Grading iPhone 12 Pro Dolby Vision HDR footage in Resolve

[@typo_keebs]

This is one of the easiest and yet the most detailed video I've ever seen to let you try edit and export iPhone hdr contents. Thanks to you, now I can try rendering my iPhone videos both HDR and SDR. I really appreciate your effort and thanks again. Applause from South Korea 👏👏

[@EugeneBelsky]

One of the best HDR tutorials!!!

[@PostColorGear]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@jmich5123]

thank you. Just got the pro max 12 and have been working with Resolve for a while. this will be very helpful. From being in the SLR then onto DSLR and finally mirrorless world the advent of these latest cell phone cameras are amazing. Who would have thought we’d be grading video from a phone a few short years ago? Not i....

[@PostColorGear]

Me either. 😃

[@arsh0603]

Thank you for great video. May I ask what screen are you using, I see you have so much space on the screen🤔

[@PostColorGear]

It's a 27" benq 4k monitor

[@arsh0603]

@@PostColorGear Thank you sir.

[@rodrimora]

Hi! I have a question, I'm looking at the HDR and SDR version of the output video. I have an HDR oled screen, i tried to play the HDR version but looks like its not working, as the colors are washed out, using Chrome as firefox doesnt show the HDR option on te cog wheel for quality, and windows on HDR mode toggled on. On my iphone 12 with the youtube app works fine though. Do you know why it may not be working, maybe windows bad compatibility with HDR at the moment? Also, could you do a tutorial on workflow WITH and HDR OLED display? Should we just turn on HDR mode, switch to HDR rec.2020 mode on davinci or is the any more steps apart from the ones on this video we should do. Thank you so much, this was really informative

[@RanjanSharma2001]

Thanks for this excellent tutorial, the only one I could find which takes you step by step in detail. Following the method with my iPhoine 13 pro max footage I see the highlights are too bright & I need to apply a inverted S-curve to bring the highlights down & open up the shadows.

[@WORTHITORNOT]

Very cool and surprised how good the 10 bit is with the iPhone 12. Still looking forward to you doing a intro basics to Davinci Resolve for old guys like me lol

[@PostColorGear]

Yeah it's amazing. haha I'll get around to that video at some point. It's in the pipeline of videos that I have to make. No promises on a time frame though 😂

[@BasicFilmmaker]

I second that! 👍

[@actiaint]

Yep - cant use the info here until you show us basic timeline set up recommended not just color management.

[@wurens0601]

Finally! This is just what I need! Thank you so much! It should takes a lot of time to research and compile into anyone can simply understand! Truly Amazing!

[@PostColorGear]

Glad you liked it!!

[@TokyoPaul]

Thanks for your tutorial. I use iPhone 12pro Final cut and trying to upload my HDR video once in PQ rec 2020 and once in HLG rec 2020. However, KZbin isn't recognizing it as HDR in the playback and options gear doesn't show HDR in Chrome. I wonder what's wrong? Any idea please?

[@SkwidProductions]

Thank you so much for this video. It is much easier to digest than other tutorials I found. I'm really really new to Davinci Resolve and HDR (I've only edited SDR with Vegas Pro). I was trying to find out more about this because I don't have any HDR displays (to view or edit on), but my phone defaulted to this HDR format for recording. From what I understand, if 99% of the time I'm just viewing my videos on SDR displays and not editing them, I should just disable the HDR recording altogether. However, let's say I am making a video where I do plan to edit/process the footage (again, only planning to deliver to SDR). Is there a true advantage to recording in Dolby Vision HDR, grading, and then converting to SDR? On paper, it seems like HDR footage would give you more initial data to work with, so maybe there's an advantage there. There's also the new ProRes recording support coming soon - what'd be the difference there versus this HDR recording in terms of grading flexibility?

[@PostColorGear]

Yes, and no. If you record in HDR, it does give you more room to work with, especially if you color grade in a wide color gamut (such as Davinci Wide Gamut) - you're still going to export it and view it in SDR, which of course has its limitations, but it will look different than just SDR footage from the beginning. But yes, unless you see any problems with the SDR footage, you should probably just record in SDR.

[@ZeonStar77]

Thank you for this video. I’m new to resolve but have planned to learn it exactly fold the reason it can apparently work with the footage from the iPhone 12. Looking at some comments it looks like it does not output a file read by displays as DV though? You are using the paid (Studio) version of resolve correct? I read that the studio version does have some Dolby Vision stuff built in but that there is also a Dolby vision license for more advanced stuff. Maybe we need that to actually output a Dolby vision file?

[@PostColorGear]

Correct, the studio version. That appears to be the case. Having said that, I believe that KZbin re-encodes the footage, and they use HDR10 (if I remember correctly, without looking). Jonathan Morrison has some files for download and that may be the best way to test these on a Dolby device.

[@ZeonStar77]

@@PostColorGear Thanks for the reply. I have the iPhone 12 myself so getting samples isn't a problem. I'm just trying to figure out my editing options that would somehow allow the footage to STAY Dolby Vision when you export it. Have you had any luck with that? I just recently discovered Resolve recently and that it's this fully featured editor you can get for free. I have used Premiere for years but hate their pay method. Once I learn resolve I'd not be opposed to paying for the Studio version but I really want end to end Dolby Vision editing.

[@flipnap2112]

I have those same audio monitor. man do they sound good. went form Yamaha HS series and the fidelity between the two was night and day. expensive but worth it

[@senpera]

Very informative! It would be great to see this with dr18. I’m having trouble with differences in menus.

[@PostColorGear]

Sounds like a good idea. I need to update this anyway!

[@danielhaney7624]

Hello sir, can you tell me what method you used to get the files from your phone to your PC while maintaining the HDR metadata?

[@gaumediaable]

Dave, thank you for this great tutorial. 😊 I have a question: If my intention would not be delivery in HDR but in SDR, would this workflow be comparable to working with LOG footage? Working with LOG footage gives me more scope for color correction etc. than Rec.709, especially with 10 bit footage. Would I have this advantage as well, when grading iPhone 12 Dolby Vision footage in resolve - with delivery in Rec.709?

[@PostColorGear]

Depends on what you mean. You could set the timeline to REC709 and wouldn't have to do anything specific with the Dolby section.

[@MarcSchreiberRealtor]

@@PostColorGear I suppose the timeline can be a wide range/ 10bit with ‘output’ set at r709 scene. This is not log footage in the strictest sense.

[@i_nahdi]

thank you 1000 times

[@wtnstudio]

Thank you very much but Davinci 17 menu is different.

[@PostColorGear]

Yes it is. Thank you for watching!

[@dimitrimoonlight]

Thanks for your very technical exponation. I wonder, even youtube support HDR contents but most of us we don't have a HDR screen. I understand that that's more pro environment. What's the point for us?

[@MsZappas]

Hello, new iphone 13 pro user here. When I record HDR video and drag the file to my PC, open in vlc, it appears to be BT.709. The video has the HDR icon on the phone library page. I cant find one video that mentions this. Everyone skips by the first step of the process and just goes to the editing part. To my mind, I cant just tell resolve to master a video in BT2020 when the source file appears to be 709. Again Im fairly new to this so forgive me if I sound stupid. Any info would be appreciated, cheers!

[@bendoherty173]

If you connect to a PC, I think the iPhone will automatically convert the video files to 709, which is NOT what we want. On your iPhone, go to Settings, Photos, then under "Transfer to Mac or PC "make sure you choose "Keep Originals". Afterwards you should be able to drag original BT2020 files from your connected iPhone. I'm using an iPhone 12 Pro, but I imagine it's the same story for the 13 Pro.

[@MsZappas]

@@bendoherty173 Buy this man a drink! Wow you solved it. I have literally been looking everywhere for this info so had to resort to youtube comments. Looks like I found the real expert! Cheers man!

[@maddiem5921]

Thank you for this! Would love to if you'd consider doing a video on importing and exporting Bt.2020 pro res footage from the 13 pro in Davinci Resolve, I can't find anything on this yet because it's so new, and the colours look very weird when I bring my footage into DVR.

[@TheMadComposer]

DUDE!!!!!!! Love this tutorial!! I'll be referring back to this several times. Subscribed.

[@PostColorGear]

Awesome! And thanks for the kind words!

[@TheMadComposer]

@@PostColorGear Question. What is your thought on running a Dolby Vision grading suite from home using the BMD UltraStudio 4K Mini? Would I need another device like the BMD Teranex Mini SDI to DisplayPort 8K HDR Converter to make this setup work with two monitors?

[@gbdr_ps_fan8656]

Wow, wow, wow! That's what I needed badly. Thanks a lot for this extremely helpful tut. I was wrapping my head around that DV thingy and could not figure it out myself. Now it's much more clear. That's for me worth a sub :-) One piece of a puzzle that is still missing for me to understand it: if you export the footage with the settings you mentioned (except for KZbin), will it play as DV on a HDR TV set? Thanks a lot again. Greg

[@PostColorGear]

Thanks for the kind words. In theory, it should. I guess it all depends on how the television interprets the metadata. Unfortunately, I don't have a television that supports HDR here. Thanks for the sub!

[@gbdr_ps_fan8656]

@@PostColorGear Thanks for feedback. I will try to process it your way , then I will export and try it on my LG C9. I will get back with the results.

[@gbdr_ps_fan8656]

OK, I did the test to verify it and unless I'm missing something I cannot get the video to play as DV on my TV set. The original file is tagged as DV, but whatever Davinci Resolve spits out it only plays as a HDR-tagged footage. Still, this is better than nothing, but it would be great to be able to have the DV available as it is generally better (not sure if always discernible, but most experts favor DV). Any idea? Thanks

[@PostColorGear]

Thanks for doing that test. And no, no ideas yet. However, you've prompted me to look into it more. If I find anything out, I will reply here.

[@gbdr_ps_fan8656]

@@PostColorGear Thanks in advance. As I've read, only the iOS version of iMovie is able to export it in DV. Obviously it's far less convenient compared to editing on a PC/Mac. The topic is quite new, though, and jury is still out to decide what can handle it best.

[@aqp93]

My version of Da Vinci (16) doesn't have some options, like enable Dobly Vision. Is it because its an old version?

[@efrenplaza]

That's great video! Thank you!

[@PostColorGear]

Thank you!

[@AbhinavChhetriegw]

This was simple and really useful

[@jaberalshekh]

Perfect job thanks a lot This was simple and so effective

[@heesang1989]

Hi, Thank you for your video:) Maybe i'm stupid but what is the difference between Dolby Vision's trim features and just go back to global Gain,Saturaion and make adjustments like you did?

[@wnj765]

We can drop dolby vision and stay with hlg slog 3?

[@TheThaiLife]

This helped a lot, thank you!

[@RaviKumar-qh5pe]

For HDR (HDR 10, Dolby vision ) workflow ,(rec 2020,Rec 2100 ,Hlg ,pq,Dci ) which pc monitor is perfect

[@craftsmenmedia5136]

@ Post. Color. Gear thank you very much for this content , if you can give a solution to grading logv2 - 4k hdr from filmic pro , please it would be really helpful

[@stili774]

Hi, what to do if some is rec 709 and some rec2020 footage, and i want to export rec2020?

[@SandeepAnandVlog]

Can we apply the same settings when we have few 10 bit HDR videos and few 8 bit videos out of the same iPhone and wanted to edit them into one video? Do you have any suggestions for that during edit or during it's export?

[@johnycinema21]

What hdr monitor should i purchase to color grade the dolby digital hdr footage?

[@mehmetekicitekno]

So I have HDR monitor so l use Dolby vision like in video and mastering monitor on Dolby vision page on list too one 100 so l have HDR monitor l need use other on list ?

[@michaelray5622]

iPhone 12 isn’t the only iPhone that shoots 10-BIT video. There are a few apps that enable HDR10 HVEC on any iPhone but you need to get the link because Apple doesn’t allow them to be seen while browsing apps. Also, it’s not Dolby’s twist mixed with Apples AI so it’s better to grade with.

[@boriscruse4067]

Hey Michael Do you know of apps other than 4K HDR Video Recorder by Yong Chen? Interesting app but no manual control.

[@vkritis]

Great stuff. I have been struggling for days watching videos here on KZbin from other bloggers to learn to upload HDR videos to KZbin. In vain. Thanks to your video here I was finally able to succeed doing exactly that. I'm deeply indebted to you for this. You are one of a handful few who know your stuff, although you are being quite modest about it. I had one question. I have edited a draft video of mine for HDR upload based on input ProRes 422 footage. The resulting file, compressed with H.265 as you suggested came out as 4.2.0. for reasons I don't understand. Any idea why? I followed your workflow shown here almost step by step, so I figured you might know the reason why. Thanx much in advance, and keep up the good work.

[@trevorbirch1291]

i think Dolby vision records only in h.265. i'm not an expert or anything bt i was trying to figure out the same thing

[@vkritis]

@@trevorbirch1291 I think you are absolutely right. So far I was also only capable of uploading HDR versions on H265.

[@PTCPerformance]

I tried your tutorial but for some reason, I can't seem to follow along as it seems the options you have is different to the options I have? I have resolve the free version? Is that the reason behind why I can't do it properly?

[@PostColorGear]

Are you using Resolve 17? If so, it may be that it's limited. I apologize, I don't keep up with what Blackmagic includes in the free version and what they limit, so it's very possible, if you have Resolve 17, that it may have those options missing. If not, it could be the version.

[@PTCPerformance]

@@PostColorGear yeah I think that it is. It's all good. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

[@BRJ5]

I do the same thing in mine for importing and color space, but when I view it using Dolby Vision it is very oversaturated, I'm using Resolve 17, any advice/help?

[@rabbi4293]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. You saved me.

[@PostColorGear]

You're welcome! Thank you for watching!

[@willianaleman6114]

Thank a lot for the informative video. Great job!

[@PostColorGear]

Thanks for watching and for the kind words!

[@yashmistri17]

Hey, Dave great as always. The video is so much detailed. I always wondered about how to tackle the HDR footage in resolve since HDR is not a usual go to way for all the filmmakers. So maybe if there is permission, you can share these footage in full quality via Drive to practice!? Just asking if you have permission or with a note in black line on the video.

[@PostColorGear]

Thank you! And I do not. But if you go to Jonathan Morrison's channel, he has some of those clips for download.

[@yashmistri17]

@@PostColorGear Update: Yo I got them. Sure thing. Thank you very much for your quick reply.

[@Renenko]

Awesome video!

[@drachenfliger1368]

So you usw the Studio Version? Because I without the Studio Version, cant't Open my h.256 footage in resolve, and I am using Windows too. And in my Version( the newest) I am Missing the Dolby Vision Tab

[@PostColorGear]

I am using Studio. If you downloaded 17, then yes it must be limitations of the paid version. Unfortunately, it's not usually top of mind when I make these videos, so I forgot to mention it.

[@drachenfliger1368]

@@PostColorGear No Problem, thank you

[@meikmeiker2615]

Can i export in h265 with dolby vision metadates and play it on an dolby vision oled from an usb?

[@fotero2829]

how do you actually import the video from Iphone 12, when I try to use the file that comes out of the iphone and import it to Davinci 16 I get a error message "media offline". any ideas what could cause that?

[@PostColorGear]

Do you disconnect your phone afterwards? That may be why. You'd need to copy it onto your computer and then drag that copy into Resolve.

[@fotero2829]

@@PostColorGear Thanks, aparently the free version does not support 10 bit video. I think that is my issue. I ordered the full version of Davinci, I will let you guys know if that fix it . Thanks for your reply

[@bendoherty173]

You need to pay Microsoft $0.99 for the HEVC codec. I had the same "media offline" message. Try to open the iPhone video in the default Windows media browser and you should see a window that pops up prompting you to buy it.

[@David_Drills]

Hi, about Dolby Vision, I tried to shoot the same clip with DV on first and then with DV off and I have to say that of course the overall image quality and colors are much better with DV on. The only thing I noticed that seems pretty odd to me is that high lights seems be clipped much more with DV on. For example, I shoot from the inside my room and outside the windows everything is white (clipped). Then, the same video with DV off has some details outside. I'm not watching the videos on computers or TV but just by my phone12. Do you know why is that? Can it be something related to the auto color correction that the phone applies? I am a filmmaker so I know what I am talking about, it's just seems very strange to me that the highlights with Dolby Vision on my phone are much more clipped that standard video.

[@danmoore9682]

Wonderful tutorial, I'm following along but unfortunately Enable HDR Scopes is greyed out, I can't tic the box. Any clues? Thanks so much!

[@PostColorGear]

Ah, it may be because you don't have the studio version. I unfortunately cannot keep up with which features are and aren't in the studio version, but that is my assumption as to why yours is greyed out.

[@SPAWN_GAMES]

Thank you for the video

[@fastcars3483]

Thank you!

[@ziiks873]

Hi! is it possible to edit Dolby Vision HDR in Premiere pro please?

[@PostColorGear]

I am unsure. I apologize. I don't have a Premiere license any longer.

[@vkowluri]

I am on v17b3 but do not see "Enable HDR Scopes for ST.2084 and HLG" in preferences -> Color under user. Is that preference moved somewhere else?

[@PostColorGear]

It has. It's now an option under scopes. They updated the layout right after I released this video

[@vkowluri]

@@PostColorGear Thank you for quick response and wonderful tutorial. One quick couple of questions - I am editing iphone 12 Dolby Vision video on my LG 48" and monitor setup as HDR display in windows. 1) Are there any settings different I need to choose different what mentioned in this video or same 2) What I need to choose in DolbyVision -> Target Display Output, if target display output is LG 48"

[@sharovit]

not working (

[@RikkTheGaijin]

unfortunately if you're on PC and your iPhone has IOS15, you're out of luck. When the files are transferred, they get automatically converted into H.264 8-Bit, losing the HDR information.

[@MsZappas]

This sounds aweful... and would totally explain what I'm experiencing... The wierd thing, I tried to upload a hdr vid to youtube directly from the phone, and hdr or dolby vision is not detected by my oled tv. Dont tell me they expect us to all buy apple computers as well as their phone...

[@sunlit777]

try watching this on a 16' inch macbook display buddy, it makes my eyes bleed.

[@PostColorGear]

I don't blame you for saying that. I've definitely learned my lesson with screen recordings since then. I'm actually planning on releasing a new video too, because the resulting HDR from this doesn't appear to work for every display.

[@ogburri]

get proper hardware first

[@vikashseggi]

When i export the edited video back to my iphone 12 pro max (airdrop from mac to iphone) It plays the video in frames... like in a slideshow... this is in the default photo's app...but when i put it into vlc app (through itunes) it plays perfectly on the iphone? any idea whats going wrong? I'm unable to upload to Instagram coz of this.