Final Cut Pro X over iMovie?

Feek · 9 Mar 2017 at 23:32

I use iMovie for simple video editing, I've got the hang of it for basic stuff and it works perfectly well for me.

I understand that the current version (10.3.2) is a massive improvement over the early version of Final Cut Pro X. I've got the opportunity to get it at a good price (via discounted gift cards) but wonder if it's worth doing. Is it a massive learning curve over using iMovie?

Thanks.

bloodiedathame · 10 Mar 2017 at 09:35

I'm an editor, started out on FCP7, eventually moved onto Premiere. Did a freelance gig somewhere that had FCPX and it was a total nightmare for me, it totally changed the way I worked and took control away from me, the editor. It took a while to learn how to edit in it, but I'd never go back to it. It has been shunned by the majority of old school editors who have tried it, but I believe it's popular for people getting into basic editing. If you're just starting out and doing it for fun then it'll be fine, but if you're considering a career in editing then I'd look elsewhere.

Feek · 10 Mar 2017 at 14:34

Rightho, thanks. It's worth giving the trial a bash first in that case.

englishpremier · 25 Mar 2017 at 15:33

Never used iMovie, but love FCPX. The magnetic timeline just seems so logical to me. You'll need/want a plugin though for decent colour colour grading, and perhaps an external program for editing audio (if you need to), but then that's no different from Premier.

Should be worth a try anyway. You can export your projects from iMove to FCPX save you starting from scratch.

lemoon · 31 Mar 2017 at 07:50

iMovie is good. don't have experience on FCPX, I prefer TechSmith Camtasia.

v0n · 9 Apr 2017 at 20:20

You can get 30 day trial at http://www.apple.com/uk/final-cut-pro/trial/thankyou.html
Trial versions are always one version down from the retail (so 10.3.1) but it will give you very good idea where the £299 goes.

The guy that said he switched to Premiere and back and FCPX was a nightmare - that was my adventure too - to me FCPX before 10.3 was iMovie Pro - at best - not production NLE, but after introduction of 10.3 - with a few tiny exceptions I can do majority of stuff quicker on FCPX that on Premiere. Yes - the library/project system on FCPX is even bigger incoherent mess now. I don't think anybody knows WTF is going on in that window, so most editors just keep on dropping footages straight onto the timeline rather than have some sort of organised foldered system of rushes and edits. But on the other hand the non destructiveness of magnetic timeline is a godsend, the fact that everything on your magnetic timeline moves seamlessly every time you decide to change the sequence and add something to the middle makes you wonder how people do daily work without it, titling mechanism is a pro level venture, rather than some weird misaligned afterthought pop up window, instant plugin previous, even without dropping them onto timeline, audio lanes, ohmg - audio lanes! how did I live without them! Plus Premiere 2017 was dramatically unstable for me. Plus I think Adobe pricing is extracting urine samples at the moment. Plus - and this one is simple - in FCPX I work in ProRes 4:2:2 timeline and export it straight to 4:2:2 ProRes. Natively. In Premiere I work in 4:2:2, then export it via 4:2:0 pipe to external encoder that use external QuickTime API. Ever wondered why Premiere always lose quality regardless of export settings?