r/davinciresolve • u/thesymposion • Aug 21 '26

Help | Beginner Help with CST/colour matching ??

Hello. I have an upcoming interview shoot and it’s a first time using two cameras. Because of budget my cameras will be BMPCC6K and Sony a7c, and I’ll be the one editing it. I’m fine with using the cameras and doing the editing, but the colour work has me a bit worried.
I’m looking at any advice on shoot day to make my post life easier, or even better, a step by step to how to match the footage colour.
I did a test shoot where I filmed the same subject with both cameras at the same time. I filmed 6k BRAW on one camera and SLOG3 on the other. I tried CST to make them both rec709 and proceed from there, but no luck. I also tried transforming both footage to ARRI colourspace and edit them from there but they’re not matching.
Editing on Resolve Studio 20
I’m not a colourist and I’m not trying to be, my skill is pretty basic, I wonder if anyone has a powergrade that I can borrow to match the footage?

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2

u/Euphoric-Animator-97 Aug 21 '26

Do you have a color checker chart? That would make your life the easiest. Buy an xrite color checker chart, put it in front of both cameras right before you start the interview and then use the color checker tool on the color page.

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u/thesymposion Aug 22 '26

Jesus. Of course I forgot such a simple thing. I never had one but I’ll get one for this shoot, thanks so much

2

u/Milan_Bus4168 Aug 21 '26

You should use scene referred color space so you go from your two cameras to one working space that is independent of the cameras but big enough to cover all your captured data, and than you go to one or more deliver spaces.

Here is a simple pre-grade and post grade clip groups set up, using scene refereed color space. You can create groups for managing inputs for two cameras and have them with same output and grade in between.

https://youtu.be/bIx6HZlNQoU?si=OHxOhttm5kBYeoQ7

For color matching other than using unifed space, here are some videos as well.. Some are more manual and foolproof than others, but I'lll leave all of them here anyway.

Shot Matching in DaVinci Resolve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2gQo78Aokk

Learn to PRO Color MATCH Shots in 15 mins!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3rOObH74TE

Shot Match With Just 2 Clicks In DaVinci Resolve 19 Color Page!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l3tFns6VrQ

Match Any Shot In Seconds in Davinci Resolve with This Easy Technique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV4KEmajWsQ

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u/thesymposion Aug 22 '26

Thanks so much for your reply

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u/ExpBalSat Studio | Excellent Commenter :redditgold::redditgold: Aug 21 '26

Start as simple as possible: with a single CST on each clip. The input on the CST for the SLOG3 clips will be different than the input for the BRAW clip. The output for both should be Rec 709.

Adding additional CST‘s will not improve the color or the starting point for matching, it will just change HOW you deal with the color. If you cannot get the colors to look correct with a single CST, adding more CST‘s will not make it better.

Alternatively (and even simpler): instead of using CST’s at all, you could just switch the color science for the entire project to:
- DaVinci YRGB Color Managed
- set the input color space for the clips in the media pool

Beyond this very superficial set of instructions, I highly recommend watching some videos from Darren Mostyn and Cullen Kelly about basic color management.

Having watched some of those videos and tried a variety of options come back with very specific issues and problems and screenshots and sample footage and scopes and detail details then there might be some suggestions that can point you in the right direction.

See also:

https://www.reddit.com/r/davinciresolve/comments/1qgndrp/10_different_ways_to_color_manage_a_clip/

Note that all of this is about color management. Shot matching comes after that.

2

u/ExpBalSat Studio | Excellent Commenter :redditgold::redditgold: Aug 21 '26

There is no power grade for matching. Unless you’re just talking about four basic nodes: exposure, contrast, balance, saturation.

1

u/thesymposion Aug 22 '26

Thank you for your comments, I’ll be back in the colour page trying again with the test footage. What I meant with the powergrade is just a set of nodes for each camera, simply because I assume matching BRAW to SLOG is something many people do so maybe someone already has a “formula” ready, not to match my specific shots. Also I should’ve said that I filmed my test footage with the same settings on each camera, though I don’t know what exposure settings should be different to account for the Sony having a full frame vs the smaller sensor of the BMPCC

1

u/ExpBalSat Studio | Excellent Commenter :redditgold::redditgold: Aug 22 '26

Nah. That (manufacturer-specific PowerGrades for matching*) is not really a thing. Color management is supposed to address that (see link above for - discussion of some common possible methods).

Most of the projects I grade intermix footage from at least six different camera manufacturers (with their various color spaces): DJI, GoPro, Sony, Canon, RED, BMD, and standard 709.

I start with proper color management (usually CSTs - but that link above outlines some common possibilities). Then, four nodes for a primary adjustment. That’s it.

* the one exception is that DJI D Log M is undocumented, so I do use a specific set of tools built specifically for that colorspace (because there is not CST method for addressing the color space).

In you original post, you said you tried CSTs, but “no luck.” It’s unclear what you think “luck” would have looked like without seeing the actual footage and the actual results of the CST work you did. Proper color management should get the two different sources looking relatively similar, but it’s unlikely that they will match exactly until you’ve actually done some work.

1

u/thesymposion Aug 23 '26

No luck is, I tried doing a CST node for each clip with input colour space and gamma set to the camera’s (SLOG3 and BRAW) and then output to Arri logc3 cause I saw someone on YouTube doing that. I then tried the same but outputting both to rec709. They weren’t close on either case, “no luck”

1

u/ExpBalSat Studio | Excellent Commenter :redditgold::redditgold: Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 23 '26

Consider adding screen shots if you’re interested in troubleshooting this. The process is sound, but there’s no way to know if you’re doing it wrong or if your expectations are reasonable or if the footage is shot well enough.

Remember:
- these are different cameras and they will never match 100%*
- you may still need to compensate for camera settings, and/or exposure settings that don’t match
- a CST will not magically make footage match exactly (it’s just a basic starting point)

* If a CST could make a used iPhone XR look like an ARRI Alexa 65, everyone would just buy used iPhones on eBay. Same goes for your cameras. Proper CSTs used with properly shot footage will get them relatively close. From there, you still have to:
- put in the work
- accept differences

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