video editing software upgrade advice..FCP vs Premiere?

[retropunk]

Hello, my mom has been using iMovie for several years and she has mastered it quite well.
She feels that she has hit the ceiling with what iMovie can do.
FCP and Premiere seem like the most popular choices.
I thought FCP would be great but I hear so many people complaining about the latest upgrade. So much so that some are switching to Premiere.
Since she has never used the previous FCP she wouldn't know what she's missing etc. Plus I suspect FCP has some UI similarities to iMovie so the transition might be easier than Premiere.
I personally use Premiere so I'm also biased.

If you've had a similar upgrade experience and/or strong opinions on these softwares I'd like to hear your advice on this topic.

Thanks very much
- Patrick

 

[Badrottie]

I have played iMovie for few months then I went to FCPX no problem no re-learn over again but there are advanced features have to learn something new. I have tried Premiere Pro before using iMovie, it is very complex and timeline is bit confusing me. BUT if I learned a lot about FCPX I might have no problem with Premiere. I prefer FCPX over Premiere anyway. Your wife should be fine with FCPX.

 

[handsome pete]

If she's coming from iMovie then she'd be perfectly fine with FCP. I wouldn't read too much into the complaints levied about it. Most of the clamor came from those who were used to the old interface and/or were going to be missing features in the transition.

Ultimately, both software packages are fine.

 

[acearchie]

If she's coming from iMovie I assume that it's fun and personal edits?

If that's the case then I really think that FCPX would be a great option.

Premiere is great and I use it for my day to day edits but I have to say that when I just want to create something fun, easily and quickly I turn to FCP X! The learning curve, especially if she have no previous experience of a pro NLE, is very small!

 

[rei101]

In your case she would be fine with FCPX, she won't be working with other video editors and things like that.

You use Premiere because of the industry and compatibility but for yourself FCPX would do specially coming from iMovie.

 

[leftyMac]

premiere is more suitable if you create lots of after effects animation. the integration between the 2 is seamless. but otherwise I find FCP easier to use to get the same result in terms of quality.

 

[Small White Car]

If she's coming from iMovie absolutely go with FCPX. Both FCPX and Premiere will have a learning curve, but I'd say she's about 20% ahead in FCPX already because a lot of what she knows will transfer over.

Not everything, but she's got a good head start.

Furthermore, FCPX is really geared towards the "single editor." A lot of the complaints about it have to do with collaboration with other technical people. Absent that, it's a fantastic program.

I use both Premiere and FCPX a lot, switching back and forth depending on the job. Like all software they'll both have things that you'll adore and things that will drive you mad. I definitely need both in my life. But my advice for her is 100% FCPX.

 

[pwhitehead]

If she's coming from iMovie absolutely go with FCPX. Both FCPX and Premiere will have a learning curve, but I'd say she's about 20% ahead in FCPX already because a lot of what she knows will transfer over.

Not everything, but she's got a good head start.

Furthermore, FCPX is really geared towards the "single editor." A lot of the complaints about it have to do with collaboration with other technical people. Absent that, it's a fantastic program.

I use both Premiere and FCPX a lot, switching back and forth depending on the job. Like all software they'll both have things that you'll adore and things that will drive you mad. I definitely need both in my life. But my advice for her is 100% FCPX.

I'm interested to know what kind of jobs you use FCPX for and what jobs you use Premiere for? Do you edit for TV at all?

 

[Small White Car]

I'm interested to know what kind of jobs you use FCPX for and what jobs you use Premiere for? Do you edit for TV at all?

No, mostly corporate, government, and live theater stuff. Both programs can obviously do any type of job, but here's where my choices tend to fall:

Final Cut X
Multicam live-to-tape shoots (mostly theater stuff)
Scripted and storyboarded videos where everything was planned out
Music videos where the shot placement is fluid
Quick no-edit jobs (throw a title on it and upload it!)
Jobs where the client uses FCX and wants the project
When color correcting needs to be more "stylized and artsy"
Home movies (not a job, but if you're curious it's what I use)

Premiere
After Effects heavy projects
Documentaries where the edit itself is creating the story
When color correcting needs to be more accurate and perfect
Jobs where the client uses Premiere and wants the project

- - - - -

Obviously many jobs fall in multiple places on those lists. I have to decide which factor is most important for a particular job.

I'd say that, percent-wise, I work about 40/30/30 in FCX/Premiere/After Effects. There's no way I'd ditch one program entirely.

My demo reel is, as usual, a montage. So it doesn't really show editing technique, but you can see different looks and styles I've achieved. That reel is probably a 50/50 mix of each program, actually.

 

[JustinePaula]

Industry uses CAT 50 ton trucks to do earth-moving projects, does this mean you need the same for a small garden project??

No, you need what best suits your needs at the time of the project, if you have imovie, which is Mac based, and there is a logical upgrade path, for a couple hundred Dollars, why would you need a rental option?

Buy once and that is it, why be hassled with monthly payments? Look if Adobe was sold as FCP X, then it makes sense, but this is really not all that important, FCP X has a great workflow method once you get the basics mastered, having done this with imovie, this makes sense to go to FCP X.

 

[wgjones3]

If your mom already has projects created the latest versions of iMovie, then those projects should import into Final Cut Pro X natively. iMovie project import was a feature of the FCPX 10.0 releases, anyway.

I've been editing since 2006 on Final Cut Pro (then version 5) and Premiere, so I learned on the old interface. Most of the complaints about FCPX started with the original release, which was extremely crippled compared to Final Cut Pro 7. Apple has really worked to develop the product and it's so much better now than it was two years ago. They've added so many features and made it extremely easy to shuttle project libraries to different systems. It's not perfect, but I've managed to talk three of the four Final Cut Pro 7 users I know into making the jump to FCPX and they're all extremely happy they did—once they get over that initial shock of getting use to what's essentially a beefed-up iMovie interface.

 

[pwhitehead]

but I've managed to talk three of the four Final Cut Pro 7 users I know into making the jump to FCPX and they're all extremely happy they did—once they get over that initial shock of getting use to what's essentially a beefed-up iMovie interface.

If so, can you list some of the features they like about fcpx vs what they were use to using in fcp7? If they're editing video for TV, I'd be interested in seeing what they like about x.