Resolve 21 beta lands

Blackmagic Design has put DaVinci Resolve 21 into public beta, adding a new photo-editing page and a fresh batch of artificial intelligence tools. (blackmagicdesign.com) The beta was announced at the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas on April 13, 2026, and Blackmagic said the download is available now. The paid Studio edition remains listed at $295. (newsshooter.com) (blackmagicdesign.com) The biggest structural change is the new Photo page, which brings Resolve’s node-based color tools to still images. Blackmagic says users can import albums, batch raw adjustments, view graded images in a LightBox layout, and tether Sony or Canon cameras directly into the app. (newsshooter.com) (macrumors.com) For readers who do not live in post-production software, a node is a visual chain of edits: one box for exposure, another for skin tone, another for a mask. Resolve has long used that system for video color grading, and version 21 extends it to photographs. (newsshooter.com) The new artificial intelligence features are aimed at search, cleanup, and facial work. Blackmagic says IntelliSearch can find clips by objects, spoken words, or individual faces, while Face Age Transformer can add or remove age-related features and other tools can reshape faces, remove blemishes, refocus shots, sharpen soft footage, and reduce motion blur. (blackmagicdesign.com) (macrumors.com) That puts Resolve deeper into territory usually split across several desktop apps: one for video editing, one for color, one for audio, and another for still-photo processing. Blackmagic is pitching Resolve 21 as a single program for editing, visual effects, audio post-production, and now photo work as well. (blackmagicdesign.com 1) (blackmagicdesign.com 2) The release also lands as Blackmagic is pushing faster shared-storage hardware for large teams. Its Cloud Store Max and Cloud Store Ultra products now feature 100 Gigabit Ethernet, a high-speed network link designed to move large video files between editors, colorists, and other workstations without local copies. (blackmagicdesign.com 1) (blackmagicdesign.com 2) Blackmagic’s own product pages say the Cloud Store Max ships with one 100 Gigabit Ethernet port and four 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, while the Cloud Store Ultra adds two independent 100 Gigabit Ethernet connections. The company says those systems are built for film and television teams sharing large media files and, in the Ultra’s case, for editing while recording is still in progress. (blackmagicdesign.com 1) (blackmagicdesign.com 2) Resolve 21 also adds more than 70 new Fusion graphics through the Krokodove toolset, Fairlight folder tracks for audio management, and support for OGraf HyperText Markup Language graphics and Lottie animation files. Blackmagic and outside coverage both describe this beta as a broad update touching editing, color, motion graphics, and audio workflows at once. (blackmagicdesign.com) (macrumors.com) The immediate question is how much of that beta makes it into everyday production desktops before the final release date, which Blackmagic has not yet announced. For now, the company is showing Resolve 21 on the National Association of Broadcasters show floor as it tests a version that reaches beyond video and further into the rest of the newsroom workstation. (macrumors.com) (newsshooter.com)