Turn your Apple monitor into a color accurate display in DaVinci Resolve 

So I have a M2 MacBook Pro and for some reason I always thought the colors drift way too much after exporting in Davinci. I thought it needed calibration, but this video has one-handedly solved 95% of my issues. Cullen, I can not thank you enough for this video.

as I see in a comments, we definitely need more information about gamma shift issue and 709-A tag. thank you, Cullen.

You've upgraded my grading so much with your careful explanations. If there is one thing I could hope for, it's a deep dive on Davinci export settings! Thank you!!!

Mate. I've been tearing my hair out trying to solve that gamma shift on export on my Mac. This fixed it, well explained. Legend

This right here saved me HOURS of frustrating work trying to just get the right baseline from which to start grading!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Can't tell you how much this helps!. Been researching this for a week now and so glad I caught this on your channel.

Just so people know the LG display used by Apple is very good, but the white point is at a weird spot and the entire colour gamut is shifted away from P3 standard toward the green end I believe. The display has ~95% DCI P3 coverage (When Apple say P3, they mean to their own P3 standard). It's a great screen, but the C3 and newer LG panels are more accurate and also a lot brighter (you can get them up to ~850 nits) so you could feasibly do the low-end of hdr grading on those. BUT in all of these cases, please create a colour profile for your monitor using a sensor, also you will want to redo this at least once every two months at least in the beginning to see if there is any shift.

Cullen this by far the best video I’ve watched, regarding this topic. As per usual, well explained and easy to understand. Thanks a ton 🙏🏼

i tried it, and it works :D.. i usually use rec709-A as my output instead of gamma 2.4.. but now i can confidently use gamma 2.4 as my output.

Hi, first of thanks so much for the video - so helpful! I know you've said in other comments that you were planning on making videos about how to solve mac gamma shift on export, are you still thinking of doing these?

It’s kind of miracle for me. I’ve been working on one project for two weeks and carefully following your tutorials. Finally I did achieve the results that I wanted. But yesterday I found new issue. After exporting my project I found it darker which I didn’t like it ( I’m never had this problem before on my iMac) I’ve spent the whole day yesterday till late night trying to find out how to solve this problem. I did lost my sleep over night, because this Saturday is the deadline for the project. To my surprise, when I opened RU-vid this morning to continue searching for the videos on how to resolve this issue, your video was first one on my homepage page in recommendations. I’m hoping it will help me to finish my project on time. 😊

This video (and the free LUT) really saved my butt. Thank you!!!

You're a mind reader! I was looking into this very question 24 hours ago! Thank you so very much

I feel like a video like this for the new QD-OLED monitors would be amazingly helpful since they're going to be insanely color accurate looking at the specs, but the same issues you're solving here is needed

I would love to see you do a video talking more about options for monitors and reference displays whether it be Ezios, LGC3 or Sony BVMs. A "guest engineer" to talk with you would be awesome.

lol suggestion for next video: how to calibrate a monitor and create a 3d lut with DisplayCal. This could be very useful for many starting out and wanting to get serius about grading :)

Tried your workflow with the Lut placed on timeline (But in Rec709 2.4 to match with my OLED) and it seems to be slightly more accurate than using the Rec709-A tag as output colorspace. Good work! Output also looks identical in every color-managed player such as Quicktime, Optimus, Chrome etc.

I literally asked you for this in a comment on your last video! You're so awesome. Thank you so much Cullen!!!! 😭😭

Bro thuis is Why you are the man!. Just followed all the steps om My iPad Air m1 . I just recently switched from My Windows machine and got so frustrated. But now my results are stunning my exports look identical just wanten to gave you a big thank you!!

Cullen, it looks like this is one of your most viewed videos, yet I feel like this video left many of us hanging for a follow-up video. Any plans to release more info in an attempt to solve this issue?

This is what I've needed FOREVER since getting a studio display, thank you! You're really almost the only one I can find on this.

Hey, could you also make a video about how to grade for cinema?

It does seem like there should have been a big disclaimer on this video that states, “don’t bother doing any of this until the gamma shift solution is provided” Without the gamma shift solution as an integral part of the strategies in this video, it becomes even more convoluted and confusing when you see a misaligned export. Key information needed here is what tagging option we use for exports. I’m happy to sit and experiment for several hours to find the answer, but are all viewers eager to do the same?

Rather than placing the LUT on a node, you can apply it to the color viewer in Resolve color settings. It only affects the color viewer, not the export or anything else.

Literally one of the best and most useful videos ever thank you so much

Thank you so much! I've been wanting to find a solution for this for a long time! Your video was very helpful :D

I tried this doing everything as Cullen said but I tagged the file export in the delivery tab as REC 709-A. By doing that the QT reproduction was more accurate compared to what I saw inside Resolve. On top of that TAG (1-1-1) from 709-A is the standard profile that production companies have been using to send to me their films to be color graded at least in my regular advertising pipeline (ONLINE MEDIA - NOT TV). I tested on an iMac 27 5K using the display color profile: Display P3. This setup worked well trough Resolve "Remote Monitoring".

One question, wouldn't it be better to insert this LUT in the project settings as a PREVIEW LUT, which will only influence the visualization but will not be applied in the export, instead of going back to all the clips and deactivating the LUT?

Have you tried an sRGB workflow? I set my MacBook Pro XDR display to the sRGB reference preset and output color space/gamma in Resolve to sRGB and it is by far the most consistent presentation across my MacBook Pro, iPhone and Windows Desktop. No gamma shifts across any of the devices. Input color space is CDNG (de-bayered into BMD Gen 4), working color space is DWG, output color space SRGB.

For PC I did this before for my mini home suite By bypassing Windows OS color management for my Eizo monitor and color mange it with rec709 ICC profile by targeting my Eizo monitor to rec709 2.4 and it works perfectly and it match my studio reference monitor with I/O box

EDIT: TRIED THE FOLLOWING EXPORT SETTINGS (just saw them somewhere else) and it looks like they did the trick for me: Color Space tag: P3-DCI (EDIT 2: Actually, P3-D65 is better, P3-DCI has greener white point intended for cinema projectors color compensation) Gamma tag: sRGB! Let me know if it works for you as well! ORIGINAL POST: Guys, I would also like to know how to tag the output en export, but this video is focused on better / more accurate color display on Apple displays. We might need to look elsewhere for ideal export settings. It's a shame he didn't include this info here, as it would have been the definitive Davinci+Apple Displays guide. Nevertheless, this is the best video I have found on Apple display monitor calibration inside Resolve!

That's very helpful, I always end up when grading on my Macbook on the go, darkening the image cos off using the display incorrectly, but after this you just save me too much of rendering and testing out lol. And ofcurse for my professional grading I always go with a trusty reference monitor in the grading room.

Until this video, I used to set my timeline to Rec.709 (scene) and my output to Rec.709-A, when using my Macbook Pro screen for grading Rec.709 footage. But Cullen is using Rec.709 2.2 for output, and feeding his custom LUT with a Rec.709 2.2 input (using the second CST node before the custom LUT). So, given that I follow the exact steps shown in the video, should I stop using Rec.709-A altogether?

Thanks Cullen. Any calibration tips/LUTs for colourist using Resolve on iPad Pro please? It’s hard to tell what P3 color space it’s defaulted to.

Surprised I haven't heard or seen anyone talking about this as a solution for the apple gamma shift issue with QuickTime, maybe because it costs money. But something that appears to have worked really well for my workflow is just spending the money to get Screen by video village, the same company who makes Film Box for Resolve. I set it to my default video player and it's like Quicktime but better. Compliments the MacOS UI well, free of clutter (unlike VLC) and you can change the settings to default to different colorspaces. I tweaked the settings to be 2.4 and now when I render out of Premiere or After Effects, my videos look exactly the same. Plus, in Screen there's a built in menu for previewing luts. Honestly worth the money imo and I don't think about the frustrating Quicktime color shift problems any more. Hope that's helpful to others. If someone knows a reason why this is somehow not a true solution feel free to chime in, but by all appearances on my end the images match, so I'm happy

Excellent work, Cullen!

Woah. What perfect timing.

First thing that came to my mind was to simply put Rec.709-A in the CST output node. Correct me if I tell bs, but isn‘t that the same or very very close to Gamma 2.2? I always thought Rec.709-A was especially designed for Apple displays to tackle the gamma shift of the output😅

So awesome! Thank you very much Cullen, this workflow is pretty straightforward, the explanation quite clear, and I’m sure this will be much appreciated by the amateur color community.

A huge thanks dear Cullen. Thoses precious advices on the DCI P3, the gamma 2.2, your macDisplay's LUT downloaded have solved my washed's flavors aspects when broadcasted onto plateforms, such as Vimeo or Ytube. As same as often I've read in the comments, I was questioning and dealing about this issue, then you've dedicated one tutorial in september onto this unsolved problem... Are you directly connected with us ? You've saved my day, thanks dear maestro. 🥰

Interesting. Just a thought could you not add the LUT to the Project settings /Colour Management/Video Monitor LUT then not have to worry about switching it off?

Hey Cullen. In a DWG colour managed project, are we able to use this LUT at the timeline level on the colour page, that way not having to turn it off on each individual clip and just once in a single node? Thanks so much for the info and look forward to the Gamma shift issue video.

So good bro, thank you.

thank you so much for this valuable information! please turn on the “super thanks” so we can donate for these incredible tips. 👍

I have been so frustrated with grading in resolve after always knowing what I’m getting on Final Cut. The only thing that made my export as close to what I saw on my GUI was to have a CST from 709 2.4 to 709a . Made it look too contrasty but on export it looked like what I saw. SO FRUSTRATING. Hopefully this new setup will work. Thanks!

Amazing workflow. Thank you for the tips!

Thanks for this Cullen - My M1 MBP gives me Apple XDR Display (P3-1600 nits) Apple Display (P3-500 nits) options - which one would work better ? And should Automatically adjust brightness be switched on or off?

I have a MPB 16" and I found that if I (in System Preferences) set up a custom Display Preset, set it to Rec.709, D65, BT.1886, and then crucially UNTICK "Apply System Gamma Boost", and then grade into Rec.709 Gamma 2.4 in Resolve, then it translates perfectly between a RU-vid/Vimeo upload and Resolve. I wish we could move beyond this though and live life with a bit more colour. Most people not on PC or Android can reproduce P3 these days.

This deserves a BIG THANK YOU!!

What if you select rec 709A as the output color space under color management instead of rec 709 gamma 2.4 Do you get a more accurate representation on a Mac? Do you use it in tangent with your gamma 2.2 method

What’s a budget friendly reference monitor you can recommend? Sorry if you’ve covered this already!

Is it safe to infer then that I need to calibrate my iMac display *not* as 2.4 but rather *2.2* for a truly realized image-- even if output in DaVinch is gamma 2.4?

Awesome information !!! Please drop some affiliate links to entry level calibration tools and reference monitors.

in mac settings on macbook pro there is only colour profile which I have set to colour lcd, should we change this to display p3 or image p3 or ?

So helpful, thanks Cullen! When adding film look related nodes, they should now be placed in between CST OUT & macOS node?

It would really be important to know what settings we should set while exporting the actual output files. Project settings? (2.2)? Rec709a when exporting a h264? I can not get an accurate reproduction of what I see in Resolve in a final QT file with this workflow. I DO get an accurate reproduction when I don't do any of this, don't use the lut but just grade regularly and when outputting convert to rec709a via a CST AND a Gamma Tag when I want to export an h264. When I export ProRes Rec709 I just ignore all of this and export without any 709a tagging etc. should we set the output CST to 2.4 when we render a Prores? Or do we leave everything as is and export a prores with 2.2 gamma? This video is incomplete without those informations..

Thank you!!!!!

Was very excited about this video - but feel like it has only confounded my Apple MacBook workflow. I use display BT1886 preset and turn off Mac displays in DVR while working in rec709 Gamma 2.4 color managed project. Exports looks same on OLED; but stills always have a gamma issue with stills/exports when viewed on other apple devices etc not in that 1886 setting.. I am sure Cullen has more illuminating and susinct insights on all this Apple silliness.

Interesting...have you had a chance to measure any of the other ColorSync presets available for the Apple displays. For instance, there is a "HDTV Video (BT.709-BT.1886)" one. I wonder how accurate that one is and if it could be used to grade for Rec.709 Gamma 2.4. Does it make any sense to use any of the other presets besides the "native" one for the display?

I've been looking for this video since 2019

Hi Cullen; would it work for us to add the viewing lut on the timeline node since as i understand that comes after the clip nodes? Just eyeballing it it seems to give the same results but much easier to disable in the end!

Should I calibrate my monitor or just choose a preset color profile? I ask because when I choose anything related to P3, I get a VERY cool image and is NOTHING like the calibrated display.

Thanks for this great tip!

Hi Cullen. I've used this lut on a few projects. When exported, videos look great on apple products but show wayy too much saturation on products other than apple's. So I had revert back turning the mac display color option off and the old rec709, gamma 2.4 transforms and timelines. Am I doing anything wrong?

Would you then tag your export as Rec709 gamma 2.2 as well?

YES! I was waiting for a video by you on this specific topic, owning two Pro Display XDRs.. there is so much nonsensical information out there on this topic.. Thx Cullen, you're the man! Any advice on a calibration solution for the pro Display XDR? Is there any way to do this with lesser devices than the 15.000 $ ones that apple suggests? And the second question- I guess you output with Gamma 2.4, right? The Lut inverse-compensates while viewing for the 1-1-1 file tagging that lifts the image when viewed in the browser, right?

Cullen, thanks for all the videos you put out. I reference your material often. And as a result I feel my grading has massively improved. I'm not a colorist by trade, but rather wear many hats. However, I have a question. This video specifically focuses on Apple displays. I use an ASUS ProArt and have been searching everywhere to figure out the best option to solve shifting. I have an UltraStudio 3G set up. Monitor is set to 709/2.4. I know recently you've been suggesting 2.2 for web. But I'm currently working on a short film that will live beyond web or Vimeo. However as I export for reviews I'm still experiencing massive shift in black levels between DR and what I see in QT exports. (I've done all the DR settings like 10 bit, Mac colors, 709a) I've been setting my Mac system settings to 709/2.4 for viewing. In this scenario, given my Mac Studio and Asus Monitor, would using the default Display P3 in my OS system settings for viewing after export be the best scenario for accuracy? When I remove the Ultrastudio and view the export on the same monitor with the same settings I get completely different results when it comes to contrast/black levels. I've air dropped to my iPad Pro and at full brightness is matches what I'm seeing in DR pretty well. Looks horrible in reference mode. I'm just feeling really lost on how to create a solid level of consistency when viewing across different monitors after export.

Is this about the grade itself or the exports? I work with your usual workflow but use Rec.709-A both in the color management and export settings (I use sRGB when using ACES). Exports look exactly the same on all my Apple devices and different PCs. I don't have gamma shift (used to when working on Rec.709 2.4) but I might have a slight tint shift depending on the monitor.

Can you still make use of the waveform even though that last node is shifting the blacks / contrast?

What about setting Rec.709-A as the Output color space under Project Settings?

Cullen, great video, as usual. And I’m hoping to join your live stream on Friday. Welcome back! Anyone that would like to chime in it would be highly appreciated. I’m starting up a boutique editing/grading business in a mid-market city in the US. I’m considering two alternatives. Firstly, I’m an all-Apple ecosystem. But I want to expand to a grading monitor setup. First alternative is to use the info in this video and add an Apple Pro XDR monitor (probably a used unit), or go with a BlackMagic UltraStudio 4K mini and go with a monitor (new or used) in the $3k-$4k price range. For that price, I can get a used FSI DM-series monitor and the UltraStudio Mini or 4K Mini. But if the FSI fails, it will be virtually impossible to get it repaired (big risk). Or, if I go with another brand monitor, the reviews haven’t been that great (Asus, BenQ, LG, etc). I want to be in the 25” to 32” range. Based on this Apple-specific video, will the XDR be ‘good enough’ to start my business or do I take the plunge and go the other direction, assuming both alternatives will have the same approximate investment? I want to provide the best possible professional service to my clients. I won’t be in the HDR world for a while from the research I’ve done in my area.

So could I use that Mac viewer on the viewer lut option? So it's always on the viewer but doesn't affect the grade? Just so I don't forget it from time to time. Also, once I export to clients what should the output be? Im afraid that if I send a 2.2 to my client they could see it brighter than the still's I've been showing.

hi there Cullen, a lot of great information, but, I have been using calibrated monitors for over 20 years for photoshop, video, etc. there is 1 glaring issue that you did not talk about that makes most of this invalid. choosing the native p3- 600nit profile, you can change the brightness to anything you want. that is absolutely going to invalidate any setting that you make. bring it down a bit, image is going to be dark, and you will grade too light. brighten the image, the opposite happens. that is why the only way to make it even accurate would be with a hardware calibration tool. rec.709 is looking for value of 80 luminance and p3 DCI is looking for 60 output on the display. so when you calibrate, you set that brightness, and if you move it around, you have to calibrate again. no way around that. if you choose the digital cinema preset, that is set for 60 cd/m2, so a lot closer to actual values. or the HDTV rec.709 is close to 80 cd/m2, and you cannot adjust the brightness levels for a. reason, so that you cannot start to mess with the brightness. the best you can do for all of this is to buy a calibrator, if you want to use an apple display to be close. and yes, a professional reference monitor is the way to go, but a calibrated display does get really close.

Hi Cullen, I appreciate Your videos a lot, but why not to use just sRGB output in project settings? It results the same...

Is the MacOs viewing transform for macbook pro displays or for external displays? I mean can I use it for my 15 inch MacBook display? I dont get it. Please help!

it is awesome

Thank you Cullen, I have few questions, What is the brightness level of the mac Display I have to setup at the start, As I know Rec709 is a 100 nit, so shall I pick my light meter and majr a 100 nit before starting, Second many Mac Display support HDR, is it possible to explain how to make it possible to grade HDR1000 or DolbyVision on a Mac Display.

you are my lifesavor thank you

This is super helpful😊

For some reason the export looks brighter than in resolve.

I'm using ACES (IDT - ODT) instead DWG should i follow the instructions that you tell? (i also set my project color management to ACES and bypass it) btw, nice insightful video always Cullen!

You are a savior. :)

I have an Apple Mac pro and a random plug and play 24" monitor with DVI input. What should I do?

Regarding the gamma shift issue, if you set your timeline colour space to rec 709-A and output as well in the project managment settings, your viewer shifts the gamma for that and you can view an accurate image in terms of gamma while grading... Then on export use gamma tag of rec 709-A or just rec 709 and everything is gonna look exactly as you made it. In quicktime as well as web environment, there's a video on it ( ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-f9a_jRWN7XU.htmlsi=-uE0Z5Y4aytp01Zv ), I tested it myself a few times and it really works pretty much perfectly. The down side of it is that in node-based colour management you'd have set your nodes that you intend to be colour space aware manually into that colour space or make a pre-set node tree, which is not a big deal anyways for the benefit of being able to rely 100% on what you see on your monitor when it comes to gamma.... ( but there's most likely no way how to do project level colour management then, might be with CST put downstream for viewing purposes same as you do with the lut here but never tried it.

Surely storing the “display Lut” in the Display lut slot in Resolve preferences. Solves the problem of turning the final Node on and off. At delivery. Or does that output slot only apply to a clean feed output path?

Which calibration tool/system would you recommend?

Hey Cullen, is this supposed to be used in the same viewing environment as 709 2.4, meaning a dim environment and screen brightness at around 100 nits? Thank you for your continuous efforts! Michael

Rec 709-A I thought was suppose to solve viewer color accuracy and export on Mac?

This is awesome, I have always been curious because the MacBook Pro 16" has a lot of specific color profiles, and I was curious how good it could get. I have two questions, maybe there is a reason for this, maybe it doesn't work the way I expect... 1. Could you group your clips and then add the Input to the group pre-clip and and Output to the group post-clip? That would mean that your actual clip based node tree would be only focused on actual changes and would make it a little cleaner? i assume these changes are for every clip, so putting them on a different "level" then the clip would be more organized? I might be thinking about this wrong, so not sure if that makes any sense... 2. There is an option in Resolve, in the color management project settings called "Video monitor Look Up Table", I thought, and again, I am a total noob, so maybe it doesn't work with this flow, but I had thought that this would be the LUT you are using for your monitor, similar to the last node you have? I was curious if maybe it automatically doesn't apply it to the render as it marks it as only for visual reference while working? I can just imagine people forgetting to turn it off before rendering sometimes or maybe forgetting to turn it off on one cliip? Your workflow is very specific, so could be that that feature is meant for something different. sorry, I guess I have one more question, and that is on the MacOS display settings, mine has p3-1600 nits? Is that not useable in this flow? Both that and the P3-500 Nits are listed in the top section so I assume they are both "Native"? Edit to say thank you for all your content, great video!

Thanks for the video. What calibration device would you recommend for my Apple Studio Display? I've heard too many conflicting reports! Cheers.

What about screen brightness ?

Latest MAC OS has a ColorSync preset "HDTV Video (BT.709-BT.1886)". I compared the colors on MBP 16 M1 with EIZO 4k monitor, REC709 preset. Signal from BMD Ultra Studio. More accurate and more simple workflow in my opinion. But I am an ignorant to Master Kelly.

Great Thank you Bro!

Cullen says to target P3-D65 but then ignores Apple's 'Digital Cinema (P3-D65)' Preset in the display settings, instead he uses the 'Apple Display (P3-600 nit)' option. Apple's Pro Studio Displays do not allow for any basic calibration under the 'Apple Display (P3-600 nit)' option (only super high-end calibration options with that). Using Apple's 'Digital Cinema P3-D65' option allows for basic custom calibrations but locks out any brightness adjustment. Would anyone recommend using the actual 'Digital Cinema P3-D65' option under a simple user calibration or stick with the out of the box studio display ICC?

Is this video only aimed towards workflows using an Apple dedicated Display (Studio or XDR Display)? Or do they also work with workflows like using just your Macbook Pro/iPad? Furthermore, I feel like there should be better disclaimers regarding this viewing transform LUT in terms of what gamma it uses (I believe 2.2?). I grade using my macbook pro as the main monitor and sometimes the GUI monitor, outputting to a BenQ monitor via Ultrastudio that's been calibrated. I mainly work using Rec.709 Gamma 2.4, so should I still be taking into account what this video is saying or is it just irrelevant for my case?

If Mac Displays are P3-D65. Why not first turn off the “Use Mac Display color profile for viewer” then set timeline to DaVinci resolve WG intermediate then set your output to P3-D65 gamma 2.2 and then tag it rec 709 gamma 2.2 in the deliver page.

So a basic take on this is that IF I am running with a colour accurate reference monitor which is connected to BMD Ultrastudio to bypass colorsync altogether - It would be correct to simply target rec709 2.4 and deliver to that as well? I'm mainly thinking of content that would go out to multiple platforms - TV and the interwebs to be exact. Or would you do any kind of a trim for internet content?

Excellent information! Just downloaded the Mac Display LUT! I've got a M1 MacBook Pro with a choice of XDR P3 1600 Nit default or P3 500. Are they both going to be gamma 2.2? Also, your brightness setting looks to be about 75%. Was that as a result of calibration or a recommended brightness? Last question: Between a REC 709 gamma 2.4 calibrated BENQ SW-270C and the MacBook Pro, which would you consider more accurate? Thanks a ton!!

Instead of turning on and off the last LUT node before exporting, couldn't you just load it into "Video montior look up table" so it only shows when you're working in DR, but never attaches to the export?

Bonkers, thank you! But so if you calibrate your Apple display with a calibration tool into BT1886/gamma2.4 , and you set up Davinci accordingly (timeline WG/intermediate - output Rec709 gamma 2.4) then you would still advise to use the Viewing Transform lut in the grading process? - P.S. I'm on an iMac without additional display