# Final Cut Pro colour grading: LUTs across a project

> How custom LUTs work in Final Cut, where camera LUTs are applied automatically, and what to do when a whole library of clips needs the same conversion.

Canonical: https://batchtone.com/blog/final-cut-pro-color-grading

19 September 2026 · 3 min read

Final Cut applies a camera LUT automatically when it recognises the log format, and takes custom .cube files through the Custom LUT effect. Applying one to hundreds of clips means pasting attributes or building a compound, neither of which scales well.

## Final Cut already knows about your log footage

Import S-Log3 or D-Log clips and Final Cut usually recognises the format and applies a camera LUT for you, in the Info inspector under Settings. The clip looks corrected before you have done anything.

That is convenient and occasionally confusing, because it means a conversion may already be in play when you add your own. Stacking your Rec.709 conversion on top of Final Cut's produces the crushed, over-contrasted result that gets blamed on the LUT. If you intend to convert manually, set the camera LUT to **None** first.

## Custom LUTs

For anything Final Cut does not recognise, or for a creative look:

1. Select the clip.
2. Effects browser → **Custom LUT** → drag it on.
3. In the inspector, **LUT → Choose Custom LUT** and pick the `.cube`.
4. **Mix** underneath is the strength control.

Mix is the useful part. Unlike Premiere's Input LUT slot, it gives you a real per-clip amount without any workaround, which is exactly the control a shoot needs, one clip at a time.

## Applying it to everything

Three routes, in increasing order of regret:

| Route | How | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|
| Paste attributes | Grade one, copy, select the rest, Paste Attributes → Video | Silently overwrites other effects if you are not careful |
| An adjustment layer | A title-based adjustment over the timeline | Applies to the timeline, not to files for delivery |
| One by one | Drag, choose, set Mix | Fine at ten, painful at a hundred |

None of these produces *files*. They produce a timeline that looks right, and delivering converted clips to someone who does not use Final Cut still means a render: one share, one export, one set of settings, and a wait proportional to the whole library rather than to the clips anyone will watch.

## The case this does not cover

A card of clips nobody has edited yet. A client who wants the raw material graded, not a cut. A shoot that produced two hundred JPEGs and thirty clips which all need the same look before anyone chooses between them.

Final Cut is an editor, and that is an editing-shaped answer to a file-processing-shaped problem. The same is true of [Premiere](https://batchtone.com/blog/premiere-pro-luts) and [Resolve](https://batchtone.com/blog/add-luts-davinci-resolve). This is not a Final Cut weakness, it is a category boundary.

## What a batch tool does instead

[BatchTone](https://batchtone.com/batch-lut-video) takes the folder, applies one `.cube` to photos and clips together, and gives every file its own strength: the equivalent of Final Cut's Mix slider, but on a hundred files without opening a timeline. Audio is copied untouched, exports are named before the run, and originals are never modified. There is a [seven-day trial](https://batchtone.com/download) with everything unlocked.

Final Cut then gets the material already converted, which is also faster to cut with.

## Common questions

### Where does Final Cut store custom LUTs?

It references the file you choose rather than importing a copy, so keep your pack somewhere permanent. A LUT that lived in Downloads and then did not is a common cause of an effect that stops working weeks later.

### Can I apply a LUT to a whole library at once?

Not as files. You can paste attributes across a selection in a timeline, but converting the library on disk is not something Final Cut sets out to do.

### Why does my footage look different after adding a LUT that "should" be right?

Check whether the camera LUT is already applied in the Info inspector. Two conversions is the usual answer, and the [order LUTs belong in](https://batchtone.com/blog/what-is-a-lut) explains why the result looks plausible rather than obviously broken.

### Does the Mix slider change the file, or just the preview?

Both. It is part of the render. Which is precisely why per-clip strength is worth having, and why a batch tool without one is a worse deal than it looks.

**About this article.** Written by the team that builds BatchTone, a macOS app that applies .cube LUTs to whole folders of photos and video. Spotted something wrong or out of date? Write to [support@batchtone.com](mailto:support@batchtone.com).

## Read next

Workflow 19 September 2026 · 3 min read

## [Colour grading in Premiere Pro: LUTs, and a whole bin](https://batchtone.com/blog/premiere-pro-luts)

Lumetri has two LUT slots: Input, for converting flat footage before anything else, and Creative Look, for a style on top. A whole bin takes one LUT through Modify then Interpret Footage, which is faster than doing it per clip.

[Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/premiere-pro-luts)

How-to 19 September 2026 · 4 min read

## [DaVinci Resolve LUTs: how to add and apply them](https://batchtone.com/blog/add-luts-davinci-resolve)

Copy the .cube into Resolve's LUT folder, press Update Lists in Project Settings, and the LUT appears in the Colour page browser. Apply it to a node, to a whole timeline, or per clip through Clip Attributes.

[Read it](https://batchtone.com/blog/add-luts-davinci-resolve)

## One look. A whole shoot.

BatchTone applies your .cube LUTs across photos and video at once, with a strength dial on every file. Seven-day trial, everything unlocked.

[Download for macOS](https://apps.apple.com/app/batchtone/id6821727167)