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FCPX is not used by professionals and only suitable for editing home movies!
In a response to viewing a video of Larry Jordan’s recent presentation ‘Is Final Cut Pro X ready for professional Editing’ Kevin P McAuliffe, who I remember from the FCPX tutorials he produced for Creative Cow, has published a interesting article on Pro Video Coalition ‘Do Professional Editors care aboutFCPX (anymore)?’
https://provideocoalition.com/kmcauliffe/story/do-the-professionals-care-about-fcpx-anymore
His claims that for him FCPX is only suitable editing home movies and has had very little professional take up, whilst at the same time have a good pop at Larry Jordan, have resulted in a lively reaction which he has responded to in a follow up piece.
For me it’s an interesting flashback to all the fun we had when FCPX was launched with the vitriolic attack on Apple, the EOL of FCP7 and the fact that FCPX was startlingly different.
With the possibility of the next version FCPX being announced this week it’s an interesting time to re-visit the very debate that gave birth to this forum.
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90 Replies
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I was able to double my income because of FCPX, and especially since here in Germany very few use X. Promiflash, where I freelanced this year in X had a very hard time finding good editors who could deal with X. The other editors they found had to be trained, but got the hang of it in a few days. Now Promiflash does not primarily do video, so you don’t have the same creative pressures like in a postproduction, but we had to be fast, (7 hours for 3.30 minutes, including sound recording, and onlining and one of the things that helped was being able to work during transcoding and the fast rendering, in 7 we would have taken 2 hours longer simply for transcode and export.
I do feel disappointed that many are not adopting X since it could really benefit certain clients, but thats for the postproduction to decide. The argument that X in not professional is simply not true. But again, there are still alot of postproductions in Germany that never opened up to Legacy, so why should they jump to X… Many of the issues I’ve heard of actually come from some bad experiences companies had with Legacy. At least in my experience 7 does not work very smoothly in a shared environment with XDcam or at least not on the one I was working on. When I asked one place if they could at least get Motion 5, their argument against it was having had bad experiences with Motion 4, even though 5 is so much better. I am still amazed how so many pros make such generalized statements without actually really trying things out. All the people I’ve trained like it, even the one that generally use PCs and adobe, and was one of the first haters I met.
I am professional using X, but I still have to use Avid and FCP 7, and might need to train myself on Premiere pretty soon. I simply have one more tool under my belt. But there are plenty of editors who don’t need to change, plenty of Avid editors who will never need to deal with Apple for the rest of their lives, more power to them.
Many of us will continue making money with X, parts of the industry will start adopting it more and more.
“Always look on the bright side of life” – Monty Python
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Yes, it is pretty provocative, and why?
Kevin P McAuliffe is obviously an expert Avid Media Composer editor and stirring that old pot of prejudicial bile about FCPX seems an odd move.
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The guy says about FCPX (quote) “the times I’ve used it have been few and far between.”
Is this the same guy who is listed as a Cow Master in the FCPX Techniques forum? LMAO!!
– Ronny
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[Ronny Courtens] “Is this the same guy who is listed as a Cow Master in the FCPX Techniques forum? LMAO!!
“Well spotted!
Steve Connor
There’s nothing we can’t argue about on the FCPX COW Forum
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He really has some nerve. :-)) Imagine writing on your resume that you’ve used a software a couple of times, no one would take you seriously.
Whenever I get confronted with “experts” like that in my neck of the woods it turns out they’ve usually fiddled with it for no more than a week, and haven’t finished a single project on it. While I was finishing a 60 minute experimental, delivering short pieces to DW-TV with seperate audio tracks, cutting a few multicam format mess projects that worked wonderfully, i was being told that X couldn’t be used for professional work.
I think the only thing you can do in that moment is smile, and pat the “expert” on the shoulder.
i like reading real critiques that are actually researched, like what Oliver Peter does. X isn’t perfect, Avid and Premiere aren’t either. I’ve always had lists of things i would like to improve, like most of us have. and some “improvements” like the magnetic timeline, i never expected, at first it even gave me stomach cramps, but then i actually used it and started understanding how it works.
“Always look on the bright side of life” – Monty Python
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“like what Oliver Peter does…” sorry, i meant to write Oliver Peters
“Always look on the bright side of life” – Monty Python
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for some reason i can’t get it to work on my ipad, quoting doesn’t work either
“Always look on the bright side of life” – Monty Python
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If I were you I’d deny him the clicks he’s so obviously looking for.
It’s not worth engaging this guy in debate.
It’s an especially well timed hit-piece that just happening to come right before a major upgrade- but of course he makes no mention of that.
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Well, the logic goes that there’s no X.1 without the MacPro (as per Larry Jordan), and there won’t be a MacPro without Mavericks- that thing won’t ship with anything but 10.9 on it.
While I think you’re right about media management, beyond that there’s been a wonderful black hole of information about this release. UI? Audio? Performance? Colour? It will be a wonderful surprise to see what they’ve been up to for over a year, and how they’ve parsed the feedback of users in the development of the program.
What I’m personally expecting is that on Tuesday we’ll get a final Mavericks preview and launch date- either later this week or next, I’d say. MacPro will get officially announced, with pricing, configuration options, and ship date. IF (and it’s a big if) Apple decides to spend any demo time on the MacPro, we might see some screenshots of 10.1. But Pro apps demos don’t belong at this event.
I’m personally betting conservatively that the MacPro won’t ship Tuesday, but will be available for pre-order with a ship date in early November. That’s OK for me cause I’ll need a couple more big cheques to come in before I can hit the “order” button. Whether that would mean the X.1 would wait for the Maverick or the MacPro (or both) to ship before being launched is anyone’s guess.
But if things happen sooner than I think that’s fine by me!
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FWIW – Kevin’s article already came up in the thread below. He also posted an additional response at PVC to all the backlash from the original post. And yes, PVC is, in fact, the personal blog for the regulars that have channels there.
I think if you take a step back from a knee-jerk reaction, Kevin had two main points. 1) He took Larry to task for his Supermeet presentation at IBC. That was done here as well, in several threads. 2) From Kevin’s perspective as a pro editor in Toronto, he isn’t seeing X being adopted by facilities that he knows.
Regardless of your feelings about X, I tend to see that same thing in my neck of the woods. Professionals (defined as people making a living by editing) ARE using X, but it’s a tiny minority. Most facilities I encounter, who ARE switching from FCP “legacy”, are either going Adobe or back to Avid.
IF FCP X ultimately succeeds in getting a large percentage of the professional market share, it will come for several reasons. 1) Adventurous editors or facilities who are curious and want a change. 2) Clients who use it and expect facilities to be compatible. 3) Tangible end-to-end performance improvements that translate into time and cost savings. That last part if highly dependent on improving the collaborative workflow.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com
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