Resolve 21 expands stack

Blackmagic Design used the April 13 opening of NAB 2026 in Las Vegas to launch DaVinci Resolve 21 and add photo editing to software long built around video postproduction. (blackmagicdesign.com) The update adds a new Photo page for organizing, grading, and exporting still images inside Resolve, alongside new artificial intelligence tools, more than 100 motion graphic effects, Fairlight folder tracks, and other workflow changes. Blackmagic said DaVinci Resolve Studio still sells for $295, while the free version remains available with feature limits. (blackmagicdesign.com) Blackmagic also introduced Cloud Store Ultra, a rackmount flash storage system with two independent 100 Gigabit Ethernet connections, RAID 5 support, and capacities up to 48 terabytes. The company said the hardware is built for film and television teams editing directly from shared storage and syncing media between sites with Blackmagic Cloud. (blackmagicdesign.com 1) (blackmagicdesign.com 2) Resolve has spent years combining editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics, and audio post in one application. Version 21 extends that pitch into still photography, with Blackmagic describing it as software that now handles “editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics, audio post production and now photo editing” in one tool. (blackmagicdesign.com) The Photo page is tied into the same collaboration system Blackmagic uses for video projects. The company said teams can share albums, metadata, tags, grades, and effects through Blackmagic Cloud, so photographers, colorists, editors, and visual effects artists can work from the same project structure. (blackmagicdesign.com 1) (blackmagicdesign.com 2) Blackmagic’s new features guide says the stills workflow includes native raw support for major camera formats, GPU-accelerated batch exports and conversions, professional scopes such as waveform and vectorscope, and access to Resolve’s node-based grading tools rather than a conventional layer stack. (blackmagicdesign.com) The artificial intelligence additions are aimed at search and cleanup as much as image generation. Blackmagic lists IntelliSearch for finding clips by people, objects, or dialogue, plus tools for de-aging, blemish removal, facial refinement, and focal-point adjustment through CineFocus. (blackmagicdesign.com) Shared storage is a practical bottleneck in post houses, where multiple editors, assistants, and colorists need the same files at the same time without copying media to local drives. Blackmagic says its Cloud Store line is designed so users can edit while recording is still in progress and keep remote locations synchronized through cloud media sync. (blackmagicdesign.com 1) (blackmagicdesign.com 2) The release leaves Resolve looking less like a single finishing app and more like Blackmagic’s hub for edit, color, sound, stills, and storage. With Resolve 21 and Cloud Store Ultra arriving together at NAB, the company is selling the software and the shared infrastructure around it as one workflow. (blackmagicdesign.com) (blackmagicdesign.com)