Grading DJI Air 3 footage

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to color grade some footage shot in DLog on my Air 3 drone which I shot over a year ago up in Scotland.
Initially I compiled the videos on Youtube using Shotcut but then tried Resolve Free later and really liked it.

I have been following this link:

as a base though the footage is completely different.

I set Resolve up the same way as in the video by going to "Settings" -> Color Management -> Timeline Color Space: Davinci WG/Intermediate -> Output Color Space: Rec.709(Scene)

It was an overcast day and I exposed for the clouds and sky so naturally the foreground was underexposed.

The first thing I did was add the DJI LUT that converts the dlog to Rec.709, then I managed to balance the image out a little by bring up the Gamma by 0.06 using the exposure wheel below the color wheel.

Using curves I dialed down the green channel on the mid-highs which got rid of the blue tint in the clouds and rocks in the background

Currently I'm struggling with clouds as the video progresses; as they are still blue, and the top of the lodge and even the silver of the car in the scene are all blue.

Is there a tutorial or something that I can follow that can help me with this or maybe someone experienced can offer some advice?

These are what I have managed to get to: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GR7-RY ... drive_link

It was the first time using the drone too so I am quite new to everything....

Ps. can I link those screenshots directly into the post or add them as attachments? I have tried to add as attachment but got kicked out of my post and the whole post was reset to a blank post?
I couldn't find a way to contact the "Board Administrator" either to ask for assistance with this

The DJI Air 3 doesn't have DLOG, it has DLOG-M, which seems to be a flavor of rec709. Find Darren Mostyn's YouTube channel, then his video "How to Grade DRONE Footage with a PRO Colorist!"

To an an image to your post:

Add Image.png (23.99 KiB) Viewed 358 times

For the question to hand, I would take a different approach. Use these Project Settings...

Rec 709 RCM.png (23.29 KiB) Viewed 356 times

Then right click the clips in the bin and change the Input Color Space to the DJI option.

That should give you a good starting place to further refine the look.

To an an image to your post:

Add Image.png

Thank you! I tried using the "attachment" feature but sadly the post gets reset and I lose whatever I wrote and no file is uploaded?

Is there a limit of file size and type I wonder? My screenshots are png and around 8.7MB which maybe too large?

There is a limit, but I've always gotten a size warning.

It could also be a temporary limitation of someone new to posting.

For the question to hand, I would take a different approach. Use these Project Settings...

The attachment Rec 709 RCM.png is no longer available

Then right click the clips in the bin and change the Input Color Space to the DJI option.

That should give you a good starting place to further refine the look.

Ok, so now I get this:

Screenshot at 2025-06-10 15-27-07.png (245.89 KiB) Viewed 333 times

{EDIT}
Ah ok I get it now!! I had a LUT set on the clip. Removed that and set the Color Space to DJI D-Log. It looks a little harsh but I guess I can work from here:

Screenshot at 2025-06-10 15-31-48.png (286.09 KiB) Viewed 318 times

If you want to try the settings I posted, be sure you DON'T use any CST's or LUTs. My settings are a full replacement for those.

If you want to try the settings I posted, be sure you DON'T use any CST's or LUTs. My settings are a full replacement for those.

Thank you so much.

It's working fine now, though I've just got to balance things. There's still a bit of over saturation on the blue side and my skin color looks a little red so I may have added too much "warmth" to the image

Screenshot at 2025-06-10 15-41-45.png (258.83 KiB) Viewed 314 times

Screenshot at 2025-06-10 15-42-42.png (874.43 KiB) Viewed 314 times

OK, good.

Try the Color Slice tool. I find that can be very effective at those kind of corrections. (Do one color per node.)

The DJI Air 3 doesn't have DLOG, it has DLOG-M, which seems to be a flavor of rec709. Find Darren Mostyn's YouTube channel, then his video "How to Grade DRONE Footage with a PRO Colorist!"

Sorry I missed your post. Thank you!

My Attempts to make D-Log-M workable here:

https://www.zebgardner.com/photo-and-video-editing/dji-d-log-m-colorgrading

Sadly DJI is refusing to provide documentation for D-Log-M

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=297669&extra=&page=1

So it is not likely to ever be built into resolve CST. Do NOT confuse D-LOG and D-Gammut that are in Resolve, these are totally different.

I very much do NOT like the free LUT DJI provides. If you throw it on a simple grayscale ramp you can see how much it crushes the shadows. But D-log-m does not have a lifted toe like you see with 'real' log so this is not the right move.

My Attempts to make D-Log-M workable here:

https://www.zebgardner.com/photo-and-video-editing/dji-d-log-m-colorgrading

Sadly DJI is refusing to provide documentation for D-Log-M

https://forum.dji.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=297669&extra=&page=1

So it is not likely to ever be built into resolve CST. Do NOT confuse D-LOG and D-Gammut that are in Resolve, these are totally different.

I very much do NOT like the free LUT DJI provides. If you throw it on a simple grayscale ramp you can see how much it crushes the shadows. But D-log-m does not have a lifted toe like you see with 'real' log so this is not the right move.

Thank you.

I have just watched the video suggested above by @MB Herd which shows multiple ways of achieving the same result including the method suggested by @Jim Simon

I found @Jim's way good but I ended up with strange Magenta and Cyan artifacts in the sky. Obviously I did something wrong somewhere.

Using the Youtube video by Darren Mostyn I used the LUT method. I left the Color Science at Davinci YRGB, set the Timeline Color Space to Davinci WG/Intermediate, and finally the Output Color Space to Rec.709 Gamma 2.4.

I'm not entirely sure what my screen supports as it's a Lenovo P1 Gen5 laptop with color corrected screen meant to be used as a CAD or Graphics workstation.

Adding the LUT downloaded from DJI (Air3 DLogM to Rec.709) to the end node, I was able to balance the scene and colors nicely (I think).
My biggest issues were the White Balance was off (too blue) and I exposed for the bright sky and clouds meaning the foreground was heavily underexposed.

Small but subtle adjustments in the right direction got me this far:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VewQSP ... drive_link

It's a mixture of clips taken on different days and different areas. I think they're pretty neutral and well balanced though the last clip might be a little too red? or perhaps the skin tones got blown out a little?
The clouds and tops of the lodges are gray and the car is silver and not blue per my previous attempts.

A few days ago (before making this post) I tried color grading my DJI Action 4 while in the car. Again using the Action4 DLog-m to Rec.709 LUT downloaded from DJI, and think that it looks pretty good. This is a short 60sec clip:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VA6c3z ... drive_link


I also used a bit of noise reduction too for the above and 1st clip in the drone sequence as I needed to boost the mids which on a small sensor camera really does add a lot of noise

Now that I understand a bit more I can say that this is quite a bit of fun and can't wait to start making more videos