-
Another FCS and iMAC thread.
Ok, I’ve searched and I see that there are a lot of questions regarding FCS and iMacs. But I just want to make sure before I spend a whole lot of money, as I’m seeing quite a lot of conflicting information around the net.
I’m graduating from university this summer and looking to get into freelance editing, so I want to have a flexible system that can work with anything that might likely come my way.
For this I want to get FCS and an iMac. I was looking to get the 21.5 inch screen with the ATI card, which comes with a duo core 3.03ghz and 4 gigs of RAM stock, but can be upgraded to 3.33ghz and 8 gigs.
Would this be able to run everything in FCS well? I’ve seen some people saying they’re editing fine on a duo core 2.86ghz (or something) and 2 gig of RAM, and others saying you need 8 cores and 8 gigs of RAM.
And as another quick question, people say that you shouldn never save footage/FC projects to the internal harddrive…why?
Thanks.
-
13 Replies
-
Tim,
Quick reality check.Asking questions is a good thing, but I think you need to look at the business end before thinking about your system.
Have you done a business plan? Cost/benefit analysis?
Why? I’m wondering if you want to have a system to dabble with, or if your are hoping to jump in and start paying the bills with your system. There is a big difference between the two. That, and a million others are already in line ahead of you.
So, what are you going to charge? Do you already have clients lined up? What type of clients are you expecting? What type of material and projects will they be bringing?
The specs say iMac will run FCP, what you want to know is will it handle what the clients are bringing you.If I was looking at the most flexible system possible, that could handle anything, and wanted to hit the market looking like a pro, iMac wouldn’t be my first choice. It wouldn’t even be my second choice.
“And as another quick question, people say that you shouldn never save footage/FC projects to the internal harddrive…why?”
I think you might need to do some more in depth research, and consider getting a job as a working editor or assistant to get your feet wet. If you don’t know the answer to this, I’m not sure you should be spending money on a system just yet.
Hey these are just my opinions, I’m sure others will chime in and tell you to just go for it and hope it works out.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
Don’t buy an iMac if you want to handle everything that comes your way. You need more horsepower for that, and expandability that the iMac simply doesn’t have.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays
-
Scott’s real-world business post makes plenty of sense.
To address some workflow details…
Generally speaking, an iMac is not professionally expandable enough as a FCS system hub considering you want “flexibility” as you say.
Even so, there are post houses with iMac stations for small jobs and tasks.
In addition to our main system Mac Pro, we also use an early 2009 iMac for DVCPROHD edits with external FW800 G-Raid2 drives.If you want to spend less money than buying a Mac Pro with lots of RAM and some decent SATA media drives, then get a MacBook Pro (not the 13″).
You won’t be able to take on some high-end uncompressed HD projects and do hundred-layer special effects, but you could make money editing if you get jobs.
The MBPRO has secondary / external monitor flexibility, and other peripherals may be more easily added than with an iMac.And if you are not a post house where people come and sit in your suite, you may need to travel or work within a situation other than your house.
One typical job fresh young editors get is to be on set with an indie or documentary shoot to ingest / prep footage for “dailies”, and perhaps be their post editor as well.“And as another quick question, people say that you shouldn never save footage/FC projects to the internal harddrive…why?”
— Because in most cases, especially with HD, it’s asking too much for the Mac to throughput the OS needs, application needs plus media i/o all from one platter; performance will suffer.Hope some of this helps your decision-making.
-
One other thing to consider: if you ever want to do any color grading, you simply can’t do it on an iMac or a MacBook Pro. You MUST use an external, broadcast spec monitor, which requires a broadcast video board (AJA or BlackMagic) and that will require a Mac Pro.
As far as I’m concerned, the only use for an iMac or MacBook Pro with regards to editing is AS AN ADDITION TO a fully kitted out Mac Pro workstation. iMacs work well to enable you to start cutting another project while your Mac Pro is busy compressing. A MacBook Pro can work in the field to ingest media directly from a camera and to start editing a project on a plane on your way somewhere. Trying to use either of those as a complete suite will only lead to frustration.
-
Thanks a lot for all your replies.
Scott,
I have been scouring industry job websites, and there definitely seems to be a steady flow of editing jobs. I’m not expecting to become a top-paid editor or even recoup my investment for a while, but just start off by looking for low/unpaid jobs to build up a showreel. And with any luck I would have a part time job alongside freelancing.I would also quite like to work as an editor in a staff position if the opportunity arose, but all the adverts I’ve seen ask for FCP experience, whereas I have only worked with Avid.
So I guess you could say that at first I only want a system to dabble with, but one that could handle maybe the amateur side of semi-proffesional work. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression before.
So with this in mind, would an iMac be ok for a first machine that could last me perhaps a year or two? I don’t mean to dismiss suggestions that I get a MacBook Pro, but would like to go for the cheaper option if at all possible.
William,
I’ve heard that iMacs don’t do peripherals so well before, but I know that they can support a second monitor, and other than an external HD, what else would they need? Or is even that too much?Thanks again all for your responses.
-
Matrox MXO2 can be used to do color critical 10-bit output via HDMI or SDI
The MXO2 Mini is ~$450.00 and can connect through the 17″ MacBook Pro’s ExpressCard slot.
Of course that means you can’t connect an external eSATA RAID, so that’s a tradeoff to keep in mind.
The MXO2s also support Avid MC5, helpful if you get Avid gigs also.
See https://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mac/mxo2_family/mxo2_mini/ for more info.
-
Tim,
I see where your at. As you can tell by the iMac posts, they will get you by, but expansion is a problem. Often they end up as a logging station, or audio workstation, etc, if they were purchased as a first edit workstation.One possible option is to buy a used Mac Pro. If/when new version is released, a lot of folks will upgrade and sell what they have now. So right after a new release there is a lot of used for sale.
Another option is to watch for folks getting out of the biz, selling their gear. It is sad but true that many have jumped in the production world, only to find out it isn’t as easy as just buying the gear. Check Mandy, Craigs, Production Hub and even Ebay for used gear from folks bailing out.
Don’t forget if you are just starting out, you will need more than just the ‘box’.
Audio monitors, decent desk/chair, peripherals, just to name a few things.I would still suggest even a simple biz plan, and show it to other production folks. It is a much cheaper place to make mistakes, which everyone does when they are first starting out.
Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com -
“And as another quick question, people say that you shouldn never save footage/FC projects to the internal harddrive…why?”
I think you might need to do some more in depth research, and consider getting a job as a working editor or assistant to get your feet wet. If you don’t know the answer to this, I’m not sure you should be spending money on a system just yet.
AMEN if you don’t know the answer to that question you should not be spending a dime on a system.
” I’m not expecting to become a top-paid editor or even recoup my investment for a while, but just start off by looking for low/unpaid jobs to build up a showreel. And with any luck I would have a part time job alongside freelancing”
It is quite clear that you have a LOT to learn. I recommend not busying a editing system of your own yet. Keep your part time job and find a company you can in-turn with. Even if it is an unpaid internship you are still better off and will learn SO much more then you would on your own doing those free projects you plan on doing for other people.
Hindsight is always 1080p
-
With the proper gear you can do color correction monitoring externally with a MacBook Pro. Ether an Io Express, or Io HD or if you have an express card slot, you can use Matrox gear for this too. But can’t do it properly from an iMac for sure. It only has a FW port and that is likely being used for media storage so an IoHD wouldn’t work with it.. it likes it’s own bus.
Jerry
Apple Certified Trainer, Producer, Writer, Director Editor, Gun for Hire and other things. I ski.
8-Core 3.0 Intel Mac Pro, Dual 2 gig G5, AJA Kona SD, AJA Kona 2, Huge Systems Array UL3D, AJA Io HD, 17″ MBP, Matrox MXO2 with MAX Cinema Displays
-
So I think the general consensus would be to wait and get experience at a post house somewhere. Ok, the thing that makes me quite eager to a get a system now is that I still qualify for a pretty good student discount for the next few weeks, and, I have not seen a single advertisment for even an internship that doesn’t require “extensive knowledge of FCP (and some after effects)”.
If my budget did stretch to a MBPRO, (second hand Mac Pros are still out of my price range), would this be a feasible option to last me 1 – 2 years of amateur to semi proffesional work? Other than the portability aspect and an audio line in, I can’t see the advantage it has over an iMac, as I would upgrade to a proper system if that’s where my work took me.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up