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Thinking about getting FinalCut Pro?

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Hey Everyone,
Thinking about getting Final Cut Pro and possibly even Motion 5.

What I would like to know is how much more, or should I say how much better would I be able to create my videos with FC -vs- iMovie?

Few things I have noticed which are a PLUS for me..
- DSLR Video sync via audio..
- White Balance correction in one click..
- Better over all noise reduction/correction..

But besides those, what does it offer over iMovie?
Is the compression better? My videos could be smaller in size IMHO.
Can I have multiple video streams? Like more then just 2 on iMovie..
Are the text titles better? Some of iMovies, most of iMovies are lame...


Anyway, I would like to here everyones opinion..

Thanks,
Joe
 
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Hey Joe!

I'll try to answer your questions simply but the answers can get very deep when it comes to video.

Final Cut Pro X is light years better than iMovie. It's a professional editing suite with endless possibilities. Yes, there is automatic color correction that can improve white balance tremendously after the fact. And there are also deep color correction tools utilizing multiple scopes. Of course as you know, as a photographer, it's much better to set the white balance correctly when shooting. But FCPX has plenty of post-production tools to help if you don't.

Basically, FCPX offers much deeper control and options-- from transitions to generators to effects. The text titles have many more options and there are 3rd party plug-ins available for endless expansion. Everything is built in layers on a magnetic timeline and you can have unlimited layers of video and sound and fine control of everything.

Regarding compression, file size is definitely affected by 710p (smaller) vs 1080p (bigger) timelines but the aspect that has the most effect on the final file size is bit rate, which is basically the depth or amount of data per second. Higher bit rates equal higher quality output. And you have the most control over bit rate in a program like Compressor. FCPX converts your imported clips (which are compressed h.264 in the case of your 70D) into a larger intermediate codec called ProRes for editing, transitions, effects, color grading, etc and then you send a Master file to Compressor to compress for whatever purpose you have in mind. Compressor gives you complete control over that. Keep in mind that FCPX compresses too, just without as many options.

Motion is a fun program that can really do some interesting things but it has a fairly steep learning curve. It will take you some time to master. I would start with FCPX first-- and perhaps Compressor if you want fine control over compression-- and then decide if Motion is necessary and worth your time.
 
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Thanks for the reply. I was on Apples website last night looking and turns out there is a 30 day trial. So its looking likely I will get it this week.


iMovie does pretty much everything I need, however I would really be interested in more transition and title effects. Also the video sync via audio from multiple DSLRs is something I also really really want and the extra options to clean up my audio is also very much needed.

I didn't realize how much more FCPX offered until I got on Apples website last night. I don't think I will need Motion or Compressor. iMovie works well at exporting as it is. I just use the export to iTunes for really good compression and just upload that to Youtube. And with over 90 transition effects, I don't see my self needing Motion until I just want more customization options over what FC offers.

Over all I feel this is something I will need if I am going to improve the videos of my channel.
 
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Just quick update..

Downloaded FCPX tonight.. Love it.. Before the trail runs out I will stick it on the old credit card.. LOL.. It does everything I need. Its so much better at clearing my audio up that alone pretty much makes it worth the buy.
 
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Just quick update..

Downloaded FCPX tonight.. Love it.. Before the trail runs out I will stick it on the old credit card.. LOL.. It does everything I need. Its so much better at clearing my audio up that alone pretty much makes it worth the buy.

Awesome!

Post here if you have any questions about it.

Enjoy!
 
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Awesome!

Post here if you have any questions about it.

Enjoy!

No doubt...

Be warned though I am very comfortable with these types of video editors, so if I have a question its liable to be a tuffy.. LOL


Now if my microphones will arrive this week I think I can bring my video production to a professional level..


Thanks, Joe.
 
C

chas_m

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Bear in mind that that $200 charge on your CC used to be well over $1,000! FCPX FTW
 
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Final Cut short vs iMovies, just be somehow confused. Whst's their difference?

A very simple explanation:

Final Cut Pro - professional level editing which means more options like number of video and audio tracks, more effects, more encoding choices, etc

iMovie - for the home/consumer user. Easy to use, less abilities, less choices for encoding, special effects, etc.

Lisa
 
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A very simple explanation:

Final Cut Pro - professional level editing which means more options like number of video and audio tracks, more effects, more encoding choices, etc

iMovie - for the home/consumer user. Easy to use, less abilities, less choices for encoding, special effects, etc.

Lisa

Exactly..


To piggy back on what Lisa mentioned. Final Cut is similar in appearance in ways to iMovie. But Final Cut goes far beyond many things you wished you could do or change in iMovie. This is not saying iMovie is bad, matter of fact its likely one of the best inexpensive to free Apps for video production on the market. I have videos BTW on my youtube channel going into detail on how to use iMovie.

That said, unless you plan to make money editing video or making videos per se on a professional level, It is IMHO a little hard to justify the $299 USD price tag for FC. I am hoping that my youtube channel will one day eventually pay for FCP and the rest of my photo/video equipment. Its really an investment, a large one at that. But IMHO if I wasn't trying to push my production level past my competition, I would just have stuck with iMovie. Plus IMHO iMovie is actually easier to use then Final Cut Pro X. So if your new to video editing, iMovie is the best way to go.
 
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That said, unless you plan to make money editing video or making videos per se on a professional level, It is IMHO a little hard to justify the $299 USD price tag for FC. I am hoping that my youtube channel will one day eventually pay for FCP and the rest of my photo/video equipment. Its really an investment, a large one at that. But IMHO if I wasn't trying to push my production level past my competition, I would just have stuck with iMovie. Plus IMHO iMovie is actually easier to use then Final Cut Pro X. So if your new to video editing, iMovie is the best way to go.

You are correct, FCP is an investment. I started many years back with Premiere Pro and have upgraded versions over the years. Initially, I was given a free copy and then because I was an educator, received huge discounts when upgrading.

I looked at using FCP back when I started and if memory serves me, it was a lot more expensive than it is today. I remember it being on the same cost level as Premiere Pro.

Now Adobe has gone to a monthly fee to use their software so for now I will stick with the CS6 version. I may find myself looking at FCP again.

I actually stumble around when I use iMovie. To me the interface is so different from FCP or Premiere Pro, I find it restrictive and frustrating.

I wish you good luck with your YouTube channel!

Lisa
 
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....

I actually stumble around when I use iMovie. To me the interface is so different from FCP or Premiere Pro, I find it restrictive and frustrating.

I wish you good luck with your YouTube channel!

Lisa

Thanks Lisa..

Yea if someone has been using FCP or Adobe Premiere, your going to get frustrated as soon as you try to edit some title and text on the screen, or simply put. The lack of ability to edit those..

I like the $9.99 +tax ($10.69 total) for Lightroom and Photoshop. But I just can't see myself paying an additional $30 a month to get my hands on Premeire Pro.. For this reason I considered FCP as it was cheaper then upgrading my subscription package from Adobe..
 
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Thanks Lisa..

Yea if someone has been using FCP or Adobe Premiere, your going to get frustrated as soon as you try to edit some title and text on the screen, or simply put. The lack of ability to edit those..

I like the $9.99 +tax ($10.69 total) for Lightroom and Photoshop. But I just can't see myself paying an additional $30 a month to get my hands on Premeire Pro.. For this reason I considered FCP as it was cheaper then upgrading my subscription package from Adobe..

I totally agree. If I ever get to the point that Premiere CS6 is so outdated that I have to switch I will probably switch to FCP.

I plan to replace my two Windows editors with Macs in the near future (translation - as soon as I have the $$$ saved up :Cool: )

I will not pay a monthly fee - for as long as I can avoid it.

Lisa
 
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I totally agree. If I ever get to the point that Premiere CS6 is so outdated that I have to switch I will probably switch to FCP.

I plan to replace my two Windows editors with Macs in the near future (translation - as soon as I have the $$$ saved up :Cool: )

I will not pay a monthly fee - for as long as I can avoid it.

Lisa

I can't blame you a single bit. I really don't need Photoshop except for one feature and thats Photomerge for stitching my panoramas together. But I upgrade Lightroom every release. Which is about every 1.5 to 2 years. At $79.99 + tax for upgrade I basically pay that every 8 months. Then the rest is essentially for photoshop. Which at less then $100 a year is a great buy for me. Then the other reason is cross platform availability. If I jump ship to windows, my files are unaffected, which is important to me. This is also the only thing that makes me un-easy about using Final Cut from Apple as there is no Windows version.
 
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Yeah I understand. I totally depend on the Adobe integration. I start by opening Adobe Bridge. I create graphics in Photoshop or Illustrator then use InDesign to create our weekly bulletin. Uses some of the graphics in the weekly news video telling of upcoming events that plays on the TV's. Create a finished copy of the week before's service using Premiere Pro, Audition, and After Effects for YouTube, DVD distribution, audio files. And that is just a regular week. I will use Lightroom and Photoshop to edit the multitude of photos taken during various services for later or current projects, create any special videos (I have 6 this week) for what ever they dream up. What is so fabulous is you can a fix file and it corrects where ever it was used in which ever Adobe program.

So changing to Final Cut Pro would be a big change. I just resent the monthly fee. I understand why because is creates a constant revenue stream for them but I work for a non-profit and we take our stewardship very seriously. I have had at least 7 or 8 upgrades of Adobe programs and I have paid for each one. I understand the piracy issues but I just resent having to pay each month to use a product. I feel the same way about Office 365. Not for me. I will hold off and look for alternatives as long as possible. (As I watch a dinosaur walk by I see the inevitable coming....sigh)

Lisa
 
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I can't say I blame you a bit.. I also have Office 2011 for Mac and will stick with it until Open/Libre Office or what ever it becomes tomorrow meets or exceeds Office 2011..

Companies should offer a version of their software for private/Non-Profit organizations with highly discounted license cost.

BTW, a upcoming program that I may eventually move to is Darkroom, one of the first real Lightroom clones out there.. If I can get a real video creation application that has audio sync like FCP, I would eventually switch back to Linux.
 
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...So changing to Final Cut Pro would be a big change. I just resent the monthly fee. I understand why because is creates a constant revenue stream for them but I work for a non-profit and we take our stewardship very seriously...Lisa

As you may know, starting with cc Adobe *also* basically eliminated the discount to non-profits for Premiere Pro. For this reason many non-profit entities that used Premiere Pro have switched to FCP X. The math is simple: for the $50 per month per user that Adobe now demands, in 2-3 years you could buy an iMac. Then every 2-3 years you could get a brand new iMac -- perpetually. FCP X licensing is very generous -- Apple allows installing it on up to 10 computers.

Premiere Pro is a good product. However FCP X is much better at metadata management -- keyword tagging, searching and organizing content, etc. As project size scales upward, just cataloging, finding and managing your content becomes harder, so content management becomes more important. FCP X is essentially an integrated content management database seamlessly merged with a professional video editor.

That said FCP X is designed using a totally different paradigm than Premiere, Avid, Sony Vegas, etc. All those are track-oriented, timeline-oriented, file-oriented editors. IOW they are a computer depiction of celluloid film and audio. You are closely aware of the underlying video files.

By contrast FCP X uses a "storyline" metaphor, doesn't use tracks, and the video files are first imported into a database. You generally query the database for content, not files or bins.

For these reasons experienced video editors familiar with other products often have a difficult time transitioning to FCP X. Habits are very ingrained. However once that transition is done, they are often more productive and can produce a final product a lot faster. But the transition can be difficult.

For photographic work Adobe stills sells Lightroom, or you can subscribe to Lightroom and Photoshop for about $10 per month.
 
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As you may know, starting with cc Adobe *also* basically eliminated the discount to non-profits for Premiere Pro. For this reason many non-profit entities that used Premiere Pro have switched to FCP X. The math is simple: for the $50 per month per user that Adobe now demands, in 2-3 years you could buy an iMac. Then every 2-3 years you could get a brand new iMac -- perpetually. FCP X licensing is very generous -- Apple allows installing it on up to 10 computers..........

I would like to point out that you can have multiple copies installed on multiple machines and use only one ID. I don't know the exact number of instances that can be active at one time. But my MBA and MacMini are active at the same time all the time under the same ID.. So if is a small orginization with 3 maybe 4 people. It likely will still work and function correctly. However even with it on 4 machines, $600 a month for PS, LR and PP is to costly.
But all in all, FCPX is better value, but for what you pay, Compressor or Motion should be included. Even though I don't use neither.

IMHO if your a non-profit and on a Mac. Then Pixelmator and iMovie are your best choices for media production. If you on a PC, Corel Video Studio is a great value and Corel Paintshop Pro are your best options, but not as cheap as the Mac options.
 
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I have used iMovie. Never used Pixelmator. I have used Corel Paintshop Pro. Have not used Corel Video Studio.

I have to stick with something that has the ability to handle large projects. Example: last month I put together a 5 hour 30 minute video of a women's conference. It was taped with three stationary cameras plus a hand held for close ups. I had to use multi-camera to mix all that together, set my markers for the menus, and encode it so it fit on a dual layer DVD. That has been my longest project to date. I will say it did test the editor but she handled it well.

I also have several productions each year that are around an hour and a half long. I produce weekly hour long services that are mixed live but require three different types of encoding for three different types of media. Plus the various short videos for promos and such that are done weekly and as needed.

So what ever I may someday be required to switch to, it has to be able to handle the load. Add to that the work done in After Effects and Photoshop that integrates so well with Premiere Pro....hard to move away from.

We shall see. I don't have to make any decisions right now. Maybe I will be ready for my second retirement by then and someone else can take over.

Lisa
 
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.......
I have to stick with something that has the ability to handle large projects. Example: last month I put together a 5 hour 30 minute video of a women's conference. It was taped with three stationary cameras plus a hand held for close ups. I had to use multi-camera to mix all that together, set my markers for the menus, and encode it so it fit on a dual layer DVD. That has been my longest project to date. I will say it did test the editor but she handled it well....
Lisa

Not sure of all the features of Corel. It was affordable and only used it for about a year. I have to admit I didn't have heavy task like that when I used it, only editing one video source from gaming video footage.

iMovie has no way, at least as far as I know to even handle that load, much less sync everything. I frankly would be terrified to even try. But from what you mentioned, thats the workload and syncing ability that brought me to use FCP.

Even just my simple tutorials, I record from my DSLR and audio via USB into my iPod or Mac and then use FCPX to sync the clips into one. The DSLR has audio, but horrible audio. I just use it to sync, then disable the audio track from the DSLR in FCP and boom, great video and audio.. lol
 
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I would like to point out that you can have multiple copies installed on multiple machines and use only one ID. I don't know the exact number of instances that can be active at one time. But my MBA and MacMini are active at the same time all the time under the same ID.. So if is a small orginization with 3 maybe 4 people...

You can have Photoshop or Premiere Pro cc installed on any number of machines, but only 2 can be active. The intent is a single person having a laptop and desktop can install it on both and have both active. Beyond 2 and the built-in licensing prevents you launching another one without deactivating one of the first two.
 

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