“Our last look at Apple’s professional video editor, Final Cut Pro X, was not quite a year ago and yet there have been five (yes, count ‘em, five) separate updates since then,” Chris Roberts writes for Macworld UK. “Many of these updates have been bug fixes but there have been some notable enhancements, including a major version update.”
“In April 2015 Apple released a whole new version of Final Cut Pro X with 10.2,” Roberts writes. “Needless to say, much has changed in the world of Final Cut Pro X in less than a year.”
“The updates continue to come from Apple thick and fast (the latest update to 10.2.1 dropped as this article was being written with a new set of bug fixes) and new features being added regularly,” Roberts writes. “But while we wait for the next big update to appear on the App Store, there’s plenty here to help keep the professional video editor at the top of their game.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: My how far we’ve come!
Related articles:
Change.org petition demands that Apple not change Final Cut Pro – June 27, 2011
Final Cut Pro X ‘backlash’ coming from competitors scared to death over Apple’s $299 price tag? – June 24, 2011
‘Professional’ video editors freak out over Final Cut Pro X – June 23, 2011
So, does anyone practically use updated FCP X?
Did it finally become as powerful as FCP, comparing to which initial FCP X felt to be vastly stripped down in some important areas?
Premiere Pro is still a comer too, but FCP X doesn’t require a subscription token every month.
I still prefer the old final cut, before the iMovie team took charge. I find I spend a lot of time working around functionality that the developers think will be helpful. Think Mr Clippy.
I don’t like the virtual organisation tools. Well, I would, if they were optional but they are all you get. No bins. So no structure.
I don’t like the compulsory magnetic timeline – trying to assemble clips from three or four cameras on different tracks is impossible.
The thing is, the developers will tell you that you are not supposed to work this way. But that’s just plain arrogance. I work the way I do because it suits my approach to organisation. And after 30 years in IT, including time as a developer, I know how to organise data.
FCP relies on keyboard shortcuts. 40 pages of them. Many of them have no menu equivalents. If you don’t like learning by rote bad luck. And unless you are using FCP for hours every day you will forget.
Da Vinci Resolve is a much nicer editor, and it has amazing colour grading capabilities, and it’s free. It too has lots of shortcuts, but they all have menu options and every menu option displays the shortcut – if you forget you are reminded.
Some people love FCP. But I think they got it wrong at the start and they will never, ever, fix it.
Seriously? DaVinci Resolve as an editor? First, it is a color correction tool, not an editor-compositor. Second, only a limited version is free; the real, adult version is $1000 and goes up to $29K. And unless you buy the “Control Surface” – part of the $29,000 version – you are going to need to learn a lot of keyboard shortcuts.
But here is the real tip-off that you are an amateur pretending to be a professional: “And unless you are using FCP for hours every day you will forget.” Professionals ARE using their tools for hours each day.
So, enjoy Resolve, but don’t clutter this forum with wanna-be posts.
I’m trying to figure out Apple’s play here.
On the one hand they’ve totally and completely destroyed pro’s trust, but on the other, they have a solid and undeniable track record of dedication to updating FCPX.
Will Apple continue with this dedication? Will they lose interest in 18 months? Who knows.
I was in an online argument/debate with a chap who said FCPX was the future, while I just saw Adobe gaining strength and Apple dropping the ball.
To prove my point I looked for jobs that required FCPX, expecting to find few or none. I was actually wrong. I did find NLE jobs asking for FCPX experience and expertise. It was a confusing moment, you know, when you find your position to be shaky, but you don’t want to lose face in a forum. It’s the sort of thing that makes the debate confusing, and why I’m not willing to say that FCPX is a dead app.
If, *IF* Apple stays the course they have a chance of regaining what they lost.
Given time they could turn the tide against the ways of the old school NLE guys like Mr. Sunbeamraper, who are stuck in the past out of pure pragmatism.
But it’s a massive IF, and if history is any judge, Apple will once again let their professional customers down.
But Apple has a habit of reinventing themselves.
The question is, do you trust them?
Apple is not proving trustworthy to pros. Apple doesn’t tell users with adequate advance notice when hardware or software will be abandoned, broken in a future OS release, or left to rot on the vine. NONE of Apple’s professional software has improved in fundamental efficiency and user interface productivity in the past 5 years. Apple’s Mac Pro is not at the cutting edge, and probably never will be since Apple refuses to offer the best GPUs. The tie-up with IBM is doing nothing for the Mac, it’s just lightweight iOS clerking software for Cook’s beloved consumer operating system. OSX has been going down the tubes, it doesnt work at all. If Apple continues to mismanage its pro-level hardware and software, it will be replaced by companies that offer better support and are responsive to user needs. What a shame, Apple could have continued caring about user experience instead of cashing in on music and 3rd party iOS app sales, most of which are stupid games.
Another example of Apple’s inability to understand what power users want. Everything is aimed at the lowest common denominator and “the next big thing” in hardware. Don’t get used to using this thing folks, ’cause Apple will pull the rug out from under you just like they did with Aperture. It’s sad, but Apple has turned into just another big corporation chasing dollars. The “think different” days are long gone.
as none of you seem to be actual editors, I am a professional editor and you have likely seen my work. I’m amazed people still harp on about FCP X vs FCP 7. FCP X is a better editing system than the “classic” ever could have been. This is both for technical and creative reason. I am certain that those who still talk about FCP X being “iMovie pro” (the name doesn’t determine function anyway) have never used it or are regurgitating nonsense you’ve heard from other “pros”. I edit faster and more creatively in FCP X than avid, premiere or FCP 7.
My experience with FCP X: over 70 films, commercials, documentaries, and other forms editing over the past three years.