Final cut...what version ?

Hi All just wonderd if you could advise me on the purchase of final cut i should buy.I am a first time mac user and dont want to use imovie only to have to change in a few months,i thought id learn to use final cut from the start.There seem to be so many versions and yesterday went to my local store where they had final cut studio which was about £850.00 gulp...
What versions do you guys use and what do you think i need for home videos that i aim to do as professionaly as possible.
Thanks in advance Lee

iMovie is quite capable, especially for home movies. Why would you need to change in a few months?

I would recommend giving iMovie a try - and if you find it to be limiting, then exploring other options.

Final Cut Pro X (as available from the Mac App Store) is the current version of Final Cut Pro - and although it's been panned by professional editors used to older versions, is really quite capable for those that are coming into it fresh.

Apple currently has a trial of Final Cut Pro X available for download. The trial will work for 30 days after the application is opened for the first time. You can find more information at Apple - Final Cut Pro X - Trial

Start with iMovie as mentioned...get your feet wet a bit...I would then recommend FCP X as the next upgrade ( if necessary ). Has a very familiar interface to iMovie yet is extremely robust and quite capable...as mentioned in previous posts...Trial version is a good idea.

Thanks for the replies people all taken on board...
Lee

If this is just for home movies, you'd be wasting your time and money working with "pro" editors like Final Cut Pro. iMovie can do INCREDIBLE stuff with home videos ... take a look at the results of a search for "iMovie 11 trailers" in YouTube for a sample.

Best of all, iMovie is already on your Mac (free!). Learn it first. Final Cut X (if and when you ever actually move to it) shares a lot of the elements of the interface, so there's a lower learning curve. Get a book on iMovie 11 and prepare to be amazed.

But, in the spirit of offering alternatives, you could also look at Adobe Premiere Elements for Mac. I haven't heard much about it yet, but I also haven't heard anything bad about it, which is a good sign.

chas_m said:

But, in the spirit of offering alternatives, you could also look at Adobe Premiere Elements for Mac. I haven't heard much about it yet, but I also haven't heard anything bad about it, which is a good sign.

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I'd go with Premiere Pro over Premiere Elements if I were you. Discount pricing is closing soon.

I finally switched to Mac earlier this year in hopes of learning video/audio editing for the purpose of promoting my band....and to say that I'm happy with the results would be an incredible understatement. iMovie has been easy to learn, yet very powerful. I just recently bought the iMovie 11 / iDVD "Missing Manual" book and it's easily the most useful tech book I've ever purchased. It's made the learning process a piece of cake.
I plan on moving up to FCP X at some point, but still lots to learn before then...and so far iMovie 11 does everything I've needed it to.
Here is my band's official "trailer" that I threw together in my first week PopROCKSLive's Channel - YouTube

I got final cut pro x simply because I wanted a new toy and was willing to pony up 300.00 to get it. BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU Imove is the best consumer grade video editing application available. Even though final cut pro is almost as easy to use as iMovie, unless you edit video for a living its over kill. Its a really need and easy to use overkill, but non-the-less overkill. Unless you have a rather unique need, iMovie 11 can do some amazing things. The movie at the youtube link below was not only edited with iMovie but it was shot with an iPhone.
APPLE OF MY EYE - an iPhone 4 movie / film - YouTube

rdsii64 said:

I got final cut pro x simply because I wanted a new toy and was willing to pony up 300.00 to get it. BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU Imove is the best consumer grade video editing application available. Even though final cut pro is almost as easy to use as imovie if you don't edit video for a living its over kill. Its a really neat and easy to use overkill but non-the-less overkill. Unless you have a rather unique need, iMovie 11 can do some amazing things. The movie at the youtube link below was not only edited with iMovie but it was shot with an iPhone 4.
APPLE OF MY EYE - an iPhone 4 movie / film - YouTube

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I LOVE overkill! ;D
Looks great though!

rdsii64 said:

I got final cut pro x simply because I wanted a new toy and was willing to pony up 300.00 to get it. BELIEVE ME WHEN I TELL YOU Imove is the best consumer grade video editing application available. Even though final cut pro is almost as easy to use as iMovie, unless you edit video for a living its over kill. Its a really need and easy to use overkill, but non-the-less overkill. Unless you have a rather unique need, iMovie 11 can do some amazing things. The movie at the youtube link below was not only edited with iMovie but it was shot with an iPhone.
APPLE OF MY EYE - an iPhone 4 movie / film - YouTube

Click to expand...

Very nice! How did you handle all of that panning, etc. with the iPhone?

KirkDS said:

Very nice! How did you handle all of that panning, etc. with the iPhone?

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I didn't make the movie. I did how ever see the video on how it was done. They simply put the iPhone in a mobile mount to do the panning and stuff. They use the same filming techniques use to make big screen movies. They just used iPhones for cameras.

Thanks for all your replies,i think your right and i will try imovie first but will that let me edit and burn to a dvd from my old mini dv tapes.I have loads of mini dv tapes i want to get on to dvd and some old vhsc tapes i want to get to dvd.I hope imovie will let me do this.My new camera records in avchd so i understand i will have to get some sort of file converter to work in imovie(i hope it dosent loose quality).
Thanks again for all your help guys.
Lee