For DNG footage from a BMCC 2.5K, what color management?

For Cinema DNG footage from a BMCC 2.5K, what color management settings should I use? Is it wise to use Davinci Wide Gamut for timeline color space instead of Blackmagic Design Film? if the latter, should I use Blackmagic Design Film Gen 1 or Gen 5?

[CaptainHook]

If you're using Resolve Color Management with cDNGs then I would suggest Davinci Wide Gamut/Intermediate for a working/timeline space over a "camera color space".

With DNGs (and other raw formats) in RCM (or ACES) all the input transforms are handled automatically so you don't need to worry about assigning the correct 'IDTs' etc.

Regardless of the footage type I would always pick a common working color space to grade in.

- It enables you to save your grades or parts of it for other projects to apply to without extra conversions.

- Choosing a working space like DWG/Intermediate or ACEScct works better than most camera spaces as their color primaries are generally in line with the target displays. There are some very 'odd' ones out there. If you'd grade in one that is very angled against the target, adding RGB green would for example result in adding very yellow-ish green instead.
That said, some camera spaces can be very similar to it but it's nice to remove the variance from the equation.

- Always having a generalized working space allows you to get used to the way your (non-colormanaged) tools behave and will feel the same with any project.

My experience has been different. I have found that using RCM works best when the intermediate (timeline) color space is set to what your monitor is capable of producing. When you then export it to your delivery space at the end what you see in the output is most closely mapped by Resolve to what you saw on your monitor.

My experience has been different. I have found that using RCM works best when the intermediate (timeline) color space is set to what your monitor is capable of producing. When you then export it to your delivery space at the end what you see in the output is most closely mapped by Resolve to what you saw on your monitor.

This is certainly not the recommended workflow, however, if it works for you, great. If you work in RCM, the recommended timeline color space is DWG/Intermediate. Maintaining a consistent and large gamut/gamma that will house all your camera media is preferred. You get more consistent response from your controls and smoother roll-off at the extents of your output color space. If your timeline color space is set to your display space then you are essentially working display-referred color grading rather than scene-referred. If you are interested in pushing the bounds of your knowledge in this area, I recommend you check out Cullen Kelly's YouTube channel. He lives and breaths this topic.

Here's a link to one of his playlists:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPBtumh3FijgeR5YHoGvDoTt_WfznOdY2

I'm no expert Colorist. I like things simple.

I use Automatic Color management with the HDR processing mode and the Output set as needed.

I'm no expert Colorist. I like things simple.

I use Automatic Color management with the HDR processing mode and the Output set as needed.

Automatic HDR is virtually the same as DWG/Intermediate (preset). The difference being the gamut is Rec.2020 instead of DWG and the timeline tone mapping luminance is 1000nits instead of 4000. It's still grading in 'scene-referred' state because it also uses the Intermediate log transfer function enabling you to manipulate the image in a 'photographic' manner with the available tools.

Nice description of the benefit, Shebbe.

I am not a professional colorist but thanks to guys like Cullen and Darren I started to dig deeper into this can of worms and meanwhile developed a solid workflow to grade my amateur footage.
I am dealing mostly with rec709 & 2020 material and since I started to use a color managed approach (DWG/Intermediate) I noticed that I have less problems with artefacts particularly with 8bit footage.
I while ago I had some BRAW clips to grade and I was excited about the fact that everything worked exactly the same way. The tools responded as always and I was able to use my powergrades without worrying about CSTs. Will never change back!