Filmlight has upped its Apple game with the latest Baselight for Mac. Blake Jones is impressed at what he finds.
As an experienced colourist I have always kept an eye on Baselight through the years so I decided to check out the new Baselight for macOS. I have to say that I was extremely impressed with the application.
In the past years Filmlight already had an educational version of Baselight on the macOS operating system but it appeared to be aimed at those who were getting to know the system before making the transition to a complete system. This new version is fully functional and configured for the latest generation Apple hardware.
The installation was extremely simple and all the hardware in my suite was instantly recognised. The desktop is a very slick design and I was able to start working with the system in a very short time. Whereas other grading applications are node-based, Baselight is essentially layer-based. This makes it very simple for those who are familiar with Premiere Pro or Photoshop to make the transition.
During the installation, I had a few minor questions and I contacted customer support. I was impressed at how fast they responded and those who responded were extremely knowledgeable. During my research I have found that FilmLight has an excellent reputation for customer support and there is always someone who can be reached no matter what time of the day it is.
It’s important to note that the application license cost is a bit high compared to other applications but there are options such as Single user or Multi user plus fees are configured at either a quarterly (€ 2310.00) or yearly (€ 6940.00) basis. The Single User license is aimed at the freelance colourist who doesn’t require the extended collaboration tools. Of course when their requirements increase, it is possible to upgrade to the Multi User license which has access to all the extended collaboration capabilities. Dividing the system license structure into these options helps when you need to fit it into your budget.
If you want to try out the system there is a free 14 day license available via their website. In regards to hardware, Filmlight recommends using a Mac Studio or a Mac Pro along with high performance storage. Filmlight also now makes provisions so that third party panels from companies such as Tangent can be easily used.
I was anxious to speak with a colourist who was working previously with other applications so I spoke with a colleague who had moved to Baselight. During our meeting he told me that he had absolutely no problem with using the system and was impressed with the flexibility and great customer support. He had several projects that required complex network configurations and it was easily achievable. He also told me about an occasion when he was supplied with media files from a customer which were not supported by Baselight. He contacted customer support and was immediately put into contact with the relevant people in the software development department. They were able to supply him with a software version to fix the issue so he could proceed with his project within minutes.
I went on to work on a complete project using the system. It was very simple to create my project, import the media, conform and grade using their extensive tools available.
All the tools required are easily accessible on the desktop plus the desktop windows can be easily configured. As I was working with multiple monitors, I could allocate one to be the grading monitor. I found the color grading controls to be very smooth to use and the system even supports Open FX Plugins from third party suppliers. I found that their curve grading and qualifiers were very simple to use. I also used their conforming and scene detection tools which worked great. The whole process from importing the media, conforming, grading and exporting was smooth sailing.
Through the years I have used many color grading systems and found that all reacted the same way allowing me to achieve the required results. Whichever systems colourists use is really down to personal preference. In my closing thoughts, what struck me about the system was how stable and polished it was, I wanted to see how the system performed when it was loaded on hardware that was not recommended so I ran it on my Mac Mini with an M2 Pro processor and found that it ran perfectly. However I would certainly recommend using FilmLight’s recommended hardware as this was solely for testing purposes.
In the end Baselight for Mac provides first class color grading performance and is very easy to set up and use.