Color
Per-camera color correction, matched across your whole shoot
Basecut works out a log-to-Rec.709 correction for each camera, matches your cameras to each other and hands the result to your editor. Multi-cam footage lands on one baseline before you open the color page.
Correction, not a creative grade
Basecut corrects color. It does not apply a creative grade. Every clip gets a predictable, inspectable, reversible log-to-Rec.709 transform, and the creative grade stays entirely yours.
Every camera matched
Shoot on a Sony, a Canon and a drone and each camera gets its own transform, matched to the others. The first cut of a multi-cam timeline stops looking like three different shoots.
Log profiles found for you
Basecut detects each clip's log profile automatically: Sony S-Log3, Apple Log, Canon C-Log2 and C-Log3, Panasonic V-Log, DJI D-Log, Fujifilm F-Log2, GoPro Protune, ARRI LogC and RED Log3G10. You do not tag clips by hand.
How the correction is built, step by step
1. Basecut detects the log profile
When you point it at a card dump, Basecut identifies each clip's log profile and which camera shot it.
2. It builds one correction per camera
Each camera gets its own transform from its log profile to Rec.709, including white balance and exposure.
3. It matches the cameras to each other
The cameras are matched, so a Sony, a Canon and an iPhone in one timeline start from the same place.
4. It sends the correction to your editor
How the correction arrives depends on the editor. The next section spells it out.
5. You check it and grade
Check skin tones and white balance, adjust anything you disagree with, then do the creative grade yourself.
What you see on the Color page
Open any analyzed clip on the Color page and you get a before and after wipe you can drag, scopes below the picture, and three numbered stages.
- Stage 1, Log conversion
- Turns camera log into normal-looking video (Rec.709). The log profile is detected for you, and a menu lets you override it if the picture looks wrong. For some cameras an Official manufacturer LUT row lets you swap in the camera maker's own LUT for an exact match.
- Stage 2, Correction
- Fixes white balance and exposure. Auto-balance measures the clip and neutralizes it. Stretch contrast spreads the tonal range without clipping. Protect skin tones is on by default and, when people are in frame, balances skin toward a healthy brightness and caps oversaturation. Pick neutral gray lets you click a spot on the picture that should be gray, and Match a reference photo matches color, exposure and saturation to a photo you choose.
- Fine adjustment
- Below those buttons, Lift, Gamma and Gain wheels, Temp and Tint sliders and a curve editor start from the Auto-balance result, so a manual tweak is a change on top of the automatic one and Reset returns to it.
- Scopes
- Waveform, RGB overlay, Vectorscope and Histogram can be shown one to four at a time. Split shows the ungraded source on the left half and your grade on the right, Region scopes just one area of the picture, and a button opens the scopes in their own window.
- Stage 3, Look
- A separate layer for a creative look, kept apart from stages 1 and 2 so the correction stays clean. The automatic correction described on this page is stages 1 and 2.
- Calibrate
- For a camera you want to be exact about, photograph a ColorChecker chart, crop to the chart, and Basecut builds a correction for that camera.
Where the correction is applied, editor by editor
- DaVinci Resolve Studio, or free Resolve before 21.1
- Applied. Every clip in the project carries the baseline log-to-Rec.709 grade, and you refine it on the Color page.
- Free Resolve 21.1 and later
- Not applied. This version no longer allows scripting, so you get a timeline file plus .cube files that carry the same correction, ready to apply.
- Premiere Pro
- Not applied. A .cube file for each clip is in the run's handoff/luts folder. Apply it as the Input LUT in Lumetri Color.
- Final Cut Pro
- Not applied. A .cube per clip ships with the FCPXML. Apply it with the Custom LUT effect.
Limits worth knowing
- Skin tones, mixed lighting and the final look still need your eye. The correction is a starting point.
- Basecut applies color for you only in DaVinci Resolve Studio and free Resolve before 21.1. In every other editor you apply the .cube yourself.
- Native ARRIRAW and REDCODE R3D files are not supported yet.
Questions people ask
Does Basecut color grade my footage?
No. Basecut corrects color. It does not apply a creative grade. The look of the film is yours to build on top of the correction.
Does Basecut apply color in Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro?
No. Both editors get an organized project with no color applied, plus one .cube file per clip that carries the correction. You attach it with the Input LUT in Premiere Pro or the Custom LUT effect in Final Cut Pro.
Which log formats does it detect?
Sony S-Log3, Apple Log, Canon C-Log2 and C-Log3, Panasonic V-Log, DJI D-Log, Fujifilm F-Log2, GoPro Protune, ARRI LogC and RED Log3G10.
Do I need DaVinci Resolve Studio?
No. Free Resolve works too. Studio, or free Resolve before 21.1, gets the baseline grade applied to every clip. Free Resolve 21.1 and later gets a timeline file plus .cube files.