By Matteo Martignago, cinematographer and colorist. Updated July 2026.
In DaVinci Resolve, Offset is the control that shifts the entire image at once, moving shadows, midtones, and highlights together by the same amount. It is Resolve’s version of film printer lights, so it is the natural place to set an image’s overall color balance and base exposure.
Where Lift, Gamma, and Gain each target one slice of the tonal range, Offset treats the whole frame equally, laying a single wash of color across the picture the way a film lab timer would. That is why colorists who came up on film reach for it first: it gives a natural, believable base that the more surgical tools then refine. A good grade starts here, because a balance you get right in the primaries is one you never have to chase later. It is the first thing I set on almost every shot.
Where to find the Offset wheel in DaVinci Resolve
Offset lives in the Primaries palette on the Color page, which is the third icon from the left in the palette toolbar. Inside that palette you can view the same Offset control three different ways, and it does the same thing in each:
- Color Wheels: the clearest view. The small Offset wheel sits to the right of Lift, Gamma, and Gain, and its position relative to center shows the direction of your color shift.
- Primaries Bars: the same Offset shown as vertical sliders, which makes precise, channel-by-channel numeric moves easier to read.
- Log: the log wheels include an Offset control as well, handy in specific log and HDR workflows.
For learning what Offset does, stay in Color Wheels, where the visual feedback plus the scopes makes the effect of every move obvious. Because it moves every tone at once, the Offset wheel feels more sensitive than the others, so nudge it gently or drive it from the keypad rather than dragging far. To reset it, double-click the Offset wheel, or use the reset arrow at the top right of the Primaries palette to zero all four.
Offset vs Lift, Gamma, and Gain
This is the distinction that trips people up, and it is the whole reason Offset exists as a separate control. Lift, Gamma, and Gain are range tools: each one pivots on a different part of the tonal curve, so they let you push shadows one way and highlights another. Offset is a global tool: it slides the entire signal, so a warm push in Offset warms the blacks, the mids, and the whites by the same amount.
| Control | What it moves | How it behaves | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Offset | The entire image, uniformly | Shifts every tone (shadows, midtones, highlights) by the same amount | Set the overall color balance and base exposure; emulate film printer lights |
| Lift | Shadows / blacks | Anchors near the highlights and pivots the darker end, so it mostly moves the low tones | Color the blacks; raise or lower the black point |
| Gamma | Midtones | Pivots the middle of the range while holding the ends, so it moves the mids | Adjust midtone brightness and the color of skin and mid values |
| Gain | Highlights / whites | Anchors near the shadows and pivots the bright end, so it mostly moves the high tones | Set the white point and color the highlights |
A practical way to think about it: Offset sets the overall balance and exposure of the shot, and Lift, Gamma, and Gain then sculpt the contrast and the relationships between tones. Understanding lift, gamma, gain, and offset as a set is what separates a clean grade from a muddy one. One telltale sign that a shot was balanced with Offset (or with real printer lights) is that the highlights and the blacks lean in the same direction in hue, rather than splitting warm and cool, unless that split was there in the lighting.
How Offset works with the color channels
Offset moves the image by manipulating the primary colors of light. All white light is made of red, green, and blue, and the secondary colors come from combining them (the same relationships we cover in our guide to building a color palette):
- Red, Green, Blue (RGB): the primaries of light. Adding red warms the image, adding green pushes it toward green, adding blue cools it.
- Cyan, Magenta, Yellow (CMY): the secondaries. Cyan is green plus blue (or red removed), magenta is red plus blue (or green removed), and yellow is red plus green (or blue removed).
With Offset you can work four ways: raise an RGB channel to add color, lower one to subtract it (lowering red pushes the image toward cyan, its opposite), move a single channel for a targeted shift, or move all three together to change overall density, that is, brightness. The cyan, magenta, and yellow secondaries are each made of two channels, so pushing toward them moves two channels at once, which is why those moves also carry a little luminance and tend to brighten the image.
Printer lights and the numeric keypad
Offset is Resolve’s implementation of printer lights, the point-based system film colorists used to time a print at the lab. If you turn on the printer light hotkeys (in the Color menu), you can drive Offset entirely from the numeric keypad, typing in exposure and color the way lab timers did, which is fast and keeps your eyes on the image and the scopes instead of the mouse.
By default the numeric keypad maps to printer points like this:
- 7, 8, 9: add red, green, and blue.
- 4, 5, 6: subtract red, green, and blue. Lowering a primary pushes the image toward its complementary secondary, so subtracting red goes cyan, green goes magenta, and blue goes yellow.
- Enter (the plus/master key): overall density, moving all three channels together to darken or lighten.
The scale runs from about 1 to 50 points, and each channel resets to 25, the neutral midpoint that was the standard baseline at the lab. By default Resolve moves in full points per keystroke; many colorists remap the keypad to half points for finer control, and you can reassign any of these keys in Keyboard Customization. Small, deliberate point moves are the whole idea: subtle shifts change the mood without ever looking like the image was touched.
How colorists balance with Offset
In real work, you balance Offset against known references in the frame rather than by eye alone:
- Skin tones are the primary reference; the eye is unforgiving about skin that goes too green or too magenta.
- Neutrals (whites and grays) reveal a color cast instantly, because a true neutral should carry no hue.
- Known colors such as a brand color or a specific costume piece keep continuity honest across a scene.
A typical move is to set a clean, believable balance with Offset first, keeping skin natural while warming or cooling the whole frame to match the emotional tone of the scene and the shots around it. When I grade, a balance that reads neutral on the Parade early on is one that still reads neutral three nodes later, which is exactly why it pays to nail it here.
Pairing Offset with Lift, Gamma, and Gain
Offset gives a natural, filmic balance, but on its own it hits a wall. Log and raw digital footage arrive flat, because they lack the intrinsic contrast curve that film had baked in by its chemistry. Offset moves color around, but it does not build contrast, so an image balanced with Offset alone can look correct but soft, even a little muddy.
The fix is to pair it with the primary wheels, Lift, Gamma, and Gain. Think of it the way a lab worked: the timer set color with printer lights, and the contrast came from the chemical bath the film was developed in. In Resolve, Offset is your printer lights and the primary wheels are your bath. So the professional pattern is to establish the color cast and balance with Offset, then take Lift down to seat the shadows and Gain up to set the highlights, adding the contrast that makes the picture feel three-dimensional. From there you can refine hue in the shadows or highlights with the log wheels. If you are new to the wider toolset, our guide to color grading software and workflows is a good next step.
Reading the scopes while you work
Offset is where scopes stop being optional. Early on, it is deceptively hard to see a neutral shadow or a neutral highlight by eye, and the scopes will always tell you the truth. The Parade scope is the one to live in: it shows the red, green, and blue channels side by side, so as you move an Offset channel you watch that channel rise or fall in real time.
The practical test is simple. A part of the frame that should be neutral, a white shirt or a gray wall, should read with its red, green, and blue traces sitting at roughly the same height on the Parade. If one channel is high, that is your cast, and Offset is the tool to bring it back into line. Learning to trust the scopes over your eye is one of the fastest ways to improve, and it pairs naturally with training your color perception, which we cover in our guide to seeing in color.
Frequently asked questions
What is Offset in DaVinci Resolve?
Offset is a primary control that shifts the whole image at once, moving shadows, midtones, and highlights together by the same amount. It changes the overall color balance and exposure rather than a specific tonal range, and it is Resolve’s version of film printer lights.
What is the difference between Offset and Lift, Gamma, and Gain?
Lift, Gamma, and Gain each target one part of the tonal range (shadows, midtones, highlights), so they can push different tones in different directions. Offset moves the entire signal uniformly, so it sets one overall balance across every tone. Colorists use Offset for the base balance and the others for contrast.
How do I access the Offset controls?
Go to the Color page and open the Primaries palette (the third icon from the left in the palette toolbar). Offset appears as a small wheel beside Lift, Gamma, and Gain in Color Wheels, and as sliders in Primaries Bars. You can also drive it from the numeric keypad using the printer light hotkeys.
Can Offset change a specific color only?
No. Offset always affects the entire image, which is the point of it. To adjust a specific color or a specific area, use the primary wheels for a targeted tonal push, or a Qualifier or Window to isolate part of the frame.
Why does my Offset default to 25?
Because Offset is built on the film printer-light scale, which runs from about 1 to 50 points, with 25 as the neutral midpoint. That was the standard baseline at the lab, and Resolve keeps it, so each channel resets to 25.
Does Offset add contrast?
No. Offset shifts color and overall brightness but does not build contrast. Log and raw footage are flat by nature, so you pair Offset with the primary wheels (Lift, Gamma, and Gain) to add the contrast, the same way a film lab set color with printer lights and got contrast from the developing bath.
How does Offset affect the black and white points?
Because Offset raises or lowers all three channels together, moving it up or down shifts the black and white points along with everything else. Pushing it too far can crush your blacks below 0 or clip your highlights, so keep the Parade scope open to see the shadows and highlights move and hold them where you want them.
Is Offset available in the free version of DaVinci Resolve?
Yes. The Offset wheel and the printer-light hotkeys are both in the free version of DaVinci Resolve. Nothing in this workflow requires the paid Studio edition.
Should I use Offset on HDR and SDR projects?
Yes, Offset works in both, though the same point move reads differently across the wider HDR range, so make smaller adjustments and lean on your scopes. The principle is identical: set the overall balance with Offset, then shape contrast with the other controls.
Where Offset fits
Offset is the foundation of a good grade in DaVinci Resolve, carrying the heritage of film printer lights into a digital workflow. Set it against neutrals and skin with the Parade scope open, keep your moves small, and pair it with Lift, Gamma, and Gain for the contrast that flat footage needs. Get the base balance right here and every correction after it becomes easier.
