Color Correction

Would like some insight into Final Cut Pro color correction versus Di Vinci Resolve.

I'm sure DVR is better but is is that much better to make it worthwhile to learn ???

I am newbie with one month on the BMPCC and learning the camera and FCP. Will buy the new large frame camera when it is released.

They are 2 very different tool sets.

While you can do a lot of colour correction work in FCPX it is limited.

Resolve gives you tools that take you beyond simple colour correcting so that you can grade footage with masks, qualifiers, tracking, etc.

As an example. Lets say you have a blue sky and you want it to be more dusky in colour but you don't want to change the skin tones of the talent in the foreground. You can create a key based on the skin times and then track a mask that follows the talent. This would then allow you to so a separate correction on each. While this can be done in FCPX it is clumsy and the controls are limited.

There are many other things you can do by compositing multiple elements or layering footage and using bland modes.

Thanks Adam !!!! Your answer helped me make up my mind to go w DVR....

No problem.

The leaning curve can be steep and it takes many years to become a master but the tools are great and there are many tutorials online that will help you...

Actually the FCPX colour corrector has shape and color based masks.
It's just not as powerfull as Resolve Power Windows.


FCPX
+ very fast workflow
+ no intermediate files
+ well working scopes
- difficult to use colour bar instead of a colour wheel
- can't apply the same grade to a number of clips
- no raw

Resolve
+ ability to grade raw
+ hidden automatic white balance feature (only for raw, not for prores footage)
0 many advanced abilites that are way beyond a beginner learning about basic grading
- does not run on laptops without CUDA
- very slow and disk space intense workflow (1 timeline per raw clip, export each as prores, import, edit, only then can you start XML roundtrip editing)

Lightroom
+ more abilities then FCPX yet less then Resolve
+ works on laptops without CUDA
- only tif and h.264 export for FCPX (slideshow with hacked slideshow profile for 25/24/29.97fps)

Personally I use mostly FCPX, Lightroom on the road (since Resolve simply doesn't work in my MacBook) and reserve Resolve for very difficult clips.
...I'm mostly on the road.

Thanks much for all you advice. I really appreciate the time you take to explain things. I'm not really set on any one just yet but will experiment with as many as I can. I'm not that concerned about the price as long as it is reasonable. FCP and DiVinci are essentially free because they come with the products I buy. I am not a long term pro so for now I want the product that would be the easiest to work with and give the the best overall results. I am making a full length film and have complete control over everything . What would you say about Premier Pro CC ??? I saw the footage that The Drew Network did in episode 4 and to me , it looked spectacular..........

I never worked with Premiere Pro CC (I boykott the Creative Cloud model) and when I used Premiere before, I didn't do grading. Sorry.

I would recommed ProRes with FCPX. Learning Resolve takes time and is only feasable if you stick with it.

Thanks