- Davinci Resolve Manual
- Davinci Resolve Panel Setup
- Davinci Resolve Micro Panel Manual
- Davinci Resolve Mini Panel
- The DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel from Blackmagic Design is a portable control surface that provides more control and a faster workflow to DaVinci Resolve software than working with a keyboard and mouse alone. Suitable for editors and colorists that need a portable control surface.
- DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel $1,025.00. Free shipping. DaVinci Resolve Studio Dongle $299.00. Free shipping. Report item - opens in a new window or tab. Given that so many of the controls are menu based, this User Manual will describe each of the hard keys and controls and then, separately, the menu structure and controls of.
The DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel is an absolute delight to use. Even as I was still getting familiar with the layout of the controls it was already faster than the Avid Artist Color panel I’ve been using for the last 4 years. There are lots of good reasons to use a physical controller to do things. Support Center How can we help you? Welcome to the Blackmagic Design support center. Here you will find the latest software updates, support notes, instruction manuals and all kinds of helpful information. If you need extra help, then please go to our community forum and connect with the incredible experience of the television industry.
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Focus On The New Blackmagic Resolve Mini Panel
Hi Everyone, it’s Robbie!
As I teased in the last month’s Color Correction Gearhead Insight we have something really great to talk about this month –Blackmagic’s new Resolve Mini Control Surface.
Announced March 6th, 2017 alongside the similarly impressive Resolve Micro Panel, the Mini Panel has garnered a lot of attention as a powerful control panel for the Resolve colorist that inherits many of the features, and design cues of the $30k Resolve Advanced Panel.
While the smaller Micro Panel is a compelling panel designed for, as Blackmagic’s Grant Petty put it, Resolve editors also doing color work – the Mini panel adds two LCD screens, more buttons and a ton of functionality.
For many Resolve colorists who long for the feature set of the Resolve advanced panel, the Mini panel provides a similar feel and design language, at ten percent of the price! But this Insight isn’t about my thoughts on the Resolve Mini Panel, today we introduce a new voice in the Insights Library!
In this installment of our Color Correction Gear Head article, we bring in a brand new contributor Joey D’Anna – a colorist and finishing artist based in the Washington DC area.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Joey the past few years, and there is no more technically proficient person that I know!
Team MixingLight is looking forward to many more contributions to the Library from Joey! In this Insight, Joey provides a very detailed overview of the Resolve Mini panel along with some fantastic hi-resolution images of the panel and buttons.
This is a first in a series of Insights on the DaVinci Resolve Mini Panel
Overview articles give you a good idea of how a panel is built but it’s a different story once you start working with a panel on client-driven sessions.
In future Insights of this series,Team MixingLight and another new contributor will share their thoughts on using this panel in a professional setting. You’ll learn what we like, don’t like, where this panel excels and how to fill in some gaps of this panel.
So without further delay, we are pleased to present Joey’s overview of the Resolve Mini Panel.
Overview Of Blackmagic’s Colorist Focused Control Surface
Recently, Blackmagic Design released two all-new grading panels designed specifically for DaVinci Resolve. The Micro panel is a smaller, USB powered panel with controls for primary grading. The Micro panel retails for $995.
The Mini panel supplements those primary controls by adding an upper deck with two 5” LCD screens, two additional button groups, and 8 soft buttons and soft knobs to adjust properties in the various menus accessible on the screens.
I have been grading primarily on Tangent Elements for the past few years, and I decided to buy the Mini panel as an upgrade for my home suite. Compared to the Elements, the Mini is narrower, but deeper and taller. It fits nicely on my desk, actually giving me back a bit of desk space. The Mini panel retails for $2,995.
First Impressions
The first thing I noticed about the Mini panel is how solidly built it feels. Weighing in at around 20lbs (9 kg) and made mostly of metal, the panel feels very well built. It’s designed to fit inside a 19” rack for field or on-set use, and is approximately 17” wide, 16” deep and 5” tall (43 x 40.5 x 13 cm).
The trackballs are about the same size as those on the Element, so they are a tiny bit smaller than the ones on the advanced panel. They roll smoothly and are extremely precise in use.
The rings are made of metal and nicely weighted. They have a bit of texturing on them which makes them easy to manipulate, and like the trackballs they are very precise when I’m making adjustments. As with all colorist control panels in DaVinci Resolve, the sensitivity of the rings and balls is adjustable in software.
The knobs also rotate smoothly and provide precise control. Any knob-controlled parameter can be reset by pressing the knob.
The LCD screens are crisp and respond quickly, displaying changes to values in real-time. Full-color displays are a nice feature because on control pages like Hue vs Hue or Hue vs Sat curves, the on-screen controls are color coded.
Buttons are backlit, and the backlights dim or brighten depending on context. For example, the node disable button is dim by default, but brightens when toggled.
Unlike the Elements and the advanced panel – these buttons have a softer feel, without a hard click when you press them. At first this took a bit of getting used to for me, but they feel high-quality and have a satisfying engagement when you press them. It is very difficult to accidentally activate one by resting your arm on the panel.
Connections
The Mini panel has a standard AC power connection, an XLR 12v DC power connection, USB-C, and two Ethernet ports – one of the Ethernet ports supports power over Ethernet (PoE). The panel cannot be powered solely from USB-C. The only cable the panel comes with is a USB-C to USB-A cable, so be prepared to supply either PoE or your own power cable.
I chose to connect the panel using Ethernet via a PoE-capable switch.
PoE is a great feature because you can connect the panel with a single cable (compared to 4 to connect a full Element set) and since my workstation is in a separate equipment room, Ethernet is easier to extend over long distances than USB.
Functionality – Primary Controls
The primary grading section of the panel has the typical lift/gamma/gain trackballs and rings. Each ring gets individual reset buttons for RGB, level and Reset All. There is also a row of knobs for other primary grading functions.
One thing I really like about the Mini panel is that you get dedicated knobs for contrast, pivot, color boost, and midtone detail. On the Elements, these all live in sub-menus. The labels for these knobs are the only thing on the panel that isn’t backlit – so it will take some time to learn the muscle memory to identify them in a dark room.
The trackballs and rings control lift/gamma/gain by default, but above them are buttons that allow you to switch to log and offset modes. When you switch to log or offset, that button’s backlight brightens to show the current mode.
This is a big improvement from the Elements which had log in a submenu but no ability to control offset from the trackball. A nice addition in offset mode: It not only maps the right ball/ring to the offset controls, but also maps the left two rings to color temperature and tint
Functionality – Button Groups
The Mini panel has 3 main button groups. The first, to the right of the balls and rings, controls transport and navigation plus a few other commonly used functions.
Here you get playback controls, and buttons to select the previous and next node, frame, or clip. Above those you get undo/redo, grab/play still, and controls to toggle looping, bypass, plus node enable, reset and prev mem.
On the top right of the panel, you get the following additional functions:
Coming from the Elements, there’s a lot to like here. I’m a fan of having dedicated buttons for adding nodes + windows, appending nodes, and for toggling highlight. Those were all buried in submenus or not available on the Element but on the Mini they are one key press away.
On the top left of the panel, you have buttons which select the various tools that appear on the built-in displays. This is the bulk of the Mini panel’s extended functionality, as each one of these buttons calls up its own entire interface on the screens.
Selecting a function here not only brings it up on the screens, but selects that tool in your Resolve UI. The left and right arrows allow you to page through controls that take up more space than is available on the screens, indicated by the dots in the center of the screen:
Basically, the entire resolve grading toolset is available on these controls.
Take another look at the button bank for the LCDs. Do you notice the USER button? Currently, this button doesn’t do anything but will in the future. Resolve 12.5.5 ships with a Resolve Panels application that one can assume will allow user mappable functionality via the USER button in the future.
Related, the top right buttons are also numbered and currently don’t correspond to anything, but it’s easy to imagine in future updates these numbers could correspond to memories or stills.
Functionality – Working With The LCDs
Compared to the micro panel the LCDs are obviously a huge funcitionality improvement on the Mini panel and make up a large part of the cost differential between the two panels. For me, having curves on the panel is a huge upgrade from the Elements.
All of Resolve’s curves are available and are extremely quick to interact with. I use Hue vs Hue and Hue vs Sat often, and having them available on the panel is an absolute game changer for me.
The Mini panel also has great controls for adding and adjusting power windows. The LCDs show icons for the different shapes that match the icons in the software UI.
You get full control of positioning, opacity, and the ability to enable invert and mask. While working with multiple power windows on a single node, the left, and right arrow buttons cycle through the different available windows.
The qualifier controls are also a big improvement from the Elements. With the Elements, I often found myself defaulting to adjusting qualifier parameters using the mouse, but I find them to be much easier on the Mini panel.
Like the power window controls, icons for various functions such as invert and color selection match the icons in the software UI.
Another cool function is the ability to adjust camera raw settings right on the panel – if you work with RAW formats having this functionality right on the panel can save a lot of time.
Who doesn’t hate noise? Instead of clicking on the motion tab and adjusting noise reduction there the LCDs allow for direct manipulation of motion parameters like noise reduction and motion interactively:
This is just a small sampling of what you can do using the screens and soft buttons and knobs, so I’ve posted pictures of all the Mini panel’s menus for you download as a zipped file.
Conclusions
Since I bought the Mini, just about everyone I’ve talked to about it has asked me the same question:
‘Is the Mini worth it if I already have Elements?’
In my opinion – the answer is yes.
- The build quality and overall feel is excellent.
- Across the board the panel is better integrated with Resolve. This is to be expected, as the Mini is specifically designed for DaVinci Resolve and doesn’t have to work on multiple systems.
- I love having curves on the panel. This is probably my favorite feature on the Mini, and for me it is worth the entire price of admission.
- I also love having offset controllable via trackball.
- Many commonly used controls which were in submenus on the Element are directly available on the Mini.
- Power over ethernet allows for a clean single cable installation.
Please keep in mind, the Mini and Micro panels only work with DaVinci Resolve, which may be important if you regularly need to control other software.
If you grade mostly in Resolve – the new Mini panel offers a compellingly deep amount of functionality for a very low price, with smooth, precise controls and professional build quality.
If you have any questions about the panel please use the comments below – also be sure to check out future Insights about using the Mini Panel on a real-world project.
-Joey
Comments
As we start winding towards the dog days of summer, I was recently given the opportunity to get in front of the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K and the DaVinci Resolve Control Panel. This was a new and different approach to looking at products that come through the doors at ProductionHUB. Normally we might get a camera or lighting kit but to get two production/post production related products together was cool. As a production professional (like many of you) I am always looking at the budget and ways to control costs. So the idea of being able to upgrade in the field and enhance the post-production suite without crushing the budget was enticing to say the least. But before I get there, lets take a look at where production always has to start. It starts with the camera of course.
URSA Mini Pro 4.6K (list $5995)
Solid, very solid. Did I say solid? Weighing in at 5.1 lbs. the URSA MiniPro 4.6K had a certain heft to it. It wasn’t heavy to me at all. But if you are used to a smaller unit like a DSLR then the URSA might be on the heavy side for you. I thought the camera was ergonomically easy to hold and shoot with for an extended period of time. Part and parcel to that though was the fact that the
camera I reviewed came along with the outrigger handle, optional shoulder mount with tripod quick release, and a very good viewfinder (optional). Although we were set up for EF mount lens, users can also opt for the adapter kit that will allow other lens to be utilized, which is a big plus if you already own another type of lens and are partial to them, or you just want the option of being able to use something else as your lens.
camera I reviewed came along with the outrigger handle, optional shoulder mount with tripod quick release, and a very good viewfinder (optional). Although we were set up for EF mount lens, users can also opt for the adapter kit that will allow other lens to be utilized, which is a big plus if you already own another type of lens and are partial to them, or you just want the option of being able to use something else as your lens.
Davinci Resolve Manual
Shooting in a variety of challenging conditions, I found the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K to be very responsive and adaptable even in what many might consider poor lighting conditions. As I stepped through the various levels of gain, I didn't really start to notice signal noise until I got up to XX dbs. But with the 4.6K sensor I never felt as thought there were too many shots that would have been out of reach. On the other side of the equation I made it a point to really try to push up and over the point of no return when it came to blown out exposures. Remember, 15 stops of dynamic range. Again, the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K responded like a champ, bringing home some very nice images without killing the budget. Oh yeah and before I get to the impressive specifications of the camera, one thing really stuck out on the positive - the ability to record on both SD cards and CFast cards.
Yes I know that a lot of shooters would say OK, but I would say the idea of flexibility and the ability to keep shooting is and will continue to be a big factor for me. There are some more really impressive features. Of course being an old school shooter I like a camera that has all the controls where I can get to them.
The URSA Mini Pro has what I call “get to” control. The controls are laid out in a way that makes them easy to remember, so you’ll be able to adjust settings, use ND filters, change frame rate without having to look at the buttons or take the camera off of your shoulder. It also features high quality, neutral density (ND) filters. The 2, 4 and 6 stop filters have been specifically designed to match the colorimetry and color science of URSA Mini Pro, providing you with additional latitude, even under harsh lighting conditions. (More on this matching thing in a bit.) This allows different combinations of aperture and shutter angle to achieve shallower depth of field, or specific levels of motion blur, in a wider range of situations. The IR filters have been designed to filter both optical wavelengths and IR wavelengths.
Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro has multiple connections such as 12G-SDI out, HD- SDI monitoring out, 2 LANC inputs, balanced XLR audio with phantom power, time code in and reference input. On the front right side of the camera is a 12 pin control connector for broadcast lenses. There’s also a 4 pin XLR DC and an HD-SDI monitoring output that are located in good position for connecting an optional viewfinder or on set monitor. The 12G-SDI output handles all formats up to 2160p60 using a single BNC cable, and also switches to 6G-SDI or HD-SDI depending on the shooting format.
Shooting Resolutions
4608 x 2592
4608 x 1920 (4.6K 2.4:1)
4096 x 2304 (4K 16:9)
4096 x 2160 (4K DCI)
3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD)
3072 x 2560 (3K Anamorphic)
2048 x 1152 (2K 16:9)
2048 x 1080 (2K DCI)
1920 x 1080
4608 x 1920 (4.6K 2.4:1)
4096 x 2304 (4K 16:9)
4096 x 2160 (4K DCI)
3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD)
3072 x 2560 (3K Anamorphic)
2048 x 1152 (2K 16:9)
2048 x 1080 (2K DCI)
1920 x 1080
Recording Formats
CinemaDNG Raw (Uncompressed or Lossless 3:1/4:1 Compressed):
4608 x 2592
4096 x 2304
4608 x 1920
3072 x 2560
2048 x 1152
Apple ProRes:
4608 x 2592
4608 x 1920
4096 x 2304
4096 x 2160
3072 x 2560
2048 x 1152
2048 x 1080
1920 x 1080
Data Rates
4608 x 2592:
Uncompressed CinemaDNG Raw - 513MB/s
CinemaDNG Raw 3:1 - 180 MB/s
CinemaDNG Raw 4:1 - 135 MB/s
3840 x 2160:
Apple ProRes 444 XQ - 312.5 MB/s
Apple ProRes 444 - 165 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 HQ - 110 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 - 73.6 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 LT - 51 MB/s
Apple ProRes Proxy - 22.4 MB/s
1920 x 1080:
Apple ProRes 444 XQ - 62.5 MB/s
Apple ProRes 444 - 41.25 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 HQ - 27.5 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 - 18.4 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 LT - 12.75 MB/s
Apple ProRes Proxy - 5.6 MB/s
Rates based on 30 frames per second.
From a functionality and price point the URSA MiniPro 4.6K has some solid things going on, but then Blackmagic Design ups the game even more. Check this out. The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K can shoot at high frame rates and then play it back at the edit frame rate to get smooth slow motion. It made for a really nice professional look. Think of sports like horse or auto racing. It is a natural fit. One can even set an “off speed” frame rate, then alternate frame rates via a button of the exterior of the camera. Not having to think about the “how” made it easier just to go from standard to high frame rates. The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K can capture full res 4.6K recordings at 60 frames a second. So for my money the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K might just be one of the best values going in this particular space today.
CinemaDNG Raw (Uncompressed or Lossless 3:1/4:1 Compressed):
4608 x 2592
4096 x 2304
4608 x 1920
3072 x 2560
2048 x 1152
Apple ProRes:
4608 x 2592
4608 x 1920
4096 x 2304
4096 x 2160
3072 x 2560
2048 x 1152
2048 x 1080
1920 x 1080
Data Rates
4608 x 2592:
Uncompressed CinemaDNG Raw - 513MB/s
CinemaDNG Raw 3:1 - 180 MB/s
CinemaDNG Raw 4:1 - 135 MB/s
3840 x 2160:
Apple ProRes 444 XQ - 312.5 MB/s
Apple ProRes 444 - 165 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 HQ - 110 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 - 73.6 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 LT - 51 MB/s
Apple ProRes Proxy - 22.4 MB/s
1920 x 1080:
Apple ProRes 444 XQ - 62.5 MB/s
Apple ProRes 444 - 41.25 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 HQ - 27.5 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 - 18.4 MB/s
Apple ProRes 422 LT - 12.75 MB/s
Apple ProRes Proxy - 5.6 MB/s
Rates based on 30 frames per second.
From a functionality and price point the URSA MiniPro 4.6K has some solid things going on, but then Blackmagic Design ups the game even more. Check this out. The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K can shoot at high frame rates and then play it back at the edit frame rate to get smooth slow motion. It made for a really nice professional look. Think of sports like horse or auto racing. It is a natural fit. One can even set an “off speed” frame rate, then alternate frame rates via a button of the exterior of the camera. Not having to think about the “how” made it easier just to go from standard to high frame rates. The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K can capture full res 4.6K recordings at 60 frames a second. So for my money the URSA Mini Pro 4.6K might just be one of the best values going in this particular space today.
Why? Well for a pretty reasonable price you get the 4.6K sensor 15 stops of dynamic range, an easy to use and ergonomically friendly camera that you can put your favorite lens on and enough range to cover a lot of different types of shooting situations that the indie shooter might face. But here is where I think this whole thing gets very interesting. All URSA cameras include a full version of DaVinci Resolve Studio. DaVinci Resolve Studio is editing and color correction software that features an advanced, multi layer timeline with powerful editing and trimming tools, along with advanced creative color correction and creative grading tools. With URSA Mini Pro 4.6K and the DaVinci Resolve, you get a complete production and post production solution. Then on top of that, add the Davinci Resolve Micro Panel and you might not want to ever leave the post suite.
Davinci Resolve Panel Setup
Kidding of course. But I took on the Micro Panel because I wanted to see how it would fit in the flow. As we say in these parts “like butter.” Tactile control is nearly perfect. Honestly, it took the process to whole other level. It was, how do I say it? A very comfortable experience. Right out of the box, connected via one control cable, which also provided power and we were on our way. It features three high-resolution, weighted trackballs and 12 control knobs for accessing essential primary color-correction tools in the Resolve software. Eighteen dedicated keys on the right side also give you access to the most commonly used grading features and playback controls. The fact that I could get away from having to perform every last function on the keyboard was a definite game changer for me. Look how much detail you can get into.
Primary Correction Creative Control Knobs Control knobs are grouped into four sets of three knobs:
Luminance
Y lift Control: Adjust the contrast of the image in the darker areas, specifically in the Y (luminance) channel only. This adjustment allows changing the black point without changing saturation.
Y Gamma Control: Adjust the contrast of the image in the mid-tone areas, specifically in the Y (luminance) channel only. This control helps add depth and extra vibrancy to shots.
Contrast Control: Increase contrast to make the blacks darker and the whites brighter, or decrease contrast to do the opposite.
Pivot: Change the center of tonality about which dark and bright parts of the image are stretched or narrowed during a contrast adjustment.
Mid-Tone Detail: Affect the contrast of regions of the image with high edge detail to increase or decrease the perception of image sharpness and definition. Often used for softening facial features making it popular for beauty shots.
Detail
Color Boost Control: Raise the saturation in regions of the image with low saturation while leaving properly saturated areas alone. Also known as a vibrance operation, this is useful for adding color without over saturating the image.
Shadow Control: Selectively lighten or darken shadow detail without affecting your images mid-tones.
Highlight Control: Enable retrieving blown out highlight detail in high dynamic range media by lowering this parameter. This allows you to achieve a smooth blend between the retrieved highlights and unadjusted mid tones for a natural-looking image.
Y Gamma Control: Adjust the contrast of the image in the mid-tone areas, specifically in the Y (luminance) channel only. This control helps add depth and extra vibrancy to shots.
Contrast Control: Increase contrast to make the blacks darker and the whites brighter, or decrease contrast to do the opposite.
Pivot: Change the center of tonality about which dark and bright parts of the image are stretched or narrowed during a contrast adjustment.
Mid-Tone Detail: Affect the contrast of regions of the image with high edge detail to increase or decrease the perception of image sharpness and definition. Often used for softening facial features making it popular for beauty shots.
Detail
Color Boost Control: Raise the saturation in regions of the image with low saturation while leaving properly saturated areas alone. Also known as a vibrance operation, this is useful for adding color without over saturating the image.
Shadow Control: Selectively lighten or darken shadow detail without affecting your images mid-tones.
Highlight Control: Enable retrieving blown out highlight detail in high dynamic range media by lowering this parameter. This allows you to achieve a smooth blend between the retrieved highlights and unadjusted mid tones for a natural-looking image.
Saturation
Increases or decreases overall image saturation, you can turn your color image into a grayscale image with this control.
Davinci Resolve Micro Panel Manual
Hue Control: Rotate all hues of the image around 360° of the color wheel. The default setting is 50, which retains the original distribution of hues.
Luminance Mix Control: Control the balance between the YRGB adjustments and Y only adjustments made using the Y channel lift, gamma, and gain controls.
Luminance Mix Control: Control the balance between the YRGB adjustments and Y only adjustments made using the Y channel lift, gamma, and gain controls.
I also think that the Micro Panel controller should not be considered an “add on.” Why? For the price point I think that there would be a lot of new “colorists” that might just start here instead of the keyboard. Was there a pretty good learning curve? Shooter first, post second. Well yes to be quite honest there was a good curve. But if given more time I am convinced the rest would have come in short order. It was fun to be able to fly the Micro Panel and see what it could do. If I was building a small to medium suite, the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel would be on the must get list.
Final Thoughts
This was one of the most practical, yet fun types of reviews I have done in quite some time. The ability to combine products from field to post was a positive one. The URSA Mini Pro 4.6K packed a lot into a small form and will give indie shooters a lot of range for the buck. Then when you add the DaVinci Micro Panel to the mix and give that same person the ability to correct in the field or in the suite without going broke that's a big plus. It had a big professional feel to it and even though I am pretty convinced I wont be challenging any pro colorists soon, with time (and practice) the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel would be a great starting point when one wants to bring post to the next level.
One last thing. Thanks Blackmagic Design for the backlit control keys on the DaVinci Resolve Micro Panel. My eyes say thanks!
About the Writer
About the Writer
Davinci Resolve Mini Panel
Mark Foley is the Technology Editor for ProductionHUB. He is currently working on location in New England and in preproduction on a new show.