video · guide
LUTs in Final Cut Pro
Add the Custom LUT effect and point it at the file.
Step by step
- Select the clip and open the Effects browser.
- Find Custom LUT under Color and drag it onto the clip.
- In the inspector, set LUT to Choose Custom LUT… and select the
.cube. - Use the Mix slider to control strength.
Save a configured Custom LUT effect as a preset (right-click the effect → Save Effects Preset) so it is one click on the next clip.
Final Cut caches imported LUTs by name. If you replace a file with a different look but the same filename, restart Final Cut or it will keep the old one.
Which LUT to load
Every LUT here is a standard .cube 3D LUT, so all 296 work in Final Cut Pro. The real problem is choosing one, and downloading twenty files to audition them is the slow way round.
Preview all 296 on your own photo →
Drop a photo into the tool and every look renders on it at once. Find the two or three worth keeping, then download only those.
Popular starting points
Kodak 2383 Print
The standard cinema print stock — what a film actually looked like projected in a cinema.
3 renderings
Fuji 3510 Print
Fuji's cinema print stock — cooler and greener than Kodak's equivalent.
3 renderings
Kodak 2393 Print
A punchier Kodak print emulsion — 2383 with the contrast and saturation raised.
3 renderings
Kodak Portra 400
The default modern portrait film: warm, forgiving skin tones and a very long highlight roll-off.
16 renderings
Fuji X-Trans III Classic Chrome
Fujifilm's documentary simulation — muted colour and hard shadows, evoking Kodachrome.
1 rendering
Kodak Tri-X 400
The definitive photojournalism film: gritty grain, deep blacks, enormous latitude.
6 renderingsGetting the strength right
Most film looks read better between 50% and 80% than at full strength. Real film never had to sit on top of an image that was already white-balanced and contrast-corrected, which is what you are asking it to do here.
Apply the LUT after exposure and white balance, never before — a look applied to an image that is two stops dark bakes the mistake in rather than fixing it. There is more on why in what a LUT actually is.
Other applications
DaVinci Resolve · Adobe Premiere Pro · Adobe Lightroom Classic · Adobe Photoshop · Capture One · Affinity Photo · Adobe After Effects · OBS Studio · GIMP