Still Need FCP 7

Robert Lane · December 22nd, 2015, 02:26 AM

Normally I'm one of those monkey-balls crazy dudes that lives on the bleeding edge of tech and can't wait to try, test and report the latest and greatest stuff. But the past couple of years I've had to shift gears and stick with what's tried and true rather than constantly pushing the envelope. One thing about living on the bleeding edge: Stay there long enough you end up needing a transfusion! haha

I'm now one of those stragglers who's been holding onto my mid '09 MBP running 10.8.5 (with Rock of Gibraltar stability I might add) and the full FCP 7 Suite - with add-ons of course. But time's are a changin' faster and faster it seems with OSX having been updated 3 times since Mountain Lion there's a lot of new-age tech I can't take advantage of because my OS is too old.

FCP is also a long-dead horse with no upgrade path (FCPX will just never do it for me) and since I own PP CS6 and even a license for Creative Cloud I could easily migrate everything over to Adobe if I really wanted to right now… but I'm just not ready.

I'm used to FCP's layout, workflow, workarounds etc. Eventually I won't have a choice but to move everything over to PP, but for now I'm just not letting go.

But, I can't NOT upgrade the OS anymore; it's just too old and long in the tooth, especially for true web compatibility. So, after the holidays I'll be moving over to El Capitan AND, so will my copy of the FCS suite.

There's been lots of people who've made the migration and had no FCP issues while others have reported major problems. So I'll be doing what I used to do years ago here: I'm going to make the move, report how the hardware is handling it and, how the new post-production environment handles it's new home.

Thankfully I've never given up using Carbon Copy Cloner so if things go really wonky I can just restore the last main-drive image and get back to work in minutes.

So when this happens I'll share my findings, workarounds and any niggles that similarly equipped people will need to know if they're in the same boat and holding onto old hardware/OS versions.

Cheers - and Happy Holidays to All!!

Jase Tanner · February 11th, 2016, 08:26 AM

My 2010 MBP is on its last legs so while i intend on bringing myself up to speed on Adobe it always seems like there's something more pressing to do. it would be good to know how this went for you. Any words of advice? Thanks.

Mike Watson · February 11th, 2016, 07:58 PM

I hate it when people give the answer to a different question, but here I am anyway. I was in your position last year (FCP 6, actually), I finally gave in and moved to Premiere Pro, and have never been happier. I like it better than FCP.

That said, I did a lot of weird installs before we moved to CC (FCP 6 installer was written for PowerPC) and always found a way. I'm sure you'll do it if you have to!

Jase Tanner · February 17th, 2016, 09:55 PM

Mike, I appreciate your input. You're not the first person I've heard say that, so good motivation to take the time to jump in.

Daniel Epstein · February 22nd, 2016, 02:28 PM

I have a 2008 Macbook Pro with El Capitan and FCP 7. Mostly works.

Jase Tanner · February 28th, 2016, 05:45 PM

Daniel, can you be a little more specific? Thanks.

Daniel Epstein · March 6th, 2016, 04:42 PM

Most trouble with the Newer operating OS X systems are around the preference panel which makes clusters for Compressor which was bundled with FCP 7. Previously built clusters do work but may not be as fixable if they stop working. Haven't found anything in FCP 7 which doesn't work but some questions about related programs not burning Blu Laser discs.

Robert Lane · September 5th, 2016, 01:07 AM

I almost forgot I started this thread... So here's the latest:

My old-and-trusty '09 MBP was finally starting to give up the ghost; the internal drive controller on the mainboard was dying a slow death. (It's still up and running but not in top-notch condition.)

So I was forced to purchase a refurb late 2014 Retina 5K 27-inch iMac, the 3.5Ghz w/24GB RAM and the Radeon R9 M290X with 2GB VRAM. Super-nice machine, no complaints.

And as always, I used CCC and migrated everything over to the new system and FCP 7 works flawlessly, and of course much faster/smoother on the new machine.

BUT, still with the same problem: FCP 7 is a long-dead horse with no future. And most likely El Capitan is the last OS that it will run on.

Let me tell you, I HATE Premiere. I know, I know... it's becoming a standard in the editing community. OK so what. I still hate it. Why? The simplicity of doing something like a crossfade between clips the FCP 7 way doesn't happen in PP, it's much less intuitive. And the lack of our dear friend, the 3-wheel color corrector. I really thought I was going to be forced into the PP world or, back to AVID. Well I'm here to tell you, that's just not the case!

If you're a died-in-the-wool FCP 7 user like me and are dreading having to move away from it, guess what: You don't have to!! Well... sorta.

Say "hello" to DaVinci Resolve 12.5: It literally IS FCP 7 re-envisioned, with nearly identical workflows and tools!! And the best part? IT'S FREE!! I haven't totally stopped using FCP 7 yet, but by end of this month D.R. will be the primary tool going forward.

Expect a nice, detailed review very soon.

Brian Drysdale · September 6th, 2016, 04:47 PM

Another alternative is Lightworks, which also has 3 colour wheels. Former FCP7 users have moved to it, Transitions can be done using a number of methods, the fastest being just using a single key and clicking on add.

It is an editor designed for long form narrative editing.

However, I wouldn't say you should use it precisely the same way as FCP7, that would prove frustrating.

Josh Bass · September 6th, 2016, 10:01 PM

I'm still on FCP 7 on 10.8.5 myself. I'm not going to say I was ever IN LOVE with FCP, but I am used to it now which means pretty fast. Have Premiere CS6 and am still clumsy in it, don't really like it but I see that it does certain things better than FCP (works with just about anything natively, will play in timeline without render, etc.). I've heard good things about Resolve, don't know much about lightworks. Know folks that have/like FCP X and of course the price can't be beat but I don't know about the whole weird new workflow (magnetic timeline, only two tracks or whatever).

Simon Denny · September 7th, 2016, 04:00 AM

I'm a freelance editor and have moved back and forth between many NLE's in my time. I swore black and blue I would never take a job in PP from day dot until 12months ago where I had no choice, now PP is what all my clients use period and I'm loving it. Throw anything at this and one can work start away, It's very customisable with shortcuts If you use Avid, just set them up, In fact I have let my Avid subscription go because PP is now the main NLE.

Boyd Ostroff · September 10th, 2016, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh Bass

I'm still on FCP 7 on 10.8.5 myself.

It's been many a year since I've been seen around these parts…. But believe it or not, I am also still running MacOSX 10.8.5 and FCP 6! I had to jump through some hoops when I moved to MacOSX 10.7 back in 2011 because while FCP 6 is a universal app, the installer was a power pc app. But after that, it has been surprisingly stable and robust (for the small amount of video I've done since then).

Now just starting a big legacy video project that involves capturing 200 to 300 hours of old tapes of opera performances I shot, going back to 2001. Picked up a used Sony HVR-M15U deck since I no longer have any tape based cameras.

Things are basically working for me, but still some annoying little gotcha's. I have an OWC thunderbolt 2 dock on the way to expand the ports on my MacBook Air. OWC says you need at least MacOSX 10.9, but my guess is that it will still work on 10.8.5. I downloaded El Capitan and made a bootable install flash drive last night but didn't install. Hoping I can stick with 10.8.5 just a bit longer, since I have a lot of old expensive software and am sure the newer versions of MacOSX will wreak havoc with that. :)

Anyway, it's fun to be back here. I will be posting some other questions related to my antique hardware and software soon!

Dave Hardy · September 10th, 2016, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jase Tanner

My 2010 MBP is on its last legs so while i intend on bringing myself up to speed on Adobe it always seems like there's something more pressing to do. it would be good to know how this went for you. Any words of advice? Thanks.

Adobe or Avid would have been the way to go in June 2011 when Apple brought out FCPX. In 2016 the path for FCP7 users Resolve 12.5.2 is the best route. Not only are some of the top developers from Apple's FCP7 team now working for Blackmagic Design, but Resolve 12 is now like a FCP12. A very small learning curve from FCP7 for editing. For color grading there's a learning curve. Fusion 8 which is also free from Blackmagic is a better option than Apple Motion or After Effects. Black magic have just acquired Fairlight & Ultimatte, come NAB in April we are likely to see some very substantial developments to the world's best NLE, Resolve 13 & Fusion 9.

All the best,

Dave

Josh Bass · September 10th, 2016, 10:06 PM

So does resolve have like a "for dummies" color corrector instead of the full on suite of functions? Like the way FCP7 had the color corrector/3 way color corrector effects? If you just need to correct a white balance and add a little saturation/contrast etc.?

I've gotten quite used to Apple Motion so would probably want to stick with that. . .after putting in the time who wants to start all over with a new program?

Dave Hardy · September 10th, 2016, 11:34 PM

If you want to restrict yourself to just the color wheels to do color correction you can. I agree Motion is a great motion graphics program for the money, the learning curve for Fusion 8 is probably not worth it for most people at the moment as there is very little training available at the present time. If Motion does everything you think you will ever need, its probably not worth the time to learn a much more advanced program. Fusion 8 has a long way to go to be competitive with Nuke, but if the rate that Blackmagic has developed Resolve is anything to go by, it shouldn't be two long before it surpasses Nuke.

December 22nd, 2015, 02:26 AM	#1
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,819 Images: 15	Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Normally I'm one of those monkey-balls crazy dudes that lives on the bleeding edge of tech and can't wait to try, test and report the latest and greatest stuff. But the past couple of years I've had to shift gears and stick with what's tried and true rather than constantly pushing the envelope. One thing about living on the bleeding edge: Stay there long enough you end up needing a transfusion! haha I'm now one of those stragglers who's been holding onto my mid '09 MBP running 10.8.5 (with Rock of Gibraltar stability I might add) and the full FCP 7 Suite - with add-ons of course. But time's are a changin' faster and faster it seems with OSX having been updated 3 times since Mountain Lion there's a lot of new-age tech I can't take advantage of because my OS is too old. FCP is also a long-dead horse with no upgrade path (FCPX will just never do it for me) and since I own PP CS6 and even a license for Creative Cloud I could easily migrate everything over to Adobe if I really wanted to right now… but I'm just not ready. I'm used to FCP's layout, workflow, workarounds etc. Eventually I won't have a choice but to move everything over to PP, but for now I'm just not letting go. But, I can't NOT upgrade the OS anymore; it's just too old and long in the tooth, especially for true web compatibility. So, after the holidays I'll be moving over to El Capitan AND, so will my copy of the FCS suite. There's been lots of people who've made the migration and had no FCP issues while others have reported major problems. So I'll be doing what I used to do years ago here: I'm going to make the move, report how the hardware is handling it and, how the new post-production environment handles it's new home. Thankfully I've never given up using Carbon Copy Cloner so if things go really wonky I can just restore the last main-drive image and get back to work in minutes. So when this happens I'll share my findings, workarounds and any niggles that similarly equipped people will need to know if they're in the same boat and holding onto old hardware/OS versions. Cheers - and Happy Holidays to All!!

February 11th, 2016, 08:26 AM	#2
Jase Tanner Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 346	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! My 2010 MBP is on its last legs so while i intend on bringing myself up to speed on Adobe it always seems like there's something more pressing to do. it would be good to know how this went for you. Any words of advice? Thanks.

February 11th, 2016, 07:58 PM	#3
Mike Watson Trustee Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 1,082	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! I hate it when people give the answer to a different question, but here I am anyway. I was in your position last year (FCP 6, actually), I finally gave in and moved to Premiere Pro, and have never been happier. I like it better than FCP. That said, I did a lot of weird installs before we moved to CC (FCP 6 installer was written for PowerPC) and always found a way. I'm sure you'll do it if you have to!

February 17th, 2016, 09:55 PM	#4
Jase Tanner Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 346	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Mike, I appreciate your input. You're not the first person I've heard say that, so good motivation to take the time to jump in.

February 22nd, 2016, 02:28 PM	#5
Daniel Epstein Trustee Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,267	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! I have a 2008 Macbook Pro with El Capitan and FCP 7. Mostly works.

February 28th, 2016, 05:45 PM	#6
Jase Tanner Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 346	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Daniel, can you be a little more specific? Thanks.

March 6th, 2016, 04:42 PM	#7
Daniel Epstein Trustee Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,267	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Most trouble with the Newer operating OS X systems are around the preference panel which makes clusters for Compressor which was bundled with FCP 7. Previously built clusters do work but may not be as fixable if they stop working. Haven't found anything in FCP 7 which doesn't work but some questions about related programs not burning Blu Laser discs.

September 5th, 2016, 01:07 AM	#8
Robert Lane Go Go Godzilla Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Scottsdale, AZ USA Posts: 2,819 Images: 15	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! I almost forgot I started this thread... So here's the latest: My old-and-trusty '09 MBP was finally starting to give up the ghost; the internal drive controller on the mainboard was dying a slow death. (It's still up and running but not in top-notch condition.) So I was forced to purchase a refurb late 2014 Retina 5K 27-inch iMac, the 3.5Ghz w/24GB RAM and the Radeon R9 M290X with 2GB VRAM. Super-nice machine, no complaints. And as always, I used CCC and migrated everything over to the new system and FCP 7 works flawlessly, and of course much faster/smoother on the new machine. BUT, still with the same problem: FCP 7 is a long-dead horse with no future. And most likely El Capitan is the last OS that it will run on. Let me tell you, I HATE Premiere. I know, I know... it's becoming a standard in the editing community. OK so what. I still hate it. Why? The simplicity of doing something like a crossfade between clips the FCP 7 way doesn't happen in PP, it's much less intuitive. And the lack of our dear friend, the 3-wheel color corrector. I really thought I was going to be forced into the PP world or, back to AVID. Well I'm here to tell you, that's just not the case! If you're a died-in-the-wool FCP 7 user like me and are dreading having to move away from it, guess what: You don't have to!! Well... sorta. Say "hello" to DaVinci Resolve 12.5: It literally IS FCP 7 re-envisioned, with nearly identical workflows and tools!! And the best part? IT'S FREE!! I haven't totally stopped using FCP 7 yet, but by end of this month D.R. will be the primary tool going forward. Expect a nice, detailed review very soon.

September 6th, 2016, 04:47 PM	#9
Brian Drysdale Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Belfast, UK Posts: 6,152	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! Another alternative is Lightworks, which also has 3 colour wheels. Former FCP7 users have moved to it, Transitions can be done using a number of methods, the fastest being just using a single key and clicking on add. It is an editor designed for long form narrative editing. However, I wouldn't say you should use it precisely the same way as FCP7, that would prove frustrating.

September 6th, 2016, 10:01 PM	#10
Josh Bass Slash Rules! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 5,472	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! I'm still on FCP 7 on 10.8.5 myself. I'm not going to say I was ever IN LOVE with FCP, but I am used to it now which means pretty fast. Have Premiere CS6 and am still clumsy in it, don't really like it but I see that it does certain things better than FCP (works with just about anything natively, will play in timeline without render, etc.). I've heard good things about Resolve, don't know much about lightworks. Know folks that have/like FCP X and of course the price can't be beat but I don't know about the whole weird new workflow (magnetic timeline, only two tracks or whatever). __________________ The Bass' camerawork The Bass on IMDB

September 7th, 2016, 04:00 AM	#11
Simon Denny Trustee Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,409	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! I'm a freelance editor and have moved back and forth between many NLE's in my time. I swore black and blue I would never take a job in PP from day dot until 12months ago where I had no choice, now PP is what all my clients use period and I'm loving it. Throw anything at this and one can work start away, It's very customisable with shortcuts If you use Avid, just set them up, In fact I have let my Avid subscription go because PP is now the main NLE.

September 10th, 2016, 10:06 PM	#14
Josh Bass Slash Rules! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 5,472	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! So does resolve have like a "for dummies" color corrector instead of the full on suite of functions? Like the way FCP7 had the color corrector/3 way color corrector effects? If you just need to correct a white balance and add a little saturation/contrast etc.? I've gotten quite used to Apple Motion so would probably want to stick with that. . .after putting in the time who wants to start all over with a new program? __________________ The Bass' camerawork The Bass on IMDB

September 10th, 2016, 11:34 PM	#15
Dave Hardy New Boot Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Vancouver Canada Posts: 15	Re: Still Need FCP 7 - on El Capitan?!! If you want to restrict yourself to just the color wheels to do color correction you can. I agree Motion is a great motion graphics program for the money, the learning curve for Fusion 8 is probably not worth it for most people at the moment as there is very little training available at the present time. If Motion does everything you think you will ever need, its probably not worth the time to learn a much more advanced program. Fusion 8 has a long way to go to be competitive with Nuke, but if the rate that Blackmagic has developed Resolve is anything to go by, it shouldn't be two long before it surpasses Nuke.