In this tutorial, we take a look at colour managing a timeline when using only one camera. Even with footage from only one camera, colour management is still essential. We also take a look at BASIS’ colour space setting and answer the question how and when you should use it.
We cover:
Colour Management Basics
Colour Management in Final Cut Pro
How to use LUTs with BASIS and the Colour Space Transform
Working with custom LUTs
LUTs for Rec.709
LUTs built for certain colour spaces
Camera colour spaces vs working colour spaces
You will find time stamps in the video for easier navigation.
All gestures work with a regular mouse, Apple’s Magic Mouse and a trackpad!
You just need to have secondary click (right click) enabled.
Overview
Adjust Region Value
Adjust the value of whites, highlights, midtones, shadows and blacks by clicking and dragging.
Reset Region Value
Double click a region to reset its value. This leaves adjustments to contrast, pivot, shoulder and toe intact.
Adjust Contrast and Region Contrast
Hover over the midrange and scroll to adjust the overall contrast of your image. Hover over the highlight or shadow region to adjust highlight- or shadow-contrast respectively.
Reset Contrast and Region Contrast
Click the middle mouse button or hold ALT and left-click to reset the contrast.
Attention! This leaves your previously set pivot intact.
Adjust Pivot and Region Pivot
By clicking and dragging using your right mouse button, you can change the pivot of the general contrast, the highlight and the shadow contrast respectively.
Reset Everything
Hold CMD and left-click anywhere to reset the entire contrast and tone adjustment.
We don’t believe in subscription models. We think they are disrespectful to the end user and disincentivise improvement and accountability. We think you should own the product that you paid for and it is our job to make sure the product works.
At the same time, we need to run a sustainable business and make sure that we can continue providing support and improving our products.
This means, we use a “free updates per generation” model, similar to companies like iZotope and Steinberg.
Small (“.x”) updates such as bug fixes, and small interface and workflow improvements are free for as long as the version is supported.
Major version upgrades (“X.”) need to be paid for, but owners of previous versions receive a significant upgrade discount.
Example
Let’s assume you bought BASIS when the most recent version was 1.2.
You get an email notifying you that version 1.3 has been released, which features some bug fixes and minor improvements to the interface. This update is free for you.
A year later, a new major version 2.0 is released. This new major version requires an upgrade if you would like to access the new features. You will be notified and given instructions on how to access your upgrade discount.
If you do not want to update, you can just continue using what you already have. Your older plugin will continue to work indefinitely until compatibility will eventually break as more Final Cut Pro Updates are released.
Why standard LUT workflows in Final Cut Pro throw away your camera’s dynamic range and colour data.
Demonstrating why built-in LUTs limit flexibility, particularly when trying to match multiple cameras.
Basic workflow Setup: How to use the plugin’s simple interface by selecting Input and Output color spaces.
Advanced control (Gamuts): Understanding how to manually manage gamuts using advanced options.
Working with multiple cameras: The necessity of converting different camera footage into one common, intermediate working space (e.g. ACES, DaVinci Intermediate or KOLOR Default).
Batch Processing: Using IDT (Input Device Transform) and ODT (Output Device Transform) presets to apply the same correction across hundreds of clips simultaneously.
We thoroughly investigated this behaviour. The issue appears when you use the global “Reset Parameter” option in the top left corner for an entire plugin.
This is an issue caused by Apple as we can reproduce this issue with multiple plugins, not just our own.
Sadly, there is nothing we can do about it.
How to fix it
If you have used the global “Reset Parameter” option, there is nothing you can do. If you’re lucky and you can still undo this operation, undo it.
If you cannot undo this anymore, you need to delete the plugin from your clip and apply it again.
How to reset instead
To avoid this issue you can reset your parameters in two different ways.
Either reset an entire group.
Or reset individual parameters.
We know, that blows
Good thing is, this is a well known issue by now and we hope Apple fixes it sooner rather than later.
Fun fact: You cannot be sure whether Final Cut Pro uses com.apple.FinalCut or com.apple.FinalCutApp so you need to check manually which directory exists.
Delete cached Effect Browser Thumbnails via Finder
Before you start, quit Final Cut Pro.
Open Finder and click on “Go”.
Then copy and paste one destination at a time and see which one yields a result. If Finder shows a result, go there and delete the entire folder called “Effect Browser Thumbnails”.
How do I know which version I currently have installed?
Inside Final Cut Pro, apply the Colour Space Transform plugin to a clip. Inside the plugin header, you will see the current version number.
Will updating the plugin break my projects?
Generally, we always recommend you finish your current projects before updating.
However, usually our updates do not break backwards compatibility. So if you really need to update during a project, it’s usually safe to do.
However, sometimes updates do break backwards compatibility. If that is the case, we will issue a warning like this:
2026-06-02 Release v1.1.3
⚠️ ATTENTION! This update is a major update to the CST which means the new version is NOT backwardscompatible. Please finish all projects before updating or swap all CSTs in your timeline.
Please also note that previously created Effects Presets will not work and need to be re-created!⚠️
If a release comes with this warning, do not update until you finished your current projects.
If you do need to update or you are working on a long-term project, you need to replace all instances of the Colour Space Transform in your project after updating.
How to download an update?
Option 1: If you’re signed up for our Colour Space Transform email newsletter, you can download the latest version straight from the email using the download button.
Option 2: Navigate to the Colour Space Transform’s product page. Then, scroll down to the download section. If you want to be up-to-date, you can sign up for our newsletter, or you can press “Download Only”. A download will start automatically.
Step 1: Quit Final Cut Pro and unzip the file
After downloading, double click the zip file if it is not already unzipped.
If Final Cut Pro is still running, quit it now.
Step 2: Run the installer
Double click the .dmg file to open this window. Then, double-click to install.
Step 3: Enter your password
Enter your Mac’s password to install the Colour Space Transform plugin.
Step 5: Successful installation
After running the installation process, you will see this screen. That means everything has been installed successfully.
KOLOR Default is an intermediate colour space almost identical to DaVinci Intermediate / DaVinci Wide Gamut. If you have tools or LUTs built for DaVinci Intermediate / DaVinci Wide Gamut, you can use them with our tools being set to KOLOR Default.
This works out of the box. There will be a difference when compared directly to DaVinci Resolve, but it will be minor.
What’s the difference between KOLOR Default and DaVinci Intermediate / DaVinci Wide Gamut?
We slightly tweaked the transfer function to improve noise performance. This offset is visible, but negligible. The gamut is identical to DaVinci Wide Gamut.
