You download a pack with forty LUTs called things like Moody 07 and Golden Hour 3. You try a few on a photo. One looks great, the next turns skin orange, a third does almost nothing. After twenty minutes you've used none of them on the actual shoot. That's the normal experience with a LUT pack, and it's almost never because the pack is bad. It's because the pack was built for a different input than the one you gave it.
What is a LUT pack?
A LUT pack is a folder of lookup tables sold or given away as a set. Each LUT is a file that says "this colour becomes that colour" for every colour in the image. Apply it, and the whole frame is remapped in one pass. What is a LUT covers the idea in more depth.
What you usually find inside:
| File | What it is | Opens in |
|---|---|---|
.cube | The common LUT format, usually 33×33×33 points | Almost every editor and grading app |
.3dl | An older LUT format | Some editors and Autodesk tools |
.xmp or .lrtemplate | A Lightroom profile or preset version of the look | Lightroom, Camera Raw |
| PDF or readme | Which camera or input each LUT was built for | You |
The readme is the most important file in the pack and the one people skip.
What's the difference between conversion LUTs and creative LUTs?
Most packs mix two different jobs, and using one where the other belongs is the reason a pack "doesn't work".
- Conversion (technical) LUTs turn log footage into normal-looking Rec.709. They are tied to one camera and one log profile: S-Log3, V-Log, D-Log, Apple Log. On anything else they look wrong. Camera makers give these away free. Log footage explains why log looks grey in the first place.
- Creative LUTs apply a look: a film stock feel, teal and orange, a faded matte, black and white. They expect an image that is already correct, meaning a developed photo or footage that has already been converted to Rec.709.
If the readme says a look was "designed for Rec.709", apply it after a conversion LUT on log footage, never straight onto the grey log image. If it says "designed for S-Log3", it's doing the conversion and the look in one file, and it will only behave on S-Log3.
How do you choose a good LUT pack?
The number of LUTs is the least useful thing to compare. Look for these instead:
- Each LUT names its input. A pack that names its input (Rec.709, a specific log profile) is far more likely to work on your material.
- Previews use varied images. One beautiful sunset tells you nothing about how it treats skin under office light.
- There's a free sample. Try one or two LUTs on your own footage before buying the set.
- The licence fits your work. Client and commercial work is usually fine; redistributing the files usually isn't.
- The files are `.cube`. That's the format nearly every app reads, including on Mac and iPhone editors.
Start with free LUTs from camera makers and the looks your editor already ships. Buy a pack once you can name what it adds.
How do you test a LUT pack on your own work?
Don't audition forty LUTs on one hero frame. Pick three or four images that represent the real job: a bright one, a dark one, one with skin, one with lots of a single colour (sky, foliage). Then:
- Correct exposure and white balance first, so every LUT gets the input it was built for.
- Apply each LUT to all four images side by side.
- Drop any look that only works on one of them.
- For the survivors, note the strength that looks right on each. A look that needs 100% on a flat frame often needs 50 to 70% on a contrasty one. LUT intensity covers why.
Expect to keep two or three looks out of a big pack. That's the pack doing its job.
How do you use a LUT pack on a whole shoot?
Once you've picked the look, the work is applying it to every photo or clip without each one going wrong in its own way. In most editors that means opening each file, adding the LUT and adjusting the strength, one at a time.
BatchTone is a Mac app built for this step. Drop in a folder, choose one .cube from your pack, and every photo gets a preview with the LUT applied and its own strength slider, so the dark frames that need less sit lower than the bright ones. One export writes the whole set. It reads JPEG, PNG, HEIC and TIFF, exports JPEG or PNG, keeps capture date, camera and GPS from your JPEGs, and the same batch can hold video clips. RAW files need developing first; originals are never modified, and nothing is uploaded.
It runs on macOS 12 or later on Apple Silicon, with a seven-day trial that has everything unlocked, then one in-app purchase rather than a subscription.
Download BatchTone free on the Mac App Store
Common questions
How do I install a LUT pack?
Unzip it and keep the .cube files somewhere permanent. Then import them in your app: DaVinci Resolve has a LUT folder, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro load them from the colour panel. How to install LUTs has the steps for each app.
Do LUT packs work on photos?
Yes. A .cube file works on a still exactly as on a video frame. Creative looks built for Rec.709 suit developed JPEG, HEIC or TIFF photos. How to apply a LUT to a photo covers Photoshop, Affinity Photo and Pixelmator Pro.
Why does a LUT from a pack look terrible on my footage?
Almost always the input doesn't match: a creative look applied to log footage, or a log conversion applied to normal footage. Read what the LUT expects, convert first if needed, then lower the strength.
Can I use more than one LUT from a pack at once?
Yes, in order: conversion first, look second. Stacking two creative looks usually muddies the image. LUT stacking explains when it works.
Are paid LUT packs better than free ones?
Not reliably. The useful difference is that a good paid pack tells you what each LUT was built for. That information, not the price, decides whether it works on your footage.