Final Cut Pro 7 – I Want To Believe
It seems like I’ve been doing a lot of Apple bashing lately. There was my post about the American Cinematic Editors vs. Final Cut Pro, and a couple weeks before that I predicted the imminent death of Final Cut Pro. I’m not not coming down on the products they provide, but I do have a bad feeling that Apple isn’t betting long on Pro Apps.
This fact was most evident in 2006 when Apple ceased development on Shake, the immensely popular composting software they acquired in 2002. The rumor mill claimed that Apple was developing the “next generation” of the technology for release in 2008, but that never materialized and former Shake users moved on. Shake was finally dropped from the Apple website last week.
I actually wrote a first part of this post a couple weeks ago, then the next day Apple released Final Cut Pro 7, the first major upgrade in two years. There are a few much needed fixes, and some additions that should have been standard features three versions back. The only real innovation is theIChat Theater, which integrates the output of Final Cut Pro into a live video chat for real time playback over the Internet . Its interesting that the feature I find most innovative comes from the integration of a freeware app that comes with every new mac. I appreciate the upgrade toFCP 7, but I won’t hold my breath for another major upgrade. I still think Apple is going to withdraw from the the pro apps market, andFCP as we know it is doomed.
Most of the other apps in the Final Cut Suite were also upgraded. The suite has always been a mixed bag of functionality. Motion and Sound Track Pro have been borderline useless since version 1. If this upgrade gets them operational with reasonable stability, it would be a victory. DVD Studio Pro is conspicuously missing from this upgrade, which I’m thankful for. I use DVD Studio on a regular basis, and I don’t have many complaints. I would prefer that Apple not mess with it unless they want to addBlu-Ray support, but I won’t hold my breath for that either.
I hear ya… FCP7 is not just a profound disappointment, it’s almost insulting.
People can argue black and blue preference or ‘feel’ and what they ‘like’ but the facts are facts – comparing feature for feature FCP is currently the least proficient, least flexible and most technological inferior NLE on the market. Everyone else – Adobe, Sony in particular, even Grass Valley – have left them behind over the past 3 -5 years.
And it’s a tragedy….
FCP went from Innovating to a game of perpetual behind-the-8ball catch-up in just a few years.
On fronts such as Inter-app Integration, Format Flexibility, RAW workflow, Audio Tools, Compositing and Authoring/Delivery FCS is just not up to scratch. Adobe has infinitely better integration, Sony have infinitely better audio and NLE compositing. Even the boon of ‘Apple Color’ simply gives Apple colour grading tools that they were totally missing previously. Color is good but it doesnt do anything Synthetic Aperture doesn’t do which is part of the Adobe suite. And both Vegas and Premiere both do RED RAW 4k workflows far better than FCP. Both Vegas and Prmeiere can do scaled 4k in real-time on a laptop and have full access to the native RAW metadata from directly inside the NLE. Something FCP fails completely.
I have loved FCP in the past but it’s an old girlfriend that failed to grow up with me and Im looking at the sexy young things next door.
Will Apple dump ProApps? Its looks that way but Apple are too unpredictable to be certain. But are they thoroughly neglecting Professional users? Absolutely.
As such Pro users need to punish Apple for this neglect by taking their business elsewhere.
Next time you find an Editor raving about how Good and Modern FCP is, simply ask them a question? “What other systems have they used?” The answer, invariably will be “none”. In 2009 only those who havent seriously engaged with Premiere, Vegas or Edius are still enamored by FCP. Its tied, old, dated, inflexible…. And it’s a real shame. Because it didint have to go this way.
I wrote a more sober analysis of FCS3 on my blog which readers may find interesting.
http://blogs.digitalmediaonlineinc.com/digitalbasin/entry/20090723
Cheers
Mike