So you like FCP then?

Well, with FCP X now out, the game has changed. I like FCP 7, but not FCP X. WHY? Because of how I can move things on the timeline, manipulate things. Make comps right then and there. Control where my media goes. Adjust volume with mouse clicks. It answers all the post needs I have...well, it did.

FCP X now doesn't do half what I need it to do. So I am sticking with FCP 7 while it lasts, and then a moving to another NLE.

Shane

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PPro isn't terrible on previews. You don't have to render out to see anything like in AE. It will play but not smoothly, kind of like every 1/10-20 frames with gravely audio. It's only after you add effects and transitions though. As long as you're working in your captured format, it flies.

I've been hearing a lot of complaints about FCP X, what's going on? Has Apple dumbed it down or something? Just wondering. Sounds like I may be very glad that I learned on Adobe.

So FCP vs. PPro sounds like just a preference thing than, like anything else. I don't really have friends in the industry, so I could probably get a pretty black and white response to DeWalt vs. Makita or Chevy vs. Ford. That stuff all sounds like a bunch of malarky to me though.

Thanks for your responses, everybody.

Quite a few of the things I like about FCP7 are also things that I like about Avid (I own and use both).

I can cut quickly, without having to use any of my brain space thinking about the equipment.

I feel confident that I can do whatever I'm asked to do, whether it's some tricksy editing flash that a director has seen somewhere and wants me to replicate, down to giving a researcher an edl of just the music tracks for them to sort out the clearances.

As a freelancer I frequently cut on my own gear but I don't own pro decks or high grade monitoring, so I can take my project on a hard drive to a local facility for ingesting from and playing out to tape, colour grading (whether I do it myself or use an experienced colorist), transfer the audio into Pro Tools with the tracks already layed out sensibly for the dubbing mixer, that kind of thing.

I also get quite a lot of work using other people's gear (mainly at production companies or facilities) because what I've got is the same as what they have, i.e., FCP7 or Avid, so they trust me with it.

I'm quite happy to admit that my choice of what kit to use is much more driven by what pays and what makes my life easier, rather than what I like. I've learned quite a few systems in my time and I expect to have to learn a few more before I'm finished, but that's fine because I don't really care that much about the kit (I care about using pictures and sound to tell stories). The kit is a tool to do a job for me so I don't invest emotional capital in it, I take it seriously because it enables me to do what I want to do.