Re: Editing halt at FCP7, latest on FCPX vs Premier

Hi All

I've been on an extended editing hiatus, so I left FCP at FCP7 when FCPX came on the scene and all the tomfoolery that followed .. so, in brief, any good reason to entertain Premier over FCP X ? Or, are you all X believers?

Thanks
Lola

Well of course on this site as you'd imagine are Final Cut Pro users. In fact I'd say roughly 30% or maybe even more who post here still use FCP7. I've personally tried Premiere and even as a big FCP7 fan I just can't get into it. They are just now introducing features that X has had for years. It was not wise from a marketing perspective to do what Apple did with FCPX. They should have rewritten it from the ground-up, of course... but they should have introduced the new features slowly instead of requiring everyone to scrap their old projects, unlearn what they had learned and start from scratch. I'm not dissing FCPX, I'm dissing the way they did it. Apple was dumb. It has not worked well for them and they lost way too many editors to Premiere and the like. Talk about dropping the ball one yard from the end zone. But then again, maybe they did it on purpose. Apple doesn't want to be in the pro market any more, at least not with any force. Most people who don't use FCPX think of it as a joke but people who DO use FCPX don't think of the competition as a joke.

I would like to point out that there are a number of professionals who use FCP X on a daily basis and it works well for them.

Just saying.

--ken

Of course there are. But FCP used to be top dog. Or at least MUCH more prominent than it is now.

Agreed, Ken.

Speaking for myself, I'm getting quite used to FCP X. IMO, it has many features that are brilliant. For example, I love the Keying feature and the Compound Clip. However, there are certain bugs that I have reported to Apple and which I hope they will iron out. Examples: 1) the order of the Projects (Sequences) in my Events (Bins) keeps changing every time I open up the program; 2) often fonts that I have cut into a Project morph into the default font (Helvetica). When I re-start, the correct fonts return. Overall, despite certain improvements, FCP X seems less stable than FCP 7 which was rock-steady.

I tested Premiere for month and found it to be weaker version of FCP 7. Their tracking feature, however, was excellent.

-Phil

I really wish Apple would bring the keyframing abilities up to where Final Cut Pro had it way back in version 4. Maybe Apple will catch up to 2003 someday. Oh and I'd like it if it were as snappy as FCP7 and Premiere both still are, especially with long/complex projects. I can have a long and complex project in FCP7 and Premiere CC and it will be very snappy and responsive whereas FCPX will begin to chug and rainbow wheel when doing anything with the same media on the same drives.

Some are expecting a VERY BIG update to FCPX within the next few weeks. It's been a very long time since the last feature upgrade.

More important than top dogs is whether I can edit fast like a cat. For me that makes FCPX tops. Granted there are reasons one may want to work with Creative Cloud but if you don't have that specific need, FCPX is great and certainly professional enough for Broadcast and Feature Films.

Yeah I just wish it didn't get laggy so easily on my $4000+ Mac Pro where FCP7 and Premiere do not.