DJI M600 can lift heavier weight, integrates the Ronin MX gimbal stabilizer for large camera compatibility and is easier to set up. It also uses DJI’s next generation A3 flight controller and Lightbridge 2, and can be upgraded with the D-RTK GNSS system for centimeter-accurate flight positioning. The A3 flight controller has a failsafe system and Lightbridge 2 delivers 1080 over a 5km distance. The M600’s wings can be collapsed downward The DJI M600 flies 65 km/h and up to an altitude of 2500. In this review I will not compare other large flying platforms, but rather focus on the differences, benefits and downsides in comparison to the much smaller DJI Inspire 1 RAW drone. I believe this will be helpful for those struggling to decide whether to upgrade their small flying platforms to a bigger form factor and use larger cameras like the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K. There are other reviews out there that discuss how the M600 stacks up against other large drones. Preparation When the DJI M600 and Ronin MX packages arrived at our office in Vienna, there was no doubt that there was a long process of preparation ahead of us before undertaking our DJI M600 review in Switzerland later that month. We had to assemble and test many parts because, as in any other production, you want to be ready for any eventualities when shooting begins. The M600 when the wings are folded away. This is as small as it gets unfortunately. That preparation time took longer than expected. I estimate it takes about 3-4 hours to assemble a DJI M600 with a Ronin MX for the first time. There are well made instruction videos on the internet, and if everything goes according to plan you’ll have a drone ready to fly by the end of it. In my case, the HDMI cable inside the drone was DOA, so it had to be replaced. Other than that, the software for the M600 and Ronin MX needed to be updated with a Windows computer, because software wasn’t yet available for Mac. I will not hold this against DJI, as I applaud them for bringing out new technology to the market so quickly, and I heard from other professional flyers that setup time is much quicker and easier in comparison to previous or competing platforms as everything comes readily integrated and setup with the M600. My ultra-light and flexible replacement HDMI cable. One thing is clear for me after setting up the DJI M600, though. This is not a product that’s anywhere near ready to be used out of the box. It needs time, care and a basic set of technical skills. It cannot be compared to a DJI Inspire 1 RAW, which you can just pull out of the box, switch on and fly. Looking at the charging process below is a good visual representation of the complexity between using an Inspire 1 RAW, and M600 with Ronin MX and URSA Mini 4.6K camera. Both can fly for about 15 minutes with these batteries: Charging the DJI Inspire 1 RAW battery and remote Charging the DJI M600, Ronin MX, URSA Mini batteries and remote Even though preparing to fly with a DJI M600 is a lot more time-consuming and difficult than with a DJI inspire 1 RAW, there are several reasons why you could decide to go with an M600 anyway. The simplest argument is that you can fly any camera, while the DJI Inspire 1 RAW restricts you to always fly the Zenmuse X5R, but more on that topic later. If you’re interested to find out how the DJI Inspire 1 RAW performs, you should check out these extensive reviews I did: How Does the Osmo RAW Compare to Professional Cinema Cameras? DJI Inspire 1 vs. Inspire 1 PRO vs. Inspire 1 RAW – See the Difference Shoot Aerial Video Like a Pro – Mastering Drone Footage – PART 1 Let’s fly that M600 beast with an URSA Mini 4.6K now, shall we? :) Working with the DJI M600 & URSA Mini 4.6K Getting the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K airborne on a DJI M600 turned out to be harder than expected. Installing the DJI Ronin MX on the M600 is a straight forward process, and the gimbal works just like it would on the ground. You don’t have to tune anything, if you did it all right, it should just all work together. In addition, you can easily control and manipulate settings on the Ronin MX via the DJI Go App and the remote that controls the M600 itself. Perfect! But then, I quickly found out that the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K with a small V-Mount battery is already on the brink of the weight limit of the M600, and only fits on the Ronin MX with some creative techniques. The biggest problem is the camera’s LCD is on a side of the camera body that can’t be accessed while it’s mounted on the Ronin MX. The second problem is that the camera’s power button is behind said LCD, meaning I needed to switch the camera on and then quickly assemble the gimbal before flight. Not ideal, but this is a problem specific to the combination of the URSA Mini and Ronin gimbal. The SDI signal was run through an HDMI converter into the drone, and the length of the camera was on the Ronin MX size limit by a few milimeters with the Canon EF-S 24mm pancake lens that I used. Ideally you would get the DJI wireless link to transfer the camera preview to the drone. I simply used the HDMI cable straight into the camera. Not ideal, but it works. It is probably easier to fit an Arri ALEXA Mini or a RED Epic on a Ronin MX gimbal, but none of them will deliver quality at the same price as the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K. This is why we tested with the latter. That said, if you plan to use an URSA Mini on this drone, be advised to use DJI’s Ronin MX camera battery solution, as you would not be able to fit any lens on it other than a pancake when using a heavy V-Mount battery, like I was. Also we hope Blackmagic Design will soon fix the magenta corner issue that was also apparent with the camera we tested (see video). Maxing out the weight (15kg takeoff weight) of the M600 proved to affect the flying behaviour to a certain degree. On the one hand, this powerful drone had no troubles to take off the ground easily, but I noticed that the heavy camera would make the whole gimbal construction swing on fast movements, which was sometimes visible in the footage. This is of course to be expected and nothing the drone can’t handle. Quite the contrary, the DJI M600 is a beast that flies with an understated warm sound and follows your input accurately, just like a DJI Inspire 1 would. The M600 is a little quicker and the Inspire is more agile. One thing that affected my test is that DJI could only provide 1 set of batteries at the time, so I had 15 minutes of flying time in the Swiss alps and I was not able to make that 10 hour travel a second time just for a reshoot. Unfortunately it started to rain in mid flight, so the flying time was reduced to just 8 minutes in total on two occasions. Ideally you would also make sure that not only the video feed, but also camera controls are connected to the flight controller, by getting the right remote controller suited to your camera. The Benefits of Working with the DJI M600 What is great about working with the M600 is that you have a very powerful drone that fully integrates with DJI’s Go App system and is upgradable with the D-RTK GNSS for centimeter accurate flying, added redundancy, etc. Basically you can mount whatever other accessories you like, not only to the drone, but also to the camera. And this is the most important argument for this drone. Besides incorporating the A3 failsafe functions and latest DJI technology, it can be used with any camera, lens and accessories you choose. You can use a camera as small as the Inspire 1 RAW’s very own Zenmuse X5R or a camera as large as the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K, and anything in between. If the Ronin MX is too large, you can use other mounting brackets for the Zenmuse cameras or the Zenmuse Z15 brackets for smaller cameras like the Sony a7 series. For me this is the kind of drone I would use to complement a project like a commercial or fiction film, where the highest quality and consistency is needed and where I have a safe and controlled environment to prepare and fly. I have not used a drone like the Freefly Cine Alta yet, and I’m sure it’s a great product if you have the money, but for $4,600 the DJI M600 is hard to beat: a heavy lifter that offers a lot of drone for little investment, and one that should certainly be considered by professionals. The Downsides of Working with the DJI M600 Having had the direct comparison to the DJI Inspire 1 RAW while testing the DJI M600, I noticed a few things you might want to consider before upgrading to a drone as large as this one. First and foremost, size makes a huge difference here… and not in a good way. After going through several days of reviewing the DJI M600, I can now fully appreciate the benefits of a small drone, and I can say with confidence that smaller is better when it comes to flying them. I have tested and used the DJI Inspire 1 RAW on several occasions now, and I’m still blown away by the quality of the Zenmuse X5R camera. Few other cameras reach this standard, and with an easy DaVinci Resolve workflow, this camera is, in my book at least, very hard to beat for aerial cinematography. There are many factors about a drone that can contribute towards getting the desired shots. The ergonomics and small size of the DJI Inspire 1, for example, allow me to have everything with me in a single box and be ready and flying within roughly 2 minutes after getting out of my car. Four batteries will last me an hour. I could climb a mountain with it and get those precious shots. The DJI M600 is much more limiting in this regard. I had the M600 and URSA Mini packed across six cases. You need an extra case for the M600. It was a lot of heavy luggage that took about 20-30 minutes to set up. Not to say that a large drone is not worth the extra effort, but the setup speed of smaller drones is an invaluable asset to getting great shots, especially when you’re a small crew or even on your own and out and about shooting special places. After all, it is all about content! Another lesson I learned is that a large drone greatly limits your flying possibilities in the public. Setting up and flying a DJI M600 is a lot scarier for passerby’s than a small drone and people get more and more sensitive to them too. Conclusion Making this DJI M600 review was a great experience for me. On the one hand, I was very impressed with how the DJI M600 and Ronin MX combo give me the freedom to use any kind of camera and accessories in order to achieve the shots I need at a relatively affordable price. This drone would be a great help on commercial shoots where we need to fly a certain camera or lens with a reliable and familiar system while still keeping costs to a minimum. On the other hand, I can now fully appreciate the ergonomics of smaller drones like the DJI Inspire 1, and especially that the possibilities that the DJI Inspire 1 RAW offers with the Zenmuse X5R camera and lenses will be more than sufficient for my creative vision on most projects. In future versions of the DJI Matrice series I hope DJI will work on making the large form factor easier to use. I certainly see room for improvement when it comes to foldaway size and use of less batteries. All in all, other user reports seem to suggest that DJI is once again ahead of the pack when it comes to the latest in drone flying technology. The price and eco system they have built continues to be probably their most compelling argument. My advice: only go for a larger drone if you know what you’re getting yourself into. If you do, the DJI M600 is an affordable tool that can get the job done and is worth considering. Music by: Art-List.io (Garden of Things – Two Third)

Not long ago, Blackmagic Design released version 12.5 of its famous grading software DaVinci Resolve. It’s only been two months, and the company has already unveiled an 12.5.1 update, which contains some very interesting features under the hood: native Quicktime decoding on Windows machines and support for the all-new Sony X-OCN format. DaVinci Resolve 12.5.1 and Quicktime The 12.5.1 update doesn’t add as many new features as the 12.5 release did (please refer to our article on that release), but it contains some very promising features under the hood. On Windows machines, you will no longer need to have Quicktime installed if you want to decode ProRes *.mov files. Now, that’s huge! A while ago, Apple announced to cease support for Quicktime on Windows (see our article), so this development is a much needed step towards native Quicktime handling without the need of installing outdated (and therefore vulnerable) Apple Quicktime libraries just for that purpose. However, there seems to be one confusing UI glitch. You can set the “optimized media” to ProRes encoding, but you won’t be able to output ProRes files as a delivery format. It seems to be just a UI thing, actual ProRes encoding still demands for installed Quicktime libraries on Windows. Please refer to the Blackmagic Design Forum to read about this issue. Maybe the next major version of DaVinci Resolve will solve this whole Quicktime issue once and for all? IBC is around the corner, at least… Sony’s Future of RAW, the X-OCN Format With its brand new “bolt-on” AXS-R7 recorder for the Sony F5 and F55 cameras, the Japanese company has started exploring a new era of RAW recording. The X-OCN (eXtended Original Camera Negative) promises to preserve the full 16Bit latitude of the sensor while achieving a much smaller footprint in terms of bitrate (read all about it in our previous post). Sony F55 with attached AXS-R7 recorder module Blackmagic Design did a pretty good job in quickly adapting to this development, as DaVinci Resolve 12.5.1 already supports this new format natively. Full List of Features As always, the update comes as a free download for both the regular version as well as for the studio version. Here is a list with all the improvements and upgrades in this new DaVinci Resolve 12.5.1 release: Edit Improvements Improved 2-up and 4-up, multicam and playback performance when using QuickTime ProRes on Windows Added menu items to allow selection of clips based on Flag, Marker and Clip colors on the edit timeline Added ability to import and export duration markers using EDL Added the ability for clips to snap to their own markers when adjusting In and Out points Improved consistency of edit functions when Timeline is in full screen mode Added support for box wipe mode for offline reference wipe Added ability to extract AAF import log information as timeline markers Color Improvements Improved performance for Spatial Noise reduction in Better mode Improved listing of attached and timeline mattes in the node graph with support for alphabetical listing Added ability to apply grades from a reference wipe using the viewer context menu Added ability to align keyframe timelines of color grades using playhead position and wiped still frame Next node and previous node operations now loop around the node graph The ‘displayed’ node graph now automatically updates when the current still is changed Swapping nodes now also swaps the node labels Rippling grades now also copies node labels, Power Window labels and node cache settings Shift Up + Next Still will now append grade from the current still on the advanced control panel (Studio version) Added support for left eye and right eye grades for the timeline node graph (Studio version) Added ability to convert a mono timeline into stereoscopic 3D (Studio version) Added ability to convert a mono clip into stereoscopic 3D (Studio version) Added support for sequence and node render caching for stereoscopic clips and timelines (Studio version) Added compensation for stereoscopic slip when exporting timecodes in ALE (Studio version) Added support copying DolbyVision grades using stills and middle click (Studio version) Improved 3D and Qualifier panel layout in dual screen mode Improved behavior to stay on the same frame when joining two clips Resolve FX Improvements Added ResolveFX Generate Color (GPU accelerated) Added ResolveFX Tilt-shift Blur Added support for anamorphism in ResolveFX Lens Blur (Studio version) GPU acceleration support for ResolveFX Lens Flare (Studio version) Ability to adjust Shadows/Midtones/Highlights in ResolveFX Film Grain in all compositing modes (Studio version) GPU acceleration support for ResolveFX Emboss, Waviness, Vortex, Ripples, Dent, Mirror Improved ResolveFX Scanlines and added various composite modes Ability to view the ResolveFX Scanline layer without the background Improved border behavior for ResolveFX Gaussian Blur, Directional Blur, Mosaic Blur, Radial Blur and Zoom Blur Added support for horizontal/vertical ratio in ResolveFX Glow Added support for pan and tilt on ResolveFX Prism Blur Improved performance for ResolveFX Light Rays Improved performance for ResolveFX JPEG Damage Media Improvements Added new Import Media options to File menu and Media Pool context menu Added support for stereoscopic 3D clips in Media Management (Studio version) Added support for display drive names in Media Storage on Windows Addressed issues with open file location from Media Pool on Linux Added Source Name tag support for filename without extension Added support for automatically setting pixel aspect ratio for anamorphic ARRIRAW MXF clips Codec & Format Improvements Added support for ProRes decode on Windows Improved QuickTime decode and encode performance on Windows Support for UHD H.264 renders on Windows Improved QuickTime decode and encode performance on Linux Added support for HEVC (H.265) decode on Linux Added support for alpha channel in DNxHR 444 Added support for the Sony X-OCN format Added support for various AAC encode parameters on macOS Added support for QuickTime AAC audio encoding on Windows Added support for encoding QuickTime Photo JPEG files Added support for decoding AVCHD files from the Sony NEX-FS700 camera Added support for V-Gamut in RCM for improved Panasonic camera image handling Added ARRI LogC to Linear and Linear to ARRI LogC LUTs in VFX I/O Addressed decoding of last frame in some Panasonic AVCHD clips Improved handling of AVCHD .MTS clips Added support for RED SDK v6.2.1 General Improvements Alpha-numerical listing of codecs and format in the Deliver and Media Management pulldowns When running DaVinci Resolve in window mode, the mac OS dock is now visible Improved latency for remote grading (Studio version) Improved handling of dissolves and overlapping clips in DolbyVision metadata export (Studio version) Improved behavior when creating render jobs on locations without write permissions General performance and stability improvements Source: Blackmagic Design

The Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Firmware 4.0 is finally available for download as a public beta, and we were lucky enough to download and install it on both our 4.6K and 4K URSAs before its official release. This massive yet FREE update was first announced during NAB 2016, and will allow users to control their camera in a more precise and intuitive way. By the time you read this news piece, Sebastian will have already arrived in Switzerland and performed his first test flying the URSA Mini 4.6K on the new DJI M600 drone.  We managed to update the camera just before his departure, although we encountered some difficulties and needed 3 attempts on 3 different computers in order to succeed. (I can confirm that the problem was due to a faulty USB connector. Blackmagic Design sent us a replacement camera and the update went without a snitch.) Interestingly, the process was very straight forward with the URSA Mini 4K. Please share your experience with us in case you’re having some troubles too. Moving on, kudos to Blackmagic Design’s software developers for managing to create a neat and clear user interface which almost makes you believe you have a brand new camera to play with. The new layout is nice and logical, with very easy access to all major parameters. The new Heads Up Display includes most if not all settings needed for daily operation, saving the camera operator so much time from fiddling with the menu. As the list of improvements is very long and we could have dozens of pictures to demonstrate those changes, I’ll leave you to read what is new (see below) and urge anyone who has the URSA Mini to download the update and experience the (Black) magic by themselves. If you are a professional working with the URSA Mini in either 4K or 4.6K, don’t forget to share your experience working with the new firmware with us. Your feedback counts and will be shared with the relevant people at Blackmagic Design. To get the new Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Firmware 4.0 public beta, please click here. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!  Blackmagic Design URSA Mini Firmware 4.0 Features Here is the full list of what’s new in Blackmagic Camera Setup 4.0 Public Beta for URSA Mini 4.6K and 4K:  Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K and 4K  • New URSA Mini OS. • New heads up display. • New menu system to allow faster operation. • New monitoring options separately configurable for different SDI outputs. • Added ability to load 3D LUTs (Look Up Table) for monitoring. • Added ability to save and load camera settings presets. New Heads Up Display Features • Swipe up or down to show and hide the heads up display. • Added pan-able focus zoom. • Added ability to change frame rate directly from heads up display. • Added ability to change iris from heads up display on electronic lenses. • Added ability to toggle timecode or duration from heads up display. • Added ability to toggle favorite off-speed frame rate quickly. • Added ability to change shutter angle from heads up display. • Added flicker free shutter angle suggestions. • Added manual shutter angle option for up to 2 decimal places. • Added indicators for genlock, timecode status, and sensor window in heads up display. • Added ability to change ISO from heads up display. • Added ability to change white balance from heads up display. • Added white balance presets including daylight, tungsten, fluorescent, mixed lighting, and overcast. • Added tint control. • Added auto white balance feature. • Added audio input and headphone level control from the heads up display. • Added media status page for formatting cards and media information. • Added ability to toggle battery indicator from heads up display. • Added monitoring option controls from heads up display including zebra, focus assist, frame guide and grids. New Metadata Features • Improved slate and metadata functionality. • Added lens data information to slate metadata. • Added auto-fill lens metadata from electronically controllable lenses. • Changed slate shortcut from a single tap to a sideways swipe on the LCD. New Record Features • Added additional ProRes resolutions for URSA Mini 4.6K including 4.6K 16×9, 4.6K 2.4:1, 4K DCI, 3K Anamorphic, 2K 16×9 and 2K DCI. • Added additional RAW resolutions for URSA Mini 4.6K including 4.6K 2.4:1, 4K 16×9, 3K Anamorphic, 2K 16×9 and HD. • Added option to select the preferred card for recording. New Monitor Features • Improved screen colorimetry for the built in LCD. • Added ability to switch 3D LUT on and off for each output individually. • Added ability to switch false color, zebras, focus assist, frame guides, grids and safe area guide on or off for each output individually. • Added clean feed toggle for each output. • Added program tally indicator for the built in LCD and Front SDI when using ATEM. • Added monitoring option for tally, crosshairs and centre dot as part of grids. • Added 14:9 frame guides. • Added configurable safe area guides. • Expanded options for focus assist to include red, green, blue, black and white as well as peaking. • Added option for viewing codec and resolution setting instead of meters on the built in LCD. New Settings Features • Added ability to program function buttons as a preset for frame rate, iris, white balance, ISO or shutter angle. • Added ability to program function buttons for Up or Down frame rate, iris, white balance, ISO or shutter angle. • Added ability to program function buttons as a toggle for clean feed, display LUT, frame guides, focus assist, false color, zebra, grids, safe area guides, off-speed and color bars. • Added flicker free shutter frequency selection for 50Hz or 60Hz. • Added support for drop frame timecode. • Added ability to trigger color bars from camera. • Added factory reset function. • Added hardware ID display. • Added software version display. New Presets Features • Added ability to create up to 12 global camera settings presets. • Added ability import and export camera presets to CFast media. New 3D LUT Features • Added ability to monitor with 3D LUTs. • Added ability to import 3D LUT from CFast media. • Added ability to store up to 6 custom 17 point or 33 point LUTs into the camera’s internal flash memory. • Added the ability to export one of the camera’s 3D LUTs to CFast media so you can pass the 3D LUT to a colorist or editor. • Added ability to delete 3D LUT from camera’s internal memory. New General Features  • Improved timecode functionality for external timecode and jam timecode. • Improved white balance performance. • Added option for single clip or all clip playback. • Added loop playback feature. Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder • Improved colorimetry for viewfinder. • Improved proximity sensor sensitivity. • Improved proximity sensor timeout settings. • Improved frame guide appearance. • Added support for URSA Mini OS metadata settings. • Added support for new frame guides, safe area guides and grids. • Added menu items for configuring overlay settings.

This is the first post in a short series for absolute beginners who want to get started in DaVinci Resolve. First off, we’re going to discuss workflow concepts. A “native” workflow in DaVinci Resolve where camera media (R3D in this example) is used through all stages of post, and in a single application. Get Started in DaVinci Resolve For those of you that are cinema5D regulars, or anyone who knows me from my blog or social media, you’ll know color is something I spend a lot of time explaining, teaching, as well as doing. I love colour: the art, the science, physics and effects on human perception and psychology as it relates to our experience of story. I was recently accepted as a full Colorist Society International member. There are a lot of experts in the field online, and they are all good, so soak up everything you can read and watch online. This short series will be both conceptual and practical with the aim of getting you off to a good start in Resolve using the same concepts and methodology as a professional colorist. What is workflow? What do we mean when we talk about workflow? A workflow is simply a process, or set of defined steps that will take you from where you are, to where you want to be. It’s a repeatable set of instructions to get from A to B. We talk about workflow mostly in the context of post production, and there is also on-set workflow in terms of data management and any number of processes that may happen on set. In the end, it’s all the same workflow: what takes place on set and what takes place in an editing bay or color grading suite is just a matter of location. Why is workflow important? A defined workflow allows a high level of control over how things happen, when they happen and what the results will be. A workflow ensures consistency, and ultimately, the quality of the final product. It ensures that technical standards are met and maintained. It simplifies and defines the process into steps that every person involved understands and acknowledges. It ensures problems can be identified and solved quickly. Breaking down an example post production workflow A workflow is designed and customised for a particular job and there are as many possible workflows as there are jobs. There are, however, some basic starting points. I’m not going to list them all or describe them all, my purpose here is to explain what workflow is, so that you are better equipped to approach your own projects in a logical way. For those of you that are already familiar with all of this, the example I’m about to give is simplified, but it should help those who are new to this entirely. One possible workflow in the context of editorial and finishing, is a round-trip workflow. Let’s say we’re working on a film or commercial which has been shot with a number of RED cameras in REDcode RAW. I want to edit this on my laptop, but I don’t have storage space or the performance required to work with the native REDcode RAW media easily. So, that’s when I’d employ a typical round-trip workflow. This is just one of many basic types of workflow. A typical “round-trip” workflow using Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. Premiere could be substituted for any NLE, such as FCPX, Avid, Edius, etc. Specifically, I’m going to edit in Adobe Premiere using compressed proxies, which are low resolution copies of the original camera media. Once the edit is locked, I will import the edit (sequence) in DaVinci Resolve using a XML file, but this time I will link back to the native REDcode RAW camera media for color grading and finishing. DaVinci Resolve may end up being my final destination as far as the picture is concerned, or I may need to take the graded picture back into Premiere for some other reason such as final titling and packaging. Here’s a breakdown of the basic steps in this example workflow. Create the low resolution proxy media by transcoding all of the REDcode RAW camera media into HD Prores Proxy codec (or Avid DNxHD, or some low/medium bitrate, edit-friendly codec). This keeps the files small, but they are high enough quality to edit with. Edit the film. Export the XML and a low res video export (“cutting copy”) from Adobe Premiere. Import the XML into DaVinci Resolve, linking to the REDcode RAW camera media. Problem solve any missing or unlinked media. Check the sequence against the low res export (cutting copy) from Premiere. Color grade the film. Export the graded shots in a high res, high quality format with an XML from DaVinci Resolve. Import the XML and graded media into a new Premiere sequence for packaging and final output. The above steps are what we would normally refer to as a round-trip editorial workflow, and it applies no matter what NLE is used. But this is only a small section of a much longer list of steps in the larger overall workflow for the project. There are steps that take place on-set before any of this begins, and these steps define what happens to the camera cards, how they are handled, and how camera media is copied, duplicated, managed and organized. There may or may not be some on-set processing to generate graded previews for the director, typically referred to as a “dailies” workflow. You may even have access to, or create LUTS used for monitoring on set, which can be used later as a reference for color grading. We haven’t even mentioned audio workflow yet, which weaves in and out of this overall workflow. In conclusion I hope this gives you an understanding of what we mean by workflow when talking about how to get started in DaVinci Resolve. There is the large and sometimes quite complex view of the entire sequence of events that happens from the second a card is pulled from the camera, all the way to exporting final deliverables, but this is always broken down into smaller more manageable sections. The smaller sections can also be further broken down, and we’ll be doing this by taking a close look at the colorist’s specific workflow within DaVinci Resolve, the steps a colorist takes to create a balanced, matched, consistent, coherent look for a film. In the end, this is all part of the workflow, and defining it long before cameras roll ensures consistent, quality results that meet delivery requirements and keeps all the creatives happy. It gives us a structure for problem solving, and although it sometimes needs to be modified, having a defined workflow makes everything much faster and easier to manage.

Matt Damon on set during during production of Jason Bourne. Credit: Universal Pictures Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Studio was used to complete the online edit, color grade and HDR delivery for Jason Bourne. Goldcrest Post, London provided full post production services for Bourne director Paul Greengrass. The ever growing community of professional and aspiring colorists and editors who rely on DaVinci Resolve will be happy to see one more high-profile production finished using this software. It’s yet another testimony to the power of the system, as well as of the hard work and innovative development that has been invested in Resolve by Blackmagic Design. While some were skeptical when Blackmagic Design made the move to add NLE functionality to Resolve, it is arguably the most significant decision in the history of this software. Turning Resolve into a fully-featured NLE, with the most seamless workflow of any editing or grading solution on the market has catapulted Resolve into the hands of more creators than anyone could have imagined. Resolve is now relied upon as the heart and brain of more post production workflows than ever before. Seamless Fluidity, Real-Time Collaborative Workflow For Universal Pictures,  the online edit and grading of Jason Bourne were in the capable hands of Goldcrest’s Sinéad Cronin and Rob Pizzey respectively. “Working on the project together in DaVinci Resolve Studio allowed us a great deal of fluidity, and we were able to collaborate closely throughout,” reveals Cronin. “I could conform and work on the online edit in Resolve’s Media and Edit pages, whilst Rob could render a grade on the Color page at the same time.” The Asset (Vincent Cassel) in Jason Bourne. Credit: Jasin Boland Resolve’s seamless workflow between editorial and finishing, and its collaborative workflow features seem to be the central theme of its success with Jason Bourne. “There’s so many action-packed scenes, with extended chase sequences and set pieces, so the scale of postproduction was huge; for example, one of the reels had more than 1,000 cuts. Timescales were tight, and I would work on a section of the online edit, knowing that Rob would be in the theater ready to grade with the client. Everything we did in Resolve was in real time, which really helped us to work to a tight deadline,” explained Cronin. Color When it came to color, there were some specific creative requirements to create location-specific moods and looks. Having previously collaborated with Greengrass and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd on a number of films, colorist Pizzey had an extensive understanding of how the team wanted to use the grade to enhance the action. “In Jason Bourne, there are sequences in Las Vegas, Athens and Berlin and an important part of the grade was to differentiate the mood and feel between these locations…but to ensure the overall aesthetic of the series remained in evidence,” he explains. Paul Greengrass, the director of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, once again joins Damon for the next chapter of Universal Pictures’ Bourne franchise “Barry and I worked during preproduction to produce templates in Resolve from test footage, which would then act as a base for Barry to check his lighting on set, and for processing the rushes. Deploying Resolve at the preproduction stage meant that when we came back together to do the final grade, the sessions were extremely smooth and productive.” The grade was also used to enhance the film’s editing, particularly in the action sequences. “One of my favorite sequences in the film to grade takes place in Athens, which was shot entirely at night. As the action is on the streets, which are filled with layers of smoke, and a fire unfolds, the edit intercuts scenes from a CIA control room,” explains Pizzey. “I kept the CIA room very cool and clinical, with a blue palette to differentiate from the warm, realistic riot scenes. Using Resolve’s grading toolset with some shape work, I was able to reflect some of the warmer tones from the screens in the control room back onto the actors’ faces. It was a very subtle, but extremely effective contrast within a key sequence.” Heather Lee (Alicia Vikander) in Jason Bourne. Credit: Jasin Boland HDR Delivery The Goldcrest team worked in full 4K throughout the project, and also deployed DaVinci Resolve Studio’s new high dynamic range capabilities to deliver the film in HDR for the first time. “HDR isn’t just a new delivery format, it’s a fantastic creative playground for production teams to deliver a completely new experience to audiences. These capabilities, combined with the NLE toolset and grading capabilities, make DaVinci Resolve a complete storytelling device,” concludes Pizzey.

Our favourite film stock emulator FilmConvert has released a profile for the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K camera, the popular new offering from Blackmagic Design (which we will feature in our lab tests very soon!). Surprisingly, FilmConvert states that this was the “most requested camera profile of all time”. This has certainly partly to do with the fact that Blackmagic generally takes a while until they actually ship cameras that they announced. In case you hadn’t heard of it, in a nutshell FilmConvert is both a standalone software and extension app for NLE systems like Premiere Pro, Final Cut and Sony Vegas that offers realistic film stock emulation. You start with a base camera profile, tell the software what camera you are using and pair this with a film stock of your aesthetic choice. Grading can then be applied to tweak your desired look. It’s support for the initial process enables you to accurately apply film stock looks to the Blackmagic URSA Mini 4.6K. Download here. cinema5D readers can benefit from the price reduction as seen below:

The all new Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve 12.5 is out and, as always, it’s available as a free download. The company claims to have implemented 1,000 enhancements and 250 new features, so this new version is definitely worth a closer look! The video below highlights some of the new and enhanced features. DaVinci Resolve 12.5 1,000 enhancements and 250 new features, now this is a bold statement! Sure, not every one of these bits and pieces, but there are some very exciting improvements to be found in this new version of DaVinci which was initially introduced as a beta version at this year’s NAB show in Las Vegas. For a quick overview, these are the major enhancements of DaVinci Resolve 12.5: First up is a brand new feature called Fusion Connect. With this you can send clips from Resolve straight to Fusion 8 (also available as a free download) for further effects work. After having finished the FX, the clip will be sent straight back to Resolve. This feature comes built in natively, no more painful rountripping breaks. The Adobe Premiere & After Effects tag team can expect some competition here! There’s no doubt that DaVinci Resolve is the gold standard in terms of colour grading, but this isn’t really true when it comes to the edit tab. It’s become obvious that Blackmagic wants to change their reputation in this regard. A lot of editing features have been added to the 12.5 release of Resolve; some of them may be pretty much standard, but at least they are available now. And it doesn’t seem that Blackmagic will stop developing their flagship software anytime soon. New editing feature for version 12.5 Blackmagic has put a lot of effort into the edit page. As the whole editing capability is relatively new to Resolve, it’s nice to see the edit page flourishing in such rapid fashion. Some of the highlights include: advanced edit overlay, including ripple overwrite Improved clip retiming, including 2 new curves Drag and drop for clip reorganisation on the timeline Ability to view and edit clip metadata right from the edit page Power Bins: like Smart Bins but spanning across multiple projects Advanced editing features like ripple overwrite, ripple cut and paste/insert Markers now can work as duration markers, too New dissolves, wipes and other transitions Ability to edit keyframes directly on the timeline Audio waveforms can be displayed as an overlay in the source viewer New text tool. Edit text directly in the viewer New colour features The colour tab, an already advanced workspace, has also been improved. Now you can control the colour temperature and tint of a clip via dedicated sliders. Finally! Another improvement is the new Resolve FX effects library which is built right into DaVinci. The effects range from things like glow or film grain to weird stuff like JPG Damage, and they work either as a CPU or GPU effect. Other features include: New point tracker for hard to track clips (works with Resolve FX, too) Improved node editor: copy, swap, extract and insert nodes easily. Even compound nodes are possible New HDR mode for nodes Log contrast control can be set to either linear or S-curve mode New layering composite modes like colour dodge, colour burn, exclusion, luminosity and others new point tracker tool in conjunction with Resolve FX Some of the new features can only be found in the paid studio version of Resolve 12.5: Enhanced temporal and spatial noise reduction Automatic (and manual) lens correction for minimizing lens distortion New deliver page with presets The all new deliver page finally sports presets for popular video platforms like Youtube or Vimeo. Also, Premiere Pro XML presets are available and even audio only options can be found for further audio editing. All in all, the deliver module gets a much needed update and is really easy to use now. Everything you need is right there. the all new deliver page with presets Conclusion It’s impossible to walk you through each and every new feature of this massive update. You really should try it for yourself and explore the myriad enhancements in DaVinci Resolve 12.5. I must say I’m really impressed by the developing speed and all the new features in such a brief period of time. Not long ago, there wasn’t such thing like an edit page in Resolve at all! We will see what the future holds for DaVinci but it seems that it will be bright. Check out Blackmagic Design’s offical website for all the details. There are plenty of videos to be found, too.

In the tail end of last year we posted this video on how to make use of the fantastic Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder with other cameras. It seems that we are not the only whom took note as Tilta has announced their own rehoused version. We caught up with Tilta at NAB to check out their latest products and the rehoused Blackmagic viewfinder was something that immediately caught our eye. The Blackmagic URSA Viewfinder is compact, a 1920 x 1080 OLED display and relatively affordable. We were impressed with how it performed and also the fact that Blackmagic kept it universal with its BNC SDI connection for signal and 4-pin XLR for power. This makes it very easy to adapt for use with other cameras. Tilta has built upon this by rehousing the URSA Viewfinder into an industry ready state. Gone is the USRA designed swivel mount and hard-wired cables. The Tilta URSA Viewfinder has been stripped back to accept more universal fittings (pictured in the above video with Arri viewfinder mount) with a HD-SDI port for signal and 12-24v lemo for power. On the underside also is a 1/4″ thread for further mounting. It’s nice to see the peripherals offered up in the form of ports over hard-wired cables, this makes it much easier to maintain and customize to your specific needs. Going back to our ground work back in October, we found that the URSA Viewfinder seems to only accept progressive signals (many cheaper cameras only output variants of interlaced signals) so for cameras like the a7S you’ll still have to convert the signal before it reaches the viewfinder (we did this via an Atomos Shogun). As you can see in the video, Tilta were a little vague in what they’ll do in terms of offering further support for this in the future, but it does seem like they’re looking into it. The Tilta URSA Viewfinder has no official price, but should be under $2000 (original currently sits at $1495).