Still Getting WASHED OUT Images? Use These Export Settings To Fix It!

[@NatureSleepSerenity]

I can't tell you how appreciative I am that you Uploaded this video. It seems like ever KZbinr says something different about this but you included things both in the beginning and the end of the video that I have not heard elsewhere. I love the color work flow in resolve but that color shift upon export was absolutely driving me nuts! Many thanks, you are gifted as an educator.

[@dunnadidit]

Glad I could help! Thank you foe the comment! Don't forget to subscribe and check out my other videos!

[@opticeffectmedia669]

U just won my heart on this tutorial. Realized Timeline colospace needed to be changed. Thank you

[@jalithic]

Ok, This is the one that worked. Others didn't cover the extra steps needed to solve the dull video rendered color. Thank You, 👍🏻

[@LearnWithAlex123]

i can't tell you how much i appreciate this. This issue has bothered me for months. you saved me! thank you !

[@dunnadidit]

You are very welcome! So glad I could help!

[@marcus00077]

The only video to solve this problem totally for me. After too many videos.. Thanks my man. Subscribed.

[@joyoffilming9500]

Great video! Anyway, I prefer H.265 over H.264 because H.265 is 10bit. Most banding that people see in blue skies does not come from their 8-bit camera but from exporting in 8-bit, namely in H.264. Changing to H.265 solved my banding issues literally with a mouse click.

[@samarthv1395]

Bro, I love you! I watched ton of videos on color management and still couldn't figure out the issue. But this video fixed that small nic. Your way of explaining is also amazing! New sub!

[@minnesotasoundguy]

As a windows user, I do have a spot under preferences that says "Use Windows display color management and HDR for viewers". I tried clicking that box but it made my entire video very dark. Fortunately, the rest of the settings helped fixed the issue! Thanks for the videos. As a new DaVinci Resolve user, your videos have helped a lot!

[@JimRobinson-colors]

The origin of the problem, if anyone is interested is that under NCLC tagging which is the definition standards for which the display function relates to the numbers that are shown in this video. That the 1-2-1 tag which has been recognized as referring to rec709 2.4, actually according to the NCLC - the 2 is "undefined" and there actually isn't any transfer function defined in the list for gamma 2.4. So Apple Sync that applies the profile is actually showing on a color managed player - rec709 without a display gamma function- which will work out to about gamma 1.96. So grading a 2.4 gamma and then seeing it being played back at around 1.96 = washed out colors and less contrast ). The Resolve fix to change the meta tags to force Applesync to show their default profile actually doesn't fix the problem - but it gets it closer because 1-1-1 defined by NCLC is reads as : Color Primaries - 1. ITU=R BT.709 - and Transfer Function - 1. ITU=R BT.709 * transfer function for display And Color Matrix - 1 - BT709 Dunna - your example above - not sure where rec709 2.4 is indicated anywhere. My guess is that you are actually seeing and grading to your Mac profile - which on most Macs is gamma 2.2 - which is just fine - especially if you grade in a room that has ambient lighting. For me I grade in 2.4 - so I have a CST at the end of my timeline that only has the gamma tag set to rec709-a - then of course I also set it in the advanced section on the delivery render. But I use a breakout box to a calibrated display that is rec709 2.4. I find that any stills ( frame grabs ) have the problem of not using the render tags - so the rec709-a has to be on the setting output for that to work. It is a big mess for sure. I only commented to explain the reason there is a problem, for some people knowing what causes the problem helps to understand the problem better. It is also confusing for people that look at non-color managed players like VLC and think that they are correct and Quicktime isn't - but they have independant color management in the player - so you could see a beautiful image in that player and it could look like crap on everybody else's devices. So as a reference - it's not good to use.

[@ssergiomarques]

So Dunna's fix for the problem is more of a workaround? Still a good way to workaround on this problem that, apparently doesn't have a proper fix yet?

[@JimRobinson-colors]

@@ssergiomarques All the fixes are workarounds. There is no actual transfer function for gamma 2.4 - although Windows accepts that.

[@ssergiomarques]

@@JimRobinson-colors ohh, that’s quite interesting! Does it mean we don’t need workarounds in windows so we can use Rec709 and Gamma 2.4 without problems?

[@dunnadidit]

@Jim Robinson Great info dude! Thanks for sharing! To answer your questions, I'm mostly grading on external monitors calibrated to 2.4. I use my macbook monitor as well but never for the heavy color lifting, just for edits and such when I'm on the go (though this set of settings helped a lot with that too just by getting it closer)

[@sable6599]

Hi Jim, your comment cleared a lot of misinformation that’s been in my brain . Thank you ! Do you have a website or blog or anything I can follow ?

[@paulg3388]

I’m still benefiting from the original video you posted about Rec709-A and since then all my videos look like they did in Resolve. Crisp, informative and to the point !! As per usual. Thanks once again! Interesting you can change it by timeline I wasn’t aware of that.

[@dunnadidit]

Thanks for the kind words Paul! That timeline color space thing is brand spankin new!

[@NorthernDiaries]

Thank you so much. After wondering for many years what the problem was, I finally found a solution. You've earned a sub, and I'll make sure to keep watching your stuff.

[@dgalmedia]

I really needed this video. Couldn't understand for the life of me why my exports would always look so washed out and I thought the only remedy was overcompensating for saturation and contrast before exporting. THANK YOU!!

[@hatguyjoe]

Thanks!

[@dunnadidit]

Thanks so much!

[@HeathcliffBlair]

Hugely important tutorial for Resolve users on a Mac. It's the basics, but vital to do on day one. These settings should come as defaults for the Mac version of Resolve, but, crazily, they don't. Big thanks for the video. 👍

[@its.seangordon]

u r insane man... just wanted to look up this topic because all those different color spaces are a bit complicated for me sometimes... and then I see ur video *uploaded 5 hours ago*... comes so perfect ;)

[@dunnadidit]

Haha that’s too perfect! Did I manage to answer all your questions on the topic?

[@its.seangordon]

@@dunnadidit u definitely did! but I have a question u can maybe answer quick... why is my image sometimes noisy in the darker parts even in base iso?

[@LebaneseAngler]

@@its.seangordon most probably under exposure and you are raising the shadows in resolve, you should be overexposing by a stop or two if your camera has a high dynamic range and then lowering the exposure in resolve.

[@KristenSmith]

Perfect timing. I was bummed my stuff looked so great in Resolve, but the rendered video looked pretty craptacular. Now it looks more like what I shot and edited. Just subscribed. Thanks man.

[@HappyPawsPhotography]

I was just editing a video on Mac and couldn't figure out why it looked so bad on export, you're my hero!

[@antoineleguen5845]

Finally a video on the subject that is accurate info and not some voodoo BS or plainly false ! Thank you a lot for your time and effort for helping filmmakers. Those settings should be turned on by default on Resolve OSX version though… I understand the philosophie in DVR is to make it your own and being able to do everything but some simplicity, here and there, like turning on features that 90% of the users would want by default, wouldn’t hurt for the new comers.

[@northernroaming]

Thank you so much for this. Finally getting the colours to export properly is making my heart so very happy now.

[@derekuhm]

I wanted to love Davinci Resolve for the longest time but this gamma shift issue kept me using FCPX. Now I'm finally ready to switch! Thank you for a great explanation :)

[@JaromJ209]

Saved my butt man. Will definitely be coming back to your channel.

[@litakur]

omg this saved my life!!! I kept changing project settings and export settings to a bunch of different things and they never worked!!!! The problem was that my timeline settings were already set to rec709 scene, so no matter what i did anywhere, this would fck up everything all the time. Now that i changed it from my timeline settings it worked! finally it worked after weeks and weeks of searching and testing

[@dunnadidit]

Nice! Glad to hear it helped!

[@matthewmk8dx]

holy moly, thank you SO SO MUCH!!! this was probably the most helpful video i've seen about video editing in my lifetime

[@AaronHallcm]

3:21 I don’t have a color tab option under timeline setting, is there an alternative? Thanks!

[@hdframez]

Be sure to have Version 18.5 or higher

[@AaronHallcm]

@@hdframez Thanks! Ended up figuring it out somehow but can't remember

[@MyAudioAcademy]

This made my year... Thanks dude!

[@dunnadidit]

Wow! And it's only February!

[@charleswaiting]

Man you just save my life ! Thanks, I watched I don't know how many videos but noting was changing but thanks to you I have the result I want in my export now !

[@ethanwisotzkey]

Amazing video! So nice to finally find a real fix! 100% subscribed

[@_aisolo]

This is what i needed!! omg!! thank you sooooo much!! i record just on my iphone for short form content on YT shorts reels etc.... and decided to switch from capcut to davinci and man this color space management was the biggest headache but i do love the extra control davinci offers over capcut for sureeee! and i'm getting really drawn more to learn color grading but yeah after watching god knows how many vidoes and so many people saying gamma 2.2... i definitely found that keeping it as rec709a looks the best for both as i edit and even exprot and then uplaod on socials. thank you!

[@HealthyTips-4U]

Hey, man, thanks for this video! Whenever reinstalling my Mac or Davinci, I open your video and do as you recommende, that your recommendare effectave amazing effect. It two big difference between with this settings and without it. I'm a new in this, so my videos not looks like yours, but in any case I see big difference. So thanks again and wish you good luck!

[@raengraphy]

Just tried this out and got a closer rep on my footage. Thanks Dunna!

[@dunnadidit]

Amazing!

[@thesamwise007]

Finally! Thank you! Exported colours aren't identical with the settings you recommend (blues are more saturated) but close enough for me :)

[@Praxiszooms]

FANTASTIC! I always hated the fix it with color grading!

[@MoveWithMurph]

Hey man, i'm just here to say you're an awesome creator, thanks for your hard work, keep it up.

[@dunnadidit]

I appreciate that! Glad I could help!

[@ALifeWithoutBreath]

6:08 The change in color with gamma 2.4 is due to the fact that macOS defaults to a gamma of 2.2 with their displays (not 2.4). It even used to be 1.8 once upon a time. The washed out color may be due to the fact that the latest Mac displays use the P3 color space instead of Rec.709. Similarly to Adobe RGB it'll look desaturated/washed out when displayed as Rec.709 (without proper color management/metadata). Nice tutorial. It can really be challenging to find all settings in DaVinci. 😅

[@philipkarst7918]

Thanks for this, it's the best one after so many videos. Good job!

[@jrvisions]

Thank you so much!! this definitely saved me from losing my mind dealing with that frustrating export issue!! 💯👍

[@thefoodieflex]

For a while I’ve been trying to figure this out with my iPhone footage and I FINALLY DID with your settings!!! Ahhhh thank you!!!!

[@mamoastudio]

I have to leave a comment to support you and also say how much we all appreciate you sharing this info. Thank you! Great video!

[@dunnadidit]

I appreciate that! Thank you!

[@IkennaVisuals]

Best video I have seen so far on this, thank you so much!

[@dunnadidit]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TheCameraProject]

Thanks man. I appreciate this, I'm just not sure if it's this simple. I wish it was, and maybe it is, this problem has been bothering me for years as an editor and VFX artist. So, take your exports from your rec709a project into Premiere. Note it all gets darker. Now, we could chalk this up to a Premiere problem... but I'm not ready to do that yet either. Let's say I'm grading in resolve to take it back into Premiere, are all my clips going to be wrong? Do I need an h.264 type setting with rec709a baked in and keep my pores masters at regular rec709? How will the rec709a stuff look on a PC? I don't have one to test. But all these questions are bothering me. Any followup would be greatly appreciated. Maybe we can get some adobe and Blackmagic engineers to way in.

[@TheCameraProject]

I should mention that Premiere's ultimate look depends on if you have Display color management on or off. With it off, P and R are similar if using rec709a, but not the same. With it on, rec709(not A) files look right in Premiere, the same as resolve.

[@AlvaroDevLabs]

Thanks, your video helped me understand a lot of stuff. What's your recommendation for screen recordings (like tutorials) I found that 709-A looks washed in comparison to sRGB, also sRGB looks crispy and similar to the screen. Not sure what to do

[@ryebruhd]

I was going crazy trying to troubleshoot this. Thank you!!

[@prasadchundi]

when you click vertial resolution for instagram, it changes to 1080 * 1920. you recommended 1920 *1080. can you please comment which one to use?

[@CKfotoRomania]

You are the best! I did not know about the individual timeline color profiles and had an old windows project, so washout colors at export....until now. THANK YOU!!!

[@PhilipBlank]

I've hit up enough of your videos and found some incredible tips now to hit that subscribe button, keep up the great work!

[@christiandines]

Finally someone with answers! Subscribed. Thank you so much!!! x

[@seibeltron1593]

oh dude! I recently when through hell making a custom LUT that kinda did the job, but the results with this are wayyy better!

[@LightspeedTutorials]

0:52 Resolve Settings: General - DO Use mac display profiles for viewers, DO Automatically tag Rec.709 as 709-A 2:40 Project/Timeline Settings: 2:52 : Output color space - Rec.709-A | Timeline color space: DaVinci WG _or_ Rec.709-A 5:05 Export settings: Same as project (Rec.709-A)

[@peterwindingpew822]

Thansk for a great help in this video. I love the cut-the-crap style of your videos. Cheers!

[@shpetimosmani8768]

No way I just watched this for free! You know you can charge for solving someone's problems? (Thank you so much)

[@dunnadidit]

Haha 😂 well I appreciate you letting me know! I’m glad I have found a way to offer this stuff for free!

[@elFormatohd]

Thanks man!!!! finally got it right with such a simple explanation, you´re the best!!!!

[@sebastianarangogonzalez7552]

if I use a Mac Mini with a LG diplay, do I have to check the "use mac display...." setting?

[@guptageneralstores5243]

thanks again for the second time for them algorithms !!!! you a saviour

[@pascaldiefenbach7703]

You are my man! 🙏🏻 Thanks so much after hours of research it finally worked!

[@anyelatejeda4410]

Thank you! This was super helpful!

[@Chrismith]

So question: For the color preferences - do I still want to check the box "Use Mac color profiles for viewers" if I'm using an external non-mac monitor? I'm on LG.

[@Coffee_BrewTones]

Just THANK YOU !!! 🤩 This tutorial has been sooo useful !! 🙏🏻 Thank you so much Dunna ! I really admire and appreciate your hard work I'm looking forward for your next video

[@LukeAntunes]

Literally every Mac/Resolve user cheering for this video 🥳🥳🥳👏🏻👏🏻 thanks as always Dunna!!!

[@MixedFrames]

You saved me a lot of hours!! Thanks a lot!

[@documentprogress]

Will all these settings apply even if I'm using a non-Apple display, such as the BENQ PD3225U set to Rec709 mode (using a Macbook in clamshell mode)? My color space settings would still remain as Rec709-A and "Use Mac display profiles for viewers"? Thanks much.

[@dunnadidit]

YUP! I use my macbook in clamshell mode with external monitors 98% of the time with these settings.

[@sixone_visual]

Definitely want to see a video from you on Color Management and those Color Managed workflows!

[@Ariel_Frimer]

Thanks! Helped a lot, now I just need to figure out the same problem I have with premiere pro

[@Gulyci91]

Thank you for sharing this information, it works perfectly well 🙂

[@182-media]

REC709.A only applies when you use a apple monitor though? Why would you set output to mac display?

[@JaredKauffman]

You just saved me so much time and effort. Thank you!!

[@FDFchannel1]

what if its 1hour video like a podcast do u still select 80000 kb as restriction?

[@DavWoe]

Thanks a lot! Had everything right in the project settings but the old profile was still on the timelines.

[@tonymariucci759]

Perfect timing of this video.

[@dunnadidit]

Thats so great to hear! Let me know if you have any questions!

[@aleclatulippe]

Very helpful video. Is there a way to set this as default?? Instead of having to do it for every individual project?

[@cjormita]

Super helpful! Thank you so much :)

[@glenkainamashowreel9119]

my work around is, as quicktime cannot interpret gamma so well so the gamma you can setup to sRGB gamma which is 2.2 and quicktime,vlc can interpret the same gamma i think because sRGB is an older color gamut that known for a long time, at the color management you can setup the timeline color space to davinci wg/intermediate and the color space rec 709 and gamma setup to srgb, for exporting you can setup clor space tag to rec 709 and gamma tag to sRGB, and you will have the same color and gamma on davinci ressolve clean feed as you grading and render output, hope iam wright, already test this and it works for me, o yes forgot something you should change the preferences un tick mac viewers, and rec 709 scene to rec 709A, only thick the 10 bit viewer, and set your monitor external to gamma 2.2, i dont know if it will work with apple laptop monitor, iam using mac mini m2 with 2 external monitor with display port delta below 2 for monitors for color precision, o yes and i render to prores 4444 for another like 422 hq maybe it will be having a little color shift because of compression

[@lappmeister]

Hey, thank you so much for your video. However, I'm still struggling. Not even ChatGPT can help! I import the video recorded in OBS studio (mkv, mp4, same story) The colors are washed out under REC.709-A in the project. They are ok under REC.709 (scene) When exporting, colors are washed whatever the settings. What can I do? I thank you in advance for your time and help.

[@InTheKnow855]

This is something knew, can't wait to try it out. Thanks for this video😎

[@odoniperin]

Really nice explanation. I just tried here and it worked perfectly. The only issue is that it works in my monitor (Apple LED Cinema Display) calibrated to Gamma 2.4. When I watch in another monitor (Apple Studio Display, which uses P3-600nits), or send the video to my boss/client for approval (Macbook Pro) contrast and saturation levels are still totally different. I tried to watch some samples in other devices, like iPhones, and it happens too. It seems like it only works on other Gamma 2.4 calibrated monitors.

[@connorsmith5255]

What if I want to airdrop the video to my iphone? Do I still export as an MP4 or Quicktime?

[@Joverowa]

For windows it is "use windows display color management and HDR for viewers". You can find ik on the same spot as for the MAC in this video

[@Seanjuliusconway]

I use a calibrated benQ monitor does this apply for us who use calibrated monitors instead of mac monitors?

[@dunnadidit]

Heck yeah! I use two calibrated Viewsonic monitors and thats what I use these settings on.

[@jolyoncox]

Dunna, I love you. Big hugs. Thank you!

[@VitorVelosoSA]

Thanks. Just saved my workflow. I had to redo a colorgrading, but okay, better than having a washed out video hehe

[@roadrunner400]

Thanks for sharing this valuable insight. I do have a ques on how I can make NVIDIA to optimize Davinci. NVIDIA dashboard used to run this app before but ever since the update to 19 I am unable to do it. Also the NVIDIA app says "this app cannot be optimized". dont know what's wrong!

[@NewGottland]

Thank you. This was THE solution for me.

[@isoladellerosetv]

since I export in 1920x1080 should I use the restriction 16000 or the restriction 80000?

[@dunnadidit]

I use 16000 for 1080 vidros

[@isoladellerosetv]

@@dunnadidit ok I appreciate your answer 😊

[@sergiobagnoli2309]

Hi, congratulations for the video it's very clear. I had a question about it, I work with a Mac and an external monitor calibrated in range 2.4, On daVinci I work by setting the color space in rec 709 range 2.4. For the gamma shift problem the exported files are more faded, if I used the Mac monitor I would use rec-A; but since I use an external monitor (so it can't be set in rec 709) how do I have the same result between the preview and the exported files? I know that the problem is Quick time, but anyway if I upload them on KZbin I see the same problem. Thank you very much, sorry to bother you.

[@ThiagoConsortiFotografia]

Thank you so much for this video man

[@natalielines1599]

thankyou SO much for this, really helped loads!

[@juliaostian]

I tried this in July, and it worked like a charm. What's strange is that today I noticed the colors are washed out inside davinci itself. I tried fixing it the same way, but it didn't work! Any ideas on how to resolve this? Could it be due to some recent update that rendered this fix ineffective?

[@dunnadidit]

Interesting! I'm not sure what would be causing this without being able to poke around in your software. Hope you can figure it out!

[@clickredeye]

Hi Paul. Great video. I used CSTs to transform my footage; initially to DaVinci Wide Gamut and I also use DaVinci Intermediate as my first CST's Output Gamma. I then use serial and parallel nodes; and finally another CST to covert from DaVinci Wide Gamut and DaVinci Intermediate to Rec709. Should my Output Gamma (on the second CST) also be to set to Rec.709-A, or is this only a vital choice in the render settings? Thank you.

[@dunnadidit]

First off... not sure who Paul is lol. As for your output CST, I would set that to match whatever you're going to do with your render. So in the case of my instructions, Rec.709-A for both the second CST AND in the render settings. That way you are seeing what your output will be outputting!

[@andrestorogiraldo]

Hi. I have a question. when I export the video does not apply the color, It´s flat. Why? Thanks.

[@Hashtband]

Thank you so much, I finally got my answer.

[@itiswellptllc]

I have my export settings as such (thank you for that)! But the problem isnt my export it is the INPUT. I keep trying to adjust my input settings but they still are washed out or super odd based on what I choose. I just want them to look like they do in the original video but nothing is working - can you help?

[@miguelherrera9269]

Hi Dunna, Thanks for your video. It is great. I work in my Mac for little things, but for other projects I use and LG Oled C3 in Filmaking Mode. We have a Mac Studio and I am not yet sure of what I am doing it terms of calibrating the TV to be accurate or close to accurate. I am just an enthusiastic teacher who is trying to learn more for a Filming Club I have created for my students. I think the Tv isactually set for HDR at the moment and whatever we are doing, seems to be translating the colour well enough for KZbin Deliverable. We get the washed out issue when uploading though. Would this settings be relevant for working with this Tv as our main monitor or is this only be applicable for Mac Monitors? Thank you in advance

[@KLP1262]

Really helpful, thank you!! Do you know anything about whether to edit with True Tone on or off on Macs?

[@dunnadidit]

I definitely recommend turning true tone off. It changes the colors of your monitor based on the ambient light in the room, which seems helpful... but can actually really throw you off if it's not 100% accurate, and I wouldn't trust it to be 100% accurate.

[@FlashOneFilms]

what monitor you used for color grade?

[@dunnadidit]

Viewsonic 2786-4K → geni.us/jjJhF

[@FlashOneFilms]

@@dunnadidit thank you and you used the M-Book mode or you calibrate the monitor?

[@JustinJung]

Super helpful! Running into this issue though when round-tripping back into premiere to finish off the project (and then premiere export with the new QuickTime setting) it looks flat 🤔.. I'd assume we bring into premiere as 2.4 Gamma, and regular rec 709 right?

[@thebikpicture2493]

Great! Works perfect! Thanks!

[@dunnadidit]

You're welcome!

[@managetocreate]

DUDE. I HAVE BEEN NEEDING THIS

[@dunnadidit]

Glad it helped!

[@THMS.]

I needed this! thank you for this tutorial 🙏

[@ACOMMONGOODFILM]

Great video and super helpful

[@gagehingeley4284]

This works great when exporting for KZbin and a H.264 file. But when I want to export the same timeline as a ProRes444 version of the clip for archive, it comes out way too crunchy. What's the work around without having to color two different versions?

[@efma1002]

Please specify sth! I have Mac with an ASUs display! What should be my output gamma? 2.4 or Rec709a?