Adobe Premiere's Color Mode Beta Ditches Lift/Gamma/Gain for a Zone-Based System

Adobe Premiere's new Color Mode (currently in beta) replaces the traditional lift/gamma/gain model with a zone-based approach to tonal and color adjustment. Rather than dividing an image into three broadly overlapping regions that interact unpredictably, the system lets colorists first apply global controls and then define tonally specific zones with controlled falloff — so adjustments stay where they're intended, regardless of source encoding.

The shift is aimed squarely at the realities of modern media: log footage, wide-gamut camera outputs, and HDR delivery, where lift/gamma/gain interactions become increasingly hard to manage. As the piece explains, raising gain in a high-dynamic-range shot rarely stays isolated to highlights — upper midtones follow, triggering a chain of compensatory moves. Zone-based controls reduce that friction by giving each adjustment a defined range, making behavior more predictable across the full signal.