Final Cut Pro X « Videomaker Community Forums

Jake Arida
Member

is it worth moving from Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X?

Posted 8 months ago #
EarlC
Moderator

I wouldn't pull the trigger on that one just yet, not if I'm still completely satisfied with what I have and how I can use FCP 7 (I'm still using FCP 6) ... from what I've read and heard there's simply too radical a change and too many lost abilities and trade-offs to make it worth changing (notice I didn't say "upgrade" ;-)

I will get it to toy with and see, eventually, but I still need to go through Snow Leopard and then into Lion OS before doing so, so I won't likely being moving into FCP X anytime in my near future.

Posted 8 months ago #
Julie Babcock
Moderator

Hi Jake,

Apple is currently offering a free 30-day trial of Final Cut Pro X. Since everyone has their own opinion depending on their preferences and level of expertise, I'd say your best bet would be to try it out and see if it works well for you, personally.

Posted 8 months ago #
Julie Babcock
Moderator

Also, be sure to check out our latest review of Apple's Final Cut Pro X for more information.

Posted 8 months ago #
grinner
Member

Short answer: No.

http://grinnerhester.com

Posted 8 months ago #
Daniel Bruns
Staff

I would agree. The programs are so different that you probably shouldn't drop everything and move over to Final Cut Pro X. Though the new interface looks cool and does indeed do some things better, it has lost some critical features that Final Cut Pro 7 had. That is why a good number of editors have not yet made the move. However, you should definitely try out the program first using the 30 day free trial to see if it is indeed for you!

Associate Editor
dbruns@videomaker.com
VM Customer Support: 1-800-284-3226

Posted 8 months ago #
Jake Arida
Member

thanks guys for the info.... the interface for FCP Xis a bit intimidating.

Posted 8 months ago #
grinner
Member

Don't let that trip you up. Let it's limitations sway you to other solutions.

Posted 8 months ago #
raronson
Member

FCP X is a great program when it is running properly. The interface is one of the best things about it. I find FCP X to be much more intuitive then FCP 7. The integration with Motion is much better. Overall, it is a great program to work with. You should definitely have FCP X and 7. Once you dig into FCP X I think you will like it. The most important thing to do is put aside everyone's opinion and try it.

Posted 8 months ago #
gldnears
Member

Julie sez:

" Apple is currently offering a free 30-day trial of Final Cut Pro X. Since everyone has their own opinion depending on their preferences and level of expertise, I'd say your best bet would be to try it out and see if it works well for you, personally. "

Yehbut . . . will Final Cut Pro X run on earlier than the very latest Mac OS?

Rick Crampton

Posted 7 months ago #
EarlC
Moderator

The apple website could probably answer that for you in a jiffy.

Posted 7 months ago #
grinner
Member

I just can't think of any reason to go to FCX. FCP exports xml files semmlessly to Premiere Pro... and vice versa for that matter. Any house with CS5 that use to be a FCP house knows where they are heading. Most Avid houses do as well. lol

Posted 7 months ago #
ProPhotog01
Member

I have been working with FCPX for 3+ months and I can tell you without hesitation....NO!!!!Â Its not!!! I love my Mac products but in a nutshell, the one thing that's supposed to be revolutionary is the worst thing about it...The Magnetic Timeline. Project elements can jump all over the place during routine editing. You can pull a transitions or a text element across the timeline and it can randomly be snagged by another element, copied and pasted to it! Because its a "Trackless" editor all elements have to be connected to another. Deleting one element can delete others above or below it and sometimes all! Along with being very buggy all the way around (and I am working on a iMac 3.4gh Quad 16g i7 27inch) your creativity is severely stifled. The best example is when you crop a photo or video clip to place over a background or other piece of media, don't expect to place one of the many cool transitions on it, it will apply that transition to the full frame of view. Which means you have to keyframe in a limited fashion, any effects of those elements. This was very disappointing and all but makes this platform useless. But its the Magnetic Timeline that is the most irritating aspect of this editor. Its unpredictable and that equates to a lot of time watching and fixing all the things that happen without any rational. Copying and Pasting happens where the timeline is and it could push things all over the place to fit it in. I have been keeping a running list of all the things that most unfortunately make this editor a real waste of time for anyone who makes any kind of living editing media for video output...and its long! While outputting and the file browser are great, its just not worth the putting up with the shear madness of not knowing what the hell is going to happen as you edit. I have never been more certain after working with FCPX that having control of the tracks and what is them independently to the whole frame of view is critical to the Editor! Will Apple be smart enough to put track control back into it...I don't know? Will it help fix a lot of the problems with this editor...absolutely!!! But I would imagine that would not be seen for at least a year if ever and just not worth the wait when Adobe Premier 5.5 is as good as it has ever been and is just as fast rendering and outputting. I am planning on "switching" this week to AP5.5

Hope this helps and I am sorry for being so bleak about this editor, but I have to say it more than warrants all the criticism.

Posted 7 months ago #
Don
Member

I have been using the trial (thanx guys for the info) of fcpx and I must say it takes some getting used to. I am finding it easy enough to use for simpler projects. One odd behaviour is importing video from my d-slr, seems Aperture and Imovie ingest the clips easily but fcpx won't. I have to pull them in through Imovie first, no other way works....

but having said that....

I expect fcpx will in the near future deliver everything that was promised.

Remember we all agree that the best editor to use is either the one we learned on or the one we are used to.

I like it. Apple could have saved themselves a tonne of headaches if they had named it "iMovie Pro" and just left Final Cut Pro to die a slower death after "iMovie Pro" matured.

@ craig... are you using compound clips and audition features to keep your projects organized in the timeline?

Â

Posted 7 months ago #
ProPhotog01
Member

Don: Are you kidding me? (Don't mean to be mean) Of course I have. But again the unpredictability when you have to break it up to edit with in the compound clip is wrenching. Elements can start moving around unpredictably. I have a subscription MacProVideo and I am very well aware of this function. But again, I ask you to think seriously about how backwards it is not to have control of individual tracks? Sure its kinda cool to see things floating around, but after editing on it for over 3 months you start to realize its the power of the individual track that makes editing "Non-Linear"! Each track is in essence its own surface that makes what you do only affect whats in it. Using Compound Clips has nothing to do with the fact that I can't apply a transition to a particular cropped vclip or photo and not have it affect the whole frame of view!! Calling it iMovie Pro or Final Cut Beta or whatever won't erase the fact that no matter how cool it sounds to have Trackless Magnetic Timeline... (I thought it was cool as heck at first!)... the more you think about editing, the more track Based editing makes more sense than ever before. My favorite editor still, when I was in Windows was Sony Vegas. This was before HD blew up! I will either go that route or use the new Premier 5.5 as it is much improved, taking advantage of multi-core computers. Look I went in full tilt...FCPX,Motion and Compressor...$400....gone! And the "integration" between Motion and FCPX...there is none! To get rid of "Round-tripping" (Something that Premier does very well) just makes no sense. it takes so much more to edit any part of your project in Motion. I just don't think they had real editors working on real involved projects for any length of time during the development. The Trackless Magnetic Timeline will never work. And I am saying it plain and clear so hopefully there is more dialogue and the folks at Apple give this some real thought and give the editor back the control of the editing process.

Posted 7 months ago #
EarlC
Moderator

FCP X update incorporates multicam, FCP 7 compatibility, other.

Posted 3 months ago #
Kenkyusha
Member

XML support is good news (opening FCP7 projects is done through a third-party app though...) 64 multicam also seems good- too bad they EOLed my hardware or I'd give this a go...

Posted 3 months ago #
Jake Arida
Member

Thanks guys for the info..... I'm moving forward with 30 days free trial !!!!!, nothing to lose.

Posted 3 months ago #