FCP and Final Cut Express: Is there help for enthusiasts?

[John C. Chu]

There has got to be some better solutions for editing footage out of the Canon Rebel T2i than shelling out close $800 -1000 for Final Cut Studio.

I have the latest version of Final Cut Express 4 on my Dual Processor Power Mac G5 and it works well with HDV resolutions,[but just no support for 24p]

So currently, my work flow is to convert the clips from the T2i using MPEG Streamclip to Apple Intermediate Codec which Final Cut Express can then edit but not on a 24p timeline.

If they add 24p support in the next version of Final Cut Expres, I would be happy to buy a new Intel Mac.

Thoughts?

[Michael Wisniewski]

iMovie can import and export 24p, but it applies pulldown on the timeline, so you won't get 24p frame accurate editing.

[David Hardy]

Just consider yourself fortunate you live in the land of the free; in Europe it would cost you over USD1200. That said, in the grand scheme of things it isn't asking too much for the tasks you want of it. The camera just gets you the bits you need but the software does everything from there ;-)

[Robert Lane]

Originally Posted by John C. Chu

There has got to be some better solutions for editing footage out of the Canon Rebel T2i than shelling out close $800 -1000 for Final Cut Studio.

Unfortunately there isn't outside of what you've already mentioned. There are other NLE's besides FCP but they're all in the same price-point. Nothing on the PC side either that significantly less costly; Edius is only about $100 cheaper than FCS and Sony Vegas is about the same.

It's totally unclear exactly where the future of FCS is heading, what with all the fuss and attention being iPad/iPhone centralized so nobody can tell you if FCE will allow for greater codec handling or not in the future but if you really want to "play nice" with DSLR footage than FCP is the most elegant and cost-effective option. PP CS5 would actually be faster since it's drag-n-drop to the timeline whereas FCP makes you transcode into ProRes first but sticking with the FCP platform would probably be the most logical for your experience with FCE.

[John C. Chu]

As I suspected, thanks for all the info.

When I got my Canon HV20 three years ago, I was grateful to be able to just edit the footage in FCE as 24p in a 30p timeline, but always hoped that one day...some sort of native support would happen in FCE.

24p is just considered "pro"!

So my choices are this:

Find a copy of Final Cut Studio 2[which works on PowerMacs].

Or maybe shoot in 30p...and continue to work with Apple Intermediate Codec.

Or bite the bullet and get a new Mac + Final Cut Studio 3.

[John C. Chu]

Thanks again for everyone's feedback.

I ended up getting a new, unregistered retail copy of Final Cut Studio 2 which runs great on Powermac G5 for $425 off Craigslist.

[More tools than I can ever use or possibly learn].

I figure, if and when I get a new Intel iMac, I can do an upgrade to FCS3 for only $299 and that will make it a lot more palatable for enthusiast.

[Robert Lane]

I'd hold off on purchasing that much Apple-branded stuff right now. Apple has been so "i-Toy" focused the past 3 years that both software and hardware options have been suffering real progress. However, now that the iPad and finally 4G iPhone are launched it's possible the original "Macintosh" based products may finally get the refresh they've been needing, everything from i-Life/i-Work the the upper-end Mac hardware.

What you've got now will serve you well into the future; wait until either Q4 this year or Q1 next and see if Apple comes back to it's roots and gives reinvests itself in Macintosh-line products before dropping hard-earned cash.k

The other thing to consider is the camera hardware. Panasonic gave a shot across the bow to both Canon and Sony with the announcement of the AG-AF100. Sony made their announcement too but it's further off before release. Just as DSLR's took the indie film market by storm these new form-factor cams could very easily become the next game-changers, along with updated codecs to support their newer features. If that happens then NLE's will once again be playing catch-up to deal with these new offerings. Again, patience is your best friend right now; dropping cash right away could easily mean you'd be kicking yourself in 6 months - had you waited.

[Robert Lane]

Here's a perfect example of why holding off on Apple-branded purchases would be wise:

Just today I previewed a PC-based NLE - pro-sumer grade mind you, Sony Movie Studio Platinum:

Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10 Video Editing

This little program sells for literally $100 bucks and it does things not even FCP can do - currently, such as AVCHD drag-n-drop to the timeline without transcoding and, "rolling shutter correction". Both of those things require a pay-ware plug-in or standalone app to accomplish in FCP.

Now it's one thing that FCP's competitors jumped ahead with newer capabilities 2 years ago, but it's totally another thing when consumer-grade software starts to eclipse a pro application, which is exactly what's just now starting to happen.

That's why I say wait. Apple can't possibly be sitting idle for too much longer on updating the Final Cut suite, not with consumer-apps now nipping at FCP's heels. Right? Something's *got* to be just around the corner. It has to be.

[Konrad Haskins]

The whole Apple product line from Macs to FCP are way overdue for Bu-Ray support.

[Kristian Roque]

I am currently indecisive about this as well. I am debating getting a 27 inch iMac, but cannot justify buying FCP for $999. I have been editing on Vegas 9 Pro and love it, but so many companies are editing on FCP and cannot do any sub work for them. I hear the 27 inch iMac runs great with footage from a Canon 7D and edits very smoothly. Through this thread, I am now learning that Final Cut Express does not do 24p editing on timeline.