FilmConvert has been around long enough that many editors know the name before they know what it does. There are now several FilmConvert products, and they solve different problems. Here is what each one is for, and where a plain LUT gets you the same result with less setup.
What is FilmConvert?
FilmConvert is a company that makes colour grading plugins. Its site lists four products:
| Product | What it does | Hosts |
|---|---|---|
| Nitrate | Film stock emulation with grain, tuned per camera | Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro |
| CineMatch | Matches one camera's colour to another's | Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro |
| Halation | The red glow film produces around highlights | Premiere Pro, After Effects, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro |
| Hazy | A diffusion or mist filter effect | The video hosts plus Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop |
The site describes them as a one-time purchase, no subscription, and every plugin has a trial that watermarks the output until you buy. Current prices are on the FilmConvert site.
How do camera packs work?
This is the part that makes FilmConvert different from a generic film LUT. Nitrate and CineMatch use camera packs: profiles built from a specific camera's sensor response, so the plugin knows what your footage looked like before it starts. Camera packs are free downloads; you need the plugin to use them.
Nitrate covers many prosumer cameras that do not record log. CineMatch is aimed at log, RAW and BRAW footage, so it has fewer packs. If your camera is not supported, FilmConvert takes requests.
What does Nitrate do that a LUT cannot?
A LUT is a fixed colour table. It can carry a film stock's colour and contrast, and that is all. Nitrate adds:
- Grain that changes every frame, like real film.
- Camera-aware input, so the same film stock looks similar from two different cameras.
Grain in particular is something a LUT cannot produce, because grain depends on randomness and neighbouring pixels, not on a colour lookup. If texture is part of the look you want, a plugin earns its place.
What does CineMatch solve?
A two-camera shoot where the A camera is a Sony and the B camera is a Canon. Even with both converted to Rec.709, skin tones and greens differ, and matching them by hand is slow. CineMatch uses the camera packs to bring both to a common look. That is a job a single LUT does badly, since each camera would need its own matching LUT, and building those is the work CineMatch saves.
When is a LUT enough?
When the job is applying one look consistently, not building a look:
- A single-camera shoot with one log profile, which needs the manufacturer's conversion and maybe a creative look on top.
- A big set of photos and clips from an event that should all share a palette.
- Delivery to social, where fine grain is compressed away anyway.
In those cases the work is volume. Opening each clip in an editor and dropping a plugin on it is the slow part, and the plugin adds nothing the LUT does not already do.
How do they compare side by side?
| Nitrate | CineMatch | A LUT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Film stock colour | Yes | Not its job | Yes, if the LUT is a film look |
| Grain | Yes | No | No |
| Matching two cameras | Partly | Yes | One LUT per camera, built by you |
| Runs outside an editor | No | No | In any app that reads .cube |
| Photos | Not among its listed hosts | No | Yes |
| Licence | One-time, per host or bundle | One-time, per host or bundle | Many are free |
Which should you pick?
- You want film texture on a short film or music video: Nitrate, or Dehancer, which covers similar ground with more host apps, photo editors included.
- You shoot two or more camera brands and need them to match: CineMatch. A LUT is the wrong tool here.
- You need one look across a whole shoot, photos and video, quickly: a LUT applied in bulk.
How do you apply a LUT across a whole shoot?
BatchTone does that last job on a Mac. It applies a .cube LUT to a folder of photos and video together:
- Drop the folder in, stills and clips mixed.
- Pick the LUT. A pack imported once is previewed on your own first frame.
- Set the strength per file, so the overexposed clip or the backlit portrait gets less.
- Export JPEG, PNG or H.264 MP4 to a folder you choose. Originals are never touched, and nothing is uploaded.
It adds no grain and matches no cameras, so keep Nitrate or CineMatch for those jobs. Where it earns its place is speed: one finished look on every file, including a .cube exported from Nitrate, because the batch runs as a single job instead of a plugin render per clip. Batch apply a LUT to video lists what it reads.
Only your own files and LUT pack can show whether it fits, which is why the seven-day trial has everything unlocked: video, unlimited batches, no watermark. After that it is one in-app purchase, not a subscription.
Download BatchTone free on the Mac App Store
Common questions
Is FilmConvert a subscription?
FilmConvert's site describes its plugins as a one-time purchase with no subscription.
Does FilmConvert have a free trial?
Yes. Every plugin has a free trial that adds a watermark until you buy a licence.
Can FilmConvert export a LUT?
Yes. FilmConvert's documentation says a licensed plugin can export a grade as a .cube LUT. The LUT carries the colour but not the grain, so it is useful for monitoring, for apps without plugin support, or for applying the look in bulk elsewhere.
Does FilmConvert work in Final Cut Pro?
Yes. Nitrate, CineMatch and Halation all list Final Cut Pro among their hosts, alongside Premiere Pro, After Effects and DaVinci Resolve.