so anyway i finally got it working in a way that doesnt make me want to throw my laptop out the window. for context i shoot on a mavic 3 classic, d-log m, and for the longest time my footage was just sitting in folders barely edited because the whole process felt overwhelming and i didnt know where to start in resolve.

what changed for me was just committing to one LUT as my starting point every single time. i was bouncing between like 6 different LUT packs and nothing ever looked consistent. now i pick one, apply it at like 60-70% opacity, then do the rest of my grade from there. also started using proxies which i shouldve done from day one because my laptop was choking on the 4k d-log files something fierce. anyway just wanted to share in case anyone else is in the same stuck place i was. whats everyone elses resolve workflow like, curious if theres a better way to handle the organization side because my bins are still a mess

the proxy thing is a game changer, took me way too long to start using them too. one thing that helped me with organization was just making a template project in resolve with the bins already set up the way i want and then duplicating it for each new project. i have bins for raw clips, selects, audio, exports, and stills. sounds obvious but having to create that structure every time was actually one of the reasons i kept procrastinating on edits

also on the LUT thing, totally agree. i spent so much money on LUT packs and the answer was just using fewer of them more consistently. the filmconvert nitrate plugin changed things for me more than any LUT pack did but thats a whole other rabbit hole

whats your export settings for youtube? thats where i always seem to lose quality and can never figure out if its my bitrate or the color space settings or youtube just compresses everything into mush regardless