“Love it or hate it, Apple’s Final Cut Pro X is here to stay,” Rounik Sethi reports for MacProVideo. “It is a radical departure from the Final Cut 7 software that came before it, and is perhaps a sign that Apple intends to usher in a brave new world of video editing. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Michael Wohl, one of the primary designers of the original Final Cut Pro, writer of Apple’s Courseware and Star Trainer here at macProVideo.com to discuss Final Cut Pro X in more detail.”
Some snippets from Wohl’s interview with Sethi:
• Final Cut Pro X is not a new version of Final Cut. To call it that is to misunderstand everything about it. It is a brand new piece of software. So much so that in my humble opinion, I think Apple would’ve had a better time of this if they just named it something completely new. And I think the audience reaction would be more uniformly great. Right now we’re seeing a very mixed reaction.
• Make no doubt about it, Final Cut Pro X is an amazing piece of software. There are tons of really cool features… I think that there is an expectation problem where people want to pick up right where Final Cut 7 left off and you’ve got to realize that was a 10-year-old piece of software that was never going to survive another 10 years. It needed to be reinvented. And I think they did a bold and difficult thing to do this complete reinvention.
• FCP X is going to be incredibly useful and is going to be everything you would want for a good 70% of the users out there. For people migrating from iMovie, people new to video editing, people working on simple projects where they need to quickly and easily get their editing done, this is going to be an amazing tool from Day One… There are shortcomings, sure. My gut feeling is that identifying those shortcomings doesn’t necessarily mean we shouldn’t use FCP X, but it means we need to be aware that there are currently some limitations.
• I don’t think [that, due to FCP X’s power and low price,] professional video editors are going to go away, but I do think that the big bulk of the market is going to be that mid-range space where people are creating high quality (video) but they’re not doing it in a professional environment. As the technology gets simpler and more accessible—literally every iPhone has an HD video camera in it—so everyone is going to be dealing with video which will in turn require a certain amount of editing. You need to organize it and in order to present it there’s work that you need to do. So having a tool which is accessible to this wide range of people, and yet gives enough of the professional tools that can give great results, is a really brilliant idea on Apple’s behalf.
Much, much more in the full interview, including links to Wohl’s Free 1-hour long Overview and many more FCP X tutorials, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Matthew H.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Final Cut Pro X ‘backlash’ coming from competitors scared to death over Apple’s $299 price tag? – June 24, 2011
Conan blasts Apple’s new Final Cut Pro X (with video) – June 24, 2011
Answers to the unanswered questions about Apple’s new Final Cut Pro X – June 23, 2011
‘Professional’ video editors freak out over Final Cut Pro X – June 23, 2011
Apple revolutionizes video editing with Final Cut Pro X – June 21, 2011
I don’t understand all the bellyaching. IT’S $299! And nobody’s taking your FCP7 away. For $299, seems worthwhile to take a week taking it for a spin.
I understand. Every time Apple releases a product there are 3 groups of people.
1- The complainers
2- Those that complain about the complainers
3- Those that spend time using the software
Eventually we all fall into group 3 until the new version comes out. Then 95% of us fall back into group 1 or 2.
I’m preparing my list of Lion complaints right now. I want to be well prepared for the release. 😉
Nice one, Bandit!. I probably fall into a category somewhere between 2 & 3, eventually winding up at 3. This group of people, the 2.5 group, will be the Hide & Watch Group. It was great advice from my dad 30 years ago. It still rings true. I like to watch the complainers rant on and then wait a little longer for the other shoe to drop and answer the questions. I never- NEVER- buy software or hardware right out of the shoot because I don’t want to be in Group 1. I guess I dip my toe in the waters of Group 2, vacation in Group 2.5 and live in Group 3.
But I do have a complaint…. I’m completely irritated that you didn’t share your P.C.L. with the entire list!
P.C.L.- Pre-emptive Complaint List
“Nobody’s taking your FCP 7 away”.
Really?
Wait ’til everyone realizes that FCP 7 won’t run on Lion!
Nobody’s taking your Snow Leopard away, either.
It does too you alarmist jackass. I’ve got the beta running FCP7 right now.
Actually, there is no information that FCP7 all of sudden will not run on Lion.
There is nothing in FCP7 that would prevent that, since it’s code is Intel-only and obviously has nothing to do with Rosetta emulator of PowerPC code.
It IS running on Lion. Preview 4 at least.
That’s good to hear. For Apple to cripple FCP7 in 10.7 would be the last straw (not in a punitive way, but rather a practical one) for many of us to invest in a non-Apple branded competitive application. (i.e. Premiere, AVID, etc…)
How many serious video editors will move to Lion right away? My brother is a professional video editor.. and it takes him forever to upgrade anything because he doesn’t want to mess with something that works well. I think he is still running Leopard on his edit machine.
That’s a good point. Personally, I don’t upgrade a Mac OS until the X.X.3 revision. In my experience, that’s when most of the bugs have been squashed. My point was more that if FCP7 becomes unusable on 10.7.0, that will be a good indicator for whether veterans of FCP7 can hope to use it on Lion or not.
… MY computer to the latest/greatest as soon as reasonably possible, I learn to use it before asking my wife when I can upgrade HER computer. She works on hers, and can’t afford the down-time of a reset. And we don’t want to switch her over in the middle of a significant project. Even if “it works for ME”.
IF it didn’t work under Lion, I doubt it would be a case of Apple crippling FCP7 so much as moving Lion forward.
Anyway, you complain about Apple re-envisioning FCP for the Future and how editors might have some relearning to do… And you propose investing in Premiere as a solution?!? Lol, What gives?
I don’t remember making the complaint about having to learn new things. That’s something I do every day and really enjoy. If you’ve read my other posts, my main complaint is about HOW Apple is making this transition. I’m one of those people who will loose certain critical capabilities by committing to FCPX at this time. Fortunately, as an owner of FCP7 licenses, I don’t have to.
I was simply pointing out that if FCP (in whatever version, or for any software program for that matter) stops running on your box or stops becoming a viable tool, there are other options from which to choose. I don’t find that funny. Rather, I find it wonderful.
Was price ever mentioned in this article as being a reason why people are upset about FCPX? I didn’t see that. I do know the same people who are bellyaching are the same ones that dropped 1K on FCP7. Go to the app store and look at the reviews. Price isn’t the issue. Apple took the focus off the professional editor and brought it to a consumer level by removing features that are necessary for larger productions than your son’s 20-minute final eighth-grade project.
Apple did take away my FCP7 by discontinuing it, no more updates. FCPX is not ready for professional use and from what the article said it might not ever be. Professional editors are not Apple’s market anymore.
Yes, thats right Apple is going to forever abandon the Pro Video market.
This is just a version 1 product, it will improve, You can count on it! Unless of course you weren’t around for System 9 to OSX transition when the sky was falling because of all the changes and missing features.
Why don’t you just keep using FCP7 and wait for FCPX.2 or .3 before feeling abandoned.
Because right now you, and those like you, just sound like a tool.
“And nobody’s taking your FCP7 away”
The problem isn’t that they are taking FCP7 away, it’s that FCP7 already has tons of issues that need to be addressed, and FCPX does not do that. Many professional studios have been waiting patiently for an update to FCP7 that will remedy some of the issues with it, and FCPX is a slap in the face to them, as it actually offers *less* functionality than FCP7 for their work.
I think the high-end market will move back to Avid and Premiere, and Apple will only succeed in the mid-range market with this software.
It’s a new version of Final Cut Express, not Final Cut Pro.
See my post to Word above.
Think about it. Why are you using FCP now over Premier. Maybe because its better, hmmm yeah I thought so. As for Avid, well if you want to spend thousands on top of what you’ve already spent, knock your self out. It will be your loss ultimately.
What Apple is doing is what Adobe should have done with Photoshop years ago (clean sheet, top to bottom, rewrite).
Instead they continue to sell this buggy bloated craptastic shite for more money then FCPX. And yet you still cry me a river…go figure.
“nobody’s taking your FCP7 away.”
Yes they are, long term. It’s discontinued. That means no more development. It’s a dead-end product. Professional editors are realizing they have to migrate to something that fits their needs for years to come, and FCP7 is clearly not it.
Apple ought to bring it back and give it some name like Final Cut Pro Classic and slap a big price tag on it. That way the high-end pros will stop complaining (or at least complain less) while they quietly incorporate the new FCP X into their toolkit, knowing they have both. Eventually FCP X will be satisfactory to them, and in the mean time they have not migrated to some other system.
Just like the move from Mac OS 9 to OS X the move from FC7 to FCX is a paradigm shift. Some may not be ready for this, nor is the software ready for some to make that transition, but the transition has to occur. Stay where you are if it is not ready for you, but move if you want to see improved software, new workflow methods and a host of possibilities as yet not realized. FC1 to FCX user here, and I like what I see.
The OS9 to OSX comparison is valid. The difference is that Apple offered support for BOTH platforms while the market and the technology had time to adjust. When most loyal Mac users had become accustomed to the new OS, Apple eventually (and rightfully) stopped supporting OS9 when they EOL’d (end of life’d) the Classic environment.
By contrast, what Apple has done with FCP is released a new product, EOL’d the old product, and alienated a large portion of customers that have relied on FCP features that are absent in the newest version. Not to oversimplify it, but Apple’s approach with the release of FCPX is, “Here’s the new thing which does some awesome new stuff, but is incapable of doing important things you need.” That’s a very different approach from the thoughtful and gradual paradigm shift from OS9 to OSX. If you need this, this, and this, get FCP7. If you’d rather have this, this, and this, get FCPX. Even if Apple had named the new program “Final Cut X” and still offered Final Cut Pro 7 in some form, the situation would have been easier (at least for me) to wrap my head around. This is where I really agree with what Michael says in the article.
I’m really hoping that FCPX will someday offer not only revolutions in video production, but also the capabilities required by me and the many others who have reservations about the road map of Apple’s video software. To simultaneously revolutionize for the consumer and render unusable (or at least unavailable) for the loyal professional gives me pause. If nothing else, leaving the end-user with more options than the other software company would have been a better, more Apple-esque approach.
I thank you for your considerate, thoughtful input. Too many times, people yell and scream before they even USE the product or service.
Again thanks for constructive, positive attitude even though you are not 100% happy with the current situation. Now, if only the rest of society would act the same way we all would be better off.
Thanks pablorph. We’re all creative people, and therefore have passionate viewpoints. I’m as guilty as anyone for wanting to post like my head feels like it’s full of hot, molten lava. I always try to count to ten before spewing. Usually, I’m successful…usually.
BTW, are you of the Long Island pablorphs? 🙂
Thank you – Finally someone who gets it.
I’m sure the analogy is not lost on you. Because I sure remember a lot of wailing, knashing of teeth, exc.
They’ll win the masses and lose all actual filmmakers in the next few months.
And soon those “actual” filmmakers will be supplanted by more forward-thinking generation of artists who are grown-up enough to learn the new paradigm and quit whining that someone moved their cheese. Innovate or die.
That petition is ridiculous. As if anyone will boycott Apple 100% unless they get their way.
I see it already has 3 signatures… pretty powerful 🙂 Apple will crumble.
Yep. Just like the OS X rewrite caused Apple to lose all Mac users, OS 9 was the apex of the Macintosh operating system.
If only “actual film makers” do not include certain Oscar-winning editors which support FCP X, or many other film editors who do not edit TV shows and are not immediately tied by multi-camera feature or exporting/importing to/from old tapes. Nor there editors need to drag any old projects with themselves, since they edit completely new films each time.
It is NOT about the price we (editors) are complaining.
Yes , we do have final cut 7, BUT it is not 64bit – it doesn’t RENDER in the background, analyze footage in the background and doesn’t have a magnetic timeline – THAT’s why everybody is pissed. Because it simply could have been a great update, but NO, its a new software that is USELESS for PRO EDITORS.
People who shoot on the iphone are NOT the target audience for PRO applications. You want to tell me, that you’re going to go to a cinema to see a film shot on iPHONE??? Don’t be silly.
This is a mistake from apple, and not one person should defend them on the basis that its cheap and that we have the last version.
I migrated to the Mac because it was cutting-edge…..but this is ridiculous – we are stuck with slow software while AVID and even Premiere are ahead of the game……people, please realize what it means for someone who makes a living through this software.
Every editor i know is already planning on moving to AVID….I hate avid, I want to cut on final cut…..but its painful to see, that a person who shoots on iphone can render faster on FCP X than a person who shoots on film/RED CAMERA/or even DSLR and edits in FCP 7
And i’m not even MENTIONING that the workflow with a sound editor is completely thrown out with FCP X – its like saying the sound guy – you are not needed anymore.
I am sooooo dissappointed….
Waaaaaaaaaaaa!
dude, seriously, it’s not that simple an argument. Stop insinuating that anyone who doesn’t think like you is a crybaby. They’re not. They’re professionals that had the rug yanked out from under them. Yes, they can still use FCP7, but not in64 bit.
There are serious issues with the new version of FCP, and I imagine that Apple will get working on helping it better serve the pro user. But the article above states correctly that the software was targeted for the consumer market. Changing over to a professional grade video editing platform is a huge expense, it’s not like people can go buy an AVID platform for $299.
The “someone moved their cheese” comment is simplistic and silly. This is a real issue for pro users. FCPX is really iMovie pro now, and that will be good for Apple’s bottom line, but not for their pro user customers.
I’m starting to wonder how many of these nay sayers have really used the application? It’s only been out a couple days!
It seems that some of the things people are complaining about have just been moved, and others will be coming back. How many of these people could possibly have taken the time to really learn
the apps., potential?
I’m one of those professionals!
But, I’m not gonna waste time complaining about my cheese being moved. Video/film pros are notoriously slow to adapt to new technology. Why the line in the sand now?
Well… I’m not a editing pro, but your attitude (as expressed by your various responses) certainly reeks of professionalism.
WRONG – it in fact is NOT targeted at the consumer market! Where do people get this crap? It is v1 people. They understand our pain, but a little more patience while Apple and 3rd parties fill in the feature set is called for here. There are some truly innovative and amazing things that they have done by completely rewriting this application that make the competitive products look like DOS! And yes, you still do have FCP 7 until then.
This is ridiculous. Knowing how slowly the editing world moves it is crazy to think that there is going to be a mass migration from FCP because of these issues which will certainly be addressed in updates.
It took years for people to move from Avid to FCP, so all this whinging is asinine.
If you want to cut on FCP then keep using 7, learn the new version and move when it makes sense.
Ridiculous. All the pros who are making all this noise look like children.
Yes, I am an editor and I have been in the biz for a while. I am just realistic.
Children? Tell me this, professional – you’ve got a big project coming up and need to add 5 more seats to your Final Cut Pro 7 license. You can’t! Apple discontinued it! Try and find a licensed copy. Retailers were asked to return their old copies, and you can’t buy them online.
As a project manager, you have to plan out your needs for upcoming projects, and if you need FCP7 licenses, you can’t get them. THAT’S why pros are looking to other NLEs. We can’t be sure that FCPX will be able to do the jobs we’ll need it to do. That’s a real problem if we ever want to continue to make money.
Apple’s unpublished roadmap, support hostility for legacy apps, and lack of complete feature sets make those of us in pro shops nervous.
He said it “70% of users”…so reading between the lines, the 30% left over are the Film & TV industry professionals, with post houses to run etc etc.
It’s probably not for them, so it’s a misnomer to label it “pro”.
I know there are many blurring of lines between the 70% and the 30% and maybe some of the 30% will come to love it. But I do feel Apple has put a nail in the coffin for the 30%.
Next on the list will be the MacPro, mark my words. Either that or it will be sufficiently ‘dumbed down’ so Apple can sell a shed load instead of a handful, but in the meantime alienate the power users.
It seems to me that Apple shouldn’t have discontinued FCP 7 straight away. I’m sure there will be a series of updates in the next year or so that will improve FCP X it dramatically, at which time people will be used to it and in more of a position to let go of FCP 7 anyway. It just seems like a very abrupt way of launching it.
Someone said Apple could have avoided this by maintaining FCP 7 sales and making FCP X the new Express, later adding the Uber-Pro features and discontinuing FCP 7
I agree completely
That might have been me. I said something like that in a couple of comments.
For me, FCPX is great. However, I’ve run small studios, where this move would’e meant transitioning to another vendor.
The funny thing is, Apple could have released this as FCEX and many of us would have bought it at $299, only to then have bought a real FCPX later at pretty much any price.
If the Final Cut professionals are rightfully unhappy then Apple has to make them happy again… or lose them.
I bought two copies of Final Cut Server and spent a ton of time and money trying to use it without success…because it was not a decent product. Apple has been great for me but is not perfect. Hopefully they will take care of the Pro users.
From the article, I would guess that the codebase of FCP was very difficult to maintain, and thus had to be abandoned.
I can see that people who rely on FCP for their job (life) are sort-of unhappy about this.
But if it would have been easy to extend FCP with the stuff FCX does, don’t you think that Apple, who of all companies is known for sucking the last dollar out of a product before releasing a new one, wouldn’t have done so?
“Apple who…….is known for sucking the last dollar out of a product…..”
They simply introduce a product that people want and continue to innovate to other products that people want. Whats wrong with that. It s called great business.
If Apple tried to do what you say they DO, then they would simply stagnate selling products they are trying to (as you say) suck more money from.
Simply put, if you don’t like something don’t buy it. If you don’t want it BRING IT BACK. BRING IT BAck, BRING IT back, BRINg it ba aa aa ack.
Dear local TV spot editors,
Stop whining.
Real professional editors understand and wield the power of the simple cut – which FCP X does perfectly well, thanks.
Perhaps Apple doesn’t care if it loses certain FCP editors? Maybe they have much more to gain? Did you genius local TV spot editors ever think of that?
I really feel for these film editors in Hollywood.
I mean how hard (for a company like Apple) could it be to add in the features they care about? They already have the base code for , say, multicams. How hard can it be to start with that and spend a little bit of time adding the extra bit of 64bit “glue”.
Come on Apple do the right thing!
Thus spake every product manager I have ever met.
“how hard could it be”?
Any time I hear that I know that they have absolutely no clue about how software is actually built.
Clearly if Apple could have kept FCP alive they would have, but as TFA said… it is a ten year old app. LIkely a mix of c and c++. God (and the poor SOBs that have to work on it) only knows what horrors exist in there. Sometimes it really IS better for everyone to just start over.
Thus spake every engineer that never made it past peon. You suggest FCP-7 was built unprofessionally and without modularity. All I am saying is that i was ‘hoping’ that “APPLE” was more than your common old garden SW company (e.g. MS and GOOG). That they would have written their previous SW in a modular fashion with some consideration for future proofing and for use in other titles and systems whose bus widths were “n” instead of 32 or 64 bits. I can see you are the sort of engineer that might just be the “design once- use once” kind of guy. Maybe it is expecting too much from Engineers such as yourself (heres hoping you don’t work at Apple); but from Apple, I would fully expect SW to be written as “design once – use many”. Easily portable and easily integrate-able software should be the norm.
Paul, I’m sure you’re a nice guy in person. But your logic doesn’t make sense to me…
The idea that it’s just a 32 vs 64 bit issue seems highly unlikely. The code (originally from macromedia btw) was likely highly optimized for the hardware available in the mid 90s and just hasn’t aged well. Over the years code gets crufty despite the best intentions. Pro or not it is simply what happens when time and money are constrained. Throw in developer churn and you’ll end up with an unmaintainable mess. That apple has kept it around this long and evolved it as much as they have speaks well of them.
Actually I think apple is not recognized enough for how good they are on the software side of things. And one of the signs of someone who knows what they are doing is that they can make the call to replace things rather than to continue to hack on them.
It sounds like you’re saying that FCP X couldn’t be needed because apple is just ‘better’ than MS or GOOG at software. So then what? Apple ditched FCP7 why? If the codebase was inherently so great why would they start over?
I never said it was JUST 32 vs 64.
Yes, I would agree that inherited code from macromedia from 10 years ago would be hard to maintain.
But why would Apple not take another 4,5 or even 6 more months to add in SOME (if not all) hollywood features or at least promise to add them in later?
YES, YES, the market is maybe NOT THAT LARGE, but (and I think its a big BUT) that market certainly gives apple that special hollywood glitter and eliteness that has a halo effect all its own.
What I mean by this is that I have had many instances where some people would be singing the praises of Adobes movie S/W, and all i had to say was, “…yeah, but its apples S/W that hollywood uses to edit their movies…”. Shuts them right up. Bottom line is I think, for Apple, just the ENDORSEMENT from hollywood should be worth keeping.
Well, there you have it – pretty much from the horses mouth. It’s not meant for the Pro environment. As a long time pro post production technician/editor I can see learning to enjoy using FCX at home, but as it stands it will never fit into a serious workflow-dependent environment.
With enough ongoing constructive criticizm I can see Apple eventually fishtailing it back to a true industrial/workflow oriented tool, but I believe that’s going to be awhile in coming. That in turn means many of us who are serious, industrial strength editors are going to have to move to something else until and if that time comes.
As already pointed out by others and by myself in other posts, serious users have long been aware that FC is long overdue for a major overhaul, that time just came and went. The question now becomes what?
And for whatever it’s worth, I take some offence at those that continue to box the real professional into anti-Apple conspiricy theories and accusations of whining, and not being educated about the new product. FC is not a toy it is serious tool and is by many at this level. Make no mistake, we’re talking about workforce of professionals who’ foundation and interoperabilty are founded on FCP. And not a few uf us have staked our professional careers and personal reputations on getting FC, and for that matter, Apple hardware in respective places of business. If the issues that high-stakes pros are not issues for you then consider yourself blessed, but please don’t mistake you good fortune for the real dilema many of us are left with.
Now, constructive criticism… hummm…
Love it or hate it; Apple doesnt care about the niche high end market, they’re all about consumers, and to a certain degree prosumers. You don’t need to be an analytic genius to see where they’re going…anyone remember Shake?
Wohl has given the best explanation I’ve heard from Apple. They WERE aiming at the middle. Too bad I’m in that upper 30%. (Also too bad they didn’t rename it something else.)
I’ve done my trial download from Adobe. Not really looking forward to opening it.
I’ll arm myself with all the info I can… see where FCX (not worthy of the “P” yet) has progressed over the next half year… and buy what I have to during my December upgrade season.
Hi,
This is Rounik (I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Wohl – which is quoted in this greta article).
Wanted to mention that this quote:
“I don’t think [that, due to FCP X’s power and low price,] professional video editors are going to go away, but I do think that the big bulk of the market is going to be that mid-range space where people are creating high quality (video) but they’re not doing it in a professional environment.”
Doesn’t actually reflect the meaning Michael was trying to convey IMHO. I believe Michael was saying that the video editing demographic is changing now that almost everyone has access to HD Video capture and edit tech. The High-end, Pro Video Editors – e.g. broadcast industry, etc, are still going to be in existence but will be a much smaller slice of the entire video editing community… Much in the same way that Professional photographers still exist regardless of the fact many have excellent cameras and many do take high quality pictures.
He’s not suggesting that Pro Video Editors will necessarily stick with FCP X over FCP 7 in the short term… just that the prosumer market is growing and will probably find that FCP X meets most, if not all, their needs as FCP X matures.
Hope this makes sense in the context of the full interview:
http://www.macprovideo.com/hub/interview/exclusive-interview-michael-wohl-one-of-fcps-original-designers-speaks-about-final-cut-pro-x
Thanks & hope you enjoy the article!
Hi Rounik. Thanks for the great interview and article. It really helped me analyze the situation more thoroughly.
Hey Matthew. Thanks! I felt the same way when talking to Michael Wohl, as he took a step back and sketched out the bigger picture.
🙂
This is turning out to be quite an emotional issue…but then again so are Movies.
Perhaps someone will produce an award winning documentary “The Day FCP7 Stood Still” on FCP X and use iMovie 11 to make the trailer. Now that would be somethin’. 🙂
I like the movie title idea.
How about…
“FCP Wars: Episode X – A Lost Hope”
🙂
i think the bottom line is this.. if you don’t want fcp x, then don’t buy it, then don’t use it! that’s the idea of democracy. you buy what you want. you do what you want. nobody’s forcing anyone. use avid or adobe if you want. for me, i will be sticking to fcp 7 for now because i don’t want to mess up current projects that i’m doing. but i can not say that i will not test fcp x for the life of me. maybe i will, maybe not. but the point is, i will not buy any bread that i will not eat!
Uh yeah…
No, the idea is not to do what you want. But what you have to to get the job done. Now I have no choice but to look elsewhere should FCP suddenly not fulfill my needs. The rest of the world is not standing still. Camera mfgs. are making new stuff, etc. But FCP will not be moving forward.
I have over $6K in FCP add-ons such as plugins, filters and workflow apps. The paltry $300 for X isn’t an issue. But I’m pretty sure nothing I have is going to work with it. And who knows if that stuff will ever be available. This would be a complete platform change. Everyone who mentioned “roadmap” is correct. We just took it up rear from Apple without so much as a reach around. If FCP7 weren’t so long in the tooth none of this would be an issue. But it is.
The more I consider this issue, the more I believe Apple has cut its own throat in the ACTUAL ‘Pro’ video editing market while gaining in the amateur market.
To Video Pros: Grab Final Cut Studio 3 while you can find it in the shops. Note that Apple don’t sell it any more. 🙁
Meanwhile, To Home and Small Business Users: Final Cut Pro X is more than you need, has a progressive interface and is well worth the price. 🙂
I concur with Wohl’s keen assessment of FCP X and thank Apple for bringing me and hundreds of others in my local user group a powerful, sophisticated product, and yet so inexpensive. FC 7 is too intimidating and expensive for many of us to consider.
I absolutely love my FCP X thus far and have only scratched the surface with two days of use. I can’t even fathom all the possibilities awaiting me to discover.
The majority of us including some very seasoned professional editors are simply blown away by the rich functionality and seemingly endless options and features the product offers. Even if half of us end up buying the product over the next few weeks, there will be over 100 new licenses just from our group.
Apple, you have a runaway winner here.
I seriously don’t understand why Apple can’t continue to sell FCP 7 (and Final Cut Studio 3). It costs 3x as much as FCP X, so that should help offset some of the costs associated to continue supporting it until FCP X gets up to snuff for HIGH-END professional use.
My main problem is that I literally can’t use it in my facility. I work for the government doing classified work with video (nothing high level of course, but still classified) and my editing station is not allowed to be hooked up to any commercial network. Thus, I can’t even purchase the software and download from the Mac App Store.
Also, tape based ingest is still very important to me, as we can’t upgrade our cameras to media based ones for a few more years. The lack of this in FCPX would be a showstopper for us, if the show hadn’t already been stopped by the App Store thing.
I’ve seen the tutorials on Creative Cow about FCPX, and I like what I see so far. But, it’s a few updates and workarounds before it becomes useful to me.
I heard the same critics that now use FCP7 when Final Cut was first released.
“It is not a professional tool”, “professionals will not use it”,”Apple will fail?
etc. ect/ ect/ blah, blah, blah.
Now 1 million users later?
It’s all Walter Murch’s fault! Apple never wanted to get into Pro editing, but this guy gets a hair up his butt that inspires him to try to cut Cold Mountain on a Mac and winds up winning awards for his efforts. Despite all thepraise and attention, Apple has been trying to extract itself from the high-end market ever since (remember Shake?). This summer, Apple succeeded.
What a moronic statement. Apple is not abandoning the pro market! They have just revolutionized the industry. Yes, there are some key critical features missing for some, but they are coming!
Hardly surprising. Apple played this same nasty trick on pro graphic designers a couple of years ago. The company went from advertising its mid-range iMac as having a ‘matte screen for pro users who demand colour accuracy’, to dumping it all together and selling only the dumbed down gloss screen. Why? .. so it hardware could look ‘sexy’.
Decades of DTP pro support for the platform (not to mention the huge amount of cash invested) through the company’s bad years all accounted for nothing when Apple decides to maximise it profits by going after the consumer market. Many offered to pay the company a premium for the choice of having their preferred screen back – but it all fell on deaf ears at Apple.
It’s funny how corporate greed gets the better of all of ’em in the end.
“dumbed down gloss screen”? Boy are you clueless. The gloss screen technology used by Apple offers far better color rendition, and at higher resolution making it suppior for design work! Move on.