BRAW - Pocket 4K - Gen 4 & 5 - Intended?

Hey folks,

Trying to post this here as well since it got absolutely no traction in the Resolve forum.

Anyone that color grades their footage.

Is this considered normal behavior or a bug?

Decoding BRAW from a Pocket (and maybe other cameras) as Davinci Wide Gamut / Davinci Intermediate (or any other non BMD color space or gamma) and switching from Gen 4 to Gen 5 or the other way around causes a color shift. Its a slight color shift but its visible in the image and the scopes.

Happening to anyone else, bug or I'm misinterpreting things?

I don’t use those choices for decoding; they’re not what the Pocket is shooting even if you’re in Film mode. Stay true to the camera. You can use DaVinci Resolve’s colour managed setting to take the guesswork out of the equation. You shouldn’t see an obvious overall colour shift between Gen 4 and Gen 5.

I don’t use those choices for decoding; they’re not what the Pocket is shooting even if you’re in Film mode. Stay true to the camera. You can use DaVinci Resolve’s colour managed setting to take the guesswork out of the equation. You shouldn’t see an obvious overall colour shift between Gen 4 and Gen 5.

The point is color grading in Davinci Wide Gamut and Intermediate (what everyone basically uses) when using multiple cameras in Davinci YRGB. And decoding directly into this should eliminate one extra step of setting up a CST.

I prefer YRGB vs Resolve color managed.

Its not a problem, I'm just curious why this is happening under the hood and the shift is pretty obvious in the reds.

I use multiple cameras with different BMD raw codecs. Colour managed makes it all easier without using CSTs. I used to do it like you are, but switched my approach. If you’re using raw from other manufacturers I can see using your approach.

Now that you mention it, I have also seen some difference in the solid reds.

Now that you mention it, I have also seen some difference in the solid reds.

Cool, so I'm not going crazy. Yet.

Its just strange because Gen 4 and Gen 5 color space should be virtually the same.

I have my reasons why YRGB is better for me though. Like some LUTs that expect a certain input. I can keep better track when not color managed.

Gen 4 and Gen 5 are not identical "things". Every transform whether LUT or algorithm has both technical and aesthetic choices. Based on comments from the original release, there is a difference between Gen 4 and 5. They are not expected to be identical.

Personally, I tend to prefer the treatment of Gen 5.

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You’re right. But I cannot select Gen 5 on the UM4.6K, only Gen 3 or 4 and the BMPCC4K is only Gen 4 or 5. So Gen 4 is the common ground but I do not use LUTs so colour managed is all I need. Still need to be wary of a different red.

To LUT or Not to LUT could be an interesting thread. I just try for an acceptable grade without LUTs but I know LUTs are very popular and useful.

Gen 4 and Gen 5 are not identical "things". Every transform whether LUT or algorithm has both technical and aesthetic choices. Based on comments from the original release, there is a difference between Gen 4 and 5. They are not expected to be identical.

Personally, I tend to prefer the treatment of Gen 5.

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The color space, as I understand from what Cap. Hook said, is the same.
The difference is in gammas, where gen 5 is the same gamma for all cameras while before it was camera specific.

The CST also is labeled BMD Wide Gamut Gen 4/5 which indicates is the same?

From what I remember gen 5 is more gently on highlight, a better roll off of specular, better skin tone (different color decoding), less contrasted than previous generation, seems to manage better color channel, on Ursa Mini Pro I can see less artefact on some color.

May be same color space but handle in a different mode color and contrast; if it’s the same why they develop it?


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From what I remember gen 5 is more gently on highlight, a better roll off of specular, better skin tone (different color decoding), less contrasted than previous generation, seems to manage better color channel, on Ursa Mini Pro I can see less artefact on some color.

May be same color space but handle in a different mode color and contrast; if it’s the same why they develop it?


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Its mostly gamma differences.

Still doesn't explain why decoding directly into DWG is behaving differently.

From what I remember gen 5 is more gently on highlight, a better roll off of specular, better skin tone (different color decoding), less contrasted than previous generation, seems to manage better color channel, on Ursa Mini Pro I can see less artefact on some color.

May be same color space but handle in a different mode color and contrast; if it’s the same why they develop it?


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Its mostly gamma differences.

Still doesn't explain why decoding directly into DWG is behaving differently.

i'm use to work in davinci YRGB Color managed to allow Resolve to do the right choise for every color convertion with large space.

Screenshot 2025-06-28 alle 17.06.22.jpeg (60.97 KiB) Viewed 869 times

and the result if i force to decode gen4 or gen 5 are the same, you can see in the scopes, what change is internally which allow me to grade more gently in gen5.

gen 4

gen 4.jpeg (581.99 KiB) Viewed 869 times

gen 5

gen 5.jpeg (577.53 KiB) Viewed 869 times

Now that you mention it, I have also seen some difference in the solid reds.

Cool, so I'm not going crazy. Yet.

Its just strange because Gen 4 and Gen 5 color space should be virtually the same.

I have my reasons why YRGB is better for me though. Like some LUTs that expect a certain input. I can keep better track when not color managed.

Gen 4/5 Film is the same but Gen 4 & 5 Extended or video are not.

From what I remember gen 5 is more gently on highlight, a better roll off of specular, better skin tone (different color decoding), less contrasted than previous generation, seems to manage better color channel, on Ursa Mini Pro I can see less artefact on some color.

May be same color space but handle in a different mode color and contrast; if it’s the same why they develop it?


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Its mostly gamma differences.

Still doesn't explain why decoding directly into DWG is behaving differently.

i'm use to work in davinci YRGB Color managed to allow Resolve to do the right choise for every color convertion with large space.

Screenshot 2025-06-28 alle 17.06.22.jpeg

and the result if i force to decode gen4 or gen 5 are the same, you can see in the scopes, what change is internally which allow me to grade more gently in gen5.

gen 4.jpeg

gen 5.jpeg

The point is, converting to Davinci Wide Gamut shouldn't be two different things and switching from Gen4 and Gen5 shouldn't change the scopes.

The workflow you showed means you are literally grading in DWG / DWG Intermediate. It should have anything to do with Gen 4 or 5...

Now that you mention it, I have also seen some difference in the solid reds.

Cool, so I'm not going crazy. Yet.

Its just strange because Gen 4 and Gen 5 color space should be virtually the same.

I have my reasons why YRGB is better for me though. Like some LUTs that expect a certain input. I can keep better track when not color managed.

Gen 4/5 Film is the same but Gen 4 & 5 Extended or video are not.

The whole discussion here is why does Gen 4 and 5 toggle in the RAW tab has an effect on the colors and scopes when decoding in DWG (Or Arri or V-Log or anything else) when Gen 4 and 5 color space should be the same.

The point is, converting to Davinci Wide Gamut shouldn't be two different things and switching from Gen4 and Gen5 shouldn't change the scopes.

The workflow you showed means you are literally grading in DWG / DWG Intermediate. It should have anything to do with Gen 4 or 5...

when you not work in color managed way there are many transformation, and gen 4/5 are different interpretation of color and gamut, i'm sure that i can have different result of gamma and color.
raw -> CS interpretation -> transform in xxx color space.
color science cannot be the same, or there isn reason to have upgraded color science.
I prefer to work in a color-managed space because all clips are initially developed in their native color space, then unified in DaVinci Wide Gamut (DWG). This way, I can grade everything without limitations.

Many people don’t like this approach because they prefer to use DCTLs or LUTs that expect a more "limited" input color space. If needed, you can always place a Color Space Transform (CST) before those tools to convert from the Timeline color space to the expected one, and then back again.

Personally, I take the opposite route: I never use LUTs unless I created them myself, because otherwise I can't know exactly where they might cause clipping in my grade. For the same reason, I tend to avoid DCTLs unless I can read and fully understand how they work.

I prefer to build my grades directly using Resolve’s native tools. In the past, I lost too much time—and even some projects—because of external tools that became incompatible with future versions.

Downloaded a Ursa Cine 12K LF BRAW file and setting the decoding to Davinci Wide Gamut and Davinci Intermediate and then changing "color science" 4 and 5 does absolutely nothing to the image, as expected.

So, the issue with changing colors is a Pocket thing only. Its as if, the gamma changes slightly.

Downloaded a Ursa Cine 12K LF BRAW file and setting the decoding to Davinci Wide Gamut and Davinci Intermediate and then changing "color science" 4 and 5 does absolutely nothing to the image, as expected.

So, the issue with changing colors is a Pocket thing only. Its as if, the gamma changes slightly.

Uhm 12k had a different sensor structure, it’s a classic Bayer sensor against wwwrgb sensor of 12k
I’m aspected different working.

To be honest all 12k was born with cs5, I dubt changing to cs4 do something, but who know?
I’m waiting someone from Blackmagic Design answer us about it


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Downloaded a Ursa Cine 12K LF BRAW file and setting the decoding to Davinci Wide Gamut and Davinci Intermediate and then changing "color science" 4 and 5 does absolutely nothing to the image, as expected.

So, the issue with changing colors is a Pocket thing only. Its as if, the gamma changes slightly.

Uhm 12k had a different sensor structure, it’s a classic Bayer sensor against wwwrgb sensor of 12k
I’m aspected different working.

To be honest all 12k was born with cs5, I dubt changing to cs4 do something, but who know?
I’m waiting someone from Blackmagic Design answer us about it


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The only difference with the 12K LF is when any of the BMD gammas are selected. Then Gen4 and Gen5 are different but in gamma only. Color space is identical. Which is what it is expected, even though there is no 12K LF separate gamma so I don't know what Resolve is assigning. Which is another bug I assume.

On the Pocket though, it changes with any debayer options and it shouldn't. Haven't heard a single plausible explanation on why its different.

The only thing I can think of is the Pocket's crappier dynamic range clipping colors faster. But the gamut compression switch and this Gen 4 and 5 issue seem to be separate.

Gen 4/5 Film is the same but Gen 4 & 5 Extended or video are not.

The whole discussion here is why does Gen 4 and 5 toggle in the RAW tab has an effect on the colors and scopes when decoding in DWG (Or Arri or V-Log or anything else) when Gen 4 and 5 color space should be the same.

Hence why I qualified what I said. The Film settings are the same but if you select different settings in the Raw tab it will affect it as the interpretation is different. If I recall correctly, Gen 5 fixed the Led clipping issue that was in Gen 4. It's the same clip issue that Arri Log C3 had that was fixed for Log C4.

Gen 4/5 Film is the same but Gen 4 & 5 Extended or video are not.

The whole discussion here is why does Gen 4 and 5 toggle in the RAW tab has an effect on the colors and scopes when decoding in DWG (Or Arri or V-Log or anything else) when Gen 4 and 5 color space should be the same.

Hence why I qualified what I said. The Film settings are the same but if you select different settings in the Raw tab it will affect it as the interpretation is different. If I recall correctly, Gen 5 fixed the Led clipping issue that was in Gen 4. It's the same clip issue that Arri Log C3 had that was fixed for Log C4.

Yeah but I'm not decoding in either BMD gammas nor color spaces. I'm decoding in DWG/DWGI. On the 12KLF this works as expected, like I wrote above.

On the Pocket files, toggling between Gen4/5 in the RAW TAB while having DWG/DWGI selected results in colors changing which doesn't happen on the 12K LF.

It also happens in a Color Managed project.

Yeah but I'm not decoding in either BMD gammas nor color spaces. I'm decoding in DWG/DWGI. On the 12KLF this works as expected, like I wrote above.

On the Pocket files, toggling between Gen4/5 in the RAW TAB while having DWG/DWGI selected results in colors changing which doesn't happen on the 12K LF.

It also happens in a Color Managed project.

It's probably because 12LF never had a Gen 4.

Its irrelevant if the 12K had gen 4 or not .The color science with RAW codecs is applied in post, not in camera.

Here's what Capt. Hook said.

''RCM with RAW codecs (BRAW, DNG, ARRIRAW, etc) doesn't really care about colour science version as its generally irrelevant*. Same with ACES. For RCM Resolve can ask the RAW SDK to decode into Linear XYZ and then it can do any transform it likes from there - in the case of DNG the information on how to decode as Linear XYZ is in each DNG frame. For ACES its similar and the RAW SDK can decode in Linear ACES AP0 and then go through the rest of the pipeline. This is why for Blackmagic RAW in RCM or ACES those gamma/gamut options get greyed out - because Resolve forces the options it needs and gets the output it wants from the SDK so it can do its own transforms.'

The only time a colour science version may matter for RCM/ACES is if the "fit" from sensor response to XYZ is modified but that is rare (at least in our case so far which is why you see no difference in RCM with Gen 4/5).''

However the shift happens with RCM as well...so I dunno.

Unless the transform in DavinciYRGB in RAW doesnt happen in Linear XYZ and it starts from BMD Film...

Interesting...

The only time a colour science version may matter for RCM/ACES is if the "fit" from sensor response to XYZ is modified but that is rare (at least in our case so far which is why you see no difference in RCM with Gen 4/5).''

But you did see a difference though.. Gen 4 didn't fit which is why it had that led clipping issue.

… Unless the transform in DavinciYRGB in RAW doesnt happen in Linear XYZ and it starts from BMD Film...

When I’m defining the Project Settings and using Colour Managed for a timeline with CinemaDNG and BRAW, I record both in Film mode and in Project Settings, I explicitly specify CDNG raw as BMD and BMD Film. I let Resolve make the same choice I assume for the BRAW footage. i idea why Resolve always defaults the settings to ARRI, but my understanding is in Colour Managed, whatever I define explicitly is ignored by Resolve Colour Managed.

Interesting...

The only time a colour science version may matter for RCM/ACES is if the "fit" from sensor response to XYZ is modified but that is rare (at least in our case so far which is why you see no difference in RCM with Gen 4/5).''

But you did see a difference though.. Gen 4 didn't fit which is why it had that led clipping issue.

Yes and there should be no difference.

Let's just hope that Captain Hook stumbles upon this thread and gives us his input.

… Unless the transform in DavinciYRGB in RAW doesnt happen in Linear XYZ and it starts from BMD Film...

When I’m defining the Project Settings and using Colour Managed for a timeline with CinemaDNG and BRAW, I record both in Film mode and in Project Settings, I explicitly specify CDNG raw as BMD and BMD Film. I let Resolve make the same choice I assume for the BRAW footage. i idea why Resolve always defaults the settings to ARRI, but my understanding is in Colour Managed, whatever I define explicitly is ignored by Resolve Colour Managed.

It defaults to ARRI because it starts with an A in the list. And its in alphabetical order .

Those settings don't affect RCM.

Which means, in RCM, BRAW is handled automatically. Which is why switching from Gen4 and Gen5 should have no impact. Otherwise what's the point of RCM? But yet it does for the Pocket 4K.

Also as an experiment. Tried CinemaDNG in RCM from an Ursa. And switching between Gen3 and Gen4, which are the only options, also does nothing. As it should.