Philip Bloom: Why I have moved over to Adobe Premiere CS6 from Final Cut 7

By Philip Bloom

I learnt to edit tape to tape about 16 years ago at Sky News whilst working as a News Cameraman. It made my camerawork SO much better. It was a great way to learn to edit. No “Apple Z” – you had to make hard decisions and stick with them. You also had to be FAST. First time I cut my own work, I said “Who the f*** shot this?!” I didn’t hold shots long enough, didn’t get enough coverage…etc, etc. Knowing how to edit makes you a better shooter. Fact.

My first editing experience on an NLE (Non Linear Editor) was Final Cut Pro 1. I used this for personal stuff on my Mac. It was fun and very freeing. I loved it and could afford it! At work I trained up on Avid Newscutter and Media Composer. It felt very natural and easy too. I loved it. Way better than FCP 1 but very expensive.

When I went freelance 6 and a half years ago, I invested in Final Cut Studio as it was the most affordable editing solution for me. I knew it well and Avid was still too expensive for me and (at the time) needed additional hardware. Once I made that investment, I stuck with it and used Final Cut Pro 7 very happily ever since then.

Now, I love Final Cut. I am incredibly fast on it and I can almost edit blindfolded. But for over 3 years it stayed stuck where it was. It didn’t use the hardware of my fancy new Macbook Pros or iMacs or Mac Pros. It barely used any of my system’s memory. It stayed at 32 bit. Speed performance just stayed where it was. It was frustrating. I desperately wanted a Final Cut Studio 4. It didn’t come.

Last year Apple came out with FCPX. A revolutionary editing system that is very progressive and bold. But it didn’t and still doesn’t do a lot of what I want. I bought it, tried it and went back to 7. It is getting better and better though. I have friends who use it and like it. I am sure I will give it another try at some point. The problem is that, when it came out, it simply was not a replacement for FCP 7. Just a different way of editing, I wanted FCP 8 essentially. read more...

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