Ahead of NAB 2026, Blackmagic Design unveiled DaVinci Resolve 21, a major update to its video-production software. A presentation lasting more than two and a half hours by CEO Grant Petty went beyond introducing new products and presented the company's vision for the future of the media industry itself. A public beta was distributed first, the system was demonstrated on hardware at NAB, and the official version was released on June 3.
The update's defining change is the addition of a fifth pillar—photo and still-image editing—to the existing four of video editing, color grading, VFX, and audio. It also seeks to bring several major trends now under way into one ecosystem: deeper integration of the DaVinci Neural Engine suite of AI tools, immersive production with Apple Vision Pro in view, and fully IP-based broadcasting through 100G Ethernet and the SMPTE-2110 standard.
Photo Editing as a Fifth Pillar
The new Photo page is a dedicated workspace for managing, developing, and grading photographs. Its significance lies in applying the company's color engine, which has become an industry standard in Hollywood, directly to still images. While conventional photo-editing software uses layer-based adjustments, DaVinci Resolve brings the same node-based processing used for video into photography. Primary corrections, curves, Power Windows, qualifiers, and other tools can be combined to apply different adjustments to selected areas of an image in parallel. Shared nodes can apply a single look to an entire album and immediately synchronize changes across related images. All processing is nondestructive, and images can be cropped while preserving their original resolution and aspect ratio.
Format support is practical as well. Major manufacturers' RAW formats are supported natively, with coverage expanding as the beta progresses. Direct import of Adobe Lightroom catalogs lowers the barrier to switching. Resolve also supports a LightBox view for seeing an entire album at once; filtering by star rating, flag, and color label; and tethered shooting that imports images as they are captured with connected Sony and Canon cameras. A completed album can be linked to the Cut or Edit page as a timeline. For photographers dissatisfied with monthly subscriptions, this could become a realistic alternative.
How AI Is Changing Post-Production
The DaVinci Neural Engine in the Studio version greatly automates processes previously performed by hand. AI UltraSharpen restores degraded footage at high definition; AI Motion Blur Removal analyzes and redraws blur caused by panning or rapid movement; and AI CineFocus reads a scene's depth and lets users refocus any point. Together, these tools can rescue mistakes made during shooting and create new forms of expression. For people, new tools include Face Age Transformation, which raises or lowers apparent age with a single slider; Face Shape Adjustment for fine-tuning the proportions of eyes and noses; and Blemish Removal, which reduces the visibility of spots and acne while preserving skin texture. AI Slate ID reads a production slate and converts it into metadata; AI IntelliSearch can search for subjects, words in dialogue, and even a particular person's face; and Voice Generator creates narration from an audio sample of only about ten seconds. These functions promise to reshape the post-production workflow fundamentally.
Enhancements Across Pages and Fairlight Live
Existing pages also received major upgrades. Fusion, which handles VFX, now integrates the acclaimed third-party Krokodove tools and includes numerous motion-graphics templates as standard. It supports the web-oriented Lottie format and the HTML-based OGraf format, allowing animations created elsewhere to be placed directly on a timeline. The USD toolset originating at Pixar was updated as well. The Color page adds MultiMaster Trim for managing multiple delivery formats, such as HDR and SDR, simultaneously on one timeline. Magic Mask, which automatically isolates a subject, now includes 'render and replace' to reduce playback load.
One especially significant addition is Fairlight Live, a new application for audio. It completely replaces broadcast live mixers that have depended on dedicated hardware with a software-based product. Running at low latency on macOS and Windows, it can handle hundreds or thousands of channels depending on the computer's processing power. Alongside stereo and surround sound, it supports Apple's ASAF spatial audio and integrates with SMPTE-2110 IP interfaces and ATEM switchers. The design can scale from a small podcast stream to a major sports broadcast.
Dedicated Hardware and 'Two Futures'
The software's capabilities are brought out further when paired with dedicated hardware. Blackmagic offers a broad lineup for different uses and budgets: the Replay Editor specialized for multicamera and sports replay at about ¥88,000; the professional Editor Keyboard designed for two-handed use at about ¥106,000; the compact Speed Editor; the dual-screen Mini Panel for color at about ¥359,000; and the top-of-the-line Advanced Panel at about ¥5,228,000. Many panels include a Studio license valued at $295, increasing their value.
Through this update, Blackmagic presents 'two certain futures' for media. The first is immersive media. The world's first immersive cinema camera, URSA Cine Immersive, runs dual 8K × 8K RGBW sensors for the left and right eyes at 90 fps and captures a field of view greater than 180 degrees with 16 stops of dynamic range. Data is recorded to an 8 TB media module, while DaVinci Resolve handles shooting, editing, color, spatial audio, and export to the AIVU format for Apple Vision Pro in one pipeline.
The other future is a fully IP-based broadcast infrastructure. The URSA Cine 12K LF 100G, equipped with a 100G Ethernet port, becomes a live studio camera simply by changing its menu setting to 'SMPTE-2110 Live' and can send uncompressed IP video to the network at high frame rates. Paired with dedicated switches, converters, and IP-compatible switchers, it enables 'cinematic live production' said to exceed the image quality of conventional broadcasters. Blackmagic Cloud Store supports this workflow by synchronizing material from the shooting location through the cloud so remote editors and colorists can begin work immediately.
A Philosophy of 'Democratizing Creativity'
Behind these technologies and prices is the philosophy of founder and CEO Grant Petty. He grew up in public housing outside Melbourne under circumstances that were far from privileged. He reportedly collected parts from secondhand shops, rushed to his school's Apple II during every break, and taught himself programming from library books. Even now as a billionaire, he remains an engineer who writes company code himself and appears personally in lengthy explanatory videos. His conviction that 'many of the most creative people in the world actually begin in very poor circumstances' drives a strong belief that talented young people should not be denied the means of expression for financial reasons.
In 2002, the company released its first product, DeckLink, for only $995—a clear disruption in a market where competitors charged about $10,000. The basic version of DaVinci Resolve remains free, while even the Studio version with advanced AI and stereoscopic tools is a one-time purchase of $295. At a time when monthly subscriptions dominate, adding a Photo page that could replace Lightroom offers relief to photographers and independent creators burdened by cost while also forming a strategy to capture the market.
Petty nevertheless left room for change in the future. While stating clearly that the update to Resolve 21 would be free, he mentioned for the first time that parts of major future updates might be paid. The reason was the cost of maintaining a large engineering team, supported by funds from users who purchase the Studio version. Even so, as Petty emphasized, $295 is dramatically less than the $350,000 once demanded by high-end Hollywood equipment. There is no sign that the underlying commitment—that every talented person should have access to professional tools at an affordable price—is wavering.
