Our DCS Editor Christopher Knell hates to be locked in a darkened room all day as he cuts a variety of projects, so he was excited by the announcement that Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve is now available for use on an iPad. He jumped at the chance to become a beta tester for the app which is optimized to support the necessary features for cut and color finishing including the latest HDR workflows.  DaVinci Resolve for iPad is now available in the Apple App Store as a free download, with an upgrade to DaVinci Resolve Studio for iPad also available as a one off in-app purchase for US$95.

Chris remarked that the Cut + Color tabs work well and basically just like the full desktop version as well as the same color correction and AI assisted tools such as magic mask, voice isolation and dialogue leveler, even smart reframe. He liked that he could use his DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor via Bluetooth, and also work right off an SSD drive easily going between desktop and iPad a via USB-C connection.  So, he can start editing right from that drive and as soon as he returns to the studio, the project file can be opened on his desktop, using Blackmagic cloud to quickly continue editing.  He also noted that the iPad Pro can edit Blackmagic RAW files on the go without needing to use proxies.  Other features detailed in the Blackmagic Design announcement include:

• DaVinci Resolve for iPad is optimized for the iPad Pro with M1 and M2 chips.
• Cut page for editing and the color pages are optimized for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro display.
• Up to 4x Ultra HD ProRes render performance improvement with the M2 chip.
• Supports Apple Neural Engine features in DaVinci Resolve Studio for iPad.
• Compatible with DaVinci Resolve 18 project files.
• Supports multi-user collaboration via Blackmagic Cloud.
• Supports H.264, H.265, ProRes and Blackmagic RAW media files.
• Supports clips from iPad storage, Photos library and iCloud.
• Import clips from external USB-C disks.
• Works with Apple Pencil, Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard and Smart Keyboard Folio.
• External monitoring via Apple Studio Display, Pro Display XDR or an AirPlay display.
• Supports HDR display on 12.9-inch iPad Pro with the M1 chip.
• Compatible with iPadOS 16 or newer.

Note: This post was updated December 22, 2022 upon release of the full version of the app along with DaVinci Resolve 18.1.2 which include updates for DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor firmware with iPad Bluetooth support.