Nikon DaVinci Resolve Professional Spotlight User Guide

: June 13, 2024
: Nikon

Table of Contents

DaVinci Resolve Professional Spotlight
LUTs: A Primer
Using the N-Log 3D LUT
Documents / Resources

Zf Professional
Technical Guide
—N-Log3DLUT—

Nikon DaVinci Resolve Professional Spotlight

DaVinci Resolve Professional Spotlight

About This Guide
This guide is for users of N-Log.
Trademark Information
Davinci Resolve s a registered trademark of Blackmagic Design.
Apple and Final Cut Pro re registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the United States and other countries. Adobe and Adobe Premiere are trademarks or registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

LUTs: A Primer

ALUT, or “lookup table’, is an array of preselected values used in movie color-correction to map colors from the original input footage to the desired colors in the final output. Color correctionis performed by looking up input colors and assigning them new RGB values based on the data in the table.
A lookup table that treats each of the red, green, and blue channels separately is a“1D LUT’ which cannot be used to correct saturation or hue. Such corrections require a “3D LUT’ in which each combined RGB value maps to a single combined value in the table.

Using LUTs with N-Log
Designed to take full advantage of sensor dynamic range, Nikon’s unique “N-Log” logarithmic gamma curve offers excellent balance between highlights and shadows and is optimized for 10-bit movie recording. Information on fiming N-Log footage can be found in the Z Reference Guide available from the Nikon Download Center.
hitps://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/

Nikon’s N-Log 3D LUT is specifically designed for color grading N-Log footage. Although the N-Log gamma curve captures a wide range of tones, the raw footage will seem to lack contrast. The 3D LUT can be applied post-produc- tion for pictures that display beautifully on monitors that support Rec. 709.

Nikon DaVinci Resolve Professional Spotlight - Nikon DaVinci Resolve
Professional Spotlight

To color grade N-Log footage using the N-Log 3D LUT, you will need third-party movie editing software. This guide shows how to apply the N-Log 3D LUT using Blackmagic Design’s Davinci Resolve 18.

Compatible Applications
In addition to DaVinci Resolve, the following applications can be used with the N-Log 3D LUT:

Adobe: Premiere Pro
Apple: Final CutPro X

Note that Nikon neither endorses this software nor guaran teesits operation.
Contact the publishers for information on using these applications.

Using the N-Log 3D LUT

Before proceeding, you will need toinstall Davinci Resolve and download the N-Log 3D LUT.

Installing DaVinci Resolve
This guide assumes you are using Davinci Resolve. Install the software after downloading it from the site below (link current as of September 2023).
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/
Downloading the N-Log 3D LUT
The N-Log 3D LUT is available from the Nikon Download Centerat:
hitps://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/

Applying the N-Log 3D LUT
This information is current as of September 2023.

Launch DaVinciResolve 18 and starta new project.
In the Project Manager, click [New Project] and name the new project as desired.
Click the“Project Settings” ( ) icon.
Open the LUT folder.
Select [Color Management] in the project settings window and click [Open LUT Folder].
The Davinci Resolve 18 LUT folder will open. The folderpathis:
– Windows:
C:\ProgramData\BlacknagicDesign\DaVindResolve\SupportLUT
– macOs:
Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/Daind Resalve/LUT
Add the N-Log 3D LUT.
Create a sub-folder under the LUT folder, name it as desired, and copy the N-Log 3D LUT to the new sub-folder (named “Nikont”in this example).
Click [Update List] and then click [Save]
Load N-Log footage.
Drag N-Log footage from the operating system file navigation window into DaVinci Resolve 18.
If the frame rates of the footage and project do not match, a message will be displayed. Click [Change] to update the project frame rate to match the footage.
Match the data level to the output range.
When recording footage to an extenal HDMI recorder, check that the [Data Levels] option in DaVinci Resolve 18 matches the option selected for[HDMI]> [Output range] in the camera setup menu.
Right-click the thumbnail for the footage in the Media Pool, select [Clip Attributes], and check the option selected for [Data Levels]. If the footage was recorded with [Limited range] selected on the camera, choose [Videol; if it was recorded with [Full range] selected, choose [Fulll.
Createatimeline.
Select [New Timeline] in the [File] menu, then deselect the [EmptyTimeline] check boxand click [Create] tocreate anew timeline using the selected footage.
Open the “Color” page.
Click the “Color” button ( ) at the bottom of the win- dow to open the“Color” page.
Applythe N-Log 3D LUT.
In the LUT browser atthe left side of the window, open the folder you created in Step 4 and double-click the N-Log 3D LUT toapply it to the current node.
For information on adjusting the LUT once it has been applied, see online help for DavinciResolve or visit the Blackmagic Design website.

Documents / Resources

| Nikon DaVinci Resolve Professional Spotlight [pdf] User Guide
DaVinci Resolve Professional Spotlight, Resolve Professional Spotlight, Professional Spotlight, Spotlight
---|---