Resolve Lite 8.01 First Impressions

[Pablo Villegas S.]

I can create a decent image out of camera, that's not the point. I've been a cinematographer and still photographer for more than 15 years. And shooting slides you need to nail the look you want on camera, you have almost no latitude for correction or grading.

And I don't need to learn grading, just how to use this specific software. I've shot and graded more than 20 42 min episodes and at least 20 commercials shot on RED, and about 40 42 min episodes shot with Cinealta's F900, F23 and F35. I graded all with Apple Color, and yes, I use at least 2 or 3 secondaries. Sometimes as much as 7.

I just wanted to learn how to do the same stuff with Resolve.

[jake blackstone]

I can create a decent image out of camera, that's not the point. I've been a cinematographer and still photographer for more than 15 years. And shooting slides you need to nail the look you want on camera, you have almost no latitude for correction or grading.

And I don't need to learn grading, just how to use this specific software. I've shot and graded more than 20 42 min episodes and at least 20 commercials shot on RED, and about 40 42 min episodes shot with Cinealta's F900, F23 and F35. I graded all with Apple Color, and yes, I use at least 2 or 3 secondaries. Sometimes as much as 7.

I just wanted to learn how to do the same stuff with Resolve.

You can gripe as much as you want about not getting enough out of free Resolve version, the fact remains, BM is not going to release anything new for a forceable future. So, your choice is to start learning now with what you've got ( that covers 99% of average learning needs) or buy the full version. There is no third choice:-)

[Philipe Ratton]

They take a 200k+ system and make a powerful version that will cost around 10k
including monitoring. And now people complain there is no windows version.
Then, they make a FREE !!!!!!!!! version of the same software, capable of doing a lot
and people complain again. I really don't get anything anymore. What the hell is everyone thinking
nowadays ? Buy magic bullet for a lot less, run it wherever the hell you want and stop all this damn
whining ! BM did with color grading the same Red did with image acquisition. They made a powerful tool available to people who could never dream of such power before. Just my opinion, sorry if anyone got offended but all of this is just getting too annoying.

[Matt Gottshalk]

I happen to think, that free Lite version already TOO good of a value, even with just two nodes, but that just me:-) For some clever colorist, two nodes can be quite enough to do some great stuff. And to be able to use Lite for on set work and for prep work, it's just incredible.
As far as being able to manually keyframe in case of target moving off screen or some kind of occlusions, you absolutely can do that. Manual explains it very well.

Exactly. And only $999 was to good an offer to pass up for me.

I love the way it works with MC Color too.

[M Most]

Philipe,

Thank you for saying what I wanted to say but figured I'd get flamed for.

[Tom.Wong]

They take a 200k+ system and make a powerful version that will cost around 10k
including monitoring. And now people complain there is no windows version.
Then, they make a FREE !!!!!!!!! version of the same software, capable of doing a lot
and people complain again. I really don't get anything anymore. What the hell is everyone thinking
nowadays ? Buy magic bullet for a lot less, run it wherever the hell you want and stop all this damn
whining ! BM did with color grading the same Red did with image acquisition. They made a powerful tool available to people who could never dream of such power before. Just my opinion, sorry if anyone got offended but all of this is just geting too annoying.

woooo magic bullet! my favorite is the "blockbuster" stock look. teal and orange baby. :D

[eric a wahl]

They take a 200k+ system and make a powerful version that will cost around 10k
including monitoring. And now people complain there is no windows version.
Then, they make a FREE !!!!!!!!! version of the same software, capable of doing a lot
and people complain again. I really don't get anything anymore. What the hell is everyone thinking
nowadays ? Buy magic bullet for a lot less, run it wherever the hell you want and stop all this damn
whining ! BM did with color grading the same Red did with image acquisition. They made a powerful tool available to people who could never dream of such power before. Just my opinion, sorry if anyone got offended but all of this is just geting too annoying.

Well Said Sir!!!!

[jimhare]

The lite version was pure marketing genius! I installed it to make sure Resolve was right for me. Within a week I've bought a Quadro 4000 and the full version of Resolve, as well as the FXPHD fast forward course.

There is no way I'd have the confidence to do all that without playing with it on my own system. Already had the Wave, Rocket and BM card so for $1700 including the course I'm set!

[Jerimiah Morey]

They take a 200k+ system and make a powerful version that will cost around 10k
including monitoring. And now people complain there is no windows version.
Then, they make a FREE !!!!!!!!! version of the same software, capable of doing a lot
and people complain again. I really don't get anything anymore. What the hell is everyone thinking
nowadays ? Buy magic bullet for a lot less, run it wherever the hell you want and stop all this damn
whining ! BM did with color grading the same Red did with image acquisition. They made a powerful tool available to people who could never dream of such power before. Just my opinion, sorry if anyone got offended but all of this is just geting too annoying.

I also completely agree with all of this. The only point that I agree with Alexander on is modifying the tracking data on a window could use some improvement. Other than that, I don't use internal scopes, they have a number of issues, for me the biggest being that they are slow. The dynamics also work fine for me, I have to zoom in and out a bit, but I can live with that. There are very, very good reasons for having multiple timelines in a single session. It's extremely useful in commercial workflow. I really hope Black magic doesn't start caving to everyone who chimes in about how they would like this or that feature and instead only implement changes where they get an overwhelming majority speaking up for these changes. Baselight is a great example of a color corrector that seemingly implemented features that were only of interest to a few users, but in doing so has really cluttered the interface, both panel and UI.

I've been using resolve, along with Lustre and Baselight for a long time now. Color correction software so far has all had advantages and disadvantages, mostly regarding the UI, but I'm very leery of the manufacturers changing things around too much. It's easy for it to end up being a cluttered mess,

[Wolf]

I just downloaded the Lite version. I'm impressed!

I'm a DP, not a colorist. I'd like to add my vote for the following:
For dailies color correction it's very important to have audio pass through, so I'll second that need.
Being able to render out to whatever codec and wrappers editorial needs is also important. (Not sure if I read the manual correctly at this point, but I thought I only saw QT in there and no .mxf or Avid files...?)

The simplicity of having one system that can take you from previews and dailies all the way to finishing with varying price and performance points depending on production needs is a great value for DPs like me (and many others).