FCP 6-7 meets El Capitan

[Neil Sadwelkar]

I agree with not upgrading if FCP 7 is your primary editing (and bread-winning) application. It works fine for many folks who have established workflows with it.
For me, for instance, the need to take ProRes exports and line them up with Dolby 5.1 discrete audio tracks and export QT with 6-8 tracks of audio is something that works just fine with FCP 7 so I have a system which has 7 and I’m not upgrading anytime soon.

But another angle to this question is for those who have a running FCP 7 installation on, say, an older iMac or MacPro. Today if they were to buy a new system it would come pre-installed with El Capitan with no way to downgrade. In that case, the question “Does FCP 7 work with El Capitan?” is valid. And from what I’ve read, FCP 7 seems to work fine with El Capitan.

But taking a brand new system and attempting to install FCP 7 on it from scratch. That’s also a question they need a firm answer because else they’ll be putting down 2-3k $ and finding out that it doesn’t work.

———————————–
Neil Sadwelkar
neilsadwelkar.blogspot.com
twitter: fcpguru
FCP Editor, Edit systems consultant
Mumbai India

[Mark Suszko]

Neil, that question may be moot, as the installer for FCP7 won’t work in El Cap. You can try to leave an already-installed FCP7 in place and upgrade the OS around it, but trying to install FP7 fresh into these newer OS’s may not even start, because the FCP installer is looking for and built for, the older OS.

That’s what it is absolutely essential for any continuing FCP7 user to take the time and buy a drive and clone their working system. Today. Against the eventual need to re-install back into the existing machine.

[John Rofrano]

[Mark Suszko] “Neil, that question may be moot, as the installer for FCP7 won’t work in El Cap. You can try to leave an already-installed FCP7 in place and upgrade the OS around it, but trying to install FP7 fresh into these newer OS’s may not even start, because the FCP installer is looking for and built for, the older OS.”

Yea, the whole idea is that you cannot buy a new system. That’s the price of using discontinued software. You must continue to maintain the hardware and software that the application runs on for as long as you intent to use it. The good news is that there is plenty of life left in the 2010/2012 Mac Pro.

For example: I could not get DVD Studio Pro to install on Mountain Lion. I had to re-install Snow Leopard onto a drive, boot from that drive, install DVD Studio Pro, then copy the files to all the appropriate places on my Mountain Lion drive just to get it to work. Then much to my surprise, when I built a new Yosemite system, DVD Studio Pro suddenly had no problem installing again BUT, not all of the functions work! Some windows have empty drop down boxes for some of the choices. That’s why i still maintain a Snow Leopard drive for using DVD Studio Pro (for which there is no replacement from Apple)

This is extremely easy to figure out BTW.

Buy an external hard drive, install El Capitan on it, boot from it and try and install FCP 7 and let us know how it goes. This will cause no harm to your original hard drive so it’s completely safe to try. That’s what I love about OS X. You can boot from as many versions as you need to.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Ernie Fritz]

I have updated one (actually older) Macbook Pro to El Capitan and FCP7 works fine. I have even run a recent project on the system for a few hours and all seems to be well. (I did not use the installer, but rather already had FCP7 on the computer — so I can’t speak for the installer issue that some people are reporting)

As far as Yosemite, I’ve been running FCP7 on that for months and had not had any issues at all. Works great on two different systems.

As far as the issue of why still use FCP7? … As a few people have already noted, we all have our reasons. Just leave it at that. Some of us STILL like it very much.

I, for one, still edit all my projects on FCP7, and then export the final XLM into FCPX (7toX) and finish the titles and color there. (The audio is a mix between FCP7 (OMF export) and and FCPX — don’t ask, but it works for me) FCPX is quite nice for many “finishing” things but I would hate to edit an hour+ documentary on it. It’s just not really great for long-form projects.

The bottom line is this, FCP7 is still great. So, not to be a hard-ass, but if someone posts a question, shouldn’t we try to answer it rather than tell the person to forget it — It’s really not helpful. We’re editors … we solve problems. That’s what the job is, because God knows, they didn’t do it on set.

[Roger Poole]

Ernie, I don’t think anyone is being hard ass as you put it. What people are advising is to keep FCP7 in an environment where it is happy and will do everything that is expected of it. Nobody want’s an app which throws up unexpected behavior when you are trying to get your work done. Of course FCP7, at it’s best, always did have the odd wobble now and then but there were accepted resolutions to all of them. Stray into uncharted territory with a non-qualified operating system you are on your own because there are no known fixes. That aside, if anyone can give me a technically valid or good reason for running FCP7 on anything other than OS 10.6.8 I’ll be glad to hear it.

[Anthony Dalesandro]

Thank you Ernie for answering the question. It took 16 posts but now I have the answer.

[Daniel Waldron]

It doesn’t work on mine. Best of luck to you though. Make sure to make a backup before you upgrade!

[Daniel Waldron]

No offense Ernie, but your post is no more of a solution than anyone else’s. The original poster asked if FCP 6-7 worked in El Capitan. The answer is a giant maybe. I personally know several people who tried and it does not work. There are plenty more examples here online. Then there are some people like you who have had success. That’s great and I’m happy you haven’t had to deal with the nightmare that others have when FCP won’t open and they no longer have access to their projects. You say we as editors need to find solutions, but the problem itself is easily avoidable to begin with.

I guess I’m just confused on why certain people are getting so uptight about being given reasonable advice to not upgrade, or at least have a backup plan should things go south. It’s like they’re looking for an answer and are upset when it’s not the one they want. Even a recent poster thanked you for answering the question after “16 posts”, cherrypicking your post and ignoring the other answers that did not match what they want.

[Ernie Fritz]

Daniel

You make some fair points. Always, Always, Always back up multiple copies to multiple places.

So, to be clear — FCP7 works fine on El captain (for me – your result may vary) and certainly fine on Yosemite.

I guess, what I object to is when people ask; why would one want to keep working on FCP7? — it’s because it still works great and it make sense (If you own it — it’s FREE). Editing skills do not improve with better wipes but you machine may improve with a newer OS. So, if you can have both, why not?

I HAVE gone through the nightmare of loosing files and DO know what it’s like. I have probably been through every possible nightmare scenario between FILM labs, RT11 files, EDL’s, OMF’s, Bad XML files, PAL to NTSC issues, Drop Frame and Non Drop Frame, square and non-square Pixels … And so, I don’t take the original query lightly … still, that was the question being asked. I do use newer software as well, but for day to day cutting — getting the edit right –FCP7 is still pretty great. Why apple didn’t go for FCP8 is the real question.

[Christopher Mcdonell]

To clarify, I didn’t ask if I should update to El Capitan (which is what the advice was generally aimed at). I asked if anyone out there who had updated could tell us whether FCP 6 or 7 still worked. I do appreciate the advice and will put some of it into practice, but it’s not like I haven’t heard it before. With each new OS, we go through this same ole dance.

I’d actually like to try out FCPX. I’m intrigued by Ernie’s suggestion of using it in tandem with FCP 6-7 for audio, colour correction and graphics. But the demo only works on Yosemite or El Capitan. I’m currently on Mavericks. So now legacy users who are afraid to upgrade can’t even try the demo!

I think I’ll be cloning, upgrading and giving it all a try pretty soon. Ernie’s post, and this youtube video that I found, gives me some hope.