The Final Cut Pro X Community Review: Post Your Impressions of 'iMovie Pro' Here

Sucks. Feels like you have no control over the edit anymore.

The description of the product in your title says everything it needs to.

Looks like I'll be holding off on a purchase of FCPX for a while. It sounds like its full of lots of great improvements, but its missing a lot of basic functionality we had in FCP7. I'm sure sooner or later updates and plug-ins will be able to give everyone what they feel we're missing, but it's difficult to judge when that will be.

It's pretty sad to see people call it "iMovie Pro", especially from this blog which I respect. There's an extreme amount of childish comments coming from people who haven't even read the user manual or have even launched the application. There are also many misleading and untrue statements in this article. For instance It does capture tape. Here's an excerpt from the user manual:

"You can import media from a tape-based camcorder or tape-based device. To determine which clips you want to import (rather than importing all of them), you can view them using Final Cut Pro before you import them.

To check whether your tape-based camera is compatible with Final Cut Pro, go to the following support page: Final Cut Pro X Supported Cameras and Devices."

The jump from FC7 to FCX has bein made unnecessarily painful.
I think professionals would gain more if Apple took it's time to integrate all the lacking features on this new and exiting product.
The way they did was: they blew our minds for 1 minute with wonderful new features, just to disappoint us in the next minute with really basic faults.
In my opinion, the jump from FC7 to FCX is more painful than the jump from FC7 to Premiere Pro CS5.5 now. And we will see this happening even more after this release.
Adobe must be making the evil laugh right now.

Wasted $400 for FCPX, Motion and Compressor yesterday. Back to FCS3 for some time to come.

App store purchases are not permitted refunds as stated in the terms and policies. Apple made some cash yesterday with what appears to be more than half of all purchasers just down right pissed off.

There are some very much desirable new tools and features in FCPX, but overall it's a bonehead workflow for anyone with editing experience. I find that people with little to few people with previous Final Cut editing experience seem to love it. Those with experience find it more of a hindrance than anything else.

Only time will tell. A lot of time will be needed to get it to production worthy.

I'm not a professional editor, but I was AVID & FCP7 trained. I was also trained on a Quantel Editbox, way back when. Quantel was my favourite, as it had the most 'organic' feel and a naturally quick workflow.

Ever since I got my Mac (only a year), I've been a huge fan of iMovie. It felt like the evolution of the Editbox. So, I don't think calling FCPX "iMovie Pro" is an insult. I find it to be a much better way to edit. Maybe it's because of the type of editing I do.......small videos and DSLR filmmaking.

I'm sure the complaints from the pros are legit. But, I think growing pains should be expected. A little time to get used to it is warranted. As well, the plug-in world will catch-up and make a huge difference.

However, for web videos, low-budget filmmakers, doc-makers, first-purchasers........like me..........FCPX is easily the best choice.

I was excited for this product but it quickly faded out. I just wanted to scream out loud how I hated this product. It maybe too soon for me to say this but for now I hate iMovie Pro. I hate how it lacks color correcting freedom. Color was the only reason I stayed with Final Cut, now I am permanently transferring to Adobe.

I totally think that there are going to be some growing pains in changes at first, FCP has been a workhorse for many for years and years, and change is always odd at first. But I also think it does not take long for a professional to realize what is not there that is essential. When its how you make your living, it all matters. We need efficiency, but not necessarily simplicity. Control is everything.

I think it would have been better for them to wait and bring in EDL, XML, and all the things we rely on for solid workflows, than release something that a lot of working professionals just cant use. Yeah its early, but this is a release.

So thats my two cents.

side note: Take the magic wand icon out!

I work in broadcast, and FCPX is a total non-starter. If it won't support my hardware or allow me to open old FCP projects then I've got no use for it. Some of the editing improvements look good, but it simply won't do what we need it to.

If all you're doing is working with new projects & outputting to the web I think it's probably a decent choice for an NLE... but it's got more than a few glaring limitations.

I have been working in fcp7 for a year now, not long at all compared to most of you, but i think that this is the way of the future. From what i have seen it looks similar to the style of editing that i edit, and other top end professional editors that i know edit. But i really do think it is the way of the future, it just takes getting used to. I went from adobe (which i hate with all my heart), to sony vegas pro (i know most of you wont acknowledge it as a serious editing program) and then to fcp7. I think of this is the way that LE moved to NLE, times are changing, the way we work, shoot and edit is changing. No program is perfect when it 1st comes out, but i love the organic timeline and workflow and any NLE that offers me super fast workflow and no waiting around to render is a dream come true. I can imagine how the top end editors feel, it is a complete change, but give the boys at apple time and all will come right, bugs will get fixed, plugins added issues sorted out etc.

Personally i wouldn't buy it yet either but in a few months, yes i would.

I feels just like the move to OS X which I loved. Then too, I wasn't tied into legacy systems, so I switched on the first release and then got monthly boosts for about a year, where things got better and better. It was the most sustained fun I can recall from my computing life. By the time OS X was 'ready' I knew it inside and out, ie. that all the chicken-waving voodoo I knew from OS 9 was obsolete mumbo jumbo.

Today too, my workflow is entirely file-based. Even TV commercials just get uploaded.

I'm a professional editor and I've been using FCP since version 1. I've never used iMovie. I'm accepting that there is a better way to edit than the Moviola metaphor from the 1980s. I'm happy to learn it. I think the world should switch away from QUERTY keyboards too though, if that tells you anything. Querty is designed to prevent you from typing quickly or easily. On purpose. You type the way you do because of obsolete technology from the 1930s. TV, as we know it was invented about the same time.

Perhaps Apple should have explained it to some people better. There are a lot of unrealistic expectations and hysterical over-reactions. Apple should have told them it was like the move to OS X. It should have told them it wasn't a replacement for FCP7. That it was missing features. That some people would have to wait. People don't like change. It makes them angry. They lash out. The world is ending. They don't care.

I look forward to the arrival of Color. I imagine the integration will be such that working with other studio apps no longer resembles 'round tripping' in a strict workflow. To the extent that apps are non-destructive, they become more integrated and less workflow-bound.

X is a huge step in the right direction. After editing with it for a few hours, the only reason to keep 7 on my machine is to update a few older projects. Sure there are a few people who use Final Cut as an Offline editor that are going to be upset at least for a while, but the lions share of us are going to be blown away at how fast and how well a project can be edited.

Not being a colorist, I found the with the old color it was hard to make 2 clips match. I just tried out the new color panel and had a very close match between 2 DLSR's in a few seconds.

The audio waveforms are now much easier to match up. And the audio control in the time line is also as good as or maybe even better than before.

If all you have ever used is Final Cut Pro then you're going to have to learn some new tricks. If you have ever used someone else's non linear editor you will find the new interface extremely intuitive and efficient.

Dealing mostly with team-based broadcast productions, the lack of print to tape and XML is a deal breaker...and I had such high hopes. I'll hold off on FCPX(imovie pro). Might be time to seriously consider media composer.

What happened to "Awesome" This perhaps is the worst development by Apple, I have ever seen, I want my money back, I hate it.

"growing pains"? I am tired of hearing his SORRY EXCUSE!!!! This is NOT a 1.0 version of the program. It is iMovie improved period. A professional editor knows that only 50% of you work is editing. The rest is creating deliverables and collaborating. FCP X is only useful for a one man shop doing small projects that they'll never have to roundtrip between any other apps. Project management is mess. In a multiuser multi-computer environment what?
Improved color correction? How do you know? You can only evaluate the gadgets not the REAL RESULTS since there is no way to connect this to a professional display!

It sucks. Pure and simple.. Not a single update for over 2 years and this is the best they can do? I do not believe the "version 1" crap. There are no accidents here, there are also no real explainations, which they should have provided at launch. They clearly feel the pros do not deserve an explaination. "Here's your software, now live with it and shut up.. We have phones to build."

This program is a slap in the face to the pros. You think they don't know what we need? They know, and they know what they left out. If the cared, they should have been first out the gate with "This is our start, we know things are missing, and you will see them within the next 6 months, and they will be great" This would have shut down 90% of the critics.. But that did not happen. And it was not an accident.

Jay

All i will say is, as both a professional offline and online editor working with final cut for years. This is like having my wife go out one day and come back with a ton of unnecessary and just plain awful plastic surgery. Sure she's got the same name but damn is she f'd up. Fcp x is a cockslap in the face of pro editors. Forget no XML, try no clips, bins and proper sequences. "events" wtf??! And the audio editing is a f'n joke. The beauty of final cut was that both new editors and old could pick up the software and use it finding their own workflow.

I for one will be sticking with fcp 7 till they pry it from my cold dead hands (or at least stop supporting it). Fcp x would never work in the reality/documentary tv shows I currently work on. We rely on multiple sequences to sync mutlicam scenes etc. Fcp x is meant for consumers plain and simple. Sure I don't have to render anything, but with I would be finished cutting a show and rendering it with fcp 7 well before the cut was even done in X.

Fcp is dead. We had a good run

Fortunately I never used iMovie, so I'm not jaded as to it's interface and do no associate it with novice or consumer editing. I'm a DSLR shooter and the workflow is pretty sweet. I do feel that the audio side of FCPX is seriously lacking, and the inability to output to a ProTools friendly format for audio mixing is a serious oversight. That being said, I have faith that there will be one if not more updates this year that will sooner or later address this issue and others. I also think the price point says a lot, in that we may see many add-ons from Apple that slowly bump up the over all cost of the "suite" over time. The fact that there's no 3rd party plug-in support is symptomatic of this being essentially a reboot of FCP. Why not put this out in the world, get real world feedback from users and then respond with appropriate updates and plug-ins? That's what I think Apple is doing. They're not reinventing the wheel, they're reinventing the car, wheels first. In other words, slowly.

The news over at Red Giant, the makers of Magic Bullet Looks, is that they have not seen FCPX until it's public release. That could say many things... Apple doesn't care about 3rd party plug-ins (unlikely), Apple wants the editing community, the serious editing community to get used to this new approach to editing before investing bigger bucks and time (more likely).

I've edited on FCP and Premiere for years and yes this is A LOT different and it's taking some getting used to. But you know what? It's fun and it's fast! I look forward to the new world of editing. It won't be long before we're moving clips with our fingertips! I think FCPX is the beginning of something big.

Terrible, terrible, terrible. Anyone kissing Apple's ass on this one is foolish. Shame on all of us who blindly purchased before the reviews are out. Refund request already filed until Apple can deliver a product worthy of my cash.

Here's hoping the speed boost in Premiere 5.5 makes that a worthy competitor. HDSLR editing is a nightmare to properly clean, grade and render in FCP7. Was banking on these speed improvements helping my workflow, but not at the cost of all the features we came to rely on as professionals.

It's one thing to learn a new and better way of doing things--another thing entirely to be told you don't need the old tools without being given a replacement.

I noticed that users tend to think this new release is for the most part horrible, but all the people who make money as Apple shills seem to like it. Lesson learned--don't ask people who depend on Apple products to make a living, comment no a new product.

I love it. That may be because I've never used FCP7 though. I'm not coming at things from a compatibility, how will this fit into existing system standpoint. I don't need OMF, EDL, or XML.

So I'm mostly noticing the fantastic interface, and how great it works for editing. Definitely glad I bought it.

IMHO the professional reviewers are being overly kind in their reviews for fear of upsetting Steve (and thus receiving the Leo Laporte treatment).

I have been a die hard Apple Fan Boy for over 25 years, this is the first time I have been truly disappointed by Apple. This is definitely an iMovie update as opposed to a Final Cut Pro update. You can't even import current FCP 7 projects (but the opening screen asks if you would like to import an iMovie project). Bizarre.

I was so hoping that it was going to be a cool upgrade, but in reality it is a pretty huge step backward

Wow! History repeats itself. I think in most cases you can tell the age of the person posting by which side of the line they fall on when in comes to FCP X. As Dan Achatz stated above, " If all you have ever used is Final Cut Pro then you’re going to have to learn some new tricks". However, if like me, and you have been editing for decades (not just years) then you have experienced other editing platforms and multiple workflows. Only with that kind of perspective do you realize that this is just another transition period. All of this resistance to FCP X is EXACTLY how the "professional" industry reacted to the introduction of FCP 1 in 1999. "it's not a professional program...It lacks standard features... Avid users will never switch over..."
ANY OF THIS sounding familiar?

People thought that Apple was wasting its time by supporting the new DV/Firewire standard back then (again-not professional) but it turned out to be a brilliant move. They are doing the same thing with FCP X and the DSLR revolution : building towards the future. If anything, I should be more upset than a younger editor, not because Apple is trying to change my workflow, but because I have less years of my editing career in front of me and won't have the same experience of watching this new editing platform mature and blossom.

Is FCP X perfect out of the gate? Of course not. It took until FCP 4, for that program to reach maturity (and IMHO it took Premiere even longer. Talk about a program that stuck the word "Pro" on it's name way too early!) As for myself, I have so many current projects mired in FCP 7 that I am not going to rush out and switch over. I will wait for the release of LION and the first "update" to FCP X before I bite. And like most professionals, I will use FCP X and FCP 7 side by side for a while until the transition is complete. No panicking necessary.

Maturity=forward progress.

Change does hurt, because we have to look at things in a new way, and use new tools to accomplish the tasks we were used to accomplishing with old tools. But Apple did not solely provide a new way of doing things here, they also took away functionality. They went backwards with features and functionality that were important to certain users, namely the pros.

They didn’t say, folks, I know you’re used to doing things this way, but here is a new way of getting from point A to point B. Than we say, ugh that hurts, I have to change. No, what Apple is saying here is, it’s not important to get from point A to point B any longer, therefore we are going to yank that functionality.

Now, if the plan was to have that functionality added back in later down the road, then they should have told us up front, not hijack the NAB show, kicking other presenters off the stage, so they can speak primarily to professional users, and blow smoke up their rear-ends.

I wish I understood what point Gary Adcock was trying to make. "...when all the devices we work with communicate seamlessly..."? Well, that seems out of the question without tape ingest.

"Think of the advantages and possibilities when all the effort you put into setting up a shot or project continue downstream from your camera into post-production, or follow your content when it’s delivered on the web." Doesn't the effort I put into setting up a shot or project already continue downstream... regardless of what editor I use? Why has FCPX suddenly become the catalyst?

For me, this looks like yet another example of Apple forcing their vision of the future on Mac users. And I'm sure many will trumpet FCPX as the holy grail of editing. Looks less than half-baked to me. Think I'll stick with Adobe.

The comments section here posted my partial draft post above when it refreshed in the middle of me writing it without me hitting Submit. Since I do not see a delete function I will continue/refresh my post:

He Did Not say “When all the devices we work with” but in the important future context of “Apple shows us the FUTURE in which data streams from All The Devices We Work With communicate seamlessly, sharing media behind the scenes."

This is made possible by all the Metadata(refer back to his & many others including Metadata Guru Phillip Hodgetts) writing on the Metadata features of FCPX, content analysis, keywords, updates 64 bit FCPX 10.1 & higher versions, Lion OS, file based storage from a mulitude of devices & much more. What exists now is quite a leap in power of previous NLE systems. So even at brand new 10.0 version the great majority of what people really still need in terms of professional workflow within multiple system companies will be coming in the near future of the next few months & this first year based upon how quickly development teams(Apple & third party) can update and/or write new software. Remember he specifically referred to "The Promise of Final Cut Pro X & "Will that promise be fulfilled?" so I wouldn't be too impatient in only the first week out.

Interestingly I just saw a FCP X test where six different based digital camera files from a iPhone, HTC Android Phone, Go Hero Pro HD, Sony compact point & shoot, Panasonic AVCHD, Canon DSLR H.264 were all placed in the timeline. In FCP X the whole timeline edit was natively available immediately to play & do real time effects.. In FCP 7 it went to rendering ALL THE FILES very very slowly effectively stopping the edit & edit system usage for a long time until all the files would be completely rendered. This is already realizing the much faster editing workflow of what FCP X is about.

Within these digital devices is a lot of metadata worth of shooting & production information that will stay with the edit all the way through to final output.

In the near future you will be able to ingest legacy tape footage via a third party plug in or via a Apple update and the beauty of that is that you will be able to type into the metadata all sorts of information about the original footage. I can personally think of a lot of legacy 3/4" & Betacam footage where that will come in. And right now you can ingest legacy DV & HDV footage right into FCP X.

I also suggest that one read & view all the information & videos that are on Apple's FCP X web site plus reading in depth reviews of people that have spent many hours with FCP X to get an understanding of what is really there in this totally brand new program before making unresearched &/or out of context comments. A lot of these comments are very remiscent of when a brand new program called Final Cut Pro 1.0 came out. It really wasn't ready for a lot of usage until version 1.25 came out but it revolutionized non linear editing big time and "The Promise" of the future of the brand new Final Cut Pro 1.0 was definitely there as this brand new Final Cut Pro 10.0 definitely is.

As to importing existing FCP projects...

You might be able to render portions of it and bring it in as a new project, but the 30-year-old Avid timeline interface and the new magnetic storyline interface are just enough different that I'm almost willing to bet that you can't do it. Especially with support for some features like EDL and OML missing.

You can probably come close, but if it's not perfect pros will scream just as loudly that FCPX "destroyed" their projects. For Apple it's a no-win scenario....

To this professional editor, (25+ years on almost every platform), the release of FCP-X is one of the most resounding belly-flops of all time. "iMovie Pro"? Certainly. "Final Cut" Pro? Not even close. We still have to deal with legacy projects, analog tapes with time code, still need to export OMF for our mix sessions, still need multi-cam. The history of editing didn't start on tuesday, but Apple apparently would like us to believe it did. Apple may sell a zillion units of "iMovie Pro" but they have taken a big, ugly bite out of the hand that "fed" them when they were trying to gain respectability in the pro space. This may well go down as the biggest gaffe since the "Newton."

The positive review I see of FCPX remind me a lot of the positive reviews of Windows Vista when it came out.
Equal parts denial and fan boyism.

Still for $300, if I had a mac I might pick it up for fun.

A tragic and short sighted release. This was a golden opportunity for a 64 bit FCP to sell a tonne of high end
12 core mac pros with lots of ram. Instead it is a toy which will appeal to low value users without the coin to buy
the apple hardware that would have made a pro version fly. They had the opportunity to be the king but instead
they are the joker! Avid 64 bit, due soon, will be laughing all the way to the bank.

It's laughable that anyone that has read & informed themselves of even just a half dozen of the in depth information, reviews & news of FCP X could think that it is a "resounding belly-flop of all time & "the biggest gaffe since the Newton". Sure as brand new software at 10.0 its not yet ready for established legacy production houses but it soon will be & also running concurrently on the same FCP 7 system.

After millions of FCP X's are sold & it is multi-updated & everyone of the third party FCP developers is still selling software for it I highly doubt if you will hear this kind of 2nd day out impatient unrealistic whining that is so reminiscent of when FCP 1.0 was released. Apple and the third party developers are already hard at work on updates & third party software. Sure Apple should have said that feature updates are coming soon and still have sold FCP 7 for another month but realistically in todays world of marketing that wasn't to be. However your existing FCP 7 system can sit there side by side the brand new FCP 10.0 and serve you well.

This uninformed, unresearched, fear of the future small but vocal minority whining will subside as the stuck in the old mindset past realize that this type of file-based metadata editing is the future of alll future editors whether they like it or not. No one has taken away your FCP 7 editing system that still functions quite well(albeit quite slow compared to FCP X) for legacy editing. I just looked at someone's large collection of legacy DV & HDV tapes and right now at this brand new program stage FCP 10.0 works just fine with all of them.

Given the legacy cumbersome way & expensive way that Avid, Premiere, FCP 7 has evolved into I can not wait until FCP 10.0 is updated & third party software is out there in the very near(middle/late summer or earlier). A much faster, efficient way of editing is what you have to gain.

One of the last comments summed it up really nicely. Most of the positive reviews are coming from borderline apple fan boys and reminds me of people who liked Vista when it first came out.
Another stating that they totally bit the hand that fed them in the first place. This goes to show that they didn't hire any legitimate editors to help design this thing. Just one man show types. They did it with Final Cut v1 when they didn't consult anyone from SMPTE and just made up their own units for waveforms and scopes. Are these even included in FCPX at all?
I used to teach FCP a few years ago and I swear, 1/3 people would just want me to teach them how to use iMovie in a way that mimics FCP. I ended up just getting them to download Express and go from there. FCP scared them, and now they got what they wanted.
Apple will assuredly sell this budget 'Pro' solution and I'm sure there will be some quality looking work to come out of it. However, anyone with any real world experience will be able to see it shine through like a black eye under HD makeup.

I think the biggest error Apple made was mis-managing expectations. By labelling the software "Final Cut Pro" anything, people are expecting everything I currently have, but more. They're expecting that the projects they currently have in Final Cut will work in the new version. But Apple didn't make that move. I agree with what Apple has done, and while I haven't yet purchased the software I think it will be great for me. I also don't have a very professional workflow. While I do currently use Final Cut Studio 2, I work on my own on most projects, don't know much about color or audio editing, and I welcome anything that can make that part of my workflow easier and not require me to learn a separate program.

What would have almost worked better would have been if Apple DID release it as "iMovie Pro" and then had a flurry of people reviewing it claiming that "iMovie Pro" was an understated name. Of course, they felt this was the future of pro editing and Pro users wouldn't have given "iMovie Pro" much of a glance. So perhaps they should have marketed under a completely new name, which would have set expectations appropriately. Either way, in the end, I'm excited about the product and its future. I just have to save up $300 which thankfully should be much, much quicker than saving up $1000.

I will surly be switching to Premiere as no XML and OMF makes it a no go. Audio is half the story, and if I can't get my story to pro tools for FCP X, then I won't be using FCP X. I already applied to get a refund.

Love it. I'm "the guy" Apple was targeting... advanced weekend warrior with a DSLR. iMovie was to simplistic and FCP was to esoteric... and well....un-fun. FCP X is iMovie on steroids which is exactly what I wanted. I understand the woes of the pros, but Apple has just tapped into a huge market, and as a shareholder, I like that. A+

FCP X may or may not meet my needs -- TBD. Although I have 50+ years of still photography experience, video is still new to me. I used FCP to edit an extended (45 minute) training session, but because of the absurd 4GB limitation on file sizes imposed by the Canon DSLRs, it was necessary to use two cameras to record the action. if, as has been reported, multicam is not supported, then FCP X is not going to meet my needs.

Likewise, I use an external audio recorder in addition to the built-in Canon microphones. If it isn't possible to combine such tracks with perfect synchronization, even using Plural Eyes, then FPC X won't work for me. Unfortunately, the reviews to date haven't clarified these issues, and even though $299 is a lot less than I spent on FPC 7, I'm not going to buy it until there is some definitive resolution for these issues.

Still undecided, but interested.

Bob

Folks just imagine for a second that FCPX had never been released. FCP7 it's a good editing tool right? Needs improvements? Sure. But for now, let's just wait a bit more until X excels, then switch. Stop the drama people, nobody is dying here. Tell the story well and don't worry so much about the tools. In my eyes, FCPX still has "not" been released.

you know what sucks? You cannot keep FCP 7 on your Mac and run FCP X at the same time. You have to make a choice. And for now its obviously gonna have to be FCP 7. No EDL? You have to be joking if you think this not a big deal. Have fun making youtube movies to the rest!

I'm switching to Premiere.

I'm using Premiere right now (for the first time in years) to edit a project. Not too hard to pick up the differences from FCP7 (easier than switching to FCPX), runs fast, no need to transcode my XF300 footage (I just copy across the cards to my computer and reference the files directly. No need to render even). AND it's 64bit... so time to update my RAM I suppose. ;)

To me this is the logical step forward. At the moment FCPX is just not right for me... maybe after 6 months of updates...

It will be interesting to see where Vegas Pro settles in all this as it was packed with features like 64 bit, native file editing & updated interface & much more. It was recently updated but I suspect that the next update will come sooner as the Vegas Platinum just was. Before Apple FCP X came out at $299, Vegas & Vegas Pro were the best bang for the buck NLE's & edit suite packages out there. I also wouldn't be surprised if Vegas Pro comes out in not too long at a new lower price point & with some great new features too..

One thing this has shown so far is how overpriced Avid MC & Premiere are. They won't come down to $299 but a realistic cost would be $499. FCP X at $299 & Motion 5 & Compressor 4 at $49 each are a tremendous value even at this stage with the brand new not updated yet FCP X or not yet any 3rd party software for it FCP X 10.0.

The coming soon new Mac Air's with Lion, thunderbolt technology & extremely fast solid state boot drives will be able to efficiently run all 3 new programs(& more to come) in a extremely thin footprint with plenty of fast HD media storage available for Full HD programs via thunderbolt. A external SSD media drive for media can be quite compact with very low power needs to go along a new Mac Air'.

It's an exciting time to see great new fast tools at lower price points be available to many more people so that there is much more access & democracy in the creative world.

Here is what is galling to me: Apple put their ego before their customers. We're Apple, we radically transform everything we touch!

Except, one little problem: Video editing didn't need a revolution. Video editing isn't complicated enough to need one. All we are talking about is connecting little pieces of video into one longer piece of video. Tweaks and performance bumps are always appreciated, but in this case there just wasn't any equivalent to a bunch of college kids screaming for a way to bring their stolen music to the gym.

So Apple took away a bunch of things we depend on to give us a bunch of things no one asked for. Thanks Apple! Hate to break it to you, but innovation in art comes from the painter, not the paint.

I'm appalled at this release. I don't claim to have been editing for decades like some of the other posters, but switching from avid to FCP in 2003 was the best thing I ever did. Whenever Apple released a new version of iMovie, I would dive in to see how it compared and it always fell short. I simply can not get my mind to wrap around what I need to do in iMovie to accomplish the things I do in Final Cut.

And now comes FCPX, which has the same timeline functionality as iMovie. I mean, "magnetic timeline"? I cut nearly all my pieces to music, basically I'm being forced to put placeholders in for every shot before I choose them, and I can't even lay down markers in real time to let me know where the beats in the songs are...

The other thing that screams amateur to me is (and this is just one example), the re-timing feature, which allows you to slow a clip to only 50, 25 or 10%. That simply makes it unusable for me. There's lots of things like that. There's no sense in the program that we editors labor over every single frame. It might be great for a simple story or documentary, but imagine cutting a tightly paced montage or action sequence. Oh, the horror.

Truly, I wish Apple had called this FCXpress or something similar, its just not up to par. That said, why is everyone talking of jumping ship to Premiere? I'm perfectly happy with FCP7, just disappointed with the upgrade. Time will tell.

Hi !

Ok agree that FCP X is little pain for its new features but since FCP 7 is working well so why bother, there's no need to create such a hype.
If somebody doesn't liked it, ok.........who knows one day it could turned out to be the best NLE system.
And no one know what Apple has in its stores......it is also very strange that they released it on their site I mean at App store.......

Ankur

I completely understand the anger and disapointment in Apple’s new professional editor. That being said the program gives us a fair glimpse at what editing will be like in the future. Apple has scored very high in the innovatie game if I may say so.

It’s just very sad that they have dumbed down their software package so that the imovie generation can use it. We don’t need to see Youtube, iMovie, and Apple TV icons in the application. Apple we are professional editors and by doing this you are insulting our profession.

I have made a summary of the plus and minus points in order of importance to me.

There is a distinct difference between features not available and things that have moved around. I only mention the real missing elements.

Plus points:

-Timeline editing is more powerful and handy.

-Background rendering (absolutely brilliant).

-Organizing and finding files.

-Interface (clean, easy to understand and no more separate windows).

-DSLR support (again brilliant).

-Once you find out how to keyframe things it is much better (but only once you have..)

Minus points

-NO BACKWARDS COMPATIBILITY with Final Cut Pro 7!!!

-No manual white balance with the eyedropper.

-Can’t choose custom width and height for projects.

-No multi-cam editing

-Interface poorly customizable

-No third party plugins available yet.

-Effects are childish and unprofessional.

-Intergration with iTunes and iPhoto is also unprofessional

The program is potentially a beast and will change my editing career drastically. I’m excited and yet angry, which is my biggest frustration. If this program was released with the old features I’d most likely fall in love with editing once again. Waiting for renders to be completed is/was a pain in the ass. Updates are coming soon, so there is light at the end of the tunnel

Though all these old stuff are missing...i dont know. Apple has always been highly criticized. Someway—somehow— I think theyre going to innovate and make a big comeback when it comes to this FCPX.

My initial gut reaction upon opening it up was one of complete horror. Import iMovie projects? Surely that was a joke. I can just see Walter Murch importing all the academy award winning films he's edited in iMoive. But after using it for a while I gotta say it is not as bad as I initially thought. It is missing a lot of crucial features. The new features are all pretty nice, except for the horrible media management. I guess the biggest problem is that this clearly wasn't designed with the pros in mind. No this was designed for the iMovie/Youtube crowd. They wanted to attract a bigger audience. I don't know why they couldn't have done that with Final Cut Express of even an iMovie update. Not sure why they had to take FCP and turn it into a consumer product. That is the biggest problem. http://www.suite101.com/content/final-cut-pro-x-review-imovie-pro-indeed...

MUST READ ARTICLE(link at bottom):

Professional Video Editors Weigh In on Final Cut Pro X by David Pogue, New York Times

"But in this post, I’m going to address the concerns of professional video editors, one by one. [UPDATE: The information here comes from consultation with Final Cut Pro X's product managers at Apple.]

The “missing features” generally fall into three categories: features that are actually there and have just been moved around, features that Apple intends to restore and features that require a third-party (non-Apple) add-on or plug-in.

I’m not trying to be an Apple apologist; FCP X offers legions of amazing features that the old version didn’t have, but it doesn’t have all the features of the old one, either. It’s only fair, however, to separate what’s really missing from knee-jerk “It’s so different!” hysteria."

"Professional editors should (1) learn to tell what’s really missing from what’s just been moved around, (2) recognize that there’s no obligation to switch from the old program yet, (3) monitor the progress of FCP X and its ecosystem, and especially (4) be willing to consider that a radical new design may be unfamiliar, but may, in the long term, actually be better."

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/professional-video-editors-wei...

More David Pogue on Final Cut X:

Apple’s Final Cut Is Dead. Long Live Final Cut

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/technology/personaltech/23pogue.html?p...