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I'm an amateur learning to edit videos from my GoPro, DSLR, and quadcopter. I've tried various NLE's for cutting and liked FCPX workflow much more then Premiere Pro and similar editors with tracks. But for color grading looks like most editors use DaVinci. How it is different from FCPX? Does it have any advantages in case of simple grading for amateur projects?

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    As much as I love FCPX's very innovative interface, the color grading always seemed clunky to me. And then there's the elephant in the room: there is no white balance / color temperature function. This, to me, is Apple's way of saying: don't use FCPX for grading.
    – Duvrai
    Dec 1, 2016 at 11:12

3 Answers 3

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Use Resolve, it is far superior to FCPX for grading.

This is my workflow, since I always shoot in RAW with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera. I know there are ways to do this using XML, but I've run into issues with that when I segment a larger clip in FCPX and then bring it back to resolve it will then have each of those clips as individuals, instead of the one larger clip.

  1. Import the RAW DNG files to Resolve
  2. Add all clips to my timeline (their order doesn't matter)
  3. Apply a Blackmagic film to rec709 LUT and perform some basic grades

  4. Export as individual clips. The format and codec you use are up to you, but for editing I use 422 proxy

  5. Ensure that you export your clips using the source filename and save to a folder titled something like "Edit Media" or whatever you'd like

  6. Import those clips from the "Edit Media" folder into FCPX and perform your edits. Once you're satisfied with your edits, go back into Resolve and perform the final color grades of the clips you wound up actually using in your video. Render them at a higher quality (how high is up to you) and overwrite the clips in "Edit Media"

  7. Open the project again in FCPX and render your video. The clips should automatically be overwritten with the new ones you just exported from Resolve, as long as you keep using Source Filenames

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    Isn't looking for pieces that you've used in your final video kind of tedious? I tend to record everything and end up using like 10% of my footage and often in small slices.
    – Poma
    Dec 2, 2016 at 1:43
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    Well I usually scrap the stuff I know I definitely won't use before I even color grade. I'll remove them from the media pool in Resolve if I don't like them. I've done the XML roundtrip, but when I have one large clip that I break into smaller pieces in FCPX and then bring back into Resolve, I then have a bunch of smaller clips and then when I go back to FCPX, it won't work, because it's still looking for the longer clip @Poma
    – Manly
    Dec 2, 2016 at 16:28
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There are number of good color grading tools for working directly in FCPX available from 3rd parties if you prefer staying in one app. For example Color Finale is well liked. Apple's own Final Cut Pro X Resources page has a color correction section that lists a number of other color correction plug-ins available for the app.

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This might work for you...

I import my source media (BMPC4K + GoPro ProTune) into FCPX 10.3.

I 'Show Package Contents' in the Mac Finder and point Resolve at those files.

After grading is done in Resolve I export an XML file using the FCPXXML preset.

Import that XML into FCPX and it creates a project/timeline with your Resolve edits.

You can create your proxies in FCPX using the Transcode Media function.

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