FreshDV's Thoughts on Switching from Final Cut to Premiere
posted on ProVideoCoalition by FreshDV's Matt Jeppsen
My thoughts on the FCPX brouhaha Since Final Cut X was released a few weeks ago, there have been a large number of Final Cut Pro post-production professionals looking into other NLE options. Final Cut Pro X is a very different animal, and lacks specific FCP7 features that certain users require or demand. It also changes up existing post-production workflows and is in general a disruptive release. I’ve observed that whether this disruption is a good or a bad thing for you really depends on how you use the software. Anecdotally speaking, I know professionals that are perfectly happy with FCPX. And I know an even larger number of professionals who are not at all happy with the new release… Volumes have been written on various blogs and sites about the pros and cons of FCPX, and I’ll spare you a re-write of those feature lists. The response has often been emotional, which is understandable for those who championed the unproven underdog FCP in pro environments in it’s early days. But the bottom line is, the features offered by FCPX don’t serve the needs of some current FCP users, and so those users are looking into other options. Generally, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro are at the top of the list. I’ve been a Final Cut Pro user since version 4. I had been using Premiere since version 6.5, and had upgraded to Premiere Pro when it came out. Premiere Pro was early in their app rewrite from the 6.5 days, and it was still somewhat buggy, but functional. When I moved to Final Cut Pro 4, I did so mainly because I was working with a company that was FCP-based. It was a big change for me, a new NLE and new hardware/OS. I found Final Cut Pro to work well for my needs, and in particular I preferred moving away from PC’s in general (I’ve never regretted that decision, and will remain a Mac user). I’ve used FCP since, and built my business around the software.
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