DaVinci Resolve
Also known as: Resolve, Blackmagic Resolve
Blackmagic's editing and grading application, free in its base version and the industry standard for colour work on any scale.
Updated
What it means
Resolve started as a grading system and grew an editor around it. That history is why its colour tools are deeper than its competitors and why its timeline feels unfamiliar to anyone arriving from another application.
The free version is not a trial. It handles multicam, grading, audio and delivery, and the paid tier mainly adds collaboration and a few accelerated features. Most people never reach the limit.
For action footage the draw is the colour page. Matching a GoPro to a drone, with real Curves and per-shot control, is work the simpler editors cannot do properly.
How it works in practice
Proxies are how long footage becomes workable. Generating them inside the application lets an hour of 4K edit smoothly, and Proxy editing is the difference between a usable timeline and a slideshow.
Its colour management is worth using rather than bypassing. Setting input and output spaces once handles Log profile conversion for every clip, instead of a table applied by hand per shot. Getting that right once removes a whole class of mistake.
Round-tripping is built in. An Edit decision list or a project file moves between applications, which matters when the edit and the grade happen in different places or on different machines.
What to watch out for
Hardware matters more than with lighter tools. Grading 4K in real time wants a capable GPU, and the application is honest about struggling without one. Integrated graphics are not the tool for this.
The learning curve is real. Pages for edit, colour, audio and delivery are powerful and unfamiliar, and a first attempt at a simple Rough cut takes longer than it would elsewhere.
Variable frame rate footage needs handling. A phone clip with Variable frame rate (VFR) can drift, so Transcoding on import avoids a sync problem discovered at the end.
How RawClip handles it
Resolve and an automatic highlight sit at opposite ends of the same job: one gives complete manual control over a timeline, the other returns an assembled sequence from the raw files. A delivered result imports cleanly when a bespoke grade or a different structure is wanted.