Many people are surprised when I tell them that the majority of my videos on my website were shot on an 8 year-old Canon DSLR. The truth is, you don’t need the latest and greatest gear to create cinematic video. You just need to tweak a few picture settings and know how to leverage free editing software that will allow you to manually adjust and color grade your dslr footage. Yes, for free.

Here’s how:

Step 1:

Download the free version of Davinci Resolve Lite.

Step 2:

Download Technicolor Cinestyle or VisionLOGraw (or use your camera’s NEUTRAL picture setting and turn contrast all the way down).

Step 3:

Install Technicolor Cinestyle or VisionLog to your camera. [VIDEO]

Step 4:

Color Correct your footage [as shown in the video tutorial above].

Step 5:

Color Grade your footage [as shown in the video tutorial above].

Step 6:

Export your footage / save to your computer / open in linear editing suite or imovie.

Questions about camera settings? Send me a message and I’ll share you what I use.

Happy shooting.

-Amir