How to Color Grade Apple Log Footage in DaVinci Resolve
Shooting on your iPhone in Log mode? What comes out looks flat and washed out, exactly like what you’re seeing right now. Those correct colors have to be developed out of it first, and in this video I’ll show you how.
Watch the video: Apple Log in DaVinci Resolve: Correct CST Setup (No LUTs, No Plugins)
Part 1 — The Quick Setup
Bring your footage into DaVinci Resolve and switch to the Color page. From the Effects library, grab Color Space Transform and drop it onto your node.
Then set it up like this:
Input Color Space: Choose Rec.2020 if you’re shooting on an older iPhone using Apple Log. But if you’re shooting on the newer iPhone 17 Pro, you’re working with Apple Log 2, and there you’ll want Apple Wide Gamut.
Input Gamma: Apple Log
Output Color Space: Use Timeline
Output Gamma: Use Timeline. If you’re making videos for YouTube, your timeline is set to Rec.709, just like we covered in the last video.
Tone Mapping Method: Saturation Preserving
Use the Adaptation slider to gently dial the image brighter or darker to taste. At this point you should already be looking at a normal, good-looking image.
Leave Apply Forward OOTF off for now. That keeps a wider dynamic range with lifted shadows, which is a great starting point. But if the shot looks too washed out to you, just tick that box and it’ll give you standard contrast. Leave Apply Inverse OOTF off, and Use White Point Adaptation makes no difference in our case, so you can leave it on.
Done. From here you could add more nodes and fine-tune the color.
Part 2 — For Finer Grading Work
Now let’s look at a slightly more professional workflow. It’s worth it if you’re planning to push the color harder. In that case I’d recommend a setup that’s one step more involved.
Everything we’ve done so far still applies, with one difference.
In your first Color Space Transform node, set the output to DaVinci Wide Gamut / DaVinci Intermediate. That converts the image from Apple Log into a wider working space, which gives you more freedom and precision while grading.
Now add a new node downstream with another Color Space Transform. Set that one up with DaVinci Wide Gamut / DaVinci Intermediate as the input, and Use Timeline for both Output Color Space and Output Gamma.
Done. Your iPhone footage is now developed, and you’re looking at the same image as with the quicker setup.
Part 3 — You’re Ready to Grade
The trick with the two Color Space Transform nodes is that between those two points you can make bold color moves with maximum precision and subtlety, without the image falling apart.
That’s where you set your luminance range, contrast, and color corrections, build cinematic looks, or work whatever other magic you have in mind.
Because you’re working in a wide gamut space, you have plenty of headroom in both highlights and shadows. That means you can rescue poorly exposed shots and work with high dynamic range material. Then render the result out to Rec.709, for YouTube for example, exactly the way we covered in the last video.
That’s all for today. More tips coming soon.