![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Premiere-color-mode-beta-Large.jpeg\" "\\"Burning")
<\/p>\nJust in time for NAB 2026, Adobe has released into the Premiere Beta what might be one of its biggest feature additions in the history of the application, in a new dedicated Color Mode. Color Mode is a dedicated workspace for color correction and color grading.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been designed with everything one needs for color correction and grading, including:<\/p>\n
Program monitor front and center
\nContextually aware color controls
\nTimeline thumbnails that reflect the grades applied to clips
\nTimeline thumbnails that can be filtered and sorted for fast targeted grading
\nColor reference markers
\nTwo new video scope options
\nColor management and more<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve used dedicated color grading tools then you are used to a lot of these features. If you\u2019re an editor whose color grading experience is in a vidoe editing application then these types of tools might be brand new.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Many editors and colorists have questions about the new Color Mode in the Premiere Beta. As<\/a> I<\/a> have<\/a> before<\/a>, let\u2019s answer some of the burning questions about Premiere\u2019s new dedicated Color Mode.<\/p>\n Why do we need a new Color mode in Adobe Premiere? The Lumetri Color Panel was introduced in Adobe Premiere over a decade ago and was built from their acquisition of SpeedGrade, a dedicated color grading application. While Lumetri was great at the time (it gave Premiere much better color tools than the built-in color correction effect), a lot has changed over the past decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n Better color science, improved color management, new acquisition formats, HDR, Wide-gamut, REC2020 and new codecs have all left Lumetri behind in terms of overall color correction quality and support for modern technology. Rather than continue to update an outdated tool, why not build something better?\u00a0<\/p>\n If you want more detail on why the new Color Mode, why now, and who\u2019s behind it, check out this article on the ProVideo Coalition.<\/p>\n Wait, is it called the new Color Panel? Or Color Page? Or Color Mode?\u00a0<\/p>\n Technically, it\u2019s called Color Mode because that was the term Adobe used way back in 2022, when they introduced (with great controversy) the dedicated Import and Export \u201cmodes.\u201d<\/a> At the time, many people did not like the dedicated modes that changed the Premiere interface, preferring to use a panel instead. They also did not like the new menu bar at the top of the application because it seemed to take up extra screen real estate. Count me among those who didn\u2019t like the new bar across the top. They (I) even talked about how to turn it off on a Mac.\u00a0<\/p>\n But here we are, over five years later. I think we now see there\u2019s a bigger plan than just adding a few tabs to the interface. It\u2019s more than just new tabs on the left; it also includes status, navigation, and other tools on the right. I\u2019m happy to admit I was wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n How do I get to this new Color Mode?<\/p>\n No need to apply an effect or open a panel. Just click the new\u00a0Color\u00a0tab at the top of the interface.<\/p>\n Are there shortcuts to move between these different modes?<\/p>\n There are. Check Window > Mode. They default to option+ 1, 2, 3, 4. And they have keyboard shortcuts.<\/p>\n With great power comes great responsibility, so any time your software makes a big change and introduces big new tools, the most important thing is education. Educating yourself on the why a change was made, but most importantly, educating yourself on the how, as in how to use it.\u00a0<\/p>\n The new Color Mode is different from what you might be used to, but it\u2019s built for the future, not just the present. And it\u2019s built for a new generation of editors and colorists who might not have been trained on DaVinci 2Ks, Tektronix scopes and don\u2019t know what a three-way color corrector is.\u00a0<\/p>\n How hard will this be to learn?<\/p>\n Like any big change to a software tool, time spent learning the changes, nuances and improvements will serve you well. Work on a test project and do not go all-in on beta software. This beta will update old project and they may not be downgradable. Adobe has its own training, so I would start there.<\/p>\n Getting started with Color Mode<\/a><\/p>\n Navigating the Color Mode Interface<\/a><\/p>\n Understanding the Color Controls<\/a><\/p>\n Great, but where is the\u00a0deep training so we can really dig into this new Color Mode?<\/p>\n If you want to dig deep then head over to this YouTube playlist with 26 videos that dive deep<\/a>. These were created by Alexis Van Hurkman, Adobe\u2019s Principal Product Manager of Color and the author of the definitive book on color correction<\/a>. (Oh, and he also had a hand in writing most of the DaVinci Resolve manual. \ud83e\udd2b)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Why do we need this when we have Lumetri?<\/p>\n Did you not read the answer to the first question? It\u2019s the same answer. Better color science, improved color management, new acquisition formats, and new codecs have left Lumetri struggling to keep up with the current class of color correction competition. I\u2019m most excited about better color science. A test I\u2019ve used for years is to have someone bring up a three-way color corrector in Lumetri, DaVinci Resolve or a great plugin like Magic Bullet Colorista. You could adjust the three-way color corrector almost exactly the same way, and the Lumetri result didn\u2019t look as good as some competitors\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n Can you do good color grading in Lumetri? You can definitely do it, and I\u2019ve done a lot of great color work over the years using Lumetri. But there are better options, and now Premiere is getting one built right in.\u00a0<\/p>\n What happens to Lumetri?<\/p>\n The Lumetri panel, the Lumetri Engine, and all things associated with Lumetri will continue to be part of Adobe Premiere, I\u2019m sure, for years to come, but in this new beta, the dedicated Lumetri panel is gone. You can add Lumetri from the effects panel, but you\u2019ll have to adjust its parameters in the effects controls panel. Unless you need some kind of backwards compatibility and you\u2019re in the beta, don\u2019t use Lumetri; use the new Color Mode. When it ships, use the new Color Mode.<\/p>\n Not everyone will migrate right to the new color experience right away, as it is a bit of a learning curve. There needs to be backward compatibility with older projects. My guess is that Lumetri will eventually be moved to legacy status or marked as an obsolete effect before being removed entirely at some point in the distant future.<\/p>\n Lumetri was an effect I could see in the Effect Controls. How does Color Mode work there?<\/p>\n When the color mode has been used on the clip, you will see a new color effect pop up under the effect controls. The color effect will have editable controls, but just jump over to color mode if you need to do any adjustments. Don\u2019t try to work the color tools there.<\/p>\n When will Color Mode ship in the release version of Premiere?<\/p>\n Adobe hasn\u2019t said, but remember, remember the old adage? \u00a0Announce at NAB, ship at IBC.\u00a0That\u2019s not always the case, but I think that\u2019s what companies in our space shoot for. Adobe also has its own big event<\/a> in and around the fall as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n Can I use Lumetri and the new Color Mode together?\u00a0<\/p>\n Technically, you can, but you don\u2019t want to because there are two entirely different color systems, so don\u2019t do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n What\u2019s BETTER about the new Adobe Premiere Color Mode?<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already covered this in questions one and three.\u00a0<\/p>\n As far as controls go, the dedicated interface lets you focus on color without the distractions of the editorial tools you don\u2019t need while doing color correction and color grading work. New tools have been designed, it feels like to me, with simplicity in mind, and this is what I, as an editor, want in my color experience. A fast way to get a good look without being too simple, but also without being too complex.<\/p>\n The new Color Experience is still a panel-based interface, so it\u2019s customizable, but you get exactly what you need front and center. A Program viewer to see the results. Controls front and center. A fast and customizable way to see the clips in the timeline with color grades applied.<\/p>\n Will there be nodes? Why or why not?<\/p>\n The new Adobe Premiere Color experience does not use nodes, and I\u2019m thankful for that. If you want nodes, then go to Resolve. As an editor who also does color work, I find DaVinci Resolve overly complex (though very powerful), and I don\u2019t want to deal with it for many of the color jobs I take on.<\/p>\n IMHO, Adobe Premiere is a better offline editing and craft editorial tool than DaVinci Resolve. I also feel like this new color experience is designed with editors in mind, not colorists. Nodes can be incredibly powerful, but if I never have to connect another arrow to a square or figure out the flow from one node to the next, I\u2019ll be okay with that. Give me great power and simple tools for part of the post-production process I often have to handle by default, not because I want to. I\u2019m happy to hand off color work to a dedicated colorist, but that\u2019s not always possible. Premiere has been missing a powerful, fast, and high-quality color interface.<\/p>\n Will I still use Resolve? Absolutely, as there will be times when perhaps some of Resolve\u2019s dedicated features might be better. But for many jobs, editors can stay in Premiere and achieve the same quality they get in Resolve. I mean, we do that now with Lumetri, so imagine having much better color tools without have to move the edit to a whole other application, and I think that will make many editors happy.<\/p>\n How do we apply multiple corrections beyond just a primary?<\/p>\n Even though the new color mode doesn\u2019t use nodes, there are still options to apply corrections beyond just a primary. The new masking tools can be used to mask a section for secondary color corrections. Multiple adjustments can be made using operations. You can apply multiple corrections, including something like a primary correction and a style effect, to the same clip. Clips can also be grouped to apply a single correction to multiple clips. The grouping and sorting is very intuitive, which will make it fast to fly through things like interview-heavy documentaries.<\/p>\n We were talking about clips, but what about putting a grade on an entire sequence?<\/p>\n You\u2019re in luck because, in addition to clip grades, there are also sequence grades, which will let you apply color grades, styles, and LUTs to an entire timeline.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll be able to see Sequence Styles applied while in the timeline and move them to different tracks.<\/p>\n When adding a grade you can add an\u00a0Adjustment, Style\u00a0or\u00a0LUT. Adjustments are just that, a color grade adjustment. A Style can be a preset like high contrast, cool, warm or a color boost. But the real fun comes with\u00a0Modules.\u00a0They are will apply different tools for different kinds of grading.<\/p>\n Yes, Mercury Transmit is part of the new color experience. Any third-party hardware you use to display your image on the client monitor will work in the new color experience. I think this could be a marketing opportunity for someone like Flanders Scientific<\/a> to sell high-quality monitors to editors who might not realize they need a true-color grading display.\u00a0<\/p>\n But you can also set Mercury Transmit to output a full-screen image on a connected display. Put that iPad Pro<\/a> into reference mode, and you have a nice little grading monitor already sitting there in your possession.\u00a0<\/p>\n Better color management was introduced in a recent Adobe Premiere update<\/a>. Do those things still apply?<\/p>\n Color management still applies, and there is new color management in the new Color Mode. Color management now gets its own panel and it\u2019s front and center as one of the default panels in the new Color Mode.\u00a0<\/p>\n The modular panel-based nature of Premiere is one of my favorite things about Adobe Premiere\u00a0because it allows for great customization<\/a> options. But a really great color experience for processes like color correction and color grading is smart, since you often spend hours on them. You can save a color grading workspace with all the current Lumetri tools built in, but it still feels smart to rethink color grading and choose an approach that works better than Lumetri, which is basically the Lumetri color panel and the Lumetri scopes.\u00a0<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been beta testing this new color experience, and I can tell you it\u2019s much better than the Lumetri panel. The image is front and center, the controls are right there, and you can customize the thumbnails across my entire timeline for easier navigation.<\/p>\n Speaking of scopes, what\u2019s the status of video scopes in the new color experience?<\/p>\n There is a new Video Scopes panel that can be used in the new color experience and docked like any panel.<\/p>\n These are new scopes written just for this new color experience. If you want the old Lumetri scopes, go to the Video Scope panel\u2019s hamburger menu and choose Show Legacy Scopes. But don\u2019t. Use the new ones.<\/p>\n Beyond the Video Scopes panel, once you move any new control in Color Mode first thing you\u2019ll notice when you click any control in this new Color Mode is a context-sensitive video scope heads-up display that pops up to show you video scope feedback in real time as you make your adjustment. It\u2019s a fully customizable HUD that is a new way to use scopes in Premiere.<\/p>\n This new scope is fully customizable and available when you need it. These new scopes will be different from the Waveform, Vector Scope, and Parade scopes you may be used to. While those scopes are still available, the pop-up HUD-style scopes were built around this new color experience. My advice is to turn off the old scopes and learn to use the new ones (though I do leave the good old Parade scope up most of the time).\u00a0<\/p>\n I see some things are missing, like 3-way color wheels with Lift\/Gamma\/Gain. Where are those familiar tools?<\/p>\n Good question. We can assume they\u2019re coming, and I\u2019m hoping they will be. But talking to Alexis Van Hurkman, he told me why those specific controls haven\u2019t been included. Lift Gamma Gain comes from old standard-def color correction thinking. While they\u2019re still useful, they\u2019ll want to build these new color tools for modern workflows, including high-definition, wide-gamut, and HDR grading.\u00a0<\/p>\n Check out this specific video from the new Color Mode training tools about Lift\/Gamma\/Gain:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n If exposure and contrast don\u2019t work for you, you can still get adjustments similar to lift and gain by using the Shadows and Highlights zones. It\u2019s a different way of working, but once you dig into it, play with it, and understand it, you\u2019ll probably get the exact look you were aiming for with something like Lift, Gamma, and Gain Controls.\u00a0<\/p>\n That said, even with how good a lot of the new tools are, I still found myself wanting to use some of the old-school tools I\u2019m familiar with in this new color experience, probably because I learned a lot of those old controls. There is no direct gamma control, but new tools and new modules will be added, and we should see a gamma control return.\u00a0<\/p>\n Without 3-way color wheels, how will my control surface, like a Tangent Wave or Tangent Ripple, work?<\/p>\n That\u2019s to be determined, but Adobe has said that third-party hardware control services will be supported. It\u2019s important to remember that this is the first public beta of a major addition to Adobe Premiere. This new color experience wasn\u2019t built with AI over the last couple of months. It\u2019s been a long time coming, and a lot of engineering, research, and design time has gone into this new tool. Early betas always ship without certain features, and that\u2019s the point of the beta: to put it out in the world, gather feedback and continue to refine.\u00a0<\/p>\n Will other control surfaces with color support the new color experience, like the Logitech MX Creative Console<\/a>, Loupedeck, TourBox?<\/p>\n
\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-Beta-Color-Mode.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
This will be a new way to work with color for many editors. But just look at it. It\u2019s way better than the Lumetri panel.<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-Color-tabs.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Prmiere-Beta-mode-shortcuts.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
I did notice these shortcuts are not there in my custom keyboard layout but I already had shortcuts mapped here. Time to map some new ones.
\nThis new Color Mode looks very different than what I\u2019m used to in Lumetri or what I might see in other color correction tools. Where do I even begin?\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/FY26Q2-Premiere-Cpro-NAB-ColorMode-Blog-Body-Interface-951x713-1.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
This is my favorite of the Adobe-provided images because Porsche. Notice the Group icon near the bottom show this clip is part of a group.<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Premiere-beta-Color-Effect.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
It\u2019s nice to see the different parameters in the Edit Mode, but the new color tools are really about working in the new Color Mode workspace.<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Premiere-beta-controls-Color-Shift.gif\" "\\"Burning")
<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-beta-sequence-style.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
Sequence adjustments will be useful to apply a grade to an entire timeline, such as a Film Color module.<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-beta-sequence-effect-in-timeline.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
You can move these Sequence Styles from one track to another so they have some flexibility when grading.
\nWhat is a \u201cmodule\u201d?<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-beta-modules.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
Notice all that extra space under the Style Modules tab? I\u2019m betting there will be a lot of new modules to come.
\nDoes the image in the new color experience transmit out to a client monitor and\/or my calibrated color grading display?\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-beta-color-management.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
The new Color Mode was designed toward with color management turned on. So there will be some education required as color management can be complex.
\nWhy are the new color tools a separate, dedicated interface beyond just a panel like Lumetri?<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-Beta-new-scopes.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
New scopes. Who dis?<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-Beta-HUD.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
This is a waveform on the Contrast control but some new tools have a vectorscope that pops up. It depends on what is best for that control.<\/p>\n
![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-beta-color-shift.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
Color Shift controls will go a long way toward adjustments where curves might have been used. There are different hue presets based on the selected image or you can use the eyedropper to isolate your own hue for adjustment.<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-beta-style.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
You can add different prebuilt styles or use new Style Modules tools. Or add a LUT under Clip or Sequence adjustments.![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Adobe-Premiere-temp-controls.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
<\/p>\n![\"Burning](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Premiere-beta-color-keyboard.jpg\" "\\"Burning")
Time to do some remapping with the new Color keyboard option, a first in Premiere with multiple keyboard layouts under the same keyboard preset for different modes.