Welcome to the second in our Quick Start series. In this series, we let you get results with Kino right away, and help you learn a few bits about the app and filmmaking as well.

Let's check out one of Kino's signature features: Instant Grade and the built-in pro presets.

Instant Grade and presets

Kino comes with a fantastic set of Grade presets or just ‘grades’.

Color grading is the process of making your footage look great by adjusting its colors, much like how photographers edit images. Grades are a way to apply a color edit in a single tap — either directly to your footage while recording, or afterwards.

Kino’s Instant Grade lets you apply one of these right to your footage, with no editing required later.

Kino comes with 7 regular grades and on iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, 11 additonal grades for Apple Log. Some of these are made by expert creatives — colorists, videographers and creators:

Neutral (Apple Log to Rec.709) by Prolost (Stu Maschwitz)

Sando by Sandwich Video

Glostrup by Tyler Stalman

Lektar by the LUT Company (Evan Schneider)

Mellowed by Kevin Ong (Kevouthere)

Many of them also have larger packs of their presets available which you can add directly and easily to Kino. Check them out above! Additonally, we release grades with updates and as limited drops on our social media, so follow along.

Using Grades

You can use grades in three ways: with Instant Grade, using a grade preview, or by applying it later to existing footage.

Instant Grade

One of Kino’s most powerful features is applying a color grade right to your shot so you don't have to edit it. It combines great with adjusting exposure to get the look just right. If you set up Kino with Starter settings, Instant Grade is on by default. If you did not, you have to opt into it, either at setup or using the 'Instant Grade' toggle in the Grades view. 

Tap the grade button in Kino to get started and select a grade to proceed. Depending on your color format, Kino will show you appropriate presets. For the best results, we recommend using an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max with Apple Log (LOG) color selected. Once a preset is selected, you can record into it and immediately enjoy beautiful, cinematic video. Your viewfinder will show the preset selected, and the recorded file will have it applied. No more editing required.

In Kino, you can quickly see if Instant Grade is active with the grade button:

If you select a grade without Instant Grade, Kino will let you preview it ('monitor') but record the actual file without it applied. You can then apply it later in Kino or edit it in other apps.

Note that with Instant Grade, your format settings will change from ProRes (if it is active) to HEVC. Once Instant Grade is disabled, your previous setting will be restored. No hassle.

Grade Preview

Monitor usage can be helpful if you want to apply the grade to footage later, or intend to edit it. Simply disable Instant Grade in the Grades screen to stick to previewing the grade in your viewfinder.

Grading an existing clip

If you want to apply one of Kino's grades to a recording later, you can tap the Last Capture button. Depending on your settings, this will show all videos on your iPhone in Photos (Starter setting) or might be just the videos Kino saved into its folder in Files. Select a recording here to apply a grade, and press 'Apply' to apply the grade and share it to an app or save it to your library:

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Importing a grade

Kino accept most .cube files in dimensions up to 33×33.

To import a grade, there's two options: 

• You can tap to open a .cube file one once Kino is installed — this can be one sent via iMessage, downloaded in Safari, transferred through an AirdDrop and more. Tap 'Open in Kino' to open the file and import it, which shows you import settings. For LUT files made for Apple Log, ensure that you select the correct 'Apple Log' input here. Presets will automatically show only for the selected color space, so you only see the right presets for your capture format settings. 

•Alternatively, enter Kino Settings, and then tap 'Grade'. Scroll to the bottom and tap 'Import' to browse your Files on iPhone to select your .cube file for importing.

Making your own grades

If you'd like to author your own grades, we recommend using Pixelmator Pro. It's a powerful utility for Mac that lets you export your edits as a LUT. To save Pixelmator Pro color adjustments as a LUT, see their User Guide here. 

Kino accepts .cube LUT files from most application at up to 33×33. 

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