Canon5Dtips Photography is more than words.
It is us! While we read about pros complaining about FCPX all over the place, everything I have read (and personally tested) about FCPX pleases me.
Call it Apple biggest mistake if you want but they built this app for people like us. People who shoot-edit-deliver all by ourselves. By simplifying the timeline and media management, they made it even easier for us to edit our clips.
Other than the multicam, I don’t really care about all the other ‘missing’ features from FCP7 since I never had to use them. I am not saying those who needed these should not be frustrated. Just that it does not affect me, nor does it affect you (most probably).
By rebuilding the app from the ground up, they gained a lot:
- The app is FAST! I edit H.264 without transcoding or proxying without any issues (so far).
- The new interface is very slick and functional (once you get used to it). Lots of refinements.
- Better integration with Motion.
- Rebuild the editing paradigms/metaphors to be better aligned with how people actually use the application.
- A software architecture that actually uses what OSX has to offer.
Now the bad part
I installed the app without realizing that my current plugins would not be compatible nor would I be able to open my old projects. This seriously sucks. There should have been a warning somewhere. Not that I was stupid enough to upgrade in the middle of a project, but simply because I may want to go back to an old project and rerender it into another format…
iMovie import? Seriously, this is the thing you see when you open the app and it is a bit insulting.
Conclusion
Depending of what you do, there are a lot of reasons to hate FCPX, but there are a lot of reasons to love it too. And if you make a living from your HDSLR, odds are that you will love it.
