The iPhone Pro with moving to USB-C is slowly becoming the pro device it was meant to be. I can't wait to see it used for big cinematography projects.
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Blackmagic Announces New iOS Camera App That Ties Into DaVinci Resolve
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I have never used Filmic Pro, but looking at their pricing — "Filmic Yearly With Free Trial: $39.99" — it seems very reasonable for what you get, especially if you are using it as a "pro" and making money from what it creates.
Honestly when they made the change to X I couldn’t get my head around it. And I gave up. But then I decided to use one of my next projects as a testing ground to learn how to use it. It was frustrating and took me a week to two weeks to learn the new magnetic timeline. And once or twice I nearly said screw it again and left it aside. So glad I didn’t give up though. Once you learn magnetic timeline it is extremely hard to go back to any other non linear daw workflow. Da Vince resolve is excellent but the magnetic timeline is so amazing that’s one of the many things that keeps me on fcpx. It’s genious. Whoever thought of that new system was super clever. Big learning curve. Once you get over the hump you’re like Edward scissor hands.
This is absolutely not even close to being true. FCPX has had a very recent big update along with a new iPad version of FCPX. Maybe it didn't have all the features some people wanted it to have but it has had a rather series of significant core under the hood updates for years supporting first the move to Metal then the move to Apple Silicon.
FCPX has always been a very plugin focused kind of NLE depending on the plugin community to add certain features not every user may need. It makes those features optional paid adding and not forcing all users to pay for those updates.
Some of the features some people want in FCPX are easily handled by numerous plugins. AAF export, Auto captions, more advanced grading options and so forth.
I'm not entirely sure the whole "more powerful PC" is really valid either. I have PCs and Macs and Resolve isn't really any faster on a more powerful PC with Nvidia graphics than it is on Macs. Thats a misconception of raw benchmarks and not actual real world usage. A few tasks like GPU accelerated noise reduction is still faster on Nvidia but thats really one of the other areas. Apple silicon is rapidly catching up and realistically running Resolve on my custom built PC which on paper is much more powerful than the Mac is no faster for actual importing, organizing, editing, grading, adding FX and adjusting audio. Maybe sometimes exporting certain formats might be faster but even that isn't really all that true anymore. Macs may not scale as much with faster systems for exporting video due to the hardware encoders built into the chips but because of those hardware encoder they tend to export really fast even on modest systems.
Besides exporting is typically one very small part of a project. We tend to only spend 10% to 5% of our time working on a project actually exporting. Thats why video export benchmarks are largely useless to tell us anything about the actual editing experience of a system. Overall snappiness and realtime playback of what we do in a project are 1000x more important.
Resolve also has bugs. Lots of them. It crashes a lot for me under windows and very stable on my Mac. FCPX can have bugs as well but generally works very well across every single Mac currently sold. It doesn't require a monster system and generally works very well on even a MacBook Air. Resolve works well on a M1 MBA as well which says a lot about the Apple Silicon hardware vs Intel PCs.
Finally there is no part of Resolve that is more intuitive or easier. Not by a mile. All that extra functionality means overall its more complex. FCPX is insanely easy to use which is why those that use it love it and can't stand Resolve. I have never met a single person that claimed Resolve was more intuitive. Maybe it jives better for you but that doesn't mean it's more intuitive. From an Avid editors perspective they think Avid is more intuitive as well because thats what they are used to. Their minds are more attuned to those concepts. You clearly prefer that style but that does not mean its more intuitive for everyone else.
While capable of nice results in the right hands I can't for the life of me figure out why would choose this over a real camera unless they just don't have the budget for a real camera. But then how do they have the budget for a $1,200 phone, case, external SSD and any other accessories they need to attempt to shoehorn into a smartPhone.
Not to mention the #1 reasons why a pro would never use this. It's a phone. A communication device one uses to make calls, check email, respond to messages and so forth. Not a dedicated camera that does the filming while one can be communicating on their phone. Its illogical to use our own personal everyday device for production work.
These are great for those learning or starting out. It gives those that would never invest in pro gear a chance to do some creative stuff. They are however not a replacement for the real deal and anyone actually serious about this stuff.
Plus the one thing nobody ever baths to judge smartphone cameras for. No way to adjust exposure without using the shutter. Shooting with a 180 degree shutter is almost impossible on these cameras. If I were ever hire a film maker I would never do so if one can't take their craft serious enough to use a proper camera with the most basic ability to expose a shot or how to focus using a real lens.
Any person even remotely interested in cinematography is 1000x better off investing in a cheap $500 DSLR and used lenses vs a new SmartPhone ever year because it adds a few new features still trying to catch up to a $500 camera.
I'm not saying they are neat creative tools. I want one as well. I want one to supplement my other cameras and professional tools. For the same reason I own different lenses for creative choices. No one shoots a Hollywood movie on just a single lens. Same should be true when thinking of the iPhone. It's a creative tool but not the only tool one should use. Some shots are great with it but not as the sole camera on a production. Any production doing so is doing it solely for the promotional or PR aspect of it. The press writes articles about it because it's new and different. It's purely a "hey look what we did aren't we special" kind of thing. There is zero aesthetic, technical or cost reason to use a iPhone over dozens of other options in a pro paid environment.
Strongly disagree that DR is more intuitive and faster.
Yes, major updates to FCPX are slow, and I would very much love Apple to add stuff like text-based editing and audio tracks to FCPX, but speaking as a full-time video creator/editor, when it comes to being intuitive and fast, FCPX is way ahead of DR (and Premiere Pro).
DR is known to have a rather steep learning curve, while FCPX is beginner- AND pro-friendly. The hover-skimming alone in FCPX makes it way faster to edit videos in (YMMV, of course). On the surface, this seems like a very insignificant feature and you might say it's not that different from clicking and dragging the playhead, but oh boy, when you do this day in and day out, hover skimming is soooooo much better.
THIS.
I totally understand that different editors are different and there are no absolutes, but I have a feeling that MOST people who say they hate or cannot get used to the magnetic timeline just haven't given it enough of a chance.
Magnetic timeline (and hover skimming) is definitely one of the major things that will keep me firmly in the FCPX camp until Premiere or DR has it. Once you actually "click" with the magnetic timeline, going back to the traditional timeline feels SO slow and clunky. When you edit day in and day out, the magnetic timeline makes a huge difference in editing speed.
Agreed. It took me a chunk of time to get over the learning curve of magnetic timeline. But when it finally clicked it was like wow this is superior in every way. For some reason people still think fcpx is like iMovie and that’s simply not true. They just haven’t bothered to learn it. And are making assumptions.
Do you need a USB-C dongle to use Blackmagic app?
Well, their speed editor is USB-C only - and I hate the fact you can’t turn it off because the battery just slowly drains. Just use that USB cable that came with your recent iPhone. BTW, I’m pretty sure there would be one in the i/o cards and such. I use a PC so no problem there. On a Mac or iPad - don’t ask me… 😏
Avid was designed to act just as cutting film, and I still love it. Resolve has the scrub like thing to edit faster but nothing beats going frame by frame when you need it. On Avid it’s just intuitive to go frame by frame…
I’m older than most of you, but editing like cutting film has its allure and romance. If you can cut on Avid you can cut on film.
Oh yes film, remember that?
Most of my kind would dismiss the iPhone, but in some cases the device is worth something. Certainly as a crash cam. For smaller projects it is B Roll or even C Roll. Behind the scenes stuff…
It lacks Genlock for multi-cam work. I’m old, but remember time code?
Intuitive can also be an inhibitor to creativity. Avid had a steep learning curve - but - when you understood what other editors did for you instinctively - you had more power to change things as all the changes were in front of you all the time.
On the other hand it is easier in Resolve to make good independent videos on a shoe string budget. Ultimately the work breaks down in the final cut, as opposed to a big budget production - but creatively you are there!
Old school videographers.
Guys that put standard definition programming on TV. Bars and tone then slate and black. Setting the volume by ear and not using the editor tools. Born in the 1950s - those “kind” of guys…
Like I said...you use what you're comfortable with...I personally hate the magnetic time line, I am a much more freeform editor if that makes sense...lol.
I absolutely promise you. If you were to learn the magnetic timeline after a couple of weeks I would bet that you would be coming back here and saying it’s amazing I won’t be going back to traditional timelines. Each to their own and of course use whatever you prefer. But it would be an interesting wager.
I remember when Final Cut (version 7 specifically) was the gold standard for video editing, back in 2010.
It's quite sad to see Apple neglecting it; hopefully they won't do the same with Logic.
Are you on commission from Apple?
lol. You may be right and if I hadn't bought into the whole BM eco system...from cameras to grading panel I'd give it a go. It's more than just the timeline though these days...I shoot in BRAW which I love the flexibility of...and I know there's ProRes RAW which others swear by too but no available on BM cameras. I am not getting into the blame game on that either...lol. As I said, I'm in the whole eco-system now for production, albeit Mac based when it comes to the post side., and I am happy with it.
Yeah sounds like you have a good set up so need to move platforms.Are you on commission from Apple?
It's more than just the timeline though these days...I shoot in BRAW which I love the flexibility of...and I know there's ProRes RAW which others swear by too but no available on BM cameras. I am not getting into the blame game on that either...lol. As I said, I'm in the whole eco-system now for production, albeit Mac based when it comes to the post side., and I am happy with it.
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Alright, there’s dividing opinions here regarding FCP vs DaVinci vs Premiere Pro, etc
BUT, for those that use FCP (myself sporadically, and I come from an AE heavy world!), wouldn’t it be great to have THIS EXACT camera/cloud/etc feature native on Final Cut? without plugins or third party services.
The ingredients seem there to me:
BUT, for those that use FCP (myself sporadically, and I come from an AE heavy world!), wouldn’t it be great to have THIS EXACT camera/cloud/etc feature native on Final Cut? without plugins or third party services.
The ingredients seem there to me:
- camera app, iCloud, Final Cut.
- Shake, mix and blend together well
- Profit
With 6E on the iPhone 15 you can get significantly higher transfer rates. In my case WiFi 6E is 50% faster. That value may be limited due to my modem speed.