Driffield · James Kirby

One frame

As shot, as the negative, as the print

A film look starts as a negative and becomes a print. Driffield does both, on one node, from your camera’s log.

On a banana field at dawn, as shot in Canon Log 3 — **Fig. 1**One frame of mine, shot in Canon Log 3, through the plugin: Vision3 50D, printed on Kodak 2383, at VISUAL’s settings. Drag to compare. The negative is shown as a film scanner records it, which is what a colourist receives: flat, and the right way round. The strip of film itself is orange and inverted.

The same frame through Driffield: Vision3 50D printed on 2383 — **Fig. 1**One frame of mine, shot in Canon Log 3, through the plugin: Vision3 50D, printed on Kodak 2383, at VISUAL’s settings. Drag to compare. The negative is shown as a film scanner records it, which is what a colourist receives: flat, and the right way round. The strip of film itself is orange and inverted.

The films

Nine films, on their own prints

Each film as published, printed the way it was in real life: motion picture film on 2383 or 2393, stills film on RA‑4 paper. Where a frame was graded, inside the plugin, the settings are under it. Drag across each one.

Vision3 50D, as shot — **Vision3 50D on Kodak 2383.** Kodak’s own published data for this film, in every part. Blackmagic Pocket raw. Graded in the plugin: exposure +0.5, printer lights 26, 25, 24.

Vision3 50D, Vision3 50D — **Vision3 50D on Kodak 2383.** Kodak’s own published data for this film, in every part. Blackmagic Pocket raw. Graded in the plugin: exposure +0.5, printer lights 26, 25, 24.

Vision3 500T, as shot — **Vision3 500T on Kodak 2383.** Kodak’s own published data for this film, in every part. Blackmagic Pocket raw. Graded in the plugin: exposure +1, printer lights 26, 25, 24.

Vision3 500T, Vision3 500T — **Vision3 500T on Kodak 2383.** Kodak’s own published data for this film, in every part. Blackmagic Pocket raw. Graded in the plugin: exposure +1, printer lights 26, 25, 24.

Portra 400, as shot — **Portra 400 on Endura RA‑4 paper.** Kodak’s datasheet for its curves and sensitivity; dye shapes from VISION3; grain a stand in, as Kodak publishes a Print Grain Index only. Raw photograph via Signature Edits. Graded in the plugin: exposure −0.5, interlayer 2, print contrast 0.85.

Portra 400, Portra 400 — **Portra 400 on Endura RA‑4 paper.** Kodak’s datasheet for its curves and sensitivity; dye shapes from VISION3; grain a stand in, as Kodak publishes a Print Grain Index only. Raw photograph via Signature Edits. Graded in the plugin: exposure −0.5, interlayer 2, print contrast 0.85.

Ektar 100, as shot — **Ektar 100 on Endura RA‑4 paper.** Kodak’s datasheet for its curves and sensitivity; dye shapes from VISION3; grain a stand in, as Kodak publishes a Print Grain Index only. Raw photograph by Richard Newey, via Signature Edits.

Ektar 100, Ektar 100 — **Ektar 100 on Endura RA‑4 paper.** Kodak’s datasheet for its curves and sensitivity; dye shapes from VISION3; grain a stand in, as Kodak publishes a Print Grain Index only. Raw photograph by Richard Newey, via Signature Edits.

Vision3 250D, as shot — **Vision3 250D on Kodak 2383.** Kodak’s own published data for this film, in every part. Blackmagic Pocket raw. Graded in the plugin: printer lights 26, 25, 24.

Vision3 250D, Vision3 250D — **Vision3 250D on Kodak 2383.** Kodak’s own published data for this film, in every part. Blackmagic Pocket raw. Graded in the plugin: printer lights 26, 25, 24.

Verita 200D, as shot — **Verita 200D on Kodak 2393.** Kodak’s datasheet for this film; its dye shapes are VISION3’s, as Verita’s sheet draws none.

Verita 200D, Verita 200D — **Verita 200D on Kodak 2393.** Kodak’s datasheet for this film; its dye shapes are VISION3’s, as Verita’s sheet draws none.

CineStill 800T, as shot — **CineStill 800T on Kodak 2383.** Kodak Vision3 500T’s data, the same emulsion, with the antihalation backing removed, as CineStill does. Its halation is modelled, not measured on CineStill film. Blackmagic Pocket raw. Graded in the plugin: exposure +0.5, printer lights 26, 25, 24; halation off in this picture.

CineStill 800T, CineStill 800T — **CineStill 800T on Kodak 2383.** Kodak Vision3 500T’s data, the same emulsion, with the antihalation backing removed, as CineStill does. Its halation is modelled, not measured on CineStill film. Blackmagic Pocket raw. Graded in the plugin: exposure +0.5, printer lights 26, 25, 24; halation off in this picture.

Gold 200, as shot — **Gold 200 on Endura RA‑4 paper.** Kodak’s datasheet for its curves and sensitivity; dye shapes from VISION3; grain a stand in, as Kodak publishes a Print Grain Index only; sharpness from the VISION3 family. Raw photograph by @wutkaicheung, via Signature Edits. Graded in the plugin: interlayer 2, print contrast 0.85.

Gold 200, Gold 200 — **Gold 200 on Endura RA‑4 paper.** Kodak’s datasheet for its curves and sensitivity; dye shapes from VISION3; grain a stand in, as Kodak publishes a Print Grain Index only; sharpness from the VISION3 family. Raw photograph by @wutkaicheung, via Signature Edits. Graded in the plugin: interlayer 2, print contrast 0.85.

Fujicolor PRO 400H, as shot — **Fujicolor PRO 400H on Crystal Archive RA‑4 paper.** Fujifilm’s datasheet for its curves and sensitivity; dye shapes solved from the neutrals Fujifilm publish; grain and sharpness from Fujifilm’s figure, split between the layers as Kodak’s. Raw photograph via Signature Edits. Graded in the plugin: exposure +1, interlayer 2, print contrast 0.85.

Fujicolor PRO 400H, Fujicolor PRO 400H — **Fujicolor PRO 400H on Crystal Archive RA‑4 paper.** Fujifilm’s datasheet for its curves and sensitivity; dye shapes solved from the neutrals Fujifilm publish; grain and sharpness from Fujifilm’s figure, split between the layers as Kodak’s. Raw photograph via Signature Edits. Graded in the plugin: exposure +1, interlayer 2, print contrast 0.85.

Vision3 500T in daylight, 85 filter on — **Vision3 500T in daylight, with and without the 85 filter.** 500T is made for lamps. In daylight without its orange 85 filter, its blue layer takes about one and a half stops more light than its red, and the print comes back cold, as here, unless the lab times it back. The plugin’s Scene Light does this for every film, and the other way round: a daylight film under lamps without its blue 80A goes amber.

Vision3 500T in daylight, No filter — **Vision3 500T in daylight, with and without the 85 filter.** 500T is made for lamps. In daylight without its orange 85 filter, its blue layer takes about one and a half stops more light than its red, and the print comes back cold, as here, unless the lab times it back. The plugin’s Scene Light does this for every film, and the other way round: a daylight film under lamps without its blue 80A goes amber.

On the big screen

Shot on the same stocks

Vision3 50D and 500T are still at work in cinemas. These films were shot on them, as their cinematographers told Kodak.

Killers of the Flower Moon2023 · Rodrigo Prieto50D and 500T

Babylon2022 · Linus Sandgren50D and 500T, with 250D

Saltburn2023 · Linus Sandgren50D and 500T, with 200T

Oppenheimer2023 · Hoyte van Hoytema500T, with 250D and Double‑X, in 65mm

Poor Things2023 · Robbie Ryan500T, with Ektachrome and Double‑X

The Odyssey2026 · Hoyte van Hoytema500T, with 250D, in 65mm

Stocks as Kodak reports them; each poster opens its story. Posters belong to their studios. These films’ looks are their makers’ own: they’re here for the stocks they were shot on, not as a claim that the plugin matches them.

The controls

A lab, on my own footage

The plugin’s emulation, rendered on my Canon Log 3 footage. Each picture changes one control and nothing else.

Timed neutral — **Fig. 2**Printer lights, timed as a lab times a print. Vision3 500T. Neutral: 25 on each.

Developed normally — **Fig. 3**Development, on Vision3 500T. Developed as Kodak intends.

Print bleach bypass full — **Fig. 4**Print bleach bypass. Vision3 50D. Full: the silver stays in the print.

Print contrast 1 — **Fig. 5**Print contrast. Vision3 50D. 1: the print as Kodak describes it.

In Resolve

One node, a whole lab

Choose your camera’s log, the film and the print, and everything else starts at the film as its maker measured it, or off.

The whole panel
Camera	Film Stock (22 films), Scene Light, Exposure	Vision3 50D, light matched to the film, exposure 0
Development	Push Pull, Exposure Compensation, Interlayer Effect, Bleach Bypass, Neutral Neg Curves	normal development, the layers’ own interplay
Print	Red, Green and Blue Printer Points, Gang Printer Points, Print Stock, Print Contrast, Print Bleach Bypass, Print Grain	25 each, no print (the negative), contrast 1
Grain	Grain Strength, Grain Saturation, Grain Size	off; live in the plugin, a LUT can’t carry it
Sharpness	Film Resolution, Adjacency	the film’s own; live only
Halation	Halation Strength, Halation Film Gauge, No Remjet, Glare	off; live only
Transport	Gate Weave, Exposure Flicker	off; live only
Output	Display Target, HDR Paper White	Rec709 for SDR; PQ for HDR, paper white at 203 nits
Input	Input Space (23 camera and working formats), Film Format	ARRI LogC3, 35mm

How it works

The same stages as film

In the order the plugin runs them. The numbers on the drawings are the stages.

1
Footage inYour camera’s log footage is decoded back to the light that was in front of the lens.
2
Light in the filmThe emulsion spreads the light a little, by each layer’s published sharpness, and halation returns light from the base.
3
ExposureEach of the three layers sees the scene through its own published spectral sensitivity.
4
DevelopmentThe layers hold each other back as they develop, then each layer’s curve turns exposure into density. Grain forms here.
5
The negativeThree dye images. Stop here and it comes out as a Cineon scan.

Fig. 6The negative in section, after Kodak’s own diagram (Processing KODAK Motion Picture Films, Module 7, Fig. 7-1). Not to scale: it shows the order of the layers, not their thickness.

6
The printPrinter lights time it. Light through the negative’s dyes exposes the print film through its own sensitivity.
7
The displayThe print is shown as light, in Rec709 or HDR, with nothing brighter than its paper.
8
Print grainOptional, off by default, added last.

Fig. 7An additive printer, as labs print release prints: the lamp’s light split into red, green and blue, each set by a light valve in printer points, printed through the negative onto print film. Simplified, not to scale. A reversal film, Ektachrome 100D, skips the print: the developed film is itself the picture.

Read from the film’s own data

Each film’s characteristic curves and spectral sensitivities are read from that film’s own published datasheet, layer by layer. Where a datasheet doesn’t publish something, the manual and its audit name what stands in, film by film. Here is the data behind VISUAL, as the plugin reads it.

Fig. 8Redrawn from

One grey scale, negative to print

Thirteen grey patches, from six stops under a grey card to six over, through Vision3 500T and then 2383. The negative rises gently and is still rising at six stops over; the print turns that gentle line into an S curve, and mid grey lands at a tenth of the paper’s white.

Fig. 9Rendered by the plugin itself, with grain, halation and weave off. The curves inside it are Kodak’s: Vision3 500T from H-1-5219t, 2383 from H-1-2383t. The negative’s patches add 500T’s own base densities from its datasheet.

Who makes it

James Kirby

I’m a filmmaker and colourist in Chiang Mai. I’m the lead videographer and colourist at RealSpace Creative, and I graded the sales films of Cassie Schoonover.

My first film looks were made by eye. I wanted ones I could measure, so I built Driffield from the film makers’ own data and checked it on my own footage. VISUAL and ETERNAL are made in it.

My work Instagram

Made with it

A film, and two looks

A short film of mine, graded in Driffield, and the two looks in the shop. A LUT can’t carry grain, glow, weave or film sharpness, so the looks carry its colour; Driffield does the rest live.

From my film of a boat trip on Rutland Water, England, graded in Driffield.

VISUAL Vol. 01Vision3 50D and 500T printed on Kodak 2383

ETERNAL Vol. 02ETERNA 250D and 500 printed on 3513DI

Questions

Before you ask

What it runs on, what it takes, and what it costs.

Is it a LUT?

No. A LUT changes one colour into another, so it can’t carry grain, halation, glow, gate weave, film sharpness or the edge effects of development. Driffield runs the film process live, on one node.

Which DaVinci Resolve does it need?

It’s made and tested in DaVinci Resolve Studio 21. The free edition and older versions haven’t been tested yet, so for now plan on Studio 21.

Mac or Windows?

Windows, with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card, from the 20 series on. There’s no Mac version yet: if you’re on a Mac, join the early access list and say so, and you’ll hear first when there is.

Will it play in real time?

On an HD timeline, yes: about 10 milliseconds a frame at the default settings on my RTX 3060 laptop. At 4K it’s about ten frames a second on the same laptop. Halation is the heaviest effect; its Performance mode takes about a third of the time. Measured on the plugin alone, so Resolve’s own work comes on top.

Which cameras does it take?

23 input formats: ARRI LogC3 and LogC4, Sony S-Log3, Canon Log 2 and Log 3, Panasonic V-Log, Blackmagic Film Gen 5, Apple Log, Fujifilm F-Log and F-Log2, Nikon N-Log, RED Log3G10, DJI D-Log (not D-Log M), Leica L-Log and GoPro Protune, plus Rec709, sRGB, Cineon, ACES and DaVinci Intermediate.

Which films are in it?

22 films: Kodak Vision3 50D, 200T, 250D and 500T, Verita 200D, Portra, Ektar and Gold, CineStill 50D and 800T, and Fujifilm ETERNA and Fujicolor, printed on Kodak 2383 or 2393, Fujifilm ETERNA-CP 3513DI or photographic paper, and Ektachrome 100D, a reversal film that is its own picture. On the four Vision3 films, the curves, each layer’s sensitivity, the dyes, the grain and the sharpness all come from Kodak’s own datasheets; where a sheet doesn’t publish something, the manual and its audit name what stands in, film by film.

Does it work in Premiere or Final Cut?

Driffield is built and tested for DaVinci Resolve only. For other apps, VISUAL’s LUTs carry its colour.

How much, and when?

No price and no date yet. Join the early access list and you’ll hear first.

Get early access

Driffield is in development. Join the list and you’ll hear first when it’s ready. If you’re on a Mac, say so: there’s no Mac version yet.

One price, paid once. No subscription.

Join the early access list Follow on Instagram

Sample: the Gumroad early access listing goes here

Windows with an NVIDIA RTX graphics card, and DaVinci Resolve Studio 21.

Kodak, Eastman, Vision, Verita, Portra, Ektar, Gold, Endura, Fujifilm, ETERNA, Fujicolor, Crystal Archive and CineStill are trademarks of their owners. Driffield is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Curves redrawn from the published datasheets named under each chart.