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For thirteen years, Final Cut Pro was branded as Final Cut Pro X, having been rebuilt from the ground up from its Macromedia origins, with its version number firmly stuck at X (read ten).
Every major update since its launch in June 2011 only got a decimal point increase. But last year, all that changed: Apple dropped the X, and introduced the world to Final Cut Pro 11. Does this brand new numbering system (now at 11.2) mean radical changes for Appleās best video editing software? Letās check it outā¦
Final Cut Pro: Price & availability
- You pay once, and itās yours forever, including any future updates, large or small. Thatās one heck of a deal, and itās been this way for 14 years.
First things first, how much does it cost? Surprisingly little. I mean, itās not subscription based, so youāre not renting your software month after month like Adobe Premiere Pro. But itās also not free, like DaVinci Resolve.
Final Cut Pro sits comfortably in the middle, and will set you back $300 / Ā£300 / ā¬350. That might sound like a lot at first, but consider this: every single update, large or small, has been free since the original Final Cut Pro X was released. Even the mighty version 11 Iām looking at here, was included in the price. Thatās one heck of an incentive.
Final Cut Pro: Interface
- It has a small amount of customizability, but you canāt move panels around. They can be resized a little, though. Yes, it does feel like itās Appleās way or the highway, but at the same time, you can sit in front of any FCP interface and get to work without trying to figure out where everything is.
If youāre new to FCP, or are wondering if you should be using it over a competing product, letās take a quick look at its interface. Unlike Premiere Pro, which prides itself in its impressive customisability, FCPās interface is pretty rigid. Youāve got your list of libraries on the left (where all your media is stored), your inspector sidebar to the right (where all the changeable parameters can be found), the lower third is for the timeline, and roughly in the centre is your preview window. Many editors have two preview windows, FCP only has one. It may feel confusing but it actually works very well: mouse over a clip in your library and itāll appear in that section; do the same in the timeline, same result.
You canāt move these sections around, but itās possible to hide or reveal them, so theyāre there when you need them, and disappear when you donāt. You can also resize the borders between these sections to a certain extent, so you can see more or less of them as you require. Definitely useful, but compared to Premiere Pro, itās pretty anemic.
But what you lose in customisability, you gain in familiarity: I can step in front of any FCP interface, and get to work immediately, without wasting time trying to figure out someone elseās highly individual layout!
One thing Iād like to quickly mention is the āmagnetic timelineā. Usually, when you work on an edit, and delete a clip in between others, youāre left with a gap, which you then need to fill with a new clip, or by dragging to the left all the clips to its right.
This still happens in FCP, but not when working in the primary timeline. When you resize or delete a clip there, all the clips to its right are automatically shunted to the left. It can take a while to get used to, especially since clips on other layers are actually tethered to clips in the primary timeline; delete a clip that has other clips tethered to it, and they all go.
It requires a little bit of management because of that, but when youāre used to it, you edit so fast. Interestingly, Adobe recently released Premiere Pro for iPhone, and guess what? It uses the magnetic timeline concept, even though the desktop version of Premiere Pro doesnāt. Appleās been ahead of the curve for a long while with that one.
Final Cut Pro: New features I love (and hate)
- Thereās a bunch of little touches that are so useful when editing, you have to wonder why they hadnāt been implemented before. And yes, there are big tentpole attractions too, which are powerful and well implemented – as long as your Mac can run them.
I could obviously go through the long list of features new to version 11 and above, but I’m going to focus on the ones Iāve grown to love over the months. Yes, youāve got a couple of new effects, and a couple of fancy transitions. However, the absolute best feature – the one I still think āwhy didnāt they implement this years ago?ā – is a simple keyboard shortcut to move clips up or down a different layer without having to drag them around.
The problem with dragging is, more often than not, the selected clip(s) might move a few frames along the timeline as you do that. There are ways to prevent this, but theyāre sadly not foolproof. And fixing the timing takes time. Now, I just need to select the clip(s) I wish to move, hold down the Option key (you might know it as Alt), and press the up or down arrow key as many times as I need. Thatās it. It has saved me so much time, itās worth the price of admission alone.
Another welcome improvement takes place in the library: when you sync clips together, or create a Multicam clip, the original files are automatically hidden. Sure, you could do it manually before, but every second you save through automatic decluttering, can and is put to good use later on in the editing. It doesn’t sound like much, but itās the little things, you know.
One feature Iāve found I canāt do without is more technical: the magnetic mask. Itās oh so clever: it uses special algorithms to analyse an item on the screen, allowing you to select it, while ignoring the rest. Once youāre happy with whatās highlighted, FCP analyses the entire clip and tracks it over time. It works if the object (or person) moves, or even turns around, and the camera doesnāt need to be static either. You can fine tune the results should you need to of course. Itās a great way to separate an item from its background, remove the background entirely, perform separate colour corrections on both, let your imagination run wild. Goodbye manual rotoscoping! Highly impressive (and so fast on a Mac equipped with an Apple Silicon chip).
One cool feature Iāve used a few times is applying colour correction to an adjustment clip which is placed above others in the timeline. Doing so changes all the clips beneath it. Fine tune the adjustment clip, and it affects all the clips beneath it in one go. Another great time saver.
Then thereās the one Iām dying to use but canāt: automatic transcription and captioning: FCP uses more clever algorithms to create written words from spoken dialogue, making subtitles appear at the right time on the screen. Apple is seriously behind with this feature, and itās a much needed addition. Iāve tried it myself on a Mac other than my own, and itās fast, and surprisingly accurate. So why canāt I use it? Because Iām still on an Intel Mac, and powerful though my machine still is, only Macs equipped with Apple Silicon can take advantage of this feature (grumble grumble).
And since Iām grumbling, I might as well mention that version 11.2 removes support for FireWire devices if youāre running macOS Tahoe. It breaks my heart to see FireWire disappear like that. If you donāt know what FireWire was, it used to run rings around USB, and could do things USB-C still canāt. Oh well, thatās technology for you.
All in all, Final Cut Pro is a powerful video editor, and these new additions help it catch up to the competition once more. I would easily put it in the top three – the other two being Premiere Pro and Resolve. Editing with it is fluid, it has many powerful features, with third party hooks to add additional effects and transitions. The newest features certainly do make it so much better, especially if you own an Apple Silicon Mac. Most features still work on old venerable Intel Macs, although the writingās all too clearly on the wall for those.
Final Cut Pro: Final verdict
I’ve always been a fan of Final Cut Pro. Yes, it’s an underdog in the video editing world – despite having the backing of one of the biggest forces in the creative industry. Of course, it being limited to Mac devices isn’t going to help – even more so with Apple now limiting some of its best features to high-spec Macs and MacBooks.
But in terms of editing video, it’s fluid, intuitive, and the new features really speeds up the entire workflow. Sure, it does feel like Apple’s playing catch up with the other top names in the arena – notably Adobe’s Premiere Pro. However, at least those modern editing tools are coming online now, and not festering away, unloved and forgotten. Honestly, it used to feel like Apple has abandoned Final Cut Pro, so I’m happy to see the renewed support.
And I can’t knock that one-off cost with lifetime updates and upgrades. For that, no other video editor comes close.
- Final score: ā ā ā ā ā
Should I buy Final Cut Pro?
Buy it if…
Youāre looking for an affordable video editor for your Mac, donāt like too much customizability, but appreciate a fancy, fluid and fast way of working, with powerful tools to create great edits.
Don’t buy it if…
You donāt appreciate new editing concepts and would rather stick to the tried and true traditional way of editing video, and if you donāt own a Mac.
For more alternatives, we’ve tested the best free video editing software, best video editing software for beginners, and the best video editing apps for phones and tablets.
Read the full article here
