Premiere Pro or Final Cut pro
Discussion
I'm finding myself doing an increasing amount of video stuff; mainly social media content but other content too including ads for broadcast.
To date, I've been using iMovie which is better than many perceive it to be but have found its limitations starting to hinder things.
I subscribe to Adobe CC so have Premier Pro, After Effects, etc. I also have Final Cut Pro. Neither of which I've ever really used and both will require an investment of time to get to know to a level that would enable the step up.
So, which would be best to invest that time in?
To date, I've been using iMovie which is better than many perceive it to be but have found its limitations starting to hinder things.
I subscribe to Adobe CC so have Premier Pro, After Effects, etc. I also have Final Cut Pro. Neither of which I've ever really used and both will require an investment of time to get to know to a level that would enable the step up.
So, which would be best to invest that time in?
If I were doing broadcast work I would very seriously consider Smoke by Autodesk. It ain't cheap but I used to use it professionally and it was awesome then, must be even better now.
https://www.autodesk.com/products/smoke/overview
Free trial certainly worth a go, but you'll want a decent graphics tablet to get the best out of the interface.
https://www.autodesk.com/products/smoke/overview
Free trial certainly worth a go, but you'll want a decent graphics tablet to get the best out of the interface.
Edited by SCEtoAUX on Monday 8th July 23:23
I’ve used both, and it’s my job.
I prefer premiere as it’s easier to make work the way I want to work. I sometimes do large projects and want multiple timelines open at the same time, which Fcp won’t do.
With Fcp, you have to work the way it wants you to work.
Fcp x got a bad image when it was first released, but it is as excellent piece of software in its own right. And as mentioned, it absolutely flies on the Mac hardware compared to premiere. And it works in a similar way to iMovie, so shouldn’t be too steep of a learning curve.
They way I look at it:
Premiere - great for long form projects
Fcp - great for short edits, that you need to edit fast
I prefer premiere as it’s easier to make work the way I want to work. I sometimes do large projects and want multiple timelines open at the same time, which Fcp won’t do.
With Fcp, you have to work the way it wants you to work.
Fcp x got a bad image when it was first released, but it is as excellent piece of software in its own right. And as mentioned, it absolutely flies on the Mac hardware compared to premiere. And it works in a similar way to iMovie, so shouldn’t be too steep of a learning curve.
They way I look at it:
Premiere - great for long form projects
Fcp - great for short edits, that you need to edit fast
I've used various video editing software and reckon that the deciding factor to be the user interface. Most seem very much of a muchness once you leave the freebies and the very cheap.
I've got Cyberlink Power Director. It came with decent audio editing add-ons. The UI is easy enough to crack. For years I used Pinnacle Studio, from 7 to 20. The UI was pretty good as well but was slow compared to PD. I've also been trying Premiere Pro for a while, courtesy of a friend's machine. It seemed clunky so I'm not going for that option.
One I liked for speed and flexibility when I was editing rugby matches every week in the season was Serif Movie Plus. Stripped down to essentials. Lovely.
In other words, find one you like and go with that. Go on YouTube and see the various interfaces on the How To videos. I'd suggest ignoring a few £s difference as over a year, its cost per month is very low.
Look on forums. You will see what users think and what their problems are. Go on the Studio forums and you'll see why I left if.
Don't follow others' recommendations without ensuring that it's plus points will suit you. PowerDirector has quite a fan base and there are lots of fades, wipes and titles that are posted, free of charge.
I've got Cyberlink Power Director. It came with decent audio editing add-ons. The UI is easy enough to crack. For years I used Pinnacle Studio, from 7 to 20. The UI was pretty good as well but was slow compared to PD. I've also been trying Premiere Pro for a while, courtesy of a friend's machine. It seemed clunky so I'm not going for that option.
One I liked for speed and flexibility when I was editing rugby matches every week in the season was Serif Movie Plus. Stripped down to essentials. Lovely.
In other words, find one you like and go with that. Go on YouTube and see the various interfaces on the How To videos. I'd suggest ignoring a few £s difference as over a year, its cost per month is very low.
Look on forums. You will see what users think and what their problems are. Go on the Studio forums and you'll see why I left if.
Don't follow others' recommendations without ensuring that it's plus points will suit you. PowerDirector has quite a fan base and there are lots of fades, wipes and titles that are posted, free of charge.
I think the OP has decided on FCPX, which is most probably best choice coming from iMovie and being on a Mac. I was a bit peeved at Apple, having spent £1k on FCP7 Studio, only for the them to bring out FCPX for peanuts, with no discount for existing users. It was a bit crap to start with but now is a slick editing experience.
I do have older versions of Premiere but never warmed to it. Also had a seat on Avid Media Composer, but didn’t warm to that either and now they have gone down the Adobe subscription route have no interest anyway. Which is why I have ditched Adobe, no longer spunking money to them every month. You can get Media Composer First for free, but limited in features and only 1080P. From what I read, Adobe keep chucking features at Premiere, that keeps it slow and buggy, rather than make a solid stable version.
I have moved to DaVinci Resolve having invested the time to learn over the last couple of years. I really enjoy it and it improves with every version. It’s obviously best known for it’s grading abilities (and of course you can round trip with XML from other apps) and and coming from layer based apps like AE, nodes are a different way of working, but I like it. It also comes built in with Fairlight audio editing and Fusion for motion graphics and compositing. But again, needs some learning time. The good thing is the basic version is free and you can do a lot with it, up to 4K UHD. I use the Studio version which is cheap as chips and no charge for upgrades. The downside is it benefits from a big GPU.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davincir...
I do have older versions of Premiere but never warmed to it. Also had a seat on Avid Media Composer, but didn’t warm to that either and now they have gone down the Adobe subscription route have no interest anyway. Which is why I have ditched Adobe, no longer spunking money to them every month. You can get Media Composer First for free, but limited in features and only 1080P. From what I read, Adobe keep chucking features at Premiere, that keeps it slow and buggy, rather than make a solid stable version.
I have moved to DaVinci Resolve having invested the time to learn over the last couple of years. I really enjoy it and it improves with every version. It’s obviously best known for it’s grading abilities (and of course you can round trip with XML from other apps) and and coming from layer based apps like AE, nodes are a different way of working, but I like it. It also comes built in with Fairlight audio editing and Fusion for motion graphics and compositing. But again, needs some learning time. The good thing is the basic version is free and you can do a lot with it, up to 4K UHD. I use the Studio version which is cheap as chips and no charge for upgrades. The downside is it benefits from a big GPU.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davincir...
I run a post production company. We use most of those already mentioned.
Wouldn’t bother with FCP nowadays. It’s something we have on workstations because we have to rather than because we want to.
We primarily use Premiere as can handle virtually all file formats, it still interfaces with tape decks which we need, and we can quickly link between that, After Effects and Photoshop but a good chunk of the industry are moving to Resolve as it’s a one stop shop where one can do virtually everything in it to a very high standard so that’s where I would invest time.
Wouldn’t bother with FCP nowadays. It’s something we have on workstations because we have to rather than because we want to.
We primarily use Premiere as can handle virtually all file formats, it still interfaces with tape decks which we need, and we can quickly link between that, After Effects and Photoshop but a good chunk of the industry are moving to Resolve as it’s a one stop shop where one can do virtually everything in it to a very high standard so that’s where I would invest time.
Edited by olimain on Friday 12th July 22:45
One consideration; if you would prefer to have the software on a desktop and a laptop then ensure that the licence allows this. Some are only too happy to let you use it on a couple of machines, others can be really tetchy. I've got the Affinity trio of Publisher/Designer/Photo (well recommended - their StudioLink is really quite cool, and very useful - and there's no problem. In fact they've extended it from their previous, still quite reasonable, licence in the days of their Plus products.
I'm trying Resolve at the moment, the freebie version. It's rather daunting, even for someone who has used video edition professionally, and home video editing for nearly 20 years. The manual is War and Peace. The full version is a bit pricey, but if it's as good as they say . . .
I'm trying Resolve at the moment, the freebie version. It's rather daunting, even for someone who has used video edition professionally, and home video editing for nearly 20 years. The manual is War and Peace. The full version is a bit pricey, but if it's as good as they say . . .
Just a quick update on this having gone for Final Cut Pro.
Been using it for about a month and have to say that I do like it. It fits the bill perfectly and as a few mentioned, the move up from iMovie makes the transition very logical and intuitive. Was bang on the right choice for what I need if for.
So thanks for all the suggestions. Much appreciated. PH delivers once more!
Been using it for about a month and have to say that I do like it. It fits the bill perfectly and as a few mentioned, the move up from iMovie makes the transition very logical and intuitive. Was bang on the right choice for what I need if for.
So thanks for all the suggestions. Much appreciated. PH delivers once more!
SCEtoAUX said:
If I were doing broadcast work I would very seriously consider Smoke by Autodesk. It ain't cheap but I used to use it professionally and it was awesome then, must be even better now.
https://www.autodesk.com/products/smoke/overview
Free trial certainly worth a go, but you'll want a decent graphics tablet to get the best out of the interface.
I did not know that it was even still used. Currently for me broadcast is mainly Avid, with a tiny bit of NukeStudio. But you need some serious hardware to run the latter (and a healthy dose of brave pills).https://www.autodesk.com/products/smoke/overview
Free trial certainly worth a go, but you'll want a decent graphics tablet to get the best out of the interface.
Edited by SCEtoAUX on Monday 8th July 23:23
However, although I am in post, I am not an editor.
olimain said:
I run a post production company. We use most of those already mentioned.
Wouldn’t bother with FCP nowadays. It’s something we have on workstations because we have to rather than because we want to.
We primarily use Premiere as can handle virtually all file formats, it still interfaces with tape decks which we need, and we can quickly link between that, After Effects and Photoshop but a good chunk of the industry are moving to Resolve as it’s a one stop shop where one can do virtually everything in it to a very high standard so that’s where I would invest time.
What field are you in? TV or film?Wouldn’t bother with FCP nowadays. It’s something we have on workstations because we have to rather than because we want to.
We primarily use Premiere as can handle virtually all file formats, it still interfaces with tape decks which we need, and we can quickly link between that, After Effects and Photoshop but a good chunk of the industry are moving to Resolve as it’s a one stop shop where one can do virtually everything in it to a very high standard so that’s where I would invest time.
Edited by olimain on Friday 12th July 22:45
AE seems to be popular with animators, but outside of 1man bands I would run a mile if I saw it was being used in a pipeline for anything (except possibly title sequences). I have run into massive colourspace issues with anything AE related.
To be fair though the OP sounds like he is the pipeline, in which case this won't be a problem.
Resolve is a good recommendation, especially if you are not using an external colourist. It's transcoding is also speedy.
Hopefully that did not come across as elitist.
Edited by VFX_Artist on Thursday 29th August 10:48
VFX_Artist said:
SCEtoAUX said:
If I were doing broadcast work I would very seriously consider Smoke by Autodesk. It ain't cheap but I used to use it professionally and it was awesome then, must be even better now.
https://www.autodesk.com/products/smoke/overview
Free trial certainly worth a go, but you'll want a decent graphics tablet to get the best out of the interface.
I did not know that it was even still used. Currently for me broadcast is mainly Avid, with a tiny bit of NukeStudio. But you need some serious hardware to run the latter (and a healthy dose of brave pills).https://www.autodesk.com/products/smoke/overview
Free trial certainly worth a go, but you'll want a decent graphics tablet to get the best out of the interface.
However, although I am in post, I am not an editor.
Mr Pointy said:
That takes me back. I remember building Smoke & Flame suites down in Soho spending gazillions on desks from Gresham & Knotty Ash to impress the clients.
Indeed..then Baselight! Resolve is doing well at disrupting the grading industry. Why spend £1/2mil on a Baselight suite when resolve does it almost as well for virtually pennies. The problem is that why would you now pay £500ph for grading. I expect these costs to tumble pretty soon. So many people now want to be colourists thinking it's going to be easy big money, but the big money was needed to offset the capital cost that does not exist anymore. Bitter...me? Of course!VFX_Artist said:
Mr Pointy said:
That takes me back. I remember building Smoke & Flame suites down in Soho spending gazillions on desks from Gresham & Knotty Ash to impress the clients.
Indeed..then Baselight! Resolve is doing well at disrupting the grading industry. Why spend £1/2mil on a Baselight suite when resolve does it almost as well for virtually pennies. The problem is that why would you now pay £500ph for grading. I expect these costs to tumble pretty soon. So many people now want to be colourists thinking it's going to be easy big money, but the big money was needed to offset the capital cost that does not exist anymore. Bitter...me? Of course!No-one wants to pay systems engineers anynore so I'm just as bitter as you!
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