Color Grading D-Cinelike - DJI Mini 3 Pro

[@vletrmx21]

Your no nosense, direct approach to this subject is hugely refreshing and the you have clearly honed your craft, great video all around!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your feedback, I really appreciate it and hope that it was helpful to you 🤗

[@skutecnetom]

Best tutorial for editing d-cinelike files on KZbin

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much, it means a lot to me 🤗

[@YosefBederman]

I agree. Helped me so much!

[@nickxx9729]

Literally the best dji color grading video I've seen, thank you!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much for your feedback, I'm very glad if it was helpful to you :)

[@Habacama]

Сегодня был солнечный день. Я поставил фильтр ND256 и даже пробовал летать с ND1000! Спасибо Том за очень важную тему про светофильтры.

[@desertexplorations]

Since DaVinci Resolve began as a colorization editor there are a lot of processes there that take a different approach than FCPX, both use similar tools but their organization is different. FCPX will balance the color for you during the import of your footage, it's pretty accurate. I have found choosing from a good LUT library and tweaking afterward works best for me. You definitely speak like someone who works in the film industry. Thanks again for your efforts in smoothing out my footage, I've become a 30fps guy.

[@t0mwhazzup]

I have never worked with FCP, but happy to hear if it works for you ☺️ There are several ways too achieve the desired look. And I am very happy that I could help smoothing out your footage 🙂

[@OhRap]

The most helpful tutorial, about grading the drone footage, I’ve seen so far!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much! 🙂 Happy if it was helpful to you 🤗

[@TrueLegacyStudio]

bro i'm a videographer and i use davinci to color grade and i'd say i'm pretty good at color graded but i just bought the mini 3 pro and after watching about 10 videos this is the video that i'm going to favorite. Great job with the clear instructions and your grades are super motivational to me! keep it up!

[@t0mwhazzup]

I am very happy about your message - very cool that it motivates you!! 😊😊 But sometimes I come across clips that are hard to grade... no matter what 😅

[@TrueLegacyStudio]

@@t0mwhazzup after learning to color grade like you for my drone footage it made my color grading for my professional camera footage even better! Thank you!

[@t0mwhazzup]

@@TrueLegacyStudio That's great news, thank you 🙂

[@meeroriri5842]

man I love this edit explanation! the most simple most informative video I've seen so far!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much for your feedback, it really means a lot! 😃

[@charlgoldstraw9776]

Honestly, you saved me. Thank you for making this!

[@TeeEmmCee]

Thank you, Tom. I often watch videos like yours on the subject of colour correction. It can be a little confusing for beginners like me when listening to differing opinions on what's best. An example is with your suggestion to keep the EV higher compared to some who say it's best to keep it lower. You have explained your reason very well and provided an example. That helps. Thanks again.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Oh, I don't really think it's about what's best. There are so many ways and I just wanted to show mine specifically for D-Cinelike footage and my color grading style. And the specifics of exposing ideally with the Mini 3 Pro. Generally with modern camera technology you have lots of headroom to correct exposure afterwards (so you can underexpose), but tiny sensors like the Mini 3 Pro's don't have this headroom and it's really important to get it right in camera to get high quality footage. That's why I really think underexposing does no good to the footage and I hope my demonstration made sense. Surely you don't want to have relevant parts of your clips overexposed because they are lost forever (that's why I exposed the last example clip with the houses and the tree silhouttes lower) but something like edges of sunlit clouds can be overexposed with no damage to the clip overall and the brighter exposure really ups the quality of the rest of the frame. Thank you for your feedback! Highly appreciated 🙂

[@xidoqal3456]

You are adding a great value to your audience, your videos are very informative, easy to follow and fun to watch.. So much appreciate your style ❤

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your very kind comment. I really appreciate that you let me know it was helpful to you. It means a lot, thanks again :)

[@sanzansansan]

Thanks Tom! Really liked your approach to Colour Warper.

[@baiadeparanagua8724]

Excellent .

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much 🙏🏼

[@wesbaynham1634]

Extremely helpful video to help grasp Davinici fundamentals. Thank you so much!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much for or your feedback 🙂 Happy to help!

[@abuzzaboveitaly]

Color correcting has given me fits. Thanks for breaking down an easier and logical way to get things looking good.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you! My method is just one of many, but I think it is easily approachable. I hope you have success with your future color grading 🙂

[@drselvakumar3523]

You are a genius👏🏽👏🏽 Thanks for the videos. You made daVinci resolve very simple. Finally I came across an one stop channel for my drone videos 👍🏽

[@t0mwhazzup]

Wow, your nice comment made my day, thank you so much 🙏🏼 I am happy that my content is useful to you 🤗

[@cyberspetz]

I like the 2 examples. Short one for quick know-how and longer with a bit more advanced. Looking forward to more videos! Thank you!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your feedback. Really appreciate that :)

[@danimac2028]

Hi Tom what are usually your basic settings for input and output of your drone projects? Thanks

[@t0mwhazzup]

I output in Rec.709, what do you mean by input?

[@maninerror]

Your simple method is very awesome and help me to color grade my DJI footage. thanks.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Happy to hear that 🙂 Thank you very much for letting me know 🤗

[@jonnytacooutdoors]

Great video I need to upgrade from the Mini 2 now

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you! As far as I know, during daylight, the Mini 2 is not really worse than the Mini 3. But in low light, the Mini 3 Pro really shines with its f1.7 aperture.

[@jonnytacooutdoors]

@@t0mwhazzup stoked. Just got the mini 3 pro.

[@vimalraj9377]

I am learning on drone and your videos are really helpful. Thank you!

[@t0mwhazzup]

I am very happy to hear that. Thank you very much for letting me know! 🙂

[@JasonRowPhotography]

Excellent video, just bought a Mini 3 Pro to supplement my Air 2s. Good to learn some grading techniques for the smaller sensor.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your feedback :) Hope it helps!

[@gillesmatheronpro]

Your tutorial could not be more clear (!) and your explanations could not be better exposed (!). Great work... brilliant (!).

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much for your kind words and sorry for my late response. I am really happy that my efforts helped :)

[@random55912]

Awesome!!! Finally I started to color grade in Davinci. Thanks for the easy explanations 😁

[@t0mwhazzup]

Very happy if it helps 🤗 Enjoy the process!

[@taewanjeong4284]

Awesome ! Thank you so much

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you :)

[@Pete_Furlong]

okay, I did NOT see Disco Dude coming! Thank you for this super helpful video!

[@t0mwhazzup]

I didn't either when I created that video. To be honest, I just did it that way because the whole video was already in its final draft when a friend told me that maybe I should at least shortly explain the scopes graph. Didn't want to mess around with the timeline, all the music and cuts were already perfectly aligned. So I decided to insert it with a hard cut so that the rest of the video stays unchanged, and it better be funny... so, that's how Disco Tom was born 😅 Happy that the video was not only entertaining, but also helpful 🙂 Thanks for letting me know!

[@ClaudioDesideriFilms]

Another amazing tutorial, Tom! I just love the way you explain your workflow which is similar to mine but has subtle differences and that makes it even more interesting. Amazing shots and simple and superb colour grading 👏👏

[@t0mwhazzup]

Hi Claudio, thank you so much for your feedback, I really appreciate it and I'm glad if it was of any help 🙂

[@DocAlexB]

Glasses scopes guy made an instant subscriber

[@t0mwhazzup]

Oh I love that! 😁 Actually, when I inserted that portion of the video, I thought that either people hate it or love it and will let me know. But I think you are the very first one to mention it 😅

[@DocAlexB]

@@t0mwhazzup he was brilliant, honestly. I would love to see him in the next video. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾😂

[@t0mwhazzup]

Haha, maybe, we'll see 😅 Guess he's waiting for the perfect opportunity to come back 😉

[@aquality8345]

Hi, just found your channel but its really great! Can you maybe show us around in Davinci Resolve? Like how to set it up and what things are important to use?

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you for your comment, it really means a lot :) Phew, I'm not really that good when it comes to video editing, I think there are more competent people in the KZbin space :) I am really short of time lately, so it's not really on the table to do something like that. But if I find some time in the near future, I have some other video ideas that will be more drone-related. Thanks for your suggestion :)

[@ZachMayfield]

Dang this video is great, so many good tips in here. Great work man!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Zach, thanks a lot for letting me know. Really appreciate your feedback 😊

[@upaxah]

Now I really know how to color grade my action 3 footage and air 2 ones! Huge Thanks! D-Cinelike is good enough for color grading I would say, as it's not that complicated

[@t0mwhazzup]

I am really glad that my tutorial helped you :) I also think that D-Cinelike is good enough, maybe not for a cinema production, but for KZbin definitely :)

[@RobertoPhoto]

Most useful editing tutorial I've seen for DaVinci and Mini 3 Pro. Thank you!! Subscribed immediately!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Roberto, thank you so much for your feedback and your support 🙂

[@andrewwalz2787]

subscribed soley because of the disco edit at 1:30 great work man

[@t0mwhazzup]

Haha, thank you. I was really expecting to get more feedback for the Disco Tom edit, but you're one of very few commentees how mentioned it 😂 Happy that you liked it - it was born out of necessity because I forgot an explanation of the scopes graph and didn't want to mess with the edit (which was already finished at that point). So I made a hard cut and inserted the explanation part in that manner 😅😅

[@SimsekStudio]

This is such an informative video! Thanks for making it easy to understand!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your feedback. I'm very happy if my video was helpful to you :)

[@DFD1]

That was super helpful. Thanks!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you for your feedback, I'm very happy if it was of any help to you! Great you let me know, I appreciate it! 🙂

[@DFD1]

Actually tested your relatively simple approach and it is pretty good one! So now I ran through your video again to make some more detailed notes and memorize it better. I think it will be my go-to colouring process. No longer intimidated by this and that’s BIG. Thank You!

[@t0mwhazzup]

@@DFD1 I can feel you! Color grading was very intimidating to me too. Now it's pretty straightforward for me most of the time. But still, there are some clips that are just harder to grade than others and that require a little more thought and time or simple don't turn out as I'd want them to turn out. But what I show here is more a kind of practical and simplistic approach to color grading drone footage specifically. I wouldn't consider myself very good at color grading in general ;) Thanks for your feedback, it's very motivating for me :)

[@TeodorGroza]

So far, the most eloquent and best tutorial for editing d-cinelike files on KZbin. Congratulations! Please, in the future, show other tips and ideas for editing in Davinci Resolve. I am very interested in this topic. I follow you with interest :)

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your feedback, I really appreciate it 🙂 Do you have any specific topics you would be interested in? I am definitely not the best video editor, but maybe there are some areas where I can help...

[@IronFilmProductions]

Awesome tutorial! Straight to the point and very informative! Thank you so much

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much, it means a lot if my videos are of any help 🙏🏼

[@ljfamilyvlogs]

Very good tutorial. Can really be helpful to my editing. Subscribed

[@t0mwhazzup]

Oh, I'm so happy when my video was helpful to you. Thank you very much for your support! :)

[@danielonofrei9170]

Right on point, I like that. Should I convert my footage to d-log profile after importing it as it would give a good start for colorgrading?

[@t0mwhazzup]

If you want to use a LUT that needs DLOG as a starting point, then yes... but in general, no, it wouldn't make any sense. If you color grade by hand (as instructed in my video), you don't need to convert anything. If you want to use LUTs, you have to convert D-Cinelike into whatever your LUTs require as starting point. Usually that would be Rec.709.

[@tocodelray]

That was very helpful, thanks!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Very happy to hear that! 🤗 Thank you for your comment!

[@Intotheoutdoors69]

Mate I have learnt loads from this video colour grading goes over my head but you made it kinda seem like sense. I also have realised I've been exposing tge wrong way I've been making my videos darker then bring the brightness up when I should be doing it the other way thanknyou 😁👍

[@t0mwhazzup]

Yeah I know, many teach it the other way round.. and that does work (to some extent) with today's high end full frame cameras, but with such a tiny sensor as the one in the Mini 3 Pro you have to get as much light (= bright exposure) into the circuitry in order to have a strong image signal compared to the electronic noise floor (= noise). You can imagine it like that: the darker you expose, the closer the actual image signal gets to the noise floor in the electronics, and of less quality your image/video is going to be. As I point out in the end, sometimes you will encounter scenes where you won't be able to capture all the bright and dark parts of the image in your video in sufficient quality because the contrast is just too huge. In these cases you simply have to decide what part is more important to your film and expose accordingly. In my example it was the sky, so I exposed for the sky which left me with mostly silhouttes and a dark foreground, but that was what I was aiming for. If the foreground is more important to you, you have to expose brighter so that the foreground is well exposed, but that is going to blow out the sky.

[@amelcamo]

very nice, clean and easy to follow up tutorial, no doubt hands down! have you done/tested any editing from DJI Avata 2 Dlog M ? the steps are mostly the same anyway but just curious :) thanks a lot for sharing this with us.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your feedback, I really appreciate it! Unfortunately I haven't had my hands on an Avata 2 so far. But I grade D-Log M from the Air 3 and the Mini 4 Pro all the time, steps are similar. As an option there's also a conversion LUT for D-Log M on DJI's website which you could use as a starting point. But I usually prefer to do everything manually myself, as described in this video.. my methods have evolved a little bit since uploading this video, though.

[@rosendandgem]

Thank you. Keep making videos

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much 🙏🏼

[@Ani_Skevi]

So much info in such a little time! Thank you Tom 😁

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you for your feedback 🙏🏼 I really appreciate it!

[@MattClarkAgency]

Excellent video!! Thank you for putting this all together.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your feedback. I really appreciate it.

[@FellipeRodrigues89]

Thank you so much for all the editing tips. I love your approach and how you share with us your workflow. Subscribed.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your support and letting me know that it helped you. That is worth a lot to me!

[@TheExplorerAlbum]

Do you have any advice for D-Cine like videos not working on MacBook and DaVinci resolve? Looks like they are H.264 (mp4) files. Opened them up on VLC player and they work there, when trying to bring them into the free version of resolve the files say offline. Assuming it’s a codec issue here ~ any advice? I’ll be filming in H.265 D-Cinelike from now on. I just don’t want my other clips to go to trash from not being useable

[@t0mwhazzup]

Yes, H.265 D-Cinelike works. The H.264 files you have, you'd need to transcribe to H.265 before using it in Resolve.

[@Davidvrjsullivan]

Getting my mini 3 pro tomorrow hopefully. I’m also using da Vinci so I’m still learning but getting there. It’s quite a lot to take in

[@t0mwhazzup]

It is, but you'll get better very quickly if you just use it regularly :) There are lots of tutorials on KZbin that also help a lot 😊

[@EscapeWithUz]

This was awesome. Thanks alot dude

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thanks for letting me know, I really appreciate your feedback 🤗

[@dlitosh]

Hi Tom! Thank you so much for such a clear, efficient and useful video!

[@t0mwhazzup]

You're welcome, and I am very happy if it was of any help to you! Thank you for letting me know, it keeps me motivated!

[@MrWindoof]

Love the video! Thank you!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you for letting me know!

[@diczman]

Very nice tutorial! Thank you😊

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thanks for letting me know 🙂 Appreciated!

[@EchoTango]

Thank you so much! do you use a color space transformer ? and if so, what settings ? 😁😁

[@t0mwhazzup]

No, I don't, it doesn't really make sense to me because I like to have control over my final image. But it's a valid way, if you want to do it like that.

[@EchoTango]

@@t0mwhazzup i never know my presets of the Color space transform of the samsung phone or my DJI mini 3 pro, so if i don't need it im happy 😄 all the Color experts im watching on YT are always setting their CST and it really freak me out

[@shotbyarian]

very good video, thanks a lot! wish you would be making premiere pro tutorials, but it was still very informative!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Unfortunately I have never worked with Premiere as its subscribrion model is too expensive for me who does not do this for a living. Many are switching to Resolve because it's free and very powerful (or around 300,- once for the Studio version). Thanks for your feedback, I am happy that it was still of some help 🙂

[@_burd]

As a sidenote, because a line of cocaine isn't thaaaat reflective, you actually don't want it to hit the top of your scopes (which is for 'superwhites'). For reflected light white (paper, snow, cocaine) instead hit around that 90IRE/896 level 😅

[@t0mwhazzup]

🤣🤣🤣

[@MIHAO]

this is amazing. thanks so much

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much ☺️

[@SCVisualArt]

Hi. Great tutorial. Can I ask what colorspace transform are you using in Davinci? Thanks

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thanks a lot 🙂 Well. I don't use color space transform, I use the methods I show in this video and transform the D-Cinelike myself according to my ideas 🙂

[@valber.a1672]

Hello ! Thanks for the content. Is D Cinelike 10 bit deep color ?

[@t0mwhazzup]

On the Mini 3 Pro and the Avata, D-Cinelike is 10-bit (given you have done all the firmware upgrades).

[@FaizUllah-oi4ww]

Sir very beautiful colour greading?

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you 🙂

[@aglissas]

1.30 Min was like a fever dream. I had to laugh so hard in the editing room that I am really glad that nobody can hear me outside my box. thank you for the laugh and of course for the tutorial.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Haha, thanks for letting me know. Actually this was born out of necessity. Finished the video and realized that I maybe should explain the vectorscope. Had everything in place already (clips, music etc.) so the easiest way was a hard cut before and after the insert. And my strange sense of humour did the rest... glad you like it :D

[@Moody_in_helvetic]

This is awesome 😮

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much!

[@MikeErickson]

Great video Tom! I'm here for D-cinelike color grading, but I'm staying for the cocaine... 😂

[@t0mwhazzup]

Haha, guess you need to know how to get your subscribers hooked ;) Cheers and thanks for your kind words :)

[@IanCresswell]

Great video here, Tom.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Again, thanks for your positive feedback. It really motivates me!

[@skypixel74]

Thank you very much.

[@soyDiegoPerez]

Thank you Tom

[@t0mwhazzup]

You're welcome. Thank you!

[@TRIOStories]

This is a great video Tom! Some super useful tips - especially loved the white balance tip about checking with the RGB picker value! Great work, just subscribed

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much for your feedback 🙏🏼 I really appreciate it 😊

[@lazhar_captures]

Great video, very well explained. Thx 😊

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your feedback! Happy if it helps! ☺️

[@nivarq2002]

That Video was exactly, and i mean it, exactly what i needed!! Thank you very much. Instant Sub and Like! :)

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you, Josef, I really appreciate your feedback and your support 🙂 Glad that my videos were helpful to you ☺️

[@nomadicvoyage]

That was awesome, you deserve more sub my friend.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much, I appreciate it 🙏🏼

[@ha-media]

Great content. Easy to follow. Subbed🙌🙌

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much 🤗

[@ashstonk]

Just subscribed. This was super

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much for your feedback and your support :)

[@dreamytravels1]

Thank you for this very helpful video! Which format do you recommend for export to keep the best quality? By default it seems to export in ProRes 422 HQ (4K) which does not seem to deliver the best quality. What would you recommend? :)

[@t0mwhazzup]

@@dreamytravels1 ProRes 422 HQ is one of the best quality codecs there is. But it is very big and I would only use it for archiving purposes. In general, MP4 container with wither H.264 or H.265 codec is the best option for internet use. H.265 is the better codec (around half the file size for the same quality), but some older computers might have problems with smooth playback. If you upload to KZbin, both are fine, KZbin converts the video to H.264 anyways. But for all other online useage, I'd choose H.265. If you want highest quality for internet use, use H.265 with encoding profile Main10 (= 10-bit), BUT I am not sure if every player can play this without problems.

[@dreamytravels1]

@@t0mwhazzup thanks for the answer. So ProRes 422 HQ in H.265? That's what I have done and it's ok. An other question: on some files, there are like image glitches. Might be encoding issues or I don't know, but some part of the image are glitching as if they didn't load properly. What can this be related to? I even see the glitch on Da Vinci before exporting

[@t0mwhazzup]

@dreamytravels1 It can only be either H.265 or ProRes 422 HQ - these are two different codecs 😉 Hard to say without actually seeing it..

[@paulthiebaut]

Hi Tom, I've been watching your videos since I bought my Mini 4 Pro, thanks for all your content ! I was wondering if D-Log M to Rec.709 LUTS had to be applied when color grading D-Log M footage (used for the mini 4 pro). I personally use Final Cut Pro and don't no if there are any differences here with Davinci or Premiere...

[@t0mwhazzup]

No, you don't need to, but you can. Those conversion LUTs do nothing else than applying contrast and maybe saturation to make the flat Dlog profile look "normal". I usually prefer to do it myself with curves because then I habe more control over the look. But it's really a matter of preference 🙂

[@paulthiebaut]

@@t0mwhazzup Very clear, thanks for the feedback !

[@Streber_Kind]

I can’t edit or even add D-cinelike H.265 files in DaVinci since they are 10-bit. When I texted the support, he told me that I would need the studio (paid) version of the software. Is this right? Seeing no one else having this issue😅

[@t0mwhazzup]

Hmmm... if this is the case, then I'm sorry to have given misinformation about that. I use the Studio version. I have used the free version before and I couldn't remember that there was a limitation with 10-bit files. If so, again I am sorry to have given wrong information. I think H.265 is 8-bit if you use the normal color profile. Then color grading will be not as good as with D-Cinelike, but many of the release videos of the DJI Mini 3 Pro were captured in the normal 8-bit color profile and still have some amazing color grading. So it should be possiblex if you don't want to pay for Resolve Studio. Hope that helps!

[@djc4769]

I had same problem, need codec for H.265 in order to load dcinelike files. I use free version and it works fine now. If you cant get the codec {it was free} then converting to different codec first also works. I was using program called shutter encoder before I fixed the codec problem.

[@Ankit._Sharma]

i use a dji action 3 for my travel videos and shoot in d-cinelike profile. So, can I follow the same process in color grading my action 3 footage? or can you please suggest something

[@t0mwhazzup]

You can definitely do that!

[@perivv]

Would you give us a link to download a short footage recorded in 10bits d-cinelike so that we can train ourselves at colorimetric correction before buying the drone? Thank you.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Right now I'm not at home but I think it's a good idea!

[@zacjohnson8404]

New to Davinci here, got tired of Adobe's toxic pricing system lol. Any reason why you can't do those adjustments on one node? Can you explain the importance of the node order? Thanks! *edit* that colour warper tool looks amazing. Also having the curves tool layered over the histogram is brilliant.

[@chrisharris_arizona]

It’s a best practice to separate out your adjustments into unique nodes and will make your life easier by saving you time when you name each node according to the adjustments made. It’s easier to find the node that adjusts a specific thing like exposure or color balance because the further you get into making adjustments (on 1 node), it would get difficult to find what exact adjustment you should be manipulating to get your desired effect, and one adjustment could muddy the effect of another adjustment when all on the same node. Since you’re coming from Adobe products, think of it this way…in photoshop with a photo, instead of using adjustment layers, on one layer like you’re suggesting in Davinci, you do color balance, exposure, curves/contrast, grading…but then want to manipulate that layer later…but it’s already heavily influenced by what you’ve already done to it so it’s going to have some odd reactions to future adjustments you’ve made and it won’t be like editing the original photo nor would you be able to easily get it to go back to what the original photo looked like. This isn’t an apples to apples comparison as my photoshop example bakes in those adjustments and in davinci with nodes you can readjust and aren’t beholden to the changes you’ve previously made. As cliche as it sounds, by doing a little bit of organizing/labeling upfront, you’re setting yourself up for success later. Look into what power grades are so you don’t have to setup your nodes manually for each project…you’ll just be able to click the scroll button to apply a blank power grade to your footage (or one with adjustments already made) and your nodes will magically appear, ready for you to manipulate them.

[@zacjohnson8404]

​@chrisharris_arizona thanks heaps for the response. I practiced a bit and the nodes make sense. Kind of like adjustment layers. It's hard to get off Adobe, because I grew up on it.

[@chrisharris_arizona]

@@zacjohnson8404 I hear you. 20+ years using adobe only so davinci was a tough leap but after an hour using the free version, I paid for the studio version and haven’t looked back for adjusting videos. You will get absolutely hooked on learning about Davinci as its tools and workflows become more apparent. I watch Cullen Kelly for color grading with Davinci…he’s got a plethora of educational videos. Tom’s video here is showing his way of stylizing his footage at a quick, basic level…that’s not a rip on his technique as it accomplishes what he wants but there are other ways to get your footage graded. There are a number of comments about his grade being too dark but that’s the look he wants so it’s right for him. He’s also said he now uses a different technique than the one demonstrated here. If you don’t want that darker look he has, learning about what middle gray is, how to create a middle gray point on your custom curves, and how to manipulate the curve after will preserve the mids/exposure while allowing you to adjust the shadows and highlights for your desired contrast…this makes a big difference. When people first get into color grading, they want to slap a LUT on to get a look. This is fine if your footage is properly exposed and color balanced. But how often is your footage perfect straight out of camera? This is a long way of saying, first adjust your exposure as close to what it was when you shot it, same with color balancing, and then you’ll have waaaaayyyy better luck with LUTs (you don’t need to use LUTs at their full strength either)…all on separate nodes of course haha. Good luck to you.

[@t0mwhazzup]

@@chrisharris_arizona Guys, I really love how you help each other out here. Really, that's what I love to see on my channel 🤗 And yes, no worries about ripping my technique apart, it absolutely is just very basic adjustments without going into the depths of color grading and color management. At the time, I didn't know better, but I think it still holds valid for most people that want a simple and effective way to get a look on your drone footage without the need to become an expert. D-Cinelike and D-Log are just a flatter flavour of Rec.709, color management wouldn't necessary bring any advantage here. For proper color grading tutorials, I'd also look out for channels like Cullen Kelly or Darren Mostyn, it is such a complex topic - probably too much for a drone-centric channel 🙂

[@pavelgolasowski5278]

Hello, thanks for video! May I ask you? What If I want to apple Lut. Do I have to convert it into rec 709? Thank!

[@t0mwhazzup]

It depends on the LUT. I don't work with LUTs, but as far as I know, most of them work based on Rec 709, so yes, convert it to Rec 709 before applying the LUT.

[@MDC.42]

Hi Tom, you got a new subscriber !!! good job ! To complete my information, can you tell us what is your project settings in the color management tab ? Thanx a lot. And if Disco Tom wants to come back for any reasons, he'll be very welcome 😆🤣😂

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much for your comment and your support. It really means a lot to me. I am on Apple and I use DaVinci YRGB, put a checkmark at "Use separate color space and gamma", Timeline color space Rec.709 with Gamma 2.4 and output color space Rec.709 with Rec.709-A. You should also put a checkmark at "Use Mac display color profiles for viewers" in DaVinci preferences under "General". That should ensure that the rendered file looks the same in Quicktime, KZbin etc. as in Resolve itself. And regarding Disco Tom... well, he's always getting on my nerves because he's so attention craving and wants to be featured in another video... we'll see what I can do... :)

[@country7804]

amazing, but which software it is?

[@t0mwhazzup]

DaVinci Resolve Studio

[@mertdocdor9980]

Very nice tutorial

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much :)

[@Tokiwalkee]

Hi there, thanks for the video, great stuff! Quick question: what shutter would you use for ND32 and ND64 then? You mentioned settings for ND8 and ND16 but I'm unclear for ND32 & 64. Thanks!

[@guirodriguesoriginal]

O think im having problems downloading videos to my phone and running them on my computer because i save them d cinelike h264. Will changing to h265 resolve that or schould I try not recording on cinelike?

[@t0mwhazzup]

That's hard to say from a distance. Well, if you want to film in D-Cinelike, you should be able to do so. Really don't know what can solve your problem, but trying H.265 is an option. Even though H.265 is the more hardware-taxing codec.

[@guirodriguesoriginal]

@@t0mwhazzup thanks for the Feedback. Already tried and worked. Although im still having problems running my vídeos on the editor but working in that. Do u find the normal color quality decent from the dji mini 3 pro?

[@InTheKnow855]

why you didn't use color space transform?

[@t0mwhazzup]

There is nothing wrong with using CST. But to me, it is easier and more straightforward to create the look I want myself with the simple three-node-setup I describe in my tutorial :) That is the main reason, and the other reason is that, as I explain in this video, I always try to expose as bright as possible to get the best noise-signal-ratio, which, in turn, means that after doing CST it would still be too bright and I would still have to adjust and tweak to get the look I want. It's just one more step that I have deemed unnecessary for my quick and simple grading process. White Balance - Curves - Color Warp. That's all I need for 90 % of the shots.

[@ViewsofCornwall]

Great video Tom. I know nothing about grading & have always been so impressed with the look of your videos. Your guide was simple, short, & so useful. I can't wait to try some of your tips. Happy New Year from Cornwall

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you for your feedback 🙂 Happy New Year to you, too! Do you use Resolve or any other editor?

[@ViewsofCornwall]

@@t0mwhazzup I use Resolve Studio 👍👍

[@t0mwhazzup]

@@ViewsofCornwall Perfect, then it should be easy to adapt! 🙂

[@hejlsberg]

Hi Tom, great stuff! Have you used any filters on the drone please?

[@t0mwhazzup]

I use ND filters to get the right shutter speed, but this has no influence on color grading.

[@hejlsberg]

Thanks a lot for the info. True that. I believe this is especially valid provided really good NDs are in use without any color cast/shifts. By the way, which ones are you using and which brand would you personally recommend?

[@t0mwhazzup]

@@hejlsberg I think all the filters you can get on Amazon & Co are good enough. The color cast is usually very small and can be corrected in post, if necessary. But I have never found this to be the case, so I wouldn't worry to much. I just use what I have at hand. On the Mini 3 Pro, I have used ND filters from Freewell, Skyreat and the original DJI ones. They all were fine. I just prefer the Freewell All Day 6 Pack because it starts at ND4 instead of ND8 or ND16 like most of the other kits. In some conditions, ND8/16 is too dark and no ND is too bright, so the ND4 comes in handy at times when you want to stay at ISO100 and have an ideal shutter speed :)

[@hejlsberg]

@@t0mwhazzup Thanks so much for sharing your detailed perspective on this, Tom. Greatly appreciated. Keep up the great work and looking forward to seeing some more awesome stuff from you.

[@malcomshootseverything]

Fantastic video Tom! Question: How do you display both your Primaries Log Wheels and the Colour Warper at the same time? I can't figure it out and can only view one at a time so far. Thanks so much eh!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you very much! Umm... good question, it might be an issue of screen size? Right now I'm on vacation so I cannot look it up, sorry 😕 did you find a solution yet?

[@malcomshootseverything]

@@t0mwhazzup I think you might be right. Couldn’t find anything online but it’s not a biggie either way! Thanks for the reply Tom!

[@t0mwhazzup]

@@malcomshootseverything I think I just found something for you: forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=150169

[@billmeador215]

Trying to follow and apply your tips, but stuck right out of the bat.............I have no option to add "serial" nodes with DaVinci 18 on Windows 10! When I right click to add a node I only get the following choices: Corrector, Parallel Mixer, Layer Mixer, Key Mixer, Splitter, and Combiner....................is what you are doing in this video only available on Mac?

[@t0mwhazzup]

Um.. I would be very surprised if that's limited to Mac, because serial nodes are the base of the color grading process in DaVinci. But since I don't have Windows, I unfortunately cannot really put a solution out there for your. Maybe you have already figured out what the problem was?

[@billmeador215]

You're correct, it is not limited to Mac...........did some digging and found there is a Keyboard shortcut on Windows that will add serial nodes.......good to go now, thanks. And the tip for using three really makes grading easier! Oh, the shortcut is Alt+S.....

[@benwhite7005]

fantastic video, thanks!

[@t0mwhazzup]

Ben, thank you so much for your feedback. I appreciate it 🙂

[@benwhite7005]

@@t0mwhazzup btw, what would recommend between ND filters vs NDCPL filters? Ideally having the benefits of both in one (the latter) would be great. However, I’ve heard polarizing filters on a drone are a pain as the angle to the sun etc is always changing and this affects the outcome of the shot. Any thoughts would help :)

[@t0mwhazzup]

@@benwhite7005 I'd always go for the ND filter. As you say, the effect of polarizing filters is heavily dependent on the angle to the sun and the rotation of the filter. So you will have an inconsistent look throughout your clips. So I don't really care for them at all. My main priority with filters is getting the shutter speed right, that contributes way more to a professional look. If I need a sky or sea that is more blue, I can always do that in color grading lateron. 🙂 Hope that helps!

[@benwhite7005]

@@t0mwhazzup spot on, that’s helped me make my mind up then! Do you know if you get as much flexibility with color grading as you had in the video with the free version of Danvinci? Cheers :)

[@t0mwhazzup]

Not sure about that. Usually there are very few limits to the free version of DaVinci, but someone suggested lately that the free version is not able to handle 10-bit video files. Which would be a bummer because D-Cinelike on the Mini 3 Pro is 10-bit. But I am not sure if that's really the case as I only have Resolve Studio. But when it comes to the color page itself, I think they are both the same.

[@grosado]

Excellent tutorial! Thanks for sharing

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you so much for your feedback, Gary 🤗

[@horizonairscapes]

Tom, I'm just starting to get more into color grading having recently switched to using Davinci Resolve - this was a super helpful video that was presented so clearly - it's been a big help and making it so much easier to see the steps involved. Will have more confidence to capture my drone footage with D-Cinelike in future. Thank you.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thanks again for your feedback. I am really happy that it helped you and gave you confidence. Of course it's still a learning process, but it will get easier over time. And from time to time you stumble across a clip that still is very hard to make it look good. Happens to me also 😉

[@antonlvovych]

Did you purchase the Studio version or is the free version sufficient?

[@horizonairscapes]

@@antonlvovych I've been using the Free version which for me at the moment has been sufficient.

[@t0mwhazzup]

Me personally, I use Studio version because Some things like noise reduction etc come in handy at times (and we do commercial work, so that's a different story). And I have heard a few times that the free version might not be able to take the H.265 D-Cinelike 10-bit files. But not sure about that, you have to try. But if I was you, I'd start with the free version and only upgrade if you run into walls and need the extras the Studio version gives you.

[@kevinmorales6505]

What’s your DaVinci Resolve set up in this video ? Like for the curve custom, scopes? Thanks

[@t0mwhazzup]

Hi Kevin, not sure what you're asking for. Could you be more specific?

[@paulwhiteman59]

Hi mate liked your tutorial very useful nice job 👍

[@t0mwhazzup]

Happy to help, thank you for your feedback 🙂

[@paulwhiteman59]

Ya welcome 👍

[@chachizadre]

Hey Tom, Great Video! I am having issues importing my videos from drone into Dav Res. I keep seeing "media offline". I shot in h264, D-Cinelike, 4k at 24fps. I don't know whats wrong. Do you know?

[@chachizadre]

And it's definitely not because the files are in the wrong source.

[@t0mwhazzup]

I have heard that the free version of Resolve might not be able to handle 10-bit files, maybe that is the reason? But not sure about that, I have the studio version... that was something I was not aware of until somebody told me

[@chachizadre]

​@@t0mwhazzup Davinci Resolve (the free version) can read Quicktime MOV 10bit 4:2:2 with both GoPro Cineform and Apple Prores, so as long you use this format and one of those codecs you're good to go with the free version. I had to change the encoding, and the problem was solved! You can forward this info if anyone asks about the same issue.

[@shootcutdeliver]

Thanks

[@ssdronography]

Is it appropriate to use this method to color grade photos in davinci resolve? Possibly a dumb question but I know color grading is something I need to improve on.

[@t0mwhazzup]

You mean, importing photos and editing them because you don't have a photo editing software? I don't know, could work, but it's a very "special" method 😄

[@ssdronography]

@@t0mwhazzup I have Lightroom for photos. Just wondering if doing it all in Davinci would be any better

[@tragicanomaly1707]

Are you using the free version of DR to make these edits? Are you using filters? Thanks.

[@t0mwhazzup]

I use the paid version, but the free version should be able to do all of it 🙂 I use only ND filters to keep the shutter speed low. I explain it (amongst other things to improve footage quality) in this video: The ULTIMATE Guide to PRO QUALITY Drone Footage - DJI Mini 3 Pro kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5LSpZyLepKchc0

[@MrSpongeHead]

Free version doesn't support 10 bit.

[@dominicmaes9696]

Hi thanks fore showing. I want to buy the dji mavic 3 cinema. Want to shoot in 4k d log an colorgrade in Davinci. Do i need a high end computer vor the rendering?

[@t0mwhazzup]

Not sure about the codec options on the Mavic. If you can choose between H.264 and H.265, H.264 is easier on your computer. H.265 is the better, more efficient codec, though.

[@dominicmaes9696]

@@t0mwhazzup thanks a lot

[@danawakes2001]

Can this drone do Mastershots and Quickshots in 4K and D-Cinelike? I used it yesterday and it only recorded in 1080p. Got any advice?

[@t0mwhazzup]

Phew, I cannot really tell you because I have never used one of these modes... I usually fly everything manually. Try spotlight mode, this might enable you to do more complex moves easily and allows you to record in 4K. Hope that helps!

[@MDC.42]

Hi, all Mastershots and Quickshots are filmed in Full HD 1920x1080 (not 4K) and colorfull (not D-cinelike). It's the same on all DJI drones using DJI Fly. Hope it helps you

[@neujus]

Great video.. thanks a lot

[@t0mwhazzup]

Thank you for your feedback 🙂