Color Space Transform settings for every camera

Resolve's Color Space Transform effect converts flat log footage into a normal picture. These are the settings to pick for each camera, and what each one does.

Rather skip the settings? A PursuitLuts file does this conversion for you, for RED, Canon, Sony and Nikon.

Input, by camera

The input tells Resolve how your camera recorded the picture. It has two parts. The range of colors recorded is called color space, or sometimes gamut. The brightness curve is called gamma. Pick the pair that matches how the clip was shot.

Not sure which Sony one you shot? Here's how to tell. Same for Canon Log 2 and Log 3.

Nikon is the odd one. Resolve has no entry called N-Gamut. That's because Nikon defines N-Gamut as exactly the Rec.2020 color range. Choosing Rec.2020 is correct, and we confirmed it against Resolve's own conversion.

Output

For most work, choose Rec.709 with Gamma 2.4. That's what TVs and most professional monitors expect. Gamma 2.2 suits computer screens and the web. For cinema projectors, choose P3-D65 with Gamma 2.6. P3 is the cinema color range, and D65 is its standard daylight white. In PursuitLuts packs, these three match the TV, Web and Cinema folders, in that order.

Tone Mapping

A camera records far more brightness than a screen can show. Tone mapping decides what happens to everything too bright for the screen.

Set to None, anything brighter than the screen's white is simply cut off. A sky becomes a flat white shape with no cloud in it, and nothing you do later brings it back. That's the biggest reason a converted shot looks harsh.

The DaVinci option brings those bright areas down gently instead of cutting them off. It's a big improvement over None, and it's why many first conversions look better once this one menu changes.

This is where LUTs differ most. PursuitLuts files bring bright areas down gently and keep strong colors from turning into blocks, for all five camera brands.

Gamut Mapping

Cameras also record colors stronger than a screen can show. Gamut mapping pulls those back into range. Set to None, they're cut off. That's what turns a neon sign or a sunset into a flat block of one color.

There's a real trade here. Pull too hard and strong light loses its color, so a low sun turns pink instead of gold. Pull too little and bright colors flatten into blocks. Where you sit between the two is taste, not a technical right answer.

Advanced

Leave the two boxes marked OOTF unticked. They only matter for high dynamic range video.

How to check your own settings

Put a Color Space Transform on a node and set the input to your camera. Set the output to DaVinci Wide Gamut and DaVinci Intermediate, Resolve's own flat working format. Set tone and gamut mapping to None. That converts the footage and adds nothing else. If the picture looks flat and gray, it's working. It's how we checked our own conversions against Resolve.

Updated 2026-09-13. All guides