Apple: Final Cut Pro will remain focused on professionals

Apple Store“Final Cut Pro will remain aimed at professionals, in spite of reports to the contrary, claims Apple spokesman Bill Evans,” MacNN reports.

Final Cut Pro is the first choice for professional video editors, and we’ve never been more excited about its future. The next version of Final Cut is going to be awesome, and our pro customers are going to love it. – Apple spokesman Bill Evans

Full article here.

23 Comments

  1. Whore hit types create rumors to…well feed their whore-hit addiction.

    More and more the Blog world is being converted into a whore-hit arena, especially in the realms of politics, entertainment, religion and technology.

  2. @Switcheroo
    “I was afraid they were gonna’ ‘dumb it down’ like they did iMovie.”

    People keep saying that, but Exactly what did they dumb down in the new iMovie?

    I’ve been using iMovie since it came out and, although the last major interface change took a bit to get used to, I feel it was a step in the right direction. Especially since previous versions of iMovie used “destructive” editing and the new versions use “non-destructive” editing.

    Enlighten me.

  3. Yeah, switch enlighten us all with something more than banal declarations.

    You were first post twice now on the same topic with same comment offering no substance or elaboration.

    I agree with el guapo’s comment about replacing destrutive editing in the new iMovie.

  4. @El Guapo
    @ G4Dualie

    Okay, I’ll try to remember iMovie as well as I can as I quit using it right after the ‘upgrade’. I’m sure you’ll both set me straight up I get something wrong.

    Actually, I’m going to launch iMovie right now to take a look at it.

    Okay, I’m back.
    Ahh yes … it’s all coming back …

    Too good
    iMovie HD was too good. That’s right. I think that Apple realized that iMovie HD was such a great app that a lot of people saw no reason to purchase FCP Pro or Express so they created a less capable video editor.

    No Timeline
    iMovie HD had a semblance of a timeline that was easy to understand and it was easy to make minute adjustments to transitions. (Agree with your destructive editing comments tho) I’m not going to try and use iMovie right now as I haven’t the time but as I recall it was just very hard to be precise with your cuts and transitions and hitting beats to the lyrics and soundtrack. I know, I know, you shouldn’t expect great precision with entry level software but I was able to do a damn fine job with iMovie HD.

    No Plugins
    This may have changed as I haven’t looked since abandoning iMovie but HD had multiple 3rd party plugins. I paid over $300 for a huge set of plugins from GeeThree that I could never use again. (Probably a major source of my frustration at the time I must admit)

    Having said all that, I am very grateful that Apple did ‘upgrade’ iMovie. (I hated it at the time as I used that app to create some really great graduation videos of my kids. Over 200k youtube views!) I’m grateful because it forced me to learn ‘real’ video editing software. I now use FCP and Premiere Pro on a daily basis and I’m currently building a website that will feature over 300 videos. (No flash! lol)

    Okay – that’s the best that I can recall since I haven’t used it in years. I guess I just never understood why the radical change was an improvement. I think you’re better off with a timeline so if noobies ever want to advance to a better video editor the timeline interface will be familiar.

    Okay, now i”m just rambling.

  5. Makes sense, from a marketing perspective. It does not mean it still can’t be easier to use for the less-experienced “prosumers,” without “dumbing it down” from point-of-view of the gurus.

  6. @Switcheroo

    Okay, I’ll give you the timeline thing, but I’ve gotten used to it.

    I could not stand the way projects got so bloated in the old iMovie. If you needed to reuse a clip (or just part of it), that media was actually duplicated on your hard drive eating up unnecessarily valuable space.

    On a side-ish note:
    Has anyone noticed that the new iMovie seems to look like it would work well on an iPad? Most of the editing is done with clicks and drags very similar to the trimming feature on an iPhone. Interesting. I wonder if it would do well on as an iPad app?

  7. I’m in agreement with Switcheroo, sad day when Apple “upgraded” iMovie by taking away abilities that the software had.

    It was a restructuring of the video line, to push the semi pro users to FCP and FC Express. I still use iMovie HD, although with the switch to Leopard it has tripled export times.

  8. When Steve dumbed down iMovie to protect FCE and FCP, you could see why.

    Now we have a dumbed down ‘computer’ called iPad and it’s impossible to see why – especially with this promise to make an ‘awesome’ FCP upgrade. To run on what? The disappearing Mac line of real computers?

  9. I think Apple’s got a responsibility to always try and rethink their software so that its best serves the largest audience. I doubt they are that concerned with which app you use, as long as you use a Mac. I think they did exactly what they had to, take a bloated old bit of software and re-imagine it for the average consumer who wants to make a short movie of their kids. There’s no conspiracy here, just exemplary product design and good ideas. iMove runs rings around its predecessor. I definitely here you with plug-ins, but if you are THAT kind of user, you should be using Final Cut Express. You will get a lot more out of your efforts.

    my 2¢

  10. FCS is still working very fine… no hurry!
    Better wait a little more and have an even better app in the future.
    And yes, Final Cut made its way to high professionnality. It’s not to leave it back to Avid anymore…

  11. Like most of these sort of rumours there is an element of truth in them its just that the rumour mongers have got the wrong end of the stick especially once the the information has passed through the Chinese whispers process. I suspect that a prosumer version, be it based around Express or new product will launched and this is being confused with FCP itself.

Reader Feedback

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.