Apple has released a free update to their powerful and popular Final Cut Pro X video editing software. Final Cut Pro X 10.0.3 adds several new features, most notably the ability to sync and edit up to 64 different angles for photos and video. The multicam feature syncs multiple video clips using audio waveform matching, as well as time and date information stored in the videos’ metadata. An angle editor allows precise adjustments, and the angle viewer allows users to view multiple angles simultaneously and cut to them seamlessly.
The update also includes a beta of broadcast monitoring. This feature allows connection to a variety of display and monitoring equipment and allows users to ensure that their videos meet broadcast standards. Apple has also expanded Final Cut Pro X’s support for third party apps and plug-ins.
The app is free for users who have already purchased Final Cut Pro X. It can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. A 30-day trial is available for users who want to try the software out. It retails for $299.99.
For years Apple has been the standard in professional video editing. Many of the practices and procedures developed in the industry were molded around the features engineered into Apple’s software. Six months after Apple’s newest editing software, Final Curt Pro X, was released, there has been a considerable amount of backlash and ship-jumping.
According to many in the industry, Apple seems to have shifted its focus from the professional to the amature market. Of particular contempt for many, is the removal of the “Edit Decision List (EDL)”. This feature has become a staple of the industry where it is common practice to hold footage for post production. The list held information about what to keep and what to cut.
Another set-back for Apple was the decision to remove the digital to tape feature on their software. By not allowing editors to output their finished work to tape, they cut-off a huge segment of the market that still needs this capability.
To make the software even less attractive, users who have owned earlier versions of the software will find they are not able to import that work to Final Cut Pro X. They are not compatible with one another. What was Apple thinking?
So what is the industries response to these changes? It has forced many to pursue other professional production solutions, like Avid. With any market, If the products aren’t offering the features consumers demand, no matter how innovative they are, they will fall out of favor. Their is always someone on the heels of the winner looking to be the next big thing, the new standard.
Just a few days into the release of Final Cut Pro X and the reviews are still pouring in. The new editing software has been radically redesigned and the change is causing quite the backlash from the internet community. Many of the complaints can be summed up with this tweet from yesterday – “Final Cut Pro X is an enhanced iMovie with loss of professional control. Plus old projects won’t open?! HUGE FAIL.”
While there are some that praise the new software for its relatively low price point ($300) and its simplicity and ease of use, a quick scan of Twitter reveals that a majority of users find it to be frustrating.
It currently has a 2 and 1/2 star rating in Apple’s Mac store. The top three customer reviews lament the fact that many preferences and professional features are gone and one of them simply says “Extremely buggy, overly simplistic.”
The Twitterverse is still on fire about Final Cut Pro X, here are some selected tweets –
@grum that grum guyI’m desperately looking for a site that answers all the “how the fuck do I do this” questions generated from “upgrading” to Final Cut Pro X2 minutes ago via Power Twitter · powered by @socialditto
@findenlake Ross McMinnSometimes I’m glad I edit in both Final Cut & Adobe Premiere Pro. It comes in handy when one of them decides to self-sabotage their product.51 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
That final tweet is referring to last night’s skewering of Final Cut Pro X by Coco. He sets up the clip with the premise that his editors are the best in the world, and they love the new Final Cut. The clip that follows is a mess, as you might expect. Check it out –
In this period of freak-outs, The New York Times’ tech guy David Pogue offers some reason. He goes through a pretty extensive list of complaints about X and debunks a good deal of them. He has this to say in the end –
Apple has followed the typical Apple sequence: (1) throw out something that’s popular and comfortable but increasingly ancient, (2) replace it with something that’s slick and modern and forward-looking and incomplete, (3) spend another year finishing it up, restoring missing pieces.
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.
How do you feel about Final Cut Pro X? Let us know in the comments.
