“When Final Cut Pro X first launched, surprisingly, it lacked several pro-level features that had been found in previous versions of the program — including multi-cam, XML importing, and external monitor support — causing an uproar in the user community,” Michael Muchmore writes for PC Magazine. “Those features have all since made their way back into the app, which has also added many new capabilities, including, in the latest version, powerful 3D titling.”
“One change that Apple has stuck with, however, is the abandonment of the traditional timeline track interface of its predecessors, a change that drove off a lot of video professionals,” Muchmore writes. “The company did this to take advantage of the more powerful hardware in newer Macs as well as to reimagine the craft of video editing. The result is a surprisingly powerful and (once you get the hang of it) easy to use application. It’s the best high-end video editing application for Mac users.”
“Some professional video editors have started seeing how innovations like Magnetic Timeline, Clip Connections, and Auditions (not to mention faster performance that takes advantage of modern CPUs) can make their jobs easier,” Muchmore writes. “For most users, the gains in Final Cut Pro X should far outweigh the hurdles to adoption. Final Cut Pro X offers loads of power, ease of use, and no-wait performance. Its nimble tools in a fluid, highly usable and precise interface make Final Cut Pro X our Editors’ Choice for high-end video editing on Macs.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yup.
Is all the noise we’re hearing today really coming from Final Cut Pro users who still have their previous Final Cut version(s) and already know how to properly and rationally submit feedback to Apple?
Or is it coming from non-Final Cut Pro users who see the $299 writing on the wall and realize that they’ll soon very likely have to learn something dramatically new and different from outside their comfort zone? Apple’s previous Final Cut Pro versions have not stopped working, nor has Apple stopped work on FCP X – in fact, they’ve just started working with a paradigm-shifing, extremely strong and powerful foundation upon which to build. Have a minute of patience, please. I heard the same sort of whining when we went from Mac OS 9 to Mac OS X and some had to be dragged kicking and screaming. People stopped crying over Mac OS 9 in short order, too.
Or do perhaps some editors feel a little bit threatened that “non-pro” users will be able to edit so well for so little? And/or perhaps it’s coming from Apple’s now price-demolished competition who simply cannot crunch their numbers and make them come out profitably if Apple is going to offer Final Cut Pro X for $299? – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, June 24, 2011
SEE ALSO:
The BBC adopts Apple’s Final Cut Pro X – September 4, 2014
Happy 3rd Birthday, Final Cut Pro X – June 20, 2014
Pushing Apple’s new Mac Pro and Final Cut Pro X to the limit (with video) – March 21, 2014
The first 24 hours with Apple’s new Mac Pro and Final Cut Pro X 10.1 (with video) – December 20, 2013
Apple aims to win over video editors with new Final Cut Pro X marketing push – March 28, 2013
Ultimate Mac: Building the Final Cut Pro X dream machine – November 9, 2012
Final Cut Pro X gets significant update with new features and RED camera support – October 23, 2012
PC Magazine reviews Apple’s Final Cut Pro X 10.0.3: Editors’ Choice for high-end video editing – February 7, 2012
Apple significantly updates Final Cut Pro X – January 31, 2012
Editor Walter Murch is feeling better about Final Cut Pro X – November 8, 2011
Apple releases major Final Cut Pro X update; debuts free 30-day full version trial – September 20, 2011
Film editor: Apple’s Final Cut Pro X is flexible, powerful, incredibly innovative software – September 12, 2011
IT Enquirer reviews Apple’s Final Cut Pro X: Very much a professional’s tool – July 8, 2011
Former Avid employee on Final Cut Pro X: Only Apple seems capable of pushing boundaries – July 5, 2011
Why Apple built Final Cut Pro X – July 1, 2011
PC Magazine: Apple’s Final Cut Pro X makes serious leaps and bounds past its predecessor – June 30, 2011
Apple revolutionizes video editing with Final Cut Pro X – June 21, 2011
too bad adobe already won.
unless you are talking about your movies movies about your kids and stuff…
And you can get Adobe Premiere Elements for $70.
$300? It was $200 not too long ago.
This is not about Apple restoring features after – what – four years? That is the date of the MDN take that it requotes. Although four years does seem a long time.
This is about a lack of reliability on Apple’s part. If you use software for work rather than play then having consistency in features, workflows and file formats is not merely desirable. It is critical. Unfortunately, and it is unfortunate, Apple is simply not reliable.
It is not enough to reach feature parity four years later. It is similar for those who got used to Pages before it was stripped of features and had to migrate to different software. With the Mac Pro – there is the fear that if you invest in the platform you will be left hanging-on without update or support for years.
When you are burnt once, you move to a different platform if you think it is likely to be more reliable. Sadly, that is now happening with pro users of Mac software and hardware.
I think it’s part of each. Apple does have a history of releasing something and letting it languish a bit before coming back to it.
At the same time, most of the bellyaching about FinalCut X was along the lines of “It’s not exactly like it was before”
To that extent, I say, take some time and learn something new.
No one was “burnt”: those who loved the old FCP have stayed on it for however long they wanted, and it worked just fine for them.
Once a formerly absent from FCPX feature appeared, they moved to the new software.
Of course, there were those who did not wait and switched to Sony, Avid, Adobe, et cetera, but they did it not because their business process was somehow disrupted/ruined by Apple.
Sorry but what you just typed out was totally off the mark my friend.
Go back and read about the FCPX debacle. Apple stopped selling 7 cold turkey. X could not open 7 files, and in about a dozen other ways Apple screwed pros without so much as an apology.
I know many pros, and NOT ONE stayed with 7. Apple essentially handed Adobe 95% of their market share.
See, there’s this little thing called trust, and Apple simply doesn’t seem to have any idea what that even means.
Seriously plenty were burnt by the iWork crap, then was the Aperture tragedy, and the Final Cut debacle. Take all that and a Mac Pro that has not been updated in over 850 days and a PRO would be crazy to put their trust or more importantly their livelihood in Apple’s hands. Apple has made it clear they are an end user/pro-sumer (at best) company. There is NOTHING wrong with that but lets not try to paint as something they are not. Adobe is a professional tools company is not.
Yeah, nothing says professional like the abomination that FlashPlayer is. 😉
Unfortunately you make good points. I am teetering on going PC Workstation over Mac Pro for similar reasons. With no new Mac Pro being announced at WWDC I may have teetered my last on using the Mac for pro stuff.
It took 6 months. 10.0.3 was introduced in January 2012. Multicam, XML, etc. were brought back then. Everything since then has been adding features and tweaking previous one.
Sorry Apple, but you lost big time to Adobe. Your software simply does not fit in with pro use anymore. Neither does your hardware either.
It didnt use to be this way.
It didnt have to be this way.
Now there is an excellent professional non-linear editor that isn’t slightly different from the others but significantly different in many ways. This is called choice, all you whiners can stick with Final Cut 7 or switch to Premier or AVID if that is the editing method that makes you feel comfortable. It’s an old method that works well but Apple made something different and for some people it’s vastly superior. Sure pick some feature that the minority of editors use that’s not available in it and cry. Sure make disparaging remarks about iMovie (which Final Cut does not resemble). $300 gets you incredible power on the Mac. Don’t like it? You have plenty of programs and PCs to purchase and do what you want.
I love fcpx but it was rolled out in a disrespectful way way and for that Apple has paid a price
There should have been one last (64-bit instead of 32-bit) FCP 8 and then take a few years more to have developed a feature parity equal in FCP X. That’s what the smart money would’ve & could’ve done.
I work with it every day. Great software. A colleague of mine recently moved to another department. They use Premiere Pro. She told them she wants to keep FCP X, as she is faster on it. Now, she completes her projects at least twice as fast as the others working on Premiere, and her work is more polished. Now bosses keep dumping projects on her, and keep complaining to the other guys how they are inexcusably slow. And now, the other guys are asking for FCP X (and Macs)!
It is possible that some of the features used by very high-end Hollywood editors aren’t available in FCP X, but realistically, it is an incredibly powerful and highly efficient editing tool.
And oh, yes, it DOES look awfully similar to iMovie, which flattens the learning curve significantly (for average Mac owners).
Talk about closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. It’s over for FCP X.
I was never able to make FCP X work for my projects. Apple “reimagined” the editing process with other kinds of projects in mind. Home movies most likely.
After moving to Apple everything in 2002 I have had enough and I am migrating back to Wintel because Microsoft understands work – Apple just does toys these days.
PowerDirector works very well.
I wanted to use FCP X, but since it WON’T work with 3D stereoscopic video, I had to use something else.
Working in PowerDirector is very easy, and you can make your own 24fps 1920*1080 3D movies, AND burn them in 3D Blu-ray.
The results are sometimes BETTER than what you can buy because you can have your stuff ” pop out ” more.
I watch the 1920*1080 movies, upscaled to 4K, on my 4k Samsung 4k 3D Tv, with GREAT results.
If Apple wants my Money, all it has to do is give me the software I need, and a ” Pro ” with slots.