David Bridges
With the present rebel in opposition to Adobe’s subscription mannequin, of us are taking a tough take a look at Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Studio. And lots of like what they see. It’s arguably extra highly effective than Adobe’s Premiere Professional, providing higher colour correction instruments together with built-in results and audio apps. Better of all, it’s free (although you possibly can pay $300 to improve to the Studio model).
To make it extra sensible for these enhancing on the go, Blackmagic launched an iPad model in late 2022 with the Lower (enhancing) and Coloration pages, however no results or audio apps. The thought was to supply creators a solution to edit or color-correct on the highway, with all the things syncing up by way of Blackmagic Cloud. It was additionally possibility for many who choose to work on cellular gadgets.
Earlier this 12 months, Blackmagic launched the $509 Micro Coloration Panel that gave customers tactile management for colour correction, identical to the extremely paid colorists in Hollywood. Higher nonetheless, it may be used with Resolve on iPad, so you possibly can click on, dial and roll in a exact method, quite than pawing inaccurately on a contact show.
I really like management surfaces, so I used to be keen to check the Micro Coloration Panel with my iPad Air M2 to see how they work collectively. On the similar time, I wished to check out Blackmagic’s Cloud to share initiatives on a number of gadgets.
You get two installs with DaVinci Resolve Studio, so I used my desktop key to put in it on my iPad Air M2. Blackmagic recommends an iPad with an M1 or later processor, and although it can work with earlier iPads, chances are you’ll be restricted to HD and options might be restricted.
Blackmagic offered me with a free trial of its Cloud service so I might switch initiatives from my desktop over to the iPad. That usually prices $5 monthly per library, which provides you 500GB of storage and limitless initiatives that may be shared with as much as 10 collaborators.
You’ll be able to simply share timelines, results, metadata and media. To switch recordsdata, you possibly can both join a USB-C drive or share full or proxy media (smaller variations of your video clips) on Blackmagic Cloud. That requires a quick connection — each to add and obtain — however as soon as that’s performed, they stay domestically in your iPad. Any new media recordsdata are routinely synced to the Cloud.
The draw back of DaVinci Resolve on an iPad is the clumsy touch-based interface, particularly for colour correction – however that’s the place the Micro Coloration Panel is available in. Blackmagic has a wealthy historical past of constructing such controllers for skilled use, however the brand new mannequin is its smallest and most cost-effective to this point.
Although diminutive in comparison with the $859 model, the brand new Micro Panel nonetheless oozes high quality. Its black end can draw some mud however in any other case seems skilled. The buttons mild up that will help you discover them in a darkish studio, however the labels on the dials don’t, to allow them to be onerous to learn.
The panel comes with its personal battery that offers you about 15 hours on a cost. Although you should use USB-C to connect with PCs or Macs, iPads solely assist Bluetooth, with USB-C reserved for charging.
After pairing the Micro Management Panel to your iPad, you must allow it in DaVinci Resolve’s preferences. Then, you possibly can slide your iPad into the slot on the again and also you’re able to work.
To be clear, the Micro Management Panel just isn’t designed for enhancing — it’s strictly for colour correction. To that finish, it mirrors the interface of DaVinci Resolve’s Coloration Web page. The primary controls are for “Carry” (black ranges), “Gamma” (distinction) and “Acquire” (total brightness).
These wheels and dials supply good ranges of resistance and accuracy, in comparison with the Loupedeck+ and different sorts of management surfaces I’ve tried. They’re used for issues like shadows, highlights and saturation, whereas the buttons allow you to view the picture full display screen, transfer from clip to clip, add keyframes and extra.
The tactile expertise is a powerful promoting level of the Micro Management Panel, however there’s a catch-22 utilizing it with the iPad. At house, I’d be doubtless to make use of it with my PC or Mac for extra velocity and flexibility. Once I’m on the highway with my iPad, although, I’m unsure I’d take the Micro Management Panel with me, as a result of it’s too cumbersome.
So regardless of Blackmagic advertising this as an iPad accent, I’d say it’s at the moment higher for desktop DaVinci Resolve Studio customers who need extra tactile management. It’s nice for individuals who solely edit on iPad, however I’d think about that in a Venn diagram of these of us and those keen to spend $508 on a colour correction panel, there’s solely a tiny overlap.
In sum, Blackmagic’s Micro Coloration Panel is transportable, engaging, well-designed, good to make use of and fairly priced. When you spend numerous time on colour correction, you’ll discover it to be a timesaver as soon as the controls grow to be second nature. It’ll additionally make your enhancing suite look extra skilled.
Although not but an incredible match for the iPad, that might change. Apple not too long ago launched the iPad Professional M4, together with a 13-inch mannequin that provides comparable efficiency to many MacBooks. On the similar time, Blackmagic Design has promised to convey the iPad model of DaVinci Resolve extra on par with the desktop variations. If that occurs, many Resolve customers might choose to make use of the iPad model solely — which might make the Micro Coloration Panel extra fascinating.
Brandon Fletcher
Ethan Carter
