Image: BlackMagic Design

Adobe Lightroom is getting a new competitor from a surprising place. BlackMagic has added what looks to be a shockingly complete set of photo editing tools to the latest version of its Davinci Resolve software, which has traditionally been designed primarily for video editing, color work, and sound design.

Resolve 21 gains a new "Photo" mode, which lets you organize a collection of stills into albums, apply ratings and labels and even search through all your images with an AI-powered tool that you can use to find photos of certain kinds of subjects. The company says it "worked closely" with camera manufacturers to support Raw stills from Canon, Sony, Nikon, Fujifilm and Apple, but you can also use it to edit JPEGs and HEIC files. There's even a tethering mode for certain Sony and Canon cameras.

Node-based editing will take some getting used to, but can be a powerful tool, depending on how you edit.

The company's main pitch for Resolve as a photo editor centers around its color tools. They're extremely robust, as they're designed for editing movies, but offer a lot of flexibility for stills too. The editor uses what's known as a node-based approach, which lets you add adjustments as independent effects that can either chain together or not affect each other. For example, if you select part of your image using Resolve's "Magic Mask" feature, you can have your base color adjustments apply to the entire image, but have certain edits only applied to the masked area.

While nodes can take a little bit of practice to wrap your head around, they can be a powerful and flexible way to edit. Using them isn't absolutely required, though; the software also has built-in "Film Looks" presets that you can customize, and supports applying Look Up Tables, or LUTs, to your photos. And if you just want to edit basics like lightness, color temperature, saturation, etc., you can use more traditional sliders. Resolve also includes basic crop and rotation tools, too.

Resolve's Raw editing tools will be more familiar than its color editing ones.

BlackMagic also says that edits and adjustments can be accelerated by your computer's GPU, which it claims allows Resolve to process photos "dramatically faster than conventional photo applications."

During a livestream announcing the update, BlackMagic's CEO said that the Photos mode will probably receive a lot of tweaks and improvements over time. But if it provides anything like the capabilities that BlackMagic has promised, it could be a viable competitor to more established programs like Adobe Lightroom and Capture One Studio right off the bat.

That's especially true given the price. Davinici Resolve is available for free, though to get all of its features, you'll have to pay $300 for the "Studio" version*. However, Blackmagic tells us that, currently, there's no differences between the free and Studio versions when it comes to the photos page, though some features of the color editor, and many of the program's AI tools, require a paid license.

Davinici Resolve 21 is being released in beta today, though it's worth taking that label seriously. We weren't able to successfully export a photo while testing to see if there were any obvious limitations, with the software just giving us an error message about not being able to decode it, so it seems like there's still definitely some work to be done.

The company also announced plenty of features for video editors, too, which largely center around AI. The software now has a suite of built-in AI-powered effects, such as voice generation, "CineFocus," which lets you add customizable blur to your video, actor aging/deaging tools, blemish removal and more. Many of those, and the software's other video-focused tools, such as AI-upscaling and noise reduction, can also be used when editing stills.

* - Currently, that's a one-time fee, with Studio owners getting free upgrades to each subsequent version. However, during the livestream, BlackMagic's CEO mentioned that the company may need to start charging for upgrades someday.

Satoshi Maetaki (left) and Yutaka Nakamura (right) holding the Canon RF 14mm F1.4 L VCM and RF 7-14mm F2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM, respectively. Photo: Mitchell Clark

Last year, we had the opportunity to tour Canon's lens factory in Utsunomiya, to get a look at how the company produces its optics. This year at CP+, we had the chance to talk to some of the people who play a part in designing the lenses made there: Satoshi Maetaki, general manager of the Optics Technology R&D Center and Yutaka Nakamura, assistant manager at the IMG Products Planning Center.

Our conversation largely centered around two of the company's latest releases, the RF 14mm F1.4 L VCM and the RF 7-14mm F2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM, but we also got to talk about some of the things the engineers consider when designing a lens, some of the tools and tech that helps them with that process and how they decide which lenses to work on.

Considering what lenses to make next

Nakamura says the process for deciding what lens to make next is a holistic one, based on several factors. "We always consider: 'what is the ideal lens lineup?' That’s always in our mind," he says. "It’s not just the market environment or the user’s feedback. We also have to consider the possible future advancement of our core technologies, and how consumers’ shooting styles will change."

"We always consider: 'what is the ideal lens lineup?'"

While many of Canon's recent lenses have been full-frame designs, in our interview with Canon's top executives, Go Tokura, Executive Vice President and Head of Canon's Imaging Group, said the company is still interested in crop systems. "We won't stop exploring the field of APS-C lenses," he says. "Our principle is both full-frame and APS-C. We will continue to explore."

Advanced materials, corrections and simulations

Once they determine what lens to make, the engineers and planners have to figure out how to actually build it. According to Maetaki, the decision on whether to use digital distortion correction is made at the very beginning of the process, as was the case for the 14mm F1.4 L VCM. "We developed this lens under the precondition that distortion correction is to be done on the camera side," he says. "Because some of the correction can be done by the body, the lens can be smaller."

"We developed this lens under the precondition that distortion correction is to be done on the camera side"

As with many other lens makers we've talked to, Maetaki said special elements like Canon's BR and fluorite lenses are especially important when it comes to making a high-performance lens that's still relatively compact.

He also says that Canon is taking advantage of recent advancements in simulation tech for lens designs. "At the time of development, we have a better idea of how it’s going to be post-correction. Thanks to the development of the simulation technology, we can select the optimal design." As the company designs the lens, it can run simulations in tandem with the physical design work it's doing.

AF motors

For modern mirrorless lenses, choosing which kind of actuator to use for the autofocus is also an essential part of the process. According to Maetaki, the decision is made on a case-by-case basis; sometimes the company will choose an autofocus technology based on the optical design, other times the type of autofocus actuator may influence the lens' construction.

"Simply put, we select the motor depending on the concept of each lens," says Nakamura. "Is it for professionals, for high-end amateurs, entry-level? Or is it specialized for still images, or a hybrid between stills and video? Also, price range is important for us to consider. And focal length, the maximum aperture… Based on all these elements, we’ll decide which motor or actuator is most suitable."

In the case of the 14mm F1.4 L VCM, the company went with the namesake voice coil motors because of their ability to move the lens's relatively large and heavy elements. And even though the RF 7-14mm F2.8-3.5 L Fisheye STM is a modern version of the DSLR-era EF 8-15mm F4L Fisheye USM, Canon decided not to go with the ring-type USM motor again. According to Nakamura, this was a lesson it applied from a previous lens, the RF 10-20mm F4 L IS STM, from 2023.

"That was an ultra-wide lens that had the STM as well," he says. "That let it be compact with quiet, speedy, smooth autofocus. We took that lesson and applied it to this model."

Making a line of lenses the same size

The lenses in Canon's VCM lineup have very similar dimensions to make it easier to swap between them if you're using a gimbal or other video setup. Image: Canon

One notable aspect of Canon's F1.4 VCM lineup is how all the lenses are all very similarly-sized, from 14mm to 85mm. Nakamura says this is so video shooters can use all the same accessories, such as ND filters, follow focus units and rigs, even when switching between lenses. "That’s why we stick with the same barrel size or diameter, so those accessory changes don’t become a burden. So this is one of the determining factors when we’re deciding to add a lens to the lineup. We have to consider all this, including the shooting styles of our users."

According to Maetaki, achieving this isn't actually as difficult an engineering challenge as it might seem. "With current focal lengths, it’s not much of a problem," he says. "If the focal length becomes even longer, the difficulty level goes way up. Because when that happens, the diameter of the glass becomes larger, so it’s harder to fit." He says that from 14mm to 85mm it's fine, but perhaps that means we shouldn't hold our breath for something like a 100mm entry in the F1.4 VCM lineup.