DaVinci Resolve is an industry-standard video editing and colour-grading software that has been used in many different blockbuster Hollywood movies because of its great colour-grading tools.
Within the span of a couple of years, DaVinci Resolve has started to become one of the top video editing softwares, as well, because of the tools and functionalities that are available in the video editing, as well.
In this article, I will review DaVinci Resolve while discussing different features that are available on the software and try to find out whether it is one of the best video editing softwares present in the market right now or not.
Contents
Availability of DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve is available on multiple different platforms, such as macOS, Windows, and even Linux OS, as well, making it easily accessible for people who are using any computing device for editing their videos.
This is evidently a good thing because a lot of the time, you might see that certain software is restricted from sharing it to other different platforms, all in the name of keeping it all in one ecosystem and not providing the features of those applications to other users.
If you are using a macOS, then DaVinci Resolve also supports Apple’s Silicon CPUs for a better enhanced performance, as well.
Along with this, the overall software also requires at least 16GB RAM if you are looking to use the Fusion motion graphic.
DaVinci Resolve Price & Free Trial
DaVinci Resolve offers a free tier that is quite popular among a lot of people because of the overall list of features that are available on it, especially for a free tier plan.
There are obviously some PRO features that are not available on the free plan, and whenever you try accessing those PRO features on the free plan, then DaVinci Resolve will alert you that the feature is not available.
However, if you want the whole package, then you will have to shell out $295 Dollars as a one-time payment to access all the features that are available on DaVinci Resolve.
Compared to Apple’s Final Cut Pro’s $299 Dollars, DaVinci Resolve is just $4 Dollars cheaper, but if you pit it against Premiere Pro’s $20/month, then DaVinci Resolve comes as an affordable option.
Features of DaVinci Resolve
DaVinci Resolve has tons of different features, which we will discuss in detail later in the article, as well. However, just to quickly glance through some of the features that are available, let’s begin.
New Titles
Over at DaVinci Resolve, you will find a number of different title cards and options that can be really useful for your videos. The overall arrangement of titles are pretty nice and there is a wide variety of them, as well.
Instant Colour Management
DaVinci Resolve is known for its colour correction properties, and it also features instant colour management settings, as well, that automatically read the camera properties and adjusts the colour balance automatically.
Apple ProRes Certification
Apple ProRes is a basically a lossless compression format that is developed by Apple, and you can obviously find that in its video editing software, Final Cut Pro, but DaVinci Resolve also now has Apple ProRes Certification.
New 10-Bit support
The new update on DaVinci Resolve also features a new 10-Bit support, which was not available to use earlier, and this basically means that you are able to export your files a lot quicker.
Pros and Cons of DaVinci Resolve
Let’s discuss some of the Pros and Cons of DaVinci Resolve, as well
| Pros | Cons |
| ✅A great number of editing tools ✅Simple to use UI ✅Motion graphics settings ✅Audio editing settings ✅Quick video renders | ❌Requires a powerful computing device to work smoothly ❌Not an easy-to-use software |
So, as you can see the Pros and Cons of DaVinci Resolve are not equal, but that does not mean that the video editing software is perfect.
The cons that are mentioned on this list are important, as well. For starters, if you are planning to use this video editing software on your above-average or average computing device, then you shouldn’t expect the software to run smoothly.
Along with this, unlike Premiere Pro and other video editing softwares, DaVinci Resolve doesn’t have an in-built guide enabled in the UI of the software.
So, for everything that you do perform on the software, you have to learn it on your own and figure out how to use it, and for some people, it might be tricky because DaVinci Resolve doesn’t have a common UI like most other video editing softwares.
Specific functionalities of DaVinci Resolve
With that noted, let’s discuss some of the functionalities of DaVinci Resolve.
User Interface
The overall user interface of DaVinci Resolve is familiar and not so familiar at the same time, as well. Over at DaVinci Resolve, you get a number of different pages, such as Colour, Cut, Deliver, Edit, Fairlight (sound), Fusion, and Media.
Each page is responsible for certain different aspects of the video editing process, and you can access it on the bottom half of the screen.
When you are on the Editing page, then you will see a familiar look that is available on most of the video editing softwares, a preview screen on the right, media files on the left and a timeline on the bottom.
You also get a number of different keyboard shortcuts that you can easily learn by going to DaVinci Resolve’s website.
Overall, the user interface of DaVinci Resolve shouldn’t overwhelm you at first, but there is a steep learning curve when it comes to using this software and getting the most out of it.
Audio Editing
DaVinci Resolve also features a fairly powerful audio editor that is in-built the program and you don’t have to download an extra audio editor to edit all the audio notes that are available on your video.
All the basic settings, such as increasing the volume of your audio or splicing it up are available on the edit timeline below, so you don’t need to move over to the audio page to edit them.
However, when you do switch mover to the audio settings, then you can access some great features, such as noise reduction, echo, compressor, etc.
The audio settings can also support up to 2,000 audio tracks, which really tells you how strong the overall program is.
Titles
You can find a good amount of titles in DaVinci Resolve’s Library effects, and they offer you some basic commands, such as scroll, bottom third and even static text options.
You could easily choose the different types of fonts that are available, along with what colours you want the fonts to emerge in, as well.
However, these title settings are quite basic and boring, and if you are looking for something a little more dynamic and useful, then DaVinci Resolve has got you covered in that option, as well.
In the Fusion titles, you have access to many different types of titles in different animations; some are even animated in 3D, as well, and over there, you get a lot to choose from.
Effects
Obviously, you will also find some great transitions effects and overall effects in general at DaVinci Resolve, as well.
The transition effects for DaVinci Resolve can easily be accessed under the effects panel, and DaVinci Resolve shows you the number of different styles of transitions that are available on it.
You have different types of transitions available, and you can easily preview them by simply hovering over the transition, and the program will automatically show you how the transition looks.
Along with this, you can also customise certain different effects, based on your overall taste by going over the ‘Introspect’ tab that is located on the top right corner.
This will allow you to change the adjustments of any different type of settings that you may have applied to your videos.
DaVinci Resolve Fusion
As mentioned above, DaVinci Resolve also has a Fusion page that allows you different levels of customisation, and it also features some great 2D and 3D VFX tools that you can use for taking out something or putting something in your video clips.
It is not a fully-fledged out visual effects tool, but it is a tool that can be really useful for removing certain objects in your video clips that just don’t feel like they are supposed to be in the clip and can help in improving the overall quality of the clip.
With the latest update, there are not a lot of updates that took place in this particular section, except for some minor changes to text and shapes, so DaVinci Resolve should really boost it up so that more people are able to use this feature.
Multicam Editing
Multicam editing is a really useful tool that comes in very handy when you are editing something like a rock concert video or anything that was shot from multiple different angles at the same time.
In DaVinci Resolve, you also have access to multicam editing, just like many other popular video editing platforms, and this one works quite well too.
Over at the edit settings, you can easily choose the multicam option, and the software will show you all the different clips that you have of the event.
The program can easily show you up to 16 different angles at the same time, and you can very easily choose any of the video clips and sync its audio with the audio waveform; it works pretty flawlessly.
You can also choose any individual audio or video and adjust it accordingly to your own need, making it one of the best and easiest ways to edit a multiple-shot video.
Performance of the software
Let’s talk about the overall performance of this software. As I had mentioned above, DaVinci Resolve does require a substantially powerful computing device with great specs to work properly, and that is quite true.
The overall software requires a huge amount of GPU storage for it to perform well, otherwise, the overall rendering process and the software itself would slow down quite a bit.
There are some things that you can do to make the software run a little smoother, for example, you can look at the resolution at which the previews are being played.
The resolution section is set to maximum as default, and this can also take up some GPU space of your computing device, making the software work slowly.
When it comes to rendering videos, the program renders 8K videos fairly moderately compared to its competitors, and that is when it is being run on a powerful computer.
If you have an above-average type of computer, then the chances of rendering become quite slow, and that can hamper the overall performance of the software, as well.
Colour correction and Management
Of course, the main and the most important thing why DaVinci Resolve is an industry-leading software is because of its colour correction and management tools.
There is simply no competition in this department for DaVinci Resolve, as it is one of the best and has been for quite some time now.
The overall UI of DaVinci Resolve’s colour editing supports multiple different colour wheels and spectrums that will help you in fine tuning the right colour balance that you are looking for in your film.
Along with this, DaVinci Resolve also uses AI technology for colour matching your different clips that are present in the video.
There are also some other great features in the colour management department of DaVinci Resolve, such as support for different cameras’ RAW modes, spatial noise reduction, etc.
One of the other great features that is involved in the colour correction settings of is something which is known as Target grading.
What Target grading basically allows is that you can highlight a specific position of an object or a person and colour grade it to match it to the rest of the video.
The feature just got even better with the latest update, which allows you to track specific objects or persons or anything that is on your clip and apply to track colour edits, and it would follow the person/object throughout the video.
Stuff like this is why DaVinci Resolve is often considered as one of the best colour editing platforms in the market right now.
Multi-user collaboration
If you have ever worked on a fairly huge scale project that has separate departments that take care of different aspects of a video, then you would know how useful is a multi-user collaboration setting.
Multi-user collaboration setting, as you can already tell by its name, is designed for projects that require an entire village’s worth of people to pull off something like a feature-length film, regardless of the budget.
So, when it comes to DaVinci Resolve, it provides a wide range of products and features that allow users different sets of workspace and tools, that will help them in editing the entire video production.
The entire project is actually managed by a universal linear timeline that can be used by anyone and is powered by powerful engines that manage user databases, sounds, and images, all combined to work together as one thing.
This makes it super convenient for people to work on a project from different locations, even remotely sometimes, so that the overall process of the post-production setup becomes smooth and easy for everyone.
So, if your project involves editors, sound designers, VFX artists, storyboard artists, background sound editors, colourists, etc., all of them can work together on one project and make the whole process smooth.
Of course, you have to pay for this service, and each server costs differently based on the overall size of the people who would be working on a project, so those are the things that the producers would have to cater to.
Still, it is a pretty great feature that works in the favour of DaVinci Resolve of making it an industry-standard software that is used.
FAQ
Let’s discuss some of the frequently asked questions regarding this topic.
Is DaVinci Resolve actually good?
DaVinci Resolve is plenty good, actually. There is a reason why this software is often considered as one of the best in the business and is a tool that is used in the industry a lot and trusted by a lot.
The colour correction and management tools that are available on this software are compared to nothing else that is available in the market.
Along with that, you also get some really advanced and great features, such as a Multi-user collaboration, that helps it in becoming one of the best industry-standard tools for video editing.
So, yeah. DaVinci Resolve is a pretty great video editing software.
Is DaVinci Resolve free and good?
DaVinci Resolve, as I mentioned above is a pretty great video editing software that is used by industry experts for editing their videos and colour correcting them, as well.
Along with it, DaVinci Resolve also offers a free tier that has some Pro features locked, but as far as free video editing softwares go, DaVinci Resolve excels in that department, as well.
You easily have some of the best features that you can ask for readily available for free, and the software also alerts you when you are trying to access a Pro feature that is not available.
Still, it is a pretty solid video editing software.
Is DaVinci Resolve 100% free?
DaVinci Resolve is not 100% free; it has a free tier that is available for users who want to try out how the software works compared to its competitors.
It’s paid version costs $295 Dollars as a one-time fee, and while that is a big number for any video editing software when you compare it to other softwares that charge users on a subscription base, then it turns out a lot more affordable.
Just for example, Adobe Premiere Pro is only available on a subscription base at $20/month, and if you do a little bit of maths, then after using the software for 1 year and 3 months, you would be paying more than DaVinci Resolve’s fees.
Is DaVinci Resolve suitable for beginners?
DaVinci Resolve offers a free tier that is mostly targeted at beginners, but I wouldn’t recommend the software if you are a beginner.
Yes, it is an industry-leading software, and it has great sets of features, but the overall software is not designed for beginners. It is designed for professionals.
You don’t get any advice or tips from the software, as you do from other video editing softwares. You are simply given the software, and you have to make the most out of it.
You have an extensive library of documentation that you can read to learn the software, but it is just not designed for beginners.
So, I wouldn’t recommend DaVinci Resolve for beginners.
Final Verdict and Review
Well, with all that said, I have finally come to the end of this review, where I give my own verdict about this industry-leading video editing software.
I have mentioned about DaVinci Resolve in other articles, as well, and it has always been a video editing software that has ranked pretty well.
The software, as a whole, is pretty great. You have all the necessary tools you would need for editing any video that you like.
Along with that, you also have the best colour correcting tools there are on any video editing software in the market right now.
The free tier of this software is pretty great, as well. However, the software does require a lot of computational power to make it smooth.
Along with this, the render speed of the software is not the fastest, and the overall software can be a little complicated to use, as well.
For me, DaVinci Resolve is clearly targeted at industry professionals and no one else; it doesn’t have any tools that will guide you through using the software; it will just hand you all the tools.
So, you need to be the right person to be using this software; otherwise, you might be wasting $295 Dollars of yours.
Conclusion
Well, there you have it. An article reviewing DaVinci Resolve. It is a pretty great video editing software, and you can use it for different projects, but you need to know about video editing and this software, in particular, to make the most out of it.
As always, these have been my thoughts regarding this topic. What about you? Do you agree with my review? Or do you think that I missed out on some other effects and features of this software?
Whatever your thoughts are, do let us know about them in the comments down below!
