Is the stabiliser in DaVinci Resolve’s free version?
Yes. The stabiliser in the Inspector and on the Color page’s Tracker palette is part of the free version; Blackmagic’s manual doesn’t list it among the Studio-only features.
Guide · free tool included
How to stabilize video in DaVinci Resolve
Where the stabiliser lives in the Inspector, which mode to pick, what Camera Lock, Cropping Ratio, Smooth and Strength really do, and how to get rid of the black edges.
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To stabilise a clip in DaVinci Resolve, select it on the Edit page timeline, open the Inspector, stay on the Video tab and scroll to Stabilization. Choose a mode from its pop-up menu first (Perspective, Similarity or Translation), then click Stabilize. Resolve analyses the clip and plays it back steadied; tick Zoom if black edges appear, and turn on Camera Lock if the shot should look as if it were on a tripod.
The stabiliser is part of the free version of DaVinci Resolve; Blackmagic’s Resolve 21 manual doesn’t mark it as a Studio feature, and it works the same way in Resolve 20. The same controls are on the Cut page Inspector and on the Color page’s Tracker palette, which adds a graph of the motion. Resolve has no effect called Warp Stabilizer; if you are coming from Premiere, the Warp Stabilizer guide maps the two.
Stabilise a clip in the Edit page Inspector
The steps follow Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve 21 manual; Resolve 20 is identical here.
Select the clip
On the Edit page, click the shaky clip in the timeline. Stabilisation applies to the whole clip, so blade off any part you want left alone.
Open the stabiliser settings
Open the Inspector (top right), make sure the Video tab is showing, and scroll down to Stabilization. Its toggle switches the effect on and off for a quick before and after.
Choose the mode first
Pick Perspective, Similarity or Translation from the pop-up before analysing: the mode changes how the clip is analysed, so switching it later means clicking Stabilize again.
Set Cropping Ratio and Smooth, then click Stabilize
Lower Cropping Ratio for stronger stabilisation (1.0 means none at all) and raise Smooth for a calmer camera. Both are used by the analysis, so click Stabilize after changing either.
Fine-tune and hide the edges
Strength scales the result without a new analysis: lower it to let some of the original movement through. Tick Zoom to enlarge the picture just enough to hide the black edges.
Perspective, Similarity or Translation?
The mode decides which kinds of movement Resolve looks for and corrects. Blackmagic’s manual describes them like this:
- Perspective: pan, tilt, zoom and rotation, plus perspective changes. The most thorough, and the one to try first.
- Similarity: pan, tilt, zoom and rotation without perspective, for shots where Perspective adds a warping, keystoned look.
- Translation: pan and tilt only. The safest choice for unusual footage, or when the other two make things worse.
On the Color page, footage from a Blackmagic Cinema Camera that recorded gyroscope data also offers Camera Gyro, which stabilises from that data rather than from the picture.
Camera Lock, Cropping Ratio, Smooth, Strength and Zoom
Camera Lock
Turns off Cropping Ratio and Smooth and tries to remove all camera movement, for a locked-off look. It only works if the shot was roughly still to begin with; a walk or a pan can’t be locked. Making handheld footage look locked off explains what to expect.
Cropping Ratio
How much zoom or blank edge you will accept in exchange for steadiness. At 1.0 nothing is stabilised; lower values allow more correction and, with Zoom on, a tighter crop. Click Stabilize again after changing it.
Smooth
How strongly the camera path is smoothed. Lower values keep more of the original movement’s character; higher values float. Also needs Stabilize again.
Strength
A multiplier on the stabilisation Resolve has already worked out. 1 applies all of it, values below 1 let a share of the original motion through, and 0 turns it off, all without a new analysis. A negative value inverts it, a trick for matching another element to the shot’s movement.
Zoom, and the black edges
Stabilising moves each frame, which uncovers blank areas at the edges. With Zoom ticked, Resolve scales the picture up just enough to hide them; untick it and the black edges stay, for when you plan to fill or reframe them yourself. If the zoom is too strong, raise Cropping Ratio towards 1.0, lower Smooth, or trim the shakiest seconds from the clip.
The Tracker palette, and the classic stabiliser
The Inspector’s stabiliser is the same one as on the Color page’s Tracker palette in its Stabilizer mode, and an analysis done in one shows up in the other. The Color page adds a graph of the tracked motion, which helps you see where the shake is worst. Its options menu also offers the Classic Stabilizer from older versions of Resolve, which analyses with the automatic Cloud Tracker or with points you place yourself using the Point Tracker.
What Resolve’s stabiliser doesn’t have: a rolling-shutter correction, a way to fill the edges with real picture, and a live preview while you change the settings that need a new analysis.
Resolve’s settings in this browser stabiliser
The tool at the top of this page measures the motion once, when the clip opens, and every setting after that, except Analysis and Ignore an area, updates the preview straight away, with no button to press again. It opens here in Side by side, so you can compare it with your Resolve result.
| DaVinci Resolve | Here |
|---|---|
| Perspective | Correction: Perspective |
| Similarity | Correction: Shift and rotate |
| Translation | Correction: Shift only |
| No equivalent | Correction: Warp, which also bends small areas to fix wobble from close objects and jelly |
| Camera Lock | Camera: Locked, or the Tripod preset |
| Smooth | Smoothness |
| Cropping Ratio | Zoom limit: a higher limit allows a steadier result with more zoom |
| Strength below 1 | A lower Smoothness, or Steady these to leave one kind of movement as filmed |
| Zoom ticked | Framing: Crop to fit or Smart zoom |
| Zoom unticked (black edges) | Framing: Full frame, with Edges set to Black, Blurred, Mirrored or Repeat edge |
| No equivalent | Rolling shutter: Auto, or Manual with Strength |
Press Export video, and for footage going back into Resolve choose MP4, set Quality to High and press Export video again in the sheet. Nothing is uploaded at any point. The file keeps its frame size, frame rate and sound, but HDR or 10-bit sources come out as 8-bit SDR, so stabilise HDR projects in Resolve itself.
DaVinci Resolve stabilisation questions
Should I use Perspective, Similarity or Translation?
Start with Perspective. If the result warps or the frame seems to tilt towards you, try Similarity; if that still misbehaves, Translation corrects only up, down and sideways movement. Click Stabilize again after switching.
What does Camera Lock do in DaVinci Resolve?
It tries to remove all camera movement so the shot looks locked off on a tripod, and turns off Cropping Ratio and Smooth while it is on. It suits shots that were meant to be still, not walks or pans.
How do I get rid of the black edges after stabilising?
Tick Zoom in the Stabilization section, and Resolve enlarges the picture to cover them. If that zooms in too far, raise Cropping Ratio or lower Smooth and click Stabilize again.
Where is the stabilizer in DaVinci Resolve 20 and 21?
In the Inspector, on the Video tab, in the Stabilization section, on both the Edit and Cut pages. It is also on the Color page in the Tracker palette.
Why do I have to click Stabilize again?
The mode, Cropping Ratio and Smooth all feed the analysis, so Resolve needs to run it again after you change them. Strength works on the existing analysis and updates straight away.
Can Resolve fix rolling shutter (jello)?
Its stabiliser has no rolling-shutter setting. The tool on this page does, under Rolling shutter, and rolling shutter, explained shows what to look for.