Colour Grading For HDR10 Using DaVinci Resolve

[@Reelisations]

To everyone who commented on this video since it was first posted - my sincere apologies for the radio silence. It wasn’t intentional. I assumed that KZbin would send me notifications whenever a new comment needed approval. So I just assumed that, since I didn’t hear from KZbin, there had been no comments posted. Then I opened the KZbin Studio app after some time had passed and realised - to my great horror - that there were 3 YEARS worth of comments that had been withheld. So, so sorry to everyone who thought they had been ignored. It was just me being a noob video poster. 🤦🏻‍♂ So I’m going to do my best to start responding to every comment that had a question in it. It will take me some time, but I’ll do my best to get through them all. I don’t know if the original commenters will even get to see these responses, but regardless, I hope the replies will help someone out there. Quick caveat - DaVinci Resolve has changed quite a bit since the video was first posted. I was originally demonstrating version 15. At the time of the writing of this comment, we are waiting for version 18 to come out of beta. Many important aspects, including the way Resolve Color Management (RCM) behaves, has changed dramatically over the years. I will do my best to address these changes in the comments whenever appropriate.

[@ionluv]

Please make a new video going over an HDR workflow with red footage using the latest Resolve

[@Reelisations]

That’s a great suggestion. Let me have a think about what can be done to update this video. I don’t make KZbin videos as a full-time job, so if it does happen, it might take a while. 😛

[@allstarbury]

​@@Reelisationsthis video should be updated .I have now new camera thats support hdr hlg 2020 and want exoport my video to youtube using st2048 pq not hlg as pq is properly working on my android device .For now all my upload dont have active hdr .I dont know what i am missing .

[@Reelisations]

Making an update video is something I’ve seriously considered. Thanks for your suggestion on what topics could be added. :) As to what you’re asking about - I have 2 clarifying questions: 1) What platform are you uploading to? KZbin and Vimeo both support HLG, as do some other social media platforms, so I’m a little surprised that HLG is not working for you. Do you happen to know if your Android phone also supports HLG? I’m wondering if the bottleneck could be happening there. 2) HLG to PQ conversion within DaVinci Resolve is somewhat possible, but you’ll probably still need to tweak the grade depending on the highest and lowest nit levels you’re trying to achieve. Do you happen to know what levels you’re aiming for?

[@Clintamis]

WOW. That was incredibly smart to color grade your video in HDR and then upload. This way there is an actual representation of what HDR should look like within the Rec. 709 parameters. Genius.

[@Reelisations]

Thanks! Not everyone realised it, but I'm glad that those who own HDR devices can see an even greater difference. =)

[@VeeTravels]

This such fantastic demonstration of the RED camera in the HDR on DaVinci, Reelisations. The dynamic range is unreal. I am just curious, but why doesn't your footage get destroyed if you bring the timeline to Rec.709? I am struggling to get the colors right in my recent videos. Here are my settings: Input Color Space: Rec.2020 ; Rec.2100 HLG Timeline Color Space: Rec.2020 ; ST2084 1000 nit Output Color Space: Rec.2020 ; ST2084 1000 nit I would really appreciate the help. I think this video demonstrates the colors so well!

[@Reelisations]

Thanks for your kind words. =) Let me try to address your questions below. Hmmm. Could you clarify what you mean by "why doesn't your footage get destroyed if you bring the timeline to Rec.709"? Didn't quite get the background/context of what you're referring to. As for your RCM settings - I think your Timeline Color Space and Output Color Space look ok, although I tend not to limit my ST2084 to 1,000 nits, because it really depends on what monitor I'm working with. My bigger question is why your Input Color Space is HLG. Did you really shoot with the HLG setting on a compatible camera (like the Sony a7S III that you own)? Also, in order for the above to work, I am assuming that your monitor already supports the ST2084 standard (also known as PQ). If it doesn't, then it's just going to look washed out. Maybe you could also let me know what colour grading monitor you're using?

[@VeeTravels]

​@@Reelisations Sorry what I mean by footage getting destroyed is that I suspect that changing the color space from Rec.2020 to Rec.709 (in other words, shrinking the color space), reduces the range of colors. I think ST2084 at 1000 nits is the maximum KZbin will allow for publishing. Any higher nits and it will basically complain. Yes I shot on HLG3 picture profile on my Sony A7SIII. I like this picture profile because the video looks amazing even without any color grading. As for my monitor, I use a cheap SDR monitor while grading in DaVinci. My workaround is to apply a video monitor LUT so I can accurately see what the footage will look like in HDR. You are correct though -- the footage absolutely looks washed out if I view it directly on my SDR monitor without the video monitor LUT applied.

[@Reelisations]

Thanks for clarifying. I’ll do my best to respond based on what I understand from your reply above, but feel free to ask more clarifying questions afterwards. :) This original video was uploaded as a HLG video, which uses the Rec 2020 colour space. So I never actually did a conversion to Rec 709. The reason I chose HLG at the time was because I didn’t like the way KZbin did its automatic conversion from ST2084 to Rec 709. When I tested HLG at the time, I felt that conversion was more pleasing. But I need to test the ST2084 again to see if it’s changed since. But KZbin has to do the conversion from Rec 2020 to Rec 709 because there are bound to be viewers who are watching this in SDR (standard dynamic range) HD. Now, when such a conversion occurs, there is a risk of certain saturations exceeding the Rec 709, and thus getting clipped. The reason you’re not seeing much of this in my video is due to 2 reasons: 1. The majority of colours within the scene are safely within Rec 709 already. For example, skin tones are easily reproduced by Rec 709, so there’s no risk of them being clipped. So, what colours can’t easily be replicated by Rec 709? A likely culprit might be colourful neon lights. 2. This one is conjecture, because I need time to test the theory, but I suspect there is some compression of the more saturated colours during the conversion. So the conversion MAY NOT be a simple scaling up of the entire colour space. We can see this sort of saturation compression in effect when we do a Rec 2020 to Rec 709 colour space conversion in DaVinci Resolve using RCM. The skin tones are easily scaled, but Resolve tries to prevent the overly-saturated colours from clipping, although there are situations where this clipping can’t be helped. --- On a separate note, your suggestion that KZbin can’t exceed 1,000 nits is an interesting one… I’ll need to test this for myself when I have access to a TV that can do 2,000 nits or higher.

[@VeeTravels]

@@Reelisations Wow you really know your stuff! I would like to ask a few more points of clarification if that is okay in *bold*. This original video was uploaded as a HLG video, which uses the Rec 2020 colour space. So I never actually did a conversion to Rec 709. *Sorry, I initially thought it was Rec 709. -- at **4:33** it says your input color space is Rec 709 for some reason...* The reason I chose HLG at the time was because I didn’t like the way KZbin did its automatic conversion from ST2084 to Rec 709. When I tested HLG at the time, I felt that conversion was more pleasing. But I need to test the ST2084 again to see if it’s changed since. *I do not like the way KZbin does its automatic conversion from ST2084 to Rec 709 either. Wesley Knapp engineered a LUT that can be incorporated in the metadata during upload to provide a nice and similar look between the SDR and HDR versions here: www.wesleyknapp.com/blog/hdr * But KZbin has to do the conversion from Rec 2020 to Rec 709 because there are bound to be viewers who are watching this in SDR (standard dynamic range) HD. *As mentioned above.* Now, when such a conversion occurs, there is a risk of certain saturations exceeding the Rec 709, and thus getting clipped. The reason you’re not seeing much of this in my video is due to 2 reasons: 1. The majority of colours within the scene are safely within Rec 709 already. For example, skin tones are easily reproduced by Rec 709, so there’s no risk of them being clipped. *This makes sense. I always wondered why skin tones look nearly identical in SDR and HDR.* So, what colours can’t easily be replicated by Rec 709? A likely culprit might be colourful neon lights. *Yeah another example would be plants I've noticed. It is quite noticeable in a lot of my recent uploads.* 2. This one is conjecture, because I need time to test the theory, but I suspect there is some compression of the more saturated colours during the conversion. So the conversion MAY NOT be a simple scaling up of the entire colour space. *I look forward to hearing more about your test results.* We can see this sort of saturation compression in effect when we do a Rec 2020 to Rec 709 colour space conversion in DaVinci Resolve using RCM. The skin tones are easily scaled, but Resolve tries to prevent the overly-saturated colours from clipping, although there are situations where this clipping can’t be helped. *As mentioned above, I have found using the Wesley Knapp LUT does a really good job at mimicking the color space conversion in DaVinci Resolve.* --- On a separate note, your suggestion that KZbin can’t exceed 1,000 nits is an interesting one… I’ll need to test this for myself when I have access to a TV that can do 2,000 nits or higher. *I am looking forward to hearing your findings on this one too!*

[@Reelisations]

*_Sorry, I initially thought it was Rec 709. -- at _**_4:33_**_ it says your input color space is Rec 709 for some reason..._* I actually replied you regarding this in another thread that you commented on, but I'll repeat it here for your convenience. =) At around 4 min 26 sec into this video, I linked to another video I did where I explained that DaVinci Resolve automatically detects any RAW codecs that it supports, so there's no need to enter the Input Colour Space manually. This is regardless of brand - it works for REDCODE RAW, ARRIRAW, Sony RAW, Canon RAW, etc. Here's the link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKLGkqN7nMt-aLc In retrospect, I probably should've just mentioned this fact when recording the HDR10 video, so there would be less confusion. 😛 *_I do not like the way KZbin does its automatic conversion from ST2084 to Rec 709 either. Wesley Knapp engineered a LUT that can be incorporated in the metadata during upload to provide a nice and similar look between the SDR and HDR versions_* Thanks for the link! It was interesting to see how he found ways to engineer around the limitations. Very cool.

[@akoabo7]

Thank you for your very calm and simple explanation. I won’t drop a question right now about grading, but I do want ask if I still can ask a question related to hdr ?

[@Reelisations]

Certainly. As I mentioned in the pinned post above, I do apologise for the radio silence. I hadn't realised the comments were being withheld. 🤦‍♂

[@Crimsonengine]

Great video. One question: How are you outputting from your computer to the monitor? I am using the Ultrastudio mini monitor from resolve but am not seeing an HDR image on my second HDR display.

[@Reelisations]

Hmmm. Maybe you could let me know what HDR monitor you're using? One reason it might not be working is that the UltraStudio Mini Monitor may not support HDR output. But I'm not entirely convinced that's the reason. The next question is whether the display can figure out if the signal is HDR. And this really depends on the below. If it's a professional display like the EIZO CG3146, the monitor won't actually detect anything. It wants you to manually change the colour space setting in the monitor. This is true of most, if not all, professional displays. Including those from Sony, Canon, etc. I believe most computer monitors behave the same way, if I'm not mistaken. The advantage is that you can customise the setting to whatever you need for your client. The downside is that you'd need to know exactly what you're trying to achieve. For consumer TVs, it's the exact OPPOSITE scenario. As far as I can tell, most consumer TVs cannot be forced into HDR mode within the menus. You can turn on HDR emulation, but you can't force the TVs into HDR mode. The only way to do that is to ensure that the video feed has HDR metadata that will tell the TV to switch over to HDR mode. That's why DaVinci Resolve has a "Enable HDR metadata over HDMI" setting in Project Settings -> Master Settings -> Video Monitoring. It's for this very purpose.

[@GOOSEBUMPSSOLUTIONS]

Thank you for such good information, could you advise on how export (settings) for HDR in resolve

[@Reelisations]

It really depends on what you're trying to export it for. Maybe you can let me know what your target is? =) Delivering for Netflix is quite different from delivering for KZbin, even though both can accommodate HDR. =) I'll use exporting HDR for KZbin as an example below: Regardless of the deliverable, it's very important to ensure that your metadata reflects the HDR content. To aid this, I usually set up my Resolve Color Management (RCM) so that the Output Color Space is already set to one of the main HDR grading standards - either "ST2084" or "HLG", depending on what my deliverable requires. If you've already done the above in RCM, then leaving the Color Space Tag and Gamma Tag as "Same as Project" in the Deliver page will work fine, as they will follow the Output Color Space setting. If you haven't, then you'd need to manually set them to: • Color Space Tag - "Rec.2020" • Gamma Tag - "Rec.2100 HLG" or "Rec.2100 ST2084", depending on what standard was used to colour grade the footage + which deliverable is required For KZbin uploads, I tend to export ProRes or DNxHR. But H.264 can be used as well, as long as you follow the correct settings ( support.google.com/youtube/answer/7126552 ).

[@neoprodisrael]

excellent tutorial ! do you need a decklink or Aja I/o box between your iMac and your HDR monitor ? or a simple hdmi 2.0 cable ? does it work with a consumer dolby vision monitor ? thx for your answers

[@Reelisations]

Yes, I did need to have a professional video output device to ensure a proper HDR signal can go from my system to a display. In the case of this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. You can't use AJA if you're using DaVinci Resolve, since that brand is not supported by the software. 🙂 For the purpose of this video, I was using a HDMI 2.0 cable to connect to the EIZO CG3145, if I'm not mistaken. Using a lower rating might not have worked. But when the newer EIZO CG3146 model came out, I started using 12G-SDI cables instead, because that model has SDI inputs. I'm not sure I would use a consumer Dolby Vision monitor to grade, since I would be concerned if it's accurate enough for delivering to Netflix, etc. But as to whether a consumer Dolby Vision monitor would be able to detect the HDR signal, it really depends on the below: If it's a professional display like the EIZO CG3146, the monitor won't actually detect anything. It wants you to manually change the colour space setting in the monitor. This is true of most, if not all, professional displays. Including those from Sony, Canon, etc. I believe most computer monitors behave the same way, if I'm not mistaken. The advantage is that you can customise the setting to whatever you need for your client. The downside is that you'd need to know exactly what you're trying to achieve. For consumer TVs, it's the exact OPPOSITE scenario. As far as I can tell, most consumer TVs cannot be forced into HDR mode within the menus. You can turn on HDR emulation, but you can't force the TVs into HDR mode. The only way to do that is to ensure that the video feed has HDR metadata that will tell the TV to switch over to HDR mode. That's why DaVinci Resolve has a "Enable HDR metadata over HDMI" setting in Project Settings -> Master Settings -> Video Monitoring. It's for this very purpose.

[@EugeneBelsky]

Thank you for a great video!!!

[@Reelisations]

You're very welcome. =)

[@marcoabu]

Thank you for the very simple way you explained all this. I have a question, though: I'm grading Epic-w 8k footage for a feature film, that will further on be exhibit on tv and streaming. Do I need do make separate color grades? And if so, which should I make first? I mean, isn't there something a "broadcast safe", so I could grade in HDR, and than quickly transform it to rec 709? Thanks

[@Reelisations]

That's a really good question. I'm going to try to reply it in several parts. =) First of all, yes, you'll usually need different grades for each different medium (cinema, UHD, HD, etc.) If your film is going to digital cinemas, I'd grade for the cinema screen first - which implies grading for the DCI P3 colour space. I'd choose this because this is the largest screen your visuals will ever be seen on, and this medium will invite the most amount of close inspection. Unfortunately cinemas don't currently (at the time of this writing) have the ability to display HDR, so this will be an SDR grade. Given that your first grade (above) is SDR, the next easiest mediums to transform for will be SDR UHD (Rec. 2020) and HD (Rec. 709). You can do this via Resolve Color Management (RCM). Rec. 2020 should be a relatively easy transformation, since its colour space is so huge. But Rec. 709 is smaller than DCI P3, so you may need to do a trim pass to fix any out-of-gamut colours. You'll also probably want to ensure the contrast for both still works for a lit room. Then, if your client wants a HDR master, you'd then use RCM to transform for HDR, and do a totally separate trim pass to adjust for HDR. This will probably take the most amount of time. If you didn't need to deliver to cinemas first, then you could theoretically grade for HDR first. Then, if you want to reduce the amount of time for generating an SDR version (with RCM), you can experiment with the Output Tone Mapping controls in RCM. But I suspect you'll still need to do some sort of trim pass for SDR. =) Hope that was somewhat clear. Do feel free to ask follow-up questions if need be. =)

[@marcoabu]

Thank you very much fo your response, Ian. And yes, some questions did pop up :=). Let me just give you a little background first. I'm a director who owns a production company, for documentaries, TV shows, and now producing our second feature fiction film for cinema, in Brazil. It's a US$500K project, but everything is been done in a way that looks much more - thanks to months of preparation. I'm used to grading myself, for all my projects, and a few others, every now and then, because I just like some much to do it. But, even for the cinema theaters, documentaries looked just fine on a REC709 space - according to all photographers (REALLY experienced ones), they looked just about right. I used to have a Teranex Monitor - beautiful, out of line for some time now, before Blackmagic purchased the company. After the monitor begin to faint, a started using my iMac 5K screen, just for testing, first, but at the end, the results were so similar to the finishing house - which we would take the film later on for final adjustments - that made me confident enough for grading REC709 on my iMac 5K screen, for cinema, UHD and HD. I know, I know, I'm not supposed to, but for my eyes, and the photographers too, everything felt pretty accurate, and we were always relying on the scopes. Now I'm on this more complex - more expensive feature film project - and of course, money is always an issue. The main advantage to be your own colorist, is the amount of time you can spend on your pet project. I'm a photographer myself, and with the supervision of the film photographer and advice from very capable colorist friends, we are able to achieve looks that goes beyond simple color balance, and well thought secondaries really makes a difference. So, it's a trade off - We are planning to make a pre-grade on Resolve, and than finish at a facility, taking up afterwards the hole project. The thing is - will this workflow work for DCI P3 - I know it works for REC709, after doing so many times. The catch is that now i'm using my iMac 5K monitor. I know, I know... The image, on DCI P3, looks different after export - different from resolve timeline to the final export on the same screen - all usual suspects were checked. May I should set to DCI P3 / Gama2.2, as apparent is the iMac standard? Should I really buy a professional monitor for that? - I feel like spending 5K on semi-pro monitor sounds awkward. Can't maybe a LG Oled do the job, or pre-job, so to speak, so we won't have to invest thousands on a monitor that would be used twice a year (no renting here in Brazil), and wouldn't be good enough for a final grade? See my point? I know we are going into the production realm now. I don't know average prices there, but around here, underpowered computers and monitors costs about US$200,00 an hour. I plan to spend enough time grading that would brake the bank. Oh, and another thing. My photographer is top notch in Brazil, made dozens of higher end features, and we always work together. We decided to for a minimum light kit onset, on the basis of our experience on "relighting" it on post - and with our tests we took it pretty far, once the images are very well captured. And all R3D 8k, 5.1 to 10.1. this way we could film in 5 weeks what should take 7, at least. Don't get me wrong, the film already looks nice, just from the Red Lut. We're just going for as good as it can get. Again, sorry to be a little off topic here, but you seem to be able to explain the RED workflow like nobody, so I thought I would give it a try. So, to sum it up: 1. Should I upgrade to the new iMac Pro? Will it to the 8k job? Even on a 4k timeline? If so, which model? More RAM - 64 or 128? More CPU 10core or 18core? I really wouldn't like to leave the mac ecosystem. But if that is impossible, I think I could have a second machine just for grading - which happens only twice a year... 2. Would the iMac screen be close enough for before the final touches on the finishing facility? Or may with a little help from a calibrated Oled TV would be safer? I wouldn't like to spend more than 5K on a monitor, unless absolutely necessary, not to say 25K. 3. Now, back to the topic. Grading from scratch with RCM, should I always set the timeline and the output to the same settings? Got a little confused there: Input is automatic on Red footage, right? Timeline should be DCI P3, if the output is DCI P3? And timeline should be set to REC2020, if output is REC2020? OR, I can use a larger color space on the timeline, for more flexibility while grading, and than output to a smaller space? Like grading on DCI P3, for output on REC709? Or even grading on RedWideGamutRGB/Log3G10 , and than output to DCI P3, REC2020, or REC 709? 4. Finally, just to confirm outputs: DCI P3 4k for cinema; REC2020 4k for UHD; and REC709 for HD? And wait for the distributor to finally decide if they would want HDR, and than go for it, on a more "professional" environment, once it absolutely needs an HDR reference monitor. Again, very sorry for this huge text, I'm a little out of time :=). Also, I have to ask: are you available professionally for colorist work, DIT, etc? To heIp us out on this final stages? Somehow I felt more confident on your very simple explanation - which is so rare, than thousands of hours between facilities in Rio and São Paulo, and the WEB. Please let me know. It could be a nice arrangement, I'm sure we could work something out. Thank you very Much Marco Abujamra

[@GuidoValdata]

@@Reelisations awesome feedback and informations. Thank you

[@devinwildman5284]

Lots of good information!! I’m definitely on the consumer side, but I’ve been playing with HLG on my GH5 and I have an HDR monitor. I may be way off here but from my understanding is HLG can be used for HDR or SDR delivery. Using CST or the color preferences on the timeline what color space do I choose for HLG rec 2020? Ive used this setting and output to 709 with decent results but how do I set it up to deliver in HDR. Just want to see if I can render a true HDR file and play it back. Thanks!!

[@FrancescoPaggiaro]

@@Reelisations very helpful guys

[@dimanKu]

thanks for details info, just one more thing, what hardware is needed to output/monitor? I have studio version resolve;HDR 10 monitor, my GTX960 won't do HDR output for resolve.

[@Reelisations]

In order to send an accurate HDR feed to the HDR 10 monitor for colour grading, you do need to have a professional video output device. In this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. As far as I know, it might be iffy to send a signal via your GTX960 since that's a graphics card, not a professional video output. But if you find out it's accurate, do let me know too! Now, as to whether the display can figure out if the signal is HDR - it depends. If it's a professional display like the EIZO CG3146, the monitor won't actually detect anything. It wants you to manually change the colour space setting in the monitor. This is true of most, if not all, professional displays. Including those from Sony, Canon, etc. I believe most computer monitors behave the same way, if I'm not mistaken. The advantage is that you can customise the setting to whatever you need for your client. The downside is that you'd need to know what you're doing. For consumer TVs, it's the exact OPPOSITE scenario. As far as I can tell, most consumer TVs cannot be forced into HDR mode within the menus. You can turn on HDR emulation, but you can't force the TVs into HDR mode. The only way to do that is to ensure that the video feed has HDR metadata that will tell the TV to switch over to HDR mode. That's why DaVinci Resolve has a "Enable HDR metadata over HDMI" setting in Project Settings -> Master Settings -> Video Monitoring. It's for this very purpose.

[@LougPathfinder]

Hello, thanks for the video. Do you think it is possible to grade and hdr project using a hdr monitor (or tv) using resolve on an Imac 5k late 2015?

[@Reelisations]

Hi Marco, I don't think it's impossible, but do keep in mind the following: • A HDR TV may not be accurate enough for certain clients like Netflix. However, if you're experimenting with HDR for clients who aren't as stringent about their deliverables, that might be fine. So it depends on what you intend this setup for. =) • Also try to find out the max luminance that the TV or monitor you're using can achieve. That will determine the limits of your colour grade. For example, if you're using an OLED TV that maxes out at 700 nits, then that's your upper limit. If you tried to push beyond the upper limit of the TV, your highlights would just clip. No detail. • As for the iMac 5K late 2015 - to be honest, without knowing what kind of your footage you're trying to grade, it's nigh impossible for me to tell. But if you're grading high-resolution RAW footage, then I suspect you'd be straining at the limits of the machine. 😛

[@europhile2658]

Thanks great video. Just a suggestion - make the same video with Premiere Pro! Also is it worth trying to grade with just the standard DaVinci Resolve. Thanks.

[@Reelisations]

Doing a Premiere Pro version is a great suggestion! Premiere doesn't currently (in 2022) have as much flexibility for HDR as Resolve, but it's getting better as years go by. If you're grading SDR and anything below 4K, the standard (free) Resolve is a great tool. If you're grading HDR and anything 4K or above, the Studio (paid) Resolve is hard to avoid. =)

[@charliesixzero416]

Sorry to go slightly off topic but I was wondering how you have your Eizo hooked up as a reference monitor? I’m looking to do the same and the only way I can see involves sending out from a Blackmagic card and then into an Apantac Micro 4K-DP. I don’t want to sacrifice the 4444 4K-DCI image by going HDMI so Display Port is the only option. Is that the way you have it set up or do you have a different work around? The Apantac is pretty expensive to just convert the signal at around £1500! Thanks for your time.

[@Reelisations]

In the case of this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3 to send the video feed to the monitor. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. You just need to check their specs to see what their upper limits are in terms of HDR capability. For the purpose of this video, I was using a HDMI 2.0 cable to connect to the EIZO CG3145, if I'm not mistaken. Using a lower rating might not have worked. And if I don't recall wrongly, I was able to get 4K DCI in 4:4:4 over HDMI 2.0. But when the newer EIZO CG3146 model came out, I started using 12G-SDI cables instead, because that model has SDI inputs.

[@qqqAvi]

Hi there. In Davinci Resolve the Enable HDR Scopes is greyed out. Is that a limitation of the light version? Thank you.

[@Reelisations]

You are spot-on. =) Even in the current version 17 that I'm using, HDR Scopes aren't available in the free version of Resolve. It's only available in the full DaVinci Resolve Studio. Keep in mind the placement of that function has shifted to a new location. It's now located in: Scopes (in the lower-right-hand corner of the interface) -> 3 dots (additional settings) -> Waveform Scale Style

[@volaksin5842]

In looking at the side by side of HDR with the SDR, this HDR is clearly better...and this is when viewing with just an ordinary monitor. Since this is the case, shouldn't we color grade in HDR mode anyways since it seems to produce more details in the highlights?

[@Reelisations]

In an ideal world, everyone would master to HDR first. That would be fantastic! But there are 2 considerations: The current barrier to entry is access to a HDR monitor (like the EIZO CG3146) that's suitable for professional HDR colour grading. However, as time passes, I'm sure that the technology will become even more accessible and prices will become more attractive. The other question is how to derive an SDR (standard dynamic range) version that would work for most of today's screens. Because it's 2022 as I write this, Rec 709 (HD's colour space) and sRGB are still the most prevalent viewing state consumers find themselves using. So how would one grade for HDR and yet ensure the creative intent remains largely intact when converting to SDR? (Keeping in mind that highlights would, of course, become compressed when adapting the HDR grade to SDR.) The answer to the above is Dolby Vision. =) And I hope to one day do a video on Dolby Vision so we can clarify how we can master for both SDR and HDR simultaneously. Which would also be very useful for those wanting to deliver to Netflix.

[@volaksin5842]

@@Reelisations ah, gotcha, makes sense. Thanks for the explanation!!

[@toxotis70]

Why do you have your input color mode in SDR, REC709 in settings?

[@Reelisations]

That is a great observation. =) Because I was grading REDCODE RAW, DaVinci Resolve automatically knows how to transform the footage. This applies to any RAW files (Sony RAW, ARRIRAW, Canon RAW, etc.). So there's no need to specify the Colour Space nor Gamma. In fact, Resolve would ignore most of your attempts to modify the Input Color Space. That's also why I put a link to my previous video in the upper-right-hand-corner - to explain why the Input Color Space isn't on. Here it is again: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKLGkqN7nMt-aLc However, if I was grading footage where insufficient metadata was present, I would certainly need to specify the Colour Space and Gamma. For example, if I was grading Sony FS7 footage that was recorded on an Atomos external recorder, the files may not have the necessary metadata. I would then need to specify in the Input Colour Space that I had shot in, e.g. S-Log2 and S-Gamut.

[@mikeontour_official]

Hi there, I'm not an expert just cutting and doing motorcycle youtube videos. I have a samsung s24 ultra and it records some h265 videos with "hdr10+ color grading", the issue: when i import those clips to davinci resolve, they are actually like "grey" lookling like "more or less black+white from the 40s". I'm sure there is something I can just switch for this clip to "represent it right" but no idea where to search. Side note: When I just edit clips on the phone like with CapCut, no issues, representation is correct, output is correct, even after just re-rendering the same clip with capcut it shows everything perfect at the end? Do you probably have some idea how to help me out? Thanks in advance!

[@Reelisations]

I don’t have access to your particular model of phone, and I don’t know how your DaVinci Resolve workstation is built, but I’ll do my best to make some educated guesses and suggestions. :) From what I can tell, you’re shooting HDR video. And given the “HDR10+” description, it’s likely to be recorded with the PQ (i.e. ST 2084) curve. So this is what I think is happening: • The monitor of your DaVinci Resolve workstation is not capable of displaying HDR properly, which may be why it’s showing a washed-out, desaturated image. Or it can, but Resolve has not been set up to display HDR properly. • Regardless of the reason for the above, what you’re currently seeing is HDR10 being wrongly displayed in an SDR (standard dynamic range) state. But there are definitely ways to fix this, which I’ll discuss in the numbered steps listed below. • Your Samsung S24 Ultra has a HDR display, and it seems that CapCut is leveraging this correctly. But it also likely means that you might be inadvertently exporting HDR videos. • In your own phone, this presents no issues. But if you’re uploading HDR10 videos to social media, you may want to ask someone who has a PC with a normal SDR screen to see if they can watch the content correctly. It may look quite different from what you were previewing on your phone. :) So, coming back to the original issue - how do you work with these HDR10+ videos properly in DaVinci Resolve? There are 2 possible solutions, depending on what kind of display you have. 1. First off, you’ll need to turn on Resolve Colour Management, as detailed in the video. 2. For “Processing Mode”, choose “HDR”. 3. For “Output Color Space”, let’s assume “SDR sRGB” for now. 4. If metadata exists in your H.265 footage, it should automatically become more contrasty and more saturated. If this happens, you can stop at this step for now. 5. But if metadata doesn’t exist, then you’ll need to do a manual override. Go to the “Color” page of DaVinci Resolve. 6. Right-click on the thumbnail of the footage you’re trying to modify. Go to “Input Color Space”. Move to the “Rec 2100” category, then try selecting “ST 2084”. This should cause the footage to behave properly. What you’ve done above is force a conversion from HDR to SDR. This also helps ensure that the content you upload to social media is SDR, and is thus compatible with any display on earth. However, if you’re trying to work in HDR instead, then you just need to make one minor tweak: 7. In the Resolve Color Management settings, choose “PQ” for your “Output Color Space” instead. However, if you see the video become washed out again after doing Step 7 above, there is a possibility your Resolve workstation doesn’t have a HDR display. If you can tell me exactly what kind of workstation you’re using (Windows or Mac) and what kind of monitor you’re using, that would help. :)

[@ibrahimziazadeh2797]

Thanks for your tutorial. I have access to filmmaking in 14-bit RAW (1440p) and want to move my final workflow to rec.2020 HDR color grading. What is the best way if I have at most 2.5k dollars to spend. A question that arises is what is the minimal percent of rec.2020 required for enough accuracy? Since my initial target is the film festival DCI-P3 I have my eyes on the BenQ PV270 that has 96% DCI-p3 and is in 1440p but unfortunately it lacks rec.2020 that I eventually upgrade to. Some say that I could buy consumer TV, but then the question is what hardware is needed for it to work with PC while being able to inactive the overlays. Another aspect is that many colorists claim that LED is better than OLED. Any assistance would be appreciated.

[@Reelisations]

Hmmm. Let me try to address your concerns point by point. • First of all, I'm definitely not comfortable advising you how to spend your money. The only thing I can tell you is that technology has definitely improved since I first posted the video, so you can get more bang for your buck now. • If accuracy is high on your agenda, then do take a look at the ColorEdge models that EIZO offers. Many of them also do HDR emulation. And some are QHD. www.eizo-apac.com/monitors/creative-monitors • How much of Rec 2020 is actually required? That's a tough one to answer. The honest truth is that no professional display has fully achieved the entirety of Rec 2020 yet. None of the brands. At least not at the time of writing (year 2022). Consumer TVs haven't achieved it either. The UHD Premium standard only requires TVs to achieve more than 90% of P3, so there's currently no pressure to hit the full Rec 2020 yet. And because of the above, Netflix deliverables are also pegged to P3 at the moment. So although the Rec 2020 standard exists, seeing it in its full state is probably a few years away from fruition. • Given the above, I'd suggest that you prioritise getting as much of the P3 colour space as you can when choosing a monitor. That's a much better, more achievable target. Especially since you're also targeting film festivals, which require DCI-P3. Then make sure the monitor can also show Rec 2020 - even if it's not the entirety of it. • Whether you're connecting to a professional display or a consumer TV, I'd HIGHLY recommend connecting them only via a video output device/card. And if you're using DaVinci Resolve, then the only brand you can consider is Blackmagic Design. You can see the various options from Blackmagic Design in the "Capture and Playback" category on this webpage: www.blackmagicdesign.com/sg/products • OLED vs LED… Honestly, it's personal preference + how the company implemented the tech. But I'll share some of the general pros and cons below. OLED screens have amazing blacks because the individual pixels have the ability to turn off. This results in amazing contrast. No halos either. The downside is that OLED screens can't achieve super high brightness levels. Consumer OLED TVs haven't exceeded 800 nits in 2022. LED screens can be really bright. Some consumer TVs can achieve 2000 nits for their maximum luminance. But consumer LED TVs tend to suffer in the blacks. Most can't achieve true black, and even if they do, they sometimes suffer from a halo effect due to local dimming. Given the brightness advantage of LED, you'd think they would be the "better" HDR. But because the perception of brightness depends heavily on contrast, in most cases, consumer OLEDs are actually visually more impressive, even though on paper they're dimmer. BUT when you look at the professional arena, the story changes. A professional display like the EIZO CG3146 (for HDR colour grading) doesn't suffer from the same problems as its consumer counterparts, even though it uses LEDs. No halo, no local dimming, and yet it can achieve deep blacks. It comes down to implementation. 🙂

[@DUST35]

Nice video! What kind of video card / IO do you use to connect to the Eizo HDR monitor?

[@Reelisations]

In the case of this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3. But you don't have to use that particular model if you don't want to. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K.

[@arielwollinger]

How about an ACES setup for DaVinci?

[@Reelisations]

That's a really great suggestion. Let me see if there's a way to make a future video demonstrating this. Thanks! =)

[@arielwollinger]

@@Reelisations if you want, I can help too. I've been using it for years now

[@Reelisations]

Thanks for the kind offer. =)

[@eclairesrhapsodos5496]

Thank you for quick explanation! Really like that you go straight to point.

[@Reelisations]

Thanks! I try to be succinct and clear. =)

[@RexSmithII]

I have the ninja inferno which helps you exposure for hdr. My first question is. if I make a hdr workflow like above, and say I upload it to youtube, does it get converted to a SDR and HDR so people with normal tvs can view properly? also if im at filming location, and expose for hdr through my atomos , how to your remap the exposure to SDR without clipping in divinci resolve?

[@Reelisations]

I'll answer the 2 questions in their original order below. =) KZbin is interesting, because it treats the 2 different standards for HDR differently. When uploading in PQ (ST 2084), which is the standard I demonstrated in the video, KZbin shows it as HDR10 (unless you have the new HDR10+ metadata embedded) for most HDR screens. When you watch try to watch PQ content on an SDR screen, KZbin instead plays a version that it automatically converted from HDR to SDR. Now, when I first published the video, I didn't like the look of that conversion. Which is why I didn't upload my video in PQ in the end. But I haven't checked it in 2022, so it might be better now. I have to go check. KZbin also offers a method to upload a custom LUT to help that conversion. I haven't tried that method yet, so I can't tell you if it works well. 😛 But you can read about it here: support.google.com/youtube/answer/7126552 Whereas, when uploading in HLG, KZbin scales the brightest point of the HDR grade to the brightest point that the SDR screen can handle. Which ensures that no highlight is clipped. That was important to me when I authored the video, so I went with that method instead, as it allowed me to maintain the intent of the lesson. Next - remapping high dynamic range content to SDR in DaVinci Resolve: When I did my demonstrations in the video in version 15, the remapping to SDR wasn't great. It has since improved greatly to the point that it's getting quite difficult to clip a highlight in SDR when using Resolve Color Management. However, if you feel that the highlights are still clipping, then one quick hack is this: In Project Settings -> Color Management, check out the setting called "Timeline working luminance". The higher you raise you number, the more compressed your highlights become. So you may want to try "HDR 4000". (Please note - this setting is only visible when you're using "Custom" for "Color processing mode".)

[@FilmShemp]

Do you need any hardware to get HDR from your computer to your monitor? Is the monitor able to tell the software/hardware that it is HDR?

[@Reelisations]

This is actually a slightly more complex question than you might think. First off, yes, I do need to have a professional video output device to ensure a proper HDR signal can go from my system to a display. In the case of this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. Now, as to whether the display can figure out if the signal is HDR - it depends. If it's a professional display like the EIZO CG3146, the monitor won't actually detect anything. It wants you to manually change the colour space setting in the monitor. This is true of most, if not all, professional displays. Including those from Sony, Canon, etc. I believe most computer monitors behave the same way, if I'm not mistaken. The advantage is that you can customise the setting to whatever you need for your client. The downside is that you'd need to know what you're doing. For consumer TVs, it's the exact OPPOSITE scenario. As far as I can tell, most consumer TVs cannot be forced into HDR mode within the menus. You can turn on HDR emulation, but you can't force the TVs into HDR mode. The only way to do that is to ensure that the video feed has HDR metadata that will tell the TV to switch over to HDR mode. That's why DaVinci Resolve has a "Enable HDR metadata over HDMI" setting in Project Settings -> Master Settings -> Video Monitoring. It's for this very purpose.

[@jackmckee6386]

This was very informative, thank you! I have a beginner question: is it possible to monitor in HDR on an ordinary 4K HDR TV? I know it wouldn't be as accurate. I have a 2019 MacBook Pro and am trying to figure out if this is possible and, if so, what sort of dongle would be needed.

[@Reelisations]

Hi Jack, this is possible, but as you rightly guessed, it's not the most accurate way. =) So if you're mastering for a client like Netflix, using a TV as your primary colour grading screen probably wouldn't fly. But if you're experimenting with HDR for clients who want to display their content on HDR consumer screens, it's something worth considering. =) One important thing to note - try to use a HDR TV that can achieve at least 540 nits of brightness. If you go below that, results might be lacklustre. In order to connect to the TV effectively, you'd need a Blackmagic Design video output device of some sort. In the case of this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3 to send the video feed to the monitor. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini for your MacBook Pro. You just need to check the specs to see what their upper limits are in terms of HDR capability. You can see the various options here in the "Capture and Playback" category here: www.blackmagicdesign.com/sg/products In order to get the TV to go into HDR mode, you have to ensure that the video feed has HDR metadata that will tell the TV to switch over to HDR mode. That's why DaVinci Resolve has a "Enable HDR metadata over HDMI" setting in Project Settings -> Master Settings -> Video Monitoring. It's for this very purpose.

[@jackmckee6386]

@@Reelisations That's very helpful, thank you!

[@Reelisations]

No worries. You’re welcome. :)

[@thebossnocompetition8757]

Why is the black floor always raised in Davinci Reolve with LOG files and HDR10 content? RGB starts from 1 on the waveform when it should start from 0.

[@Reelisations]

There are 2 different reasons at play here. I’ll try to explain them one by one. For HDR10, it’s an aesthetic choice. I’m sure that if you look hard enough, you’ll eventually find graded shots in the real world that touch 0 nits. Maybe HDR demo videos that have a pure black background. But if I’m grading an architecture shot of a white room flooded with sunlight, I may not have the opportunity to show a 0-nit value at all, since there may not be any pure blacks in the brightly-lit room. So it’s dependent on circumstance and what’s right for the story we’re trying to tell. As for Log files - it’s more of a technical consideration. Because of the way video is sampled during compression, there are fewer shades available to encode the colour in the shadows than there are in the highlights. It’s a little difficult to explain without drawing diagrams, and unfortunately I couldn’t find an article to correlate this, but you can see it in this video excerpt: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nmrNaWyCbcqEh80 (It’s a great video, btw. So do watch the whole thing if you can. 🙂) So I think most Log curves endeavour to stay away from the absolute bottom of the waveform in order to preserve as many shades as possible during the recording / grading. You can then make the aesthetic choice of crushing that information later on, rather than losing that information to banding at the beginning.

[@naushadali6784]

Hi There,Do you know how to do grading for Sony OLED A9G?Can gives me some tips.Thank you.

[@Reelisations]

I do generally like the OLED HDR TVs (especially those that can be calibrated), but there's an inherent upper limit that currently still exists in 2022. Most OLED TVs have an upper limit of around 800 nits or less. Whereas professional displays like the EIZO CG3146 can achieve 1,000 nits while maintaining accuracy. In other words, if you tried to push beyond the upper limit of the TV, your highlights would just clip. No detail. So if you're mastering for a client like Netflix, using a TV as your primary colour grading screen probably wouldn't fly. But if you're experimenting with HDR for clients who want to display their content on HDR consumer screens, it's something worth considering. =) Just keep in mind where your upper limit is. If you want to play very safe with a consumer TV, aim for around 600 nits as your maximum luminance. And ensure that the video feed has HDR metadata that will tell the TV to switch over to HDR mode. That's why DaVinci Resolve has a "Enable HDR metadata over HDMI" setting in Project Settings -> Master Settings -> Video Monitoring. It's for this very purpose. This metadata is sent via a compatible Blackmagic Design video output device. In the case of this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3 to send the video feed to the monitor. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. You just need to check their specs to see what their upper limits are in terms of HDR capability.

[@pawelachtel122]

RED Monstro 17 stops dynamic range? How did you arrive at that? I can only measure about 13 stops and that's still assuming S/R=1 or less.

[@Reelisations]

Hi Pawel, Because RED is one of the sponsors for this video, I based that section of the script on their available materials. You can see their specs for the MONSTRO sensor on this page for the product: www.red.com/DSMC2-BRAIN?quantity=1&sensor=1 And as much as I’d love to, I don’t personally have access to a DSC Labs Xyla 21 test chart. 😛 However, I was able to locate some articles where Phil Holland’s tests with RED cameras using that chart can be seen: • www.phfx.com/articles/oneYearCapturedIn8K/#why • www.phfx.com/articles/forgedIn8K/ • www.newsshooter.com/2015/11/04/red-vs-red-the-dynamic-range-of-the-weapon-and-epic-dragon-tested-by-phil-holland/ However, I do know there is sometimes contention about what is a “usable stop”. On that, I think we will all just have to agree to disagree. 🙂 Now, all of the above chart links refer to the older DRAGON sensor. But based on my simple, qualitative assessment during prior shoots, I feel that the MONSTRO sensor is definitely cleaner and has better highlight handling than the DRAGON sensor. So it’s not a far throw for me to believe that MONSTRO has the 0.5 stop advantage over DRAGON that RED says it does.

[@himalayakilaru]

I really wish you make more videos! This information is extremely valuable. Thank you so much for sharing!

[@Reelisations]

Thank you kindly. I'm actually a freelance Director and educator, so I don't do KZbin full-time. I tend to only do videos when companies have specific technologies or techniques they'd like to have clarified. But I'm really hoping to do videos in the future that will clarify other topics. So do feel free to let me know what you'd like to know more about, and I'll see what can be done. =)

[@hokoonho]

Good video, clear explanation

[@Reelisations]

Glad you think so!

[@dyord]

Hi! What breakout box to output HDR to your HDR monitor? Will a simple HDMI cable work?

[@Reelisations]

In the case of this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. For the purpose of this video, I was using a HDMI 2.0 cable to connect to the EIZO CG3145, if I'm not mistaken. Using a lower rating might not have worked. But when the newer EIZO CG3146 model came out, I started using 12G-SDI cables instead, because that model has SDI inputs.

[@urfavcowtherian]

THANK YOU! I'm at a stage now where what I'm trying to learn and get better with are not really posted on anywhere (if they are, they're buried under a ton of other tutorials I'm further ahead of) So this is a huge help! Thanks again and hope to see and learn more from you. Subscribed!

[@Reelisations]

Thanks lots!

[@fische11]

The Eizo is a really great monitor, however it is really expensive. Does it also work to use an LG OLED with HDR10? Of course I know you will never get the same results as with an EIzo but will it at least work for small projects?

[@Reelisations]

I do like the LG OLED TVs (that can be calibrated), but there's an inherent upper limit that currently still exists in 2022. Most OLED TVs have an upper limit of around 800 nits or less. Whereas professional displays like the EIZO CG3146 can achieve 1,000 nits while maintaining accuracy. In other words, if you tried to push beyond the upper limit of the TV, your highlights would just clip. No detail. So, to answer your question - if you're mastering for a client like Netflix, using a TV as your primary colour grading screen probably wouldn't fly. But if you're experimenting with HDR for clients who want to display their content on HDR consumer screens, it's something worth considering. =) Just keep in mind where your upper limit is. If you want to play very safe with a consumer TV, aim for around 600 nits as your maximum luminance. And I would highly recommend calibrating the LG OLED TV with a probe. The price of the software has come down quite significantly: store.portrait.com/consumer-software/calman-home-for-lg.html

[@QuantayPeoples]

This video is probably my greatest discovery of all time.

[@Reelisations]

You are very kind. =D

[@kste35tw]

Hello, teacher! After you have used the sony ax700 to shoot HLG movies, how to set and output settings in the DaVinci 16 software, you can view the HDR pictures and images in YOUTOBE. Thank you in advance for your guidance and explanation. Thank you.

[@Reelisations]

Hmmm. This is a really broad topic, but I'll give some general pointers below. The way I tend to set up HLG colour grading in Resolve is to use Resolve Color Management (RCM). These are my preferred settings in 2022: • Input Color Space - whatever your original colour space was In your case, I suspect that, if you were to right-click on your footage after enabling RCM, you'd see it automatically indicated as "Rec.2100 HLG (Scene)". Which is fine. • Timeline Color Space - I'd choose "DaVinci Wide Gamut Intermediate", just so little/no colour is truncated. But it's a personal preference, so feel to deviate here. Note: once you start grading, you can longer change this setting. Changing the Timeline Color Space midway through the process can potentially mess up your grade. • Output Color Space - "Rec.2100 HLG" After all of the above is set up correctly, make sure to switch your HDR monitor over to HLG mode. =) When you export the final deliverable, it needs to embedded with the metadata required for devices to understand it's HLG. If you've already followed the above steps for RCM, then leaving the Color Space Tag and Gamma Tag as "Same as Project" will work fine, as they will follow the Output Color Space setting. If you haven't, then you'd need to manually set them to: • Color Space Tag - "Rec.2020" • Gamma Tag - "Rec.2100 HLG" For KZbin uploads, I tend to export ProRes or DNxHD. But H.264 can be used as well, as long as you follow the correct settings ( support.google.com/youtube/answer/7126552 ).

[@kste35tw]

@@Reelisations 謝謝您的指導。

[@FilmResolved]

Very very very helpful, thank you.

[@Reelisations]

You're very welcome!

[@troyacarpenter]

I heard somewhere that you need to get a computer card from Blackmagic to plug in a HDR monitor and get HDR when using Resolve. Is this no longer true? Am I correct? Am I confused? Also I have not been able to find where such a piece of hardware is sold.

[@Reelisations]

It's true. For accurate results when colour grading material on a professional HDR monitor, you'd need a Blackmagic Design output device of some sort. Because I was working on a Mac in this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use other models like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. You can see the possible output devices on the Blackmagic Design website: www.blackmagicdesign.com/sg/products Look at the category called "Capture and Playback".

[@d3rd3vil]

God bless you. I got a small easy question ^^. What is the best way to work on 4k 10 bit 2020 HDR10 material and then trim a bit you know and change position nothing fancy and then export with pretty much the exact same quality as the input. Where do I have to activate the 2020 and HDR during the trimming part and for the export? What is the best way to keep all the quality? God bless you again in advance

[@Reelisations]

Hmmm. There are 2 schools of thought of how you can approach this. One is more complicated, and one is simpler. Option 1: If you don't really want to preview the HDR10 material, and don't mind editing really flat-looking material, then you can just cut, trim and rearrange the footage as per normal. Then, when exporting in the Deliver page, you have to make sure the correct metadata is embedded in the exports. • Color Space Tag - "Rec.2020" • Gamma Tag - "Rec.2100 ST2084" I can't really advise what files to export because I don't know who you're exporting for. But to maintain quality, I tend to favour ProRes or DNxHR. Option 2: If you want to be able to watch the content in HDR, then you might want to turn on RCM (Resolve Color Management). You still have to do most of the stuff in Option 1, but there are additional steps below. After turning on RCM, you'll probably want to set it up in the following way: • Input Color Space - Rec.2100 ST2084 • Timeline Color Space - Rec.2100 ST2084 • Output Color Space - Rec.2100 ST2084 This SHOULD enable you to watch the content correctly on a HDR monitor, but do let me know if it works for you. If it doesn't, do right-click on any of the clips (in the Color page) and check what the Input Color Space is. Make sure they are all set to "Rec.2100 ST2084", which is the usual standard for HDR10. Now, regardless, for both options, the one thing I can't predict is how the footage was originally graded. In other words, I don't really know the max luminance it was graded for. Whether it was 1000 nits, 2000 nits, 600 nits, etc. This may have a slight bearing on the metadata being exported, so do keep an eye on it.

[@thebossnocompetition8757]

hey man just one question i have started to grade HDR10 in davinci resolve. as you know the APL (average pixel level) in HDR should be around 100 nits but is it possible to see the APL for one scene? what im doing now is that i look at the waveform to see where most of the information but i have no clue what the average brightness of the sene is.

[@Reelisations]

Just to make sure I’m not misconstruing your question, this is what I understand Average Pixel Level to mean: “[APL] simply refers to the brightness of the image averaged across the whole screen. White is brighter than black, so a full screen of white would have a much higher APL than a full screen of black. A window only takes up a portion of the screen while a field takes up the whole screen, so a white window has a lower APL than a white field. While APL will vary during a movie for example, the average level of brightness across the screen for a majority of video content would generally come nearer to a full screen of black than a full screen of white.” - extracted from shambarger.net/public/scott/Manuals/Patterns-AVCHD-MP4.pdf “Both full field and window (partial field) test patterns have been used to test display gamma. The APL of both full field and window test patterns changes, though, as the measurement stimulus level changes. “A full field test pattern has an APL that is the same as the pattern stimulus level (pixel level). “A full-field test pattern produces 100% APL at 100% stimulus, with proportionally lower APLs at lower stimulus levels. The APL varies from 100% to 0%. “Window patterns with a black background have been in use for a long time for display measurements. These patterns minimise the APL change when switching between different stimulus levels, as compared to full field test patterns. “A window pattern that fills 25% of the screen (Figure 8), with a black background, produces 25% APL at 100% stimulus, with proportionally lower APLs at lower stimulus levels. The APL varies from 25% to 0%.” - extracted from kb.portrait.com/help/constant-apl-test-patterns#:~:text=Average%20pixel%20level%20is%20a,effects%20that%20may%20be%20active So, in my mind, APL is expressed as a percentage, not nits. And you’re right - as far as I know, there is no way to see APL in the scopes. But tbh, I don’t use APL as a metric when I’m analysing how to grade an image. That’s not my thought process at all. Instead, this is how I’m thinking: * Is the highlight in this shot bright enough to warrant going above 100 nits in the first place?
 If it’s a specular highlight like sunlight glinting off a river, then sure. I might even take it close to 1000 nits, if the story warrants it.
 But if it’s just someone’s white t-shirt in the shade, then maybe I might target diffuse white instead - around 200 nits.
 * If I’m looking at someone’s skin tone, I’m still likely to place it below 100 nits most of the time. Because I don’t need hundreds of nits to show skin tone properly.
 Unless I’m trying to emphasise in the story that they are dying of dehydration under the baking desert sun. Hopefully you can see from above that I’m always considering what is plausible in real life, combined with what works for the story. The aesthetic is king, and I’m using the scopes as a guide to get me there without losing useful image data. Hope this helps somewhat! 🙂

[@tyl8ter]

Can the same step apply to the s23 ultra Thanks

[@Reelisations]

As far as I can tell, Samsung’s S23 Ultra supports the HDR10 standard, so if you make content in that standard, you should be able to view it in HDR on your phone. Just make sure to export it in a codec that can support HDR10. Like H.265 (HEVC).

[@tyl8ter]

@@Reelisations Thank you

[@TassosPhotographyStudio]

Is HLG grading much different compared to PQ? It would be nice is you could cover the export settings as well :)

[@Reelisations]

Surprisingly, it is different. And the way it's done in DaVinci Resolve has evolved a little over the years too. If there's enough demand - and if I can find a sponsor who'd want to support it 😛 - I might do a future video on HLG colour grading. I've been getting quite a few requests for showing how to export HDR from DaVinci Resolve, so that's very high on my priority list as well. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@Kanaamediaworks]

Hii i'm using benq sw270c model monitor how i use HDR mode plz tell me.

[@Reelisations]

Hi, I'm so sorry, but I haven't used BenQ monitors extensively enough to give you specific advice. But these are a few things you might want to think about: • Set up Resolve as I suggested in the video, and turn on the HDR mode of your monitor. • However, keep in mind that the brightness of your model is around 300 nits. And HDR usually requires 540 nits or higher. So I suspect what your monitor is doing is HDR emulation, so it may not be able to show HDR10 accurately. • When using the monitor as a colour grading display, avoid connecting it via your graphics card. For greater accuracy, I'd advise connecting it directly to a video output device from Blackmagic Design (if you're planning to use DaVinci Resolve). In the case of this video, I was using a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio 4K Extreme 3 to send the video feed to the monitor. But you don't have to use that particular model. You can use another model like the UltraStudio 4K Mini or cards like the DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K. You just need to check their specs to see what their upper limits are in terms of HDR capability.

[@Kanaamediaworks]

@@Reelisations Thanks 🙏 bro Now I’m using LG OLED CX model Tv

[@Reelisations]

That's great to hear. =) I do generally like the LG OLED TVs (that can be calibrated), but there's an inherent upper limit that currently still exists in 2022. Most OLED TVs have an upper limit of around 800 nits or less. Whereas professional displays like the EIZO CG3146 can achieve 1,000 nits while maintaining accuracy. In other words, if you tried to push beyond the upper limit of the TV, your highlights would just clip. No detail. So, when grading, just keep in mind where your upper limit is. If you want to play very safe with a consumer TV, aim for around 600 nits as your maximum luminance. And I would highly recommend calibrating the LG OLED TV with a probe. The price of the software has come down quite significantly: store.portrait.com/consumer-software/calman-home-for-lg.html

[@stringbutcher201]

What If I just wanted to do simple trimming of a video in HDR. I was hoping not to spend tons of money to do a simple trim of a clip and maybe ad text and transitions. I'm just looking to show of some products. Thanks.

[@Reelisations]

Hmmm. There are 2 schools of thought of how you can approach this. One is more complicated, and one is simpler. I'm assuming below that your content is HDR10, and not HLG. Option 1: If you don't really want to preview the HDR10 material, and don't mind editing really flat-looking material, then you can just cut, trim and rearrange the footage as per normal. Then, when exporting in the Deliver page, you have to make sure the correct metadata is embedded in the exports. • Color Space Tag - "Rec.2020" • Gamma Tag - "Rec.2100 ST2084" I can't really advise what files to export because I don't know who you're exporting for. But to maintain quality, I tend to favour ProRes or DNxHR. H.264 and H.265 can potentially work too, but you need to find out how to configure their exports depending on the platform you're delivering to. Whether it's a TV, a social media platform, etc. As an example, below are KZbin's current HDR upload requirements: support.google.com/youtube/answer/7126552 You may notice that KZbin doesn't support H.265 at the time of writing. Option 2: If you want to be able to watch the content in HDR, then you might want to turn on RCM (Resolve Color Management). You still have to do most of the stuff in Option 1, but there are additional steps below. After turning on RCM, you'll probably want to set it up in the following way: • Input Color Space - Rec.2100 ST2084 • Timeline Color Space - Rec.2100 ST2084 • Output Color Space - Rec.2100 ST2084 This SHOULD enable you to watch the content correctly on a HDR monitor, but do let me know if it works for you. If it doesn't, do right-click on any of the clips (in the Color page) and check what the Input Color Space is. Make sure they are all set to "Rec.2100 ST2084", which is the usual standard for HDR10. Now, regardless, for both options, the one thing I can't predict is how the footage was originally graded. In other words, I don't really know the max luminance it was graded for. Whether it was 1000 nits, 2000 nits, 600 nits, etc. This may have a slight bearing on the metadata being exported, so do keep an eye on it.

[@Cicadeus]

Enable HDR Scopes for ST.2084 is greyed out, why is rendering software such a pain?

[@Reelisations]

Unfortunately the HDR Scopes are only in the paid (i.e. Studio) version of DaVinci Resolve. 😛

[@thebossnocompetition8757]

Thanks for the info so what camera do you think is best to shoot HDR10 video today? for decent money that is ;)

[@Reelisations]

Hmmm. Tbh, I try not to have an opinion about this, since there are so many great cameras today. Instead, I'd use the following as my guiding principles for choosing a camera to shoot HDR: • Dynamic Range - General consensus is that a HDR camera is one that needs to capture more than 12 stops of dynamic range. There are MANY of these now. =) And you'll probably want one with the ability to record with Log. • Bit Depth - HDR10 delivery is 10 bits, so I'd opt for a camera that has at least 10-bit recording capability. There aren't many options for 10-bit codecs in the consumer range. • Chroma Subsampling - In order to preserve some level of flexibility during the colour grading process, you'd want at least 4:2:2 chroma subsampling during recording. Again, there aren't that many consumer devices with codecs that offer this. Ideally, you'd want 4:4:4 or motion RAW, but those immediately limit your options to the professional / broadcast / cinema realm.

[@thebossnocompetition8757]

@@Reelisations thanks man i have currently ordered the Lumix S5. but i guess i need an monitor to be able to record in pro res och blackmagic raw. and i also need an recording card to my PC to be able to output an HDR signal to my HDR tv. lots of stuff is needed here but i think it will be worth it. Also HDR10 looks far superior to the HLG clips i have seen from this camera. and for that color grading is needed

[@Reelisations]

Since you’re using a PC, you can seriously consider the Blackmagic Design DeckLink Mini Monitor 4K if you don’t need to go above 30 fps. That’s a decent entry-level card for HDR. If you need to go above 30 fps, do check out the higher-end models. :) When grading on a TV for HDR10, don’t forget that each type of TV panel technology has a different peak white level. In your case, you have indicated that your TV can achieve 1400 nits. So if you try to hit 2000 nits, you’ll probably end up clipping the highlights instead. It’s just the limitation of the television panel being used. :)

[@mikeeeeyway]

This is a very good video and explain how to grade HDR footage, most youtuber don't even know what the hell is HDR and they telling people to shoot HDR and grade it as Rec 709 or Log footage without using HDR monitor. Thank you

[@Reelisations]

Thanks for your kind words. =)

[@NimeshShresthaeditor]

Thanks for the video. Explained in a simple way.

[@Reelisations]

Glad to hear it. =)

[@thebossnocompetition8757]

Thats one amazing looking image after you got it right in HDR! watching this on my new Samsung S95B QD OLED with 1400 Nits. btw is this image from an still HDR image or is it a screencap from an HDR10 video? more information about HDR10 man! there are very litle information about it on youtube.

[@Reelisations]

Actually, both of the shots are REDCODE RAW footage. =) If you'd like to try out the car shot for yourself, it's available here: www.red.com/sample-r3d-files

[@thebossnocompetition8757]

@@Reelisations Wow thanks for the link lots of amazing footage there to play with

[@Reelisations]

No worries. :)

[@arnold2603]

I cant change the output color space in the setting :( help

[@Reelisations]

You might not have turned on DaVinci YRGB *Color Managed*. In the older versions of DaVinci Resolve, you couldn't manipulate the Output Colour Space without turning on RCM (Resolve Colour Management). But in newer versions, you now can. However, do keep in mind that you aren't actually transforming the colour of the footage if RCM isn't on. =)

[@alvaromercadostudios]

Such an amazing content. it deserves thousands of subs and views!!!

[@Reelisations]

Wow, thank you!

[@thestefsterbun1820]

Great stuff thanks!

[@Reelisations]

My pleasure!

[@Jeka85]

Very informative. Thanks!

[@Reelisations]

Glad it was helpful!

[@malypavel25]

And compressed to rec 709 after uploading? 🤔

[@Reelisations]

No. If I use my video above as an example, what I eventually did was export a Rec 2100 HLG file so KZbin understood to display it in HDR when played on compatible devices. =)

[@VeeTravels]

@@Reelisations Why was your input Rec.709 then?

[@Reelisations]

​@@VeeTravels, at around 4 min 26 sec into the video, I linked to another video I did where I explained that DaVinci Resolve automatically detects the RAW codecs that it supports, so there's no need to enter the Input Colour Space manually. This is regardless of brand - it works for REDCODE RAW, ARRIRAW, Sony RAW, Canon RAW, etc. Here's the link for your convenience: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKLGkqN7nMt-aLc

[@MehranJabbari]

THANK YOU!

[@Reelisations]

You're welcome!

[@sergiollag1]

wait, rec.2020 is sdr?

[@Reelisations]

Yes and no. :) Rec 2020 is the colour space for UHD in general. But when UHD first came about, there was only SDR. When HDR arose, it also adopted Rec 2020 as its colour space. Which makes sense, since most consumers will watch HDR in UHD anyway.

[@TehObLiVioUs]

wow you were right about this video being in HDR I opened this same video on my galaxy s10+ and wow .........HDR is obvious, so much brighter and true to life. A shame my computer monitor isn't in HDR, at least my phone display is.

[@Reelisations]

I'm glad you were able to see the difference! Not everyone has access to a HDR device. And not everyone is aware that their phone might be a HDR device. =)

[@どらさん-w1r]

Super useful!!

[@Reelisations]

Thank you!

[@ArctisTheMonk]

But why can i see the difference? I'm watching on a SDR and the HDR is not clipping.

[@Reelisations]

That's actually a strategic move on my part. I colour graded this video in HLG, which is inherently backward-compatible with SDR displays. What that allowed me to do was map the brightest point of my colour grade to the brightest point that your SDR display can safely manage. Thus avoiding clipping on pretty much any display.

[@DUST35]

Good stuff, thanks!

[@Reelisations]

😃

[@js_filming7701]

Why HDR content doesn't look terrible at sdr displays?

[@Reelisations]

It really depends on how you're watching it. Most platforms have some sort of adaptation happening. =) KZbin does an automatic conversion from HDR to SDR for all the HDR content that's uploaded onto its platform. So does Vimeo. So if you have a HDR screen, you see HDR. But if you have an SDR screen, you're watching an SDR conversion. =) And if you're watching Netflix - most, if not all, Netflix HDR programmes are delivered in Dolby Vision. Which means that Netflix can derive both SDR and HDR versions from the same package, depending on the capabilities of your current screen. =)

[@tindikali]

what if you don't have HDR monitor...?

[@Reelisations]

Unfortunately, the one thing you can't really do without when grading HDR is the HDR monitor. 😛 There are some cheaper alternatives - some of which I will go into when responding to the other comments - but tbh, none of them work as well as a dedicated, professional HDR colour grading monitor like the EIZO CG3146. If you don't want to invest in a professional solution yet, and just want to explore what possibilities HDR can offer, you can look into the other models from the EIZO CG range ( www.eizo-apac.com/monitors/creative-monitors ) which can do HDR emulation to give you a rough idea of what the grade will look like. Or an LG OLED TV that can be calibrated with a 3D LUT, like the CX series.

[@VeeTravels]

@@Reelisations I disagree. You can use an SDR monitor and then apply a monitor LUT.

[@Reelisations]

​@@VeeTravels, you can certainly try. Which is sort of what the HDR emulation (that the EIZO models I linked to above) are doing. This might be acceptable if you're not doing it for yourself and not for professional delivery. Because you can attempt trial and error until you get to a result that's acceptable. But in order to master for clients like Netflix, Amazon and Disney+, you can't run away from an actual HDR mastering display. Emulation can't match the visual information and accuracy that a proper HDR colour grading monitor can display. =)

[@kaistcha]

Wow, it's very useful video.

[@Reelisations]

Thanks. =)

[@SNAPPERTBK1990]

excellent

[@Reelisations]

Many, many thanks.

[@JonPais]

Only $30,000 for the monitor? 😂

[@Reelisations]

Lol. To be fair, all the professional monitors that are used to colour grade HDR content for Netflix hover around that price range, so EIZO isn't alone in that space. But what the new EIZO CG3146 does - which no other brand at the moment does for HDR - is self-calibration in a self-contained manner. There's a built-in probe in the new model, and you can use the monitor's menu to execute the calibration without need for external hardware or software.

[@NomadFM]

HDR is busted in this video

[@Reelisations]

I hope the video helped. =)

[@choukjj]

Could you please introduce how to output HDR 10 videos in Resolve?

[@Reelisations]

Thanks for requesting this. You're not the only one. I'll see what can be done about demonstrating this in a future video. =)