Pro Colorist Desk Setup 2023

[@DarrenMostyn]

Ok i feel i have too much stuff now but not sure what I could actually lose on my desk! Loved seeing your set up again and reminded me when we met 2022 - was a fun session ! Take care! Darren.

[@picxlproductions]

You have to drop your setup video now 😂

[@essentialclassics02]

😂

[@Matein13]

@@picxlproductions He did!

[@CinemaSteve]

Can I just say that I'm so glad you don't have this insane setup like I see from wannabe colorists (won't name names but we know who). It's so simple and makes so much sense for a colorist and you do such high quality work that it's a testament that you can get coloring done without the $50,000 "pro" colorist setup. You don't need multiple panels, 3 Canon reference monitors, and a million TV's to look good on KZbin. You need what you actually need for real clients. Thank you Cullen for being real!

[@CameraTim]

Cullen with the b-roll! The cinematographer in him is still there!

[@teomi971]

Hi cullen the best thing you can do for your shoulders is to move the panel closer and put it on a tilt with a tablet holder or drawing screen holder. this has greatly reduced the stress on my shoulders.

[@Scorylo93]

Hey Cullen! Just wanted to take the time and say thank you. I am going through pretty much your entire library at the moment, and I did not expect to like colour grading and learning about it as much as I do but I find myself drawn to it. And part of the reason is your didactic approach. Not only are you a great colourist, but you are also a great teacher. What I appreciate perhaps equally as much as the wealth of knowledge that you impart is your calm, logical, didactic approach to the subject that inspires me to think both creatively and technically, as well as your thoughtful, eloquent delivery. Thank you again and hope to join a grade school session soon!!

[@artmicca]

Hi Cullen, Thank you for sharing details about your desktop setup! I, too, appreciate a minimalist approach, prioritizing only essential hardware to minimize distractions. Instead of a traditional mouse, I use a Kensington Expert Mouse Wireless Trackball, complete with a built-in handrest. This setup promotes a natural hand position over the trackball, reducing the risk of hand or wrist fatigue. While it does occupy space on my desk, I've placed mine on the "ground floor" of the table within the control surface for sound shaping. This arrangement is convenient as I primarily use a Wacom tablet for interacting with the UI. It's a good point you mentioned about changing sitting positions to standing during the day! I am considering a height-adjustable desk as my next investment.

[@rossmpostpro]

Cullen, im with you... Tidy desk, tidy mind! Love the content as always.

[@matthew2nfinity]

Some really great insights here about how hardware can affect process with client, thank you.

[@ChrisHorvathOG]

Great setup! I love checking out how others have their rooms setup for color and editing. Would love to see a video on how you have your stream deck laid out.

[@jmoravec]

one point from a freelancer's perspective - there can/are different panels and setups in each post house, but keyboard and wacom tablet is always there (or you can steal it from other workstations ,) - so i learned to do most of the grading/finishing work with my right hand holding pen and touching balls and my left hand sending all commands/shortcuts via keyboard

[@JimRobinson-colors]

Interesting to see the behind the scenes. I always start with a really organized desk and somehow it becomes really overcome with cables - I seem to always add stuff to be plugged in - so my hubs end up at reach to plug and unplug things quickly and easily. I do need to get my scopes on an ipad or small monitor when grading. I think that the scopes should be like your speedometer in your car - you should be able to glance at it, and still keep your eyes on the road. With my current setup if I use my two gui monitors side by side and my grading display off to my left. So using either of the GUI for scopes, I have to turn my head to look at them. So my next thing is to do something like you have there with the ipad. Looking forward to the next color grading school session. Getting close to that 100th. Thanks for all the info that you are supplying to everyone. Thanks Cullen

[@TubeSilva]

That's a great analogy Jim. I never thought of the scopes being like a speedometer in a car. Glancing at it while still keeping your eyes on the road makes perfect sense!

[@michaelmerchan3426]

Great set up! Would love to hear what’s your ambient lighting set up like, and the reason behind it. Thank you for all the great informational videos!

[@FredTrevinoColor]

Great stuff! I’m also a fan of simple, clean set ups. (I think you actually have a little more than me)

[@robtrombino8943]

Thanks for the tour. I was hoping though to see what you're using as your HDR reference monitor.

[@colorbyryan]

Very cool. Always interesting to see how others use various tools to work on their images. I recently did a video of my home suite, desk & all, as it’s a particularly small space and I figured it may help others in that situation as well. I really like your iPad confidence monitor idea here - solid reasoning and I like the multi-purpose nature of it. I also use the 32EP950 at the office, and the 27” for home, and I agree, they calibrate excellently. Would love to hear more how you’ve got your stream decks set up as well. They’re such a time-saver.

[@Visethelegend]

O always thought that was a very small room you got for grading, never imagined it was bigger

[@johncarney9715]

Hey Cullen - I really appreciate your channel and videos. Could you do one on the proper way to use a color chart in Davinci Resolve?

[@johncarney9715]

In the event that one was shot on set and you have the footage

[@Norain1992]

nice, tidy and simple! 🙂 Would love to see your streamdeck customization

[@jena1821]

thank you for sharing this

[@marcelolutter-paz3805]

Lovely setup mate! Can I ask what’s more behind the scenes? What box do you use to spit out a clean feed to your reference and client monitor? And also do you use a device like Calibrite or Calman for calibration or get someone in to do it for you? Thank you

[@marcohernandez1150]

Wow, I really thought you'd be rolling a FS or something. Great to see displays under 5k usd being used professionally.

[@MinhNguyen-FatCat]

Love seeing your desk. Could u show me how to set up LG 32EP950 for reference monitor. 😊

[@yorkunt]

I have constant back pain. I am always working sitting on with mouse and keyboard. I am going to buy a new desk very soon but I hesitate about the standing desks. Also gave a try to tablet once but it is very hard to adapt first. But great insights Cullen as always, standing desk and tablet weight more now. I will consider more to have less pain from working on my home studio.

[@thatcherfreeman]

I'm a huge fan of standing desks, as it's easy for your posture to degrade when you're sitting in a chair all day. I've also been using a yoga ball when sitting rather than a usual chair, which is harder to get used to and I'm not sure I'd recommend that for everyone. Make sure you get a standing desk that's motorized though as it is hard to stand for the whole day

[@rossmpostpro]

Sorry to hear you're in pain man. I also have a bad back and the two things that really helped me were to make sure you move and stretch in your work day and don't skimp on a really good chair. Stand up desks are great too.

[@yorkunt]

@@rossmpostpro thank you for your concern! I got really good chair with every kind of adjusting options and trying to do yoga everyday. Still I got chronic back pain. I think I need to do more than that to break the thing.

[@rossmpostpro]

@@yorkunt man that's so tough, hope you can get to the bottom of it.

[@Manofcube]

I tried to use the tablet many years ago as well and din't like it. I've settled on a "vertical mouse"

[@jorgepiquer5206]

Id love to know what’s the soft you are using for the scopes.

[@henrikholmen345]

Hi Cullen, Great setup! What about i/o? Are you not using one? Best, Henrik

[@BenPhanStudios]

Awesome! I'd love to see some of your recommendations for grading monitors under $1000. Also interested in hardware vs software calibration. Thanks brother, I appreciate it!

[@CullenKelly]

Might cover these topics in the future here on the channel -- also worth mentioning we discuss these things in depth in my Colorist Career Accelerator course, which is coming up soon!

[@BenPhanStudios]

​@@CullenKellythanks!

[@sandbarfilms1340]

Love how minimalist this is. I’m slowly getting my desk a bit more upgraded, I definitely want to get the panel. Had a question about another topic, maybe it’s a simple answer or needs a video. I just wrapped on my second feature, and thankfully they only asked me get them a Rec. 709 gamma 2.4 export, they’ll be making blu rays and such, and then they also asked for a web delivery which I got them. However I know what I’m doing to get them multiple deliveries isn’t correct even though it does work. For reference, what I’m doing is going into resolve with a high quality prores file, gamma 2.4, and dropping it into a gamma 2.2 timeline, and transforming it into 2.2 via cst. This works pretty well actually, however I know I can’t simply do that for other deliverables like p3 gamma 2.6 and beyond. My question is how do you manage delivery for everything, web theatrical streaming the works?

[@chrisburrow4724]

Don't know if this is a silly question, but are you able to do a video on the best way to receive in coming projects, whether its a specific codec, or as a project file, What are some ways that a colorist might be included as part of the process as a whole>

[@keithmclean9304]

Hi Cullen, thanks for all the really valuable content you've shared, it's been incredibly useful. In regards to your home setup, I'm curious as to why you would not be concerned about having neutral colours and lighting in your room? I know that room ambience heavily influences judgement and perception of color, and you have all these warm lights, brown desk, red curtains etc. What is your thinking around this? Cheers

[@CullenKelly]

Hey Keith! Great question. The warm lights get turned off while grading, and the warm elements you mentioned aren’t prominent/visible when looking at either monitor in the room. Definitely important to have neutral surround and lighting during a grade!

[@theowlfromduolingo7982]

I have a problem / potential bug with the highlighting tool (shift + h) in the color tab. Almost every time I use lets say qualifiers or checking how an effect (sharpening or denoising) affects my image my entire preview of my node tree is off afterwards. It only previews the changes up to that node and not the entire node tree. If you have a lut or cst in your last nodes it becomes very frustrating because they aren’t display in the previous nodes.

[@AARONMICHAELFILM]

Hey Cullen, where can we sign up for the waiting list for your next coloring workshop? I’ve always wished you offered something like that, and then I saw a link for one that happened last month… Would love to join the next! Thanks for being such an amazing resource.

[@CullenKelly]

Great question! If you sign up for any of the freebies in the description of any of my videos, you will be able to sign up for my newsletter which will inform you of the next CCA course dates!

[@toxotis70]

what functions do you have in your streamdeck ?

[@outdoorsinontario3037]

Oh I love it! And where’s the advanced panel? U sell? Or just in another room now?

[@jmoravec]

quite suprised about the monitor you chose for reference

[@richmarino2642]

As usual you provide invaluable information and I just so happen to be shopping for one now! This one looks perfect, and I was wondering how to get the discount you mentioned, and also what the width of your desk is? Thanks!

[@paulwedel3169]

What's the app you're using on the iPad for third-party scopes? Many thx! love the channel, thanks for being so generous with your knowledge!

[@jmoravec]

and yes, mouse for scrolling, especially lightbox and media! (is there a better solution out there?)

[@JimLifts]

Do you use a deck link output monitor?

[@GuidoValdata]

How did you connect and setup the ipad to show the scopes and simultaneously have the gui on the first monitor?

[@isaacbedford3644]

Do you use BMD Ultra Studio 4K (minir or extreme) for HDR grading???

[@daymianmejia5910]

Cullen, what do you think of the ASUS ProArt Display OLED PA32DC 31.5"? I know the LG has since been discounted. Hoping to find something to serve as a good replacement.

[@jseamans]

Hi Cullen, It's great to see your setup. How closely does your reference monitor match your GUI display and your client monitor. Could you address this in grade school, perhaps?

[@CullenKelly]

Great question! My reference monitor is piping out video to Rec709, Gamma 2.4 for SDR usually.

[@SSU14]

Cullen, what do you use for remote playback?

[@josefbures4583]

Hi Cullen, I've noticed something about CSTs when you switch the tone mapping from davinci to luminance mapping, it introduces much more red colour especially in the skin tones, I noticed that in one of your older videos when you worked with I think RED footage, so I tried it myself on my Sony S log 2 sgamut3 cine footage and it even more obvious and it can really look crazy so after switching to luminance mapping I'd literally have turn the red hue back more to yellow to fix it, if I leave it to davinci, it looks great right away, would be curious about your two cents on this topic in grade school for example and the difference in processing between Davinci and Luminance tone mapping and why stuff shifts more towards red. Thank you. Appreciate your content very much.

[@adeepoberoi1130]

Just wandering, which i-pad do u have there for the scopes?

[@Manofcube]

In the good old days the Wacom came with a mouse you used on top of the tablet. That was a great solution. But mine broke :(

[@kimshef4]

hello Cullen , i have a question, what the scope app running in the ipad?

[@larryestrada5418]

What stream deck are you using?Do you use a docking port?Thanks in advance.

[@wildwoodweddingfilms]

I’d like to know more about your stream deck and iPad. On a Mac can you just plug in an iPad as a second monitor? (I have a PC and an iPad Pro)

[@Pcpro047Tkgeekyteenagers]

How do you import a big project in da vinci resolve seamlessly in Da Vinci Resolve ?

[@brandongers]

What have you used to calibrate the monitors? I’ve used a Datacolor SpydetX pro, not sure if I’m happy with the results.

[@EUGEN_VIDEO]

Где я могу получиьь элементы лутов 2383?

[@StellarGround]

While we’re on the subject, does anyone in U.S. (i.e. Home Depot, Lowe’s, etc.) know the closest wall paint spec for neutral grey? Also, ideal kelvin for room lighting as it pertains to color work?

[@treyedwards9265]

Is your client monitor receiving input via HDMI or casted?

[@Huttersvuur]

Probably HDMI coming from a Decklink card. Otherwise there is no way to tell the client gets an accurate image.

[@monobomodular6413]

that l g isnt it too dim, i believe 250n

[@CullenKelly]

Not for SDR work! And actually works pretty darn well for HDR too (~700 nits)

[@Gustavate]

Hi, I just bought the voyager pro pack

[@CullenKelly]

Great question! I believe that footage should be on Arri's web site as a download.

[@marcelolutter-paz3805]

Another question, if your Max Display is set to P3 and your reference monitor calibrated to REC709 G2.4, how do you match them? I’m having this issue currently where I have an iMac and a 100% rec709 external monitor, I use Calibrite Plus and cannot make them agree. Any tips on this would be much appreciated. Thank you!

[@CullenKelly]

Great question! I would not worry about matching my reference monitor to my GUI monitor on the mac, as the image I am focused on is the one on the calibrated monitor. I am unfamiliar with Calibrite Plus, but we do cover how to use a Calman calibration workflow for LG TVs in CCA, which you can find out more about via our newsletter.

[@senpera]

Those scopes don’t like like the Davinci ones..

[@thatcherfreeman]

Looks like Nobe Omniscope I think