Blackmagic's own LUTs are the fastest way to get a card of Blackmagic Film footage looking like something you can show someone. The catch is that there is no single "the Blackmagic LUT" — there is one per colour science generation, and picking by camera name rather than by generation is where most of the bad results come from.
Which generation did you shoot?
Blackmagic changed its colour science more than once, and the conversion LUTs follow the generation, not the body. A Pocket 6K can record Gen 4 or Gen 5 depending on how it is set and which firmware it is on.
| Generation | Broadly | What the conversion looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Gen 4 | Older firmware, earlier bodies | Flatter result, more contrast to add by hand |
| Gen 5 | Current default on recent bodies | Gentler highlight roll-off, closer to finished |
| Custom / third-party | Anything you installed yourself | Whatever its author intended, often a look rather than a conversion |
Check the camera menu or, if you are already in Resolve, the clip attributes — BRAW carries the generation in its metadata. Guessing from the model number is the step that goes wrong.
Where the LUTs already are
You probably do not need to download anything. DaVinci Resolve installs Blackmagic's conversion LUTs with the application, and they appear in the LUT browser under Blackmagic Design. Blackmagic also publishes them on its support site for use in other editors.
The naming is literal once you know the pattern: a transform named *Film to Rec.709* takes log footage to a standard viewing space, and the generation is part of the name. Anything called *Film to Video* is doing the same job under an older label.
If you are new to what a conversion transform actually is, what is a LUT covers the idea, and colour correction vs colour grading covers why the conversion is not the grade.
The part that surprises people: you may not want a LUT at all
For Blackmagic footage specifically, a LUT is often the second-best tool.
BRAW is not a baked image. It carries gamma and gamut in metadata, which means Resolve can decode it correctly without any transform sitting on the node tree. Turn on colour management, tell it your output is Rec.709, and the conversion happens as part of decoding rather than as a layer you applied.
That matters because a baked LUT clips. Anything pushed above the top of the transform is gone by the time you reach for it, and on a shot where the sky was the point, that is the shot. Colour management keeps the range available and converts at the end.
BRAW to Rec.709 goes further into why the codec changes the job. For the other cameras the shape is the same and the transform differs: S-Log3 on Sony, D-Log on DJI, C-Log on Canon.
Applying one, in Resolve and elsewhere
In Resolve, the LUT browser is the short route: right-click the transform and apply it to the clip, or drop it on a node. The longer route — a LUT set on the colour page node — is the one to use when you want it before your own adjustments rather than after. How to add LUTs to DaVinci Resolve has the exact steps.
Outside Resolve the LUT is a plain .cube file and behaves like any other:
Premiere, Final Cut
Pro, After
Effects.
The order is the same everywhere and it is not negotiable: convert first, adjust exposure second, add a look third. Putting a creative LUT straight on Blackmagic Film gives the muddy, over-contrasted result that gets blamed on the camera. Colour grading basics is the longer version of that order.
Where it stops being a five-minute job
One clip is trivial. A card is not.
Sixty clips means sixty times: import, apply, check, adjust, move on. The transform is identical every time — same camera, same generation — so the repetition earns nothing. Adjustment layers help when every clip was exposed identically, and most shoots are not: the light moved, you rode the iris, and a handful of clips need the transform pulled back.
And if the deliverable is not a Resolve timeline at all — dailies for a client, selects for a producer, a folder someone needs to look at today — then opening a grading application to convert files is the wrong shape of tool for the job.
How BatchTone handles it
Drop the folder in, pick the Film to Rec.709 transform for your generation, and every clip takes it. A frame is pulled from each and previewed with the LUT applied, so the judgement happens on your own footage rather than on faith.
- Clips that need less take the strength slider down; the rest stay put.
- Audio is copied across untouched rather than re-encoded.
- Encoding uses the Mac's own hardware encoder, so a card is not an overnight job.
- Originals are never written to; exports land in a folder you choose.
- Malformed
.cubefiles are repaired on the way in.
It is the whole-card version of the job, not a replacement for grading — when a shot deserves a real grade, it still deserves Resolve. There is a seven-day trial with everything unlocked, which is the honest way to check it reads what your camera writes.
Common questions
Where are the Blackmagic LUTs in DaVinci Resolve?
In the LUT browser on the colour page, under Blackmagic Design. They install with Resolve, so there is usually nothing to download.
Do I need a LUT for BRAW?
No. BRAW carries gamma and gamut as metadata, so Resolve's colour management can convert without one. A LUT is for other editors, quick viewing copies, or a fixed look across a folder.
What is the difference between Gen 4 and Gen 5?
Gen 5 has a gentler highlight roll-off and lands closer to a finished image. Applying a Gen 4 conversion to Gen 5 footage, or the reverse, gives crushed blacks or clipped highlights.
Can I use Blackmagic LUTs on footage from another camera?
You can, and it will be wrong. A conversion LUT is built for one log curve. For a Sony or Canon file, use that manufacturer's transform and add a creative LUT afterwards if you want the Blackmagic look.
Why does my footage look worse after the LUT?
Almost always the wrong generation, or a creative LUT applied directly to log instead of after the conversion. Check those two before blaming the exposure.