Is FCP X Pro Really Pro? Yes it is.

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Created on Tuesday, 19 July 2011 02:51

What an amazing few days. Since the release of Final Cut X there's been a tremendous reaction from video editors of every stripe, some of it positive and a whole heck of a lot of it negative. When I started working with the program three days ago my own initial reaction fell on the negative side, but the more I've used it the more those feelings have swung strongly to the other side of the spectrum. The list of cons I was making have (almost) all been moved to the neutral or positive column. I will get into the details in my next post, but first I feel the need to weigh in, like the rest of the world, on "Is FCP X a Pro Application?"  

I'd like to avoid weighing in on this, as this blog is intended to focus instead on the fun nitty gritty work of learning the program, but I can't help it, because truth be told the question matters. An opinion of the program's quality and usefulness is what will inform all of us in our decision whether to delve into it or not.  The first thought I'd like to share is that it seems kind of nutty to me that such vociferous negativity has been triggered before people have done the real work of using the program and finding out what it does well and what it does poorly. There is one exception to this. If you work in a broadcast video production environment that depends on using secondary color graders and/or sound engineers, and video monitoring on an external monitor, then Final Cut Pro X is not ready for prime time for you and you have every right to say so. It will eventually be ready for those kinds of projects, but it's disappointing to many that that day is not today.

How do I know FCP X will be broadcast production capable? Because Apple has expressed the intention to address critical missing features, and both Apple and third party developers are heavily invested in making it work. Phillip Hodgetts, in his excellent blog at http://www.philiphodgetts.com/, reports that contacts at Apple have so far indicated specifically that the ability to import older projects is coming; multicam editing is coming; and a new XML import and export functionality is coming.

Take the OMF and AAF audio export to Pro Tools issue, one of the deal-killing missing features of FCP X that many broadcast pros have pointed at to say FCP X isn't really a professional tool and therefore never will be. It's for sissy iMovie acne-suffering barely post-adolescent wannabes. But three days after FCP X's release, Automatic Duck has released a utility to export sound from FCP X in both the OMF and AAF formats for sweetening in Pro Tools. And there are indications from Apple that this functionality will become native.

Companies such as AJA and Blackmagic are currently working on the issue of the lack of external monitoring. AJA has already released a public beta driver for their KONA cards.

There are ten or so features that have been used to declare FCP X dead on arrival. Like the ones mentioned above, most of them will be back. In the meantime, if you can't use FCP X for projects destined for broadcast, you can and should use something else for that purpose. Obviously Apple risks losing business to companies with NLE's that are capable right now of editing those projects and they only have themselves to blame for not better managing FCP X's release and our expectations.

At the same time, there is more to the professional post-production landscape than broadcast video production. Content created for the web, for organizations' internal consumption (training videos), for individuals (wedding videos), or for conferences and presentations, all seem to me, so far at least, to be appropriate for cutting in FCP X. Whereas a commercial I am editing for broadcast, and a documentary I am working on, would not be. For those kinds of projects, I am sticking to Final Cut 7 until FCP X is ready.

In every instance we have to ask ourselves: what can't FCP X do yet that I really need it to do for this project? Here is the list of the top nine things FCP X does not have that are being used by many to whip the program (and Apple):

1. No EDL support
2. No XML import and export (Apple says it's coming)
3. No OMF and AAF export (already exists via 3rd party support)
4. No Final Cut 7 project file import (Apple says it's coming)
5. No more logging when capturing tapes over Firewire (3rd party support exists)
6. No Multiclips and Mutlicam support (Apple says it's coming)
7. No Native Support for R3D, DPX and some others (coming; meanwhile can transcode)
8. No External Video monitoring (Coming. AJA, Blackmagic & others working on it)
9. No 3rd party filters (definitely coming; through their new FxPlug2 spec)

While we have to wait for these features to return, in the meantime there is very little on that list that prevents the creation of high quality video for the delivery environments I mentioned above. (Here's one: music videos and multicam support; need it.)

The external monitoring issue is an interesting case in point. While it is an important and valuable tool, the not-so-secret truth is that color correction for the web is less exacting than color correction for broadcast; for many projects an excellent result can be achieved using a well calibrated Apple Cinema Display, video scopes and your eyeballs. It won't be 100% color accurate, and a colorist would have a heart attack to hear me say this, but you can still get the image to look great when it streams from the web to computer screens.

Okay. I'm gong to rein myself in here at the end and stop defending FCP X against attacks that focus on its limitations, and say this: FCP X is amazing for what it can do. It's incredibly powerful, fast, efficient and easy to use. It's scary good. This is important to keep in mind as we ponder the future success of the software, and whether it makes sense to delve into it. I will get into why I feel that it is worth delving into when I pick up the topic of my next post: importing, organizing and reviewing footage in FCP X.

That's the situation as I see it. Jumping ship is premature. Apple will right the boat. Use it for what it works for and stick with FCP 7 or use other NLE's until it's ready. Because when FCP X rises to its full potential, I think even those who jump ship now will once again end up on board.