FCPX First Look. Beetle Spec Spot. Screen Grabs And More.

Cameras
Posted by Admin on 21, June 2011 with 51 Comments
Twitt

Here is a very down and dirty edit of a Beetle Spec Spot we shot in San Francisco a little while back. I was lucky enough to get up early and download the new FCPX from the Mac App Store. FCPX is one bad ass editing tool. It feels similar to iMovie and is very similar in appearance. I was jamming to get this edit out and snagged a few screen grabs during the process. FCPX has a ton of killer features like Match Color, A three Way Color Corrector, Auto White Balance, ETC. Most importantly there is very little Import, Export or Render time. It is almost instantaneous! I am by no means an editor but I do have to edit every once in a while. This is going to save me so much time, I can only imagine how much it will save the real editors out there. FCPX is one of the best things to happen to Independent Film making since the DSLR. Dig it! Click here to get the new Apple FCPX.
*Update*
The new Apple FCPX will overwrite move your older FCP files/projects (See Update) into a folder in the applications folder. I was able to import older FCP sequences that are .mov files into to the new FCPX in new projects only. Although this could present problems for some users. (See Screen Grab). It also looks like there are some “Nifty” lighting effects built in. I will try to update as I work through this bad boy.
*Update 2*
I was only able to import an older sequence created and rendered in FCP7 as a .MOV file into FCPX. They are not cross platform compatible to the best of my knowledge.

Here are a few Screen Grabs from Apple FCPX.

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Jared Abrams is a cinematographer based in Hollywood, California. After many years as a professional camera assistant he switched over to still photography. About two years ago a new Canon camera changed the way the world sees both motion and still photography. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
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  • http://twitter.com/jahkenz Kenny Perez

    FCPX rocks!!!

  • Chris Stamey

    Interesting looking icons and windows, thanks for the quick review.

  • Markspencer

    FCPX will not overwrite FCP7 – FCP7 and all related FCS apps get moved to their own folder.

  • Markspencer

    Also, would love to know how you imported an FCP7 project into FCPX?

  • http://twitter.com/rescuethecows Loren

    Nice work Jared. The early bird gets the worm…you’re three hours behind the east coast but still beating everybody to the punch.

  • http://twitter.com/thecrankyeditor James Miller

    I too would love to know what you mean by “import older sequences”, if you mean some clips from an old edit or a self contained QT, sure, easy, but as far as I’ve found so far, there’s no way of opening old FCP project files.

  • http://twitter.com/lapistola Michael Beck

    Wait, you are saying you CAN import old projects into FCP X?

  • http://twitter.com/goforjared jared abrams

    I believe so. I was able to import a sequence from FCP7. Not sure about entire projects. I’ll keep updating as I work through it.
    Thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/goforjared jared abrams

    I think you are correct. Older projects open in FCP7. I hope this makes sense. Posting as I go. 
    Thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/goforjared jared abrams

    Not projects, they open in FCP7. Sorry about the confusion.
    thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/goforjared jared abrams

    Very iMovie Like.
    Thanks!

  • http://twitter.com/goforjared jared abrams

    Thanks Kenny! You Rock!
    Jared

  • http://twitter.com/awalker47 Alexander Walker

    The main issues for most pro editors now: no support for any tape based capture, no third-party hardware support, and no third-party codec support. That means that you cannot send or receive an EDL or XML file for online editing or finishing.

  • http://twitter.com/ReallyIsaac Isaac Guerra

    I’m excited about the background rendering. I saw a tweet from someone that it took them to export a 4 1/2 min video at 1080p in about 40 seconds. Granted, that’s hear say. I can’t wait to get my hands on the program! And please, PLEASE, keep us updated! 

  • http://twitter.com/ReallyIsaac Isaac Guerra

    I’m excited about the background rendering. I saw a tweet from someone that it took them to export a 4 1/2 min video at 1080p in about 40 seconds. Granted, that’s hear say. I can’t wait to get my hands on the program! And please, PLEASE, keep us updated! 

  • Anonymous

    http://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/cameras/en/index.html

    Check out their database of confirmed compatibility. I suspect there are many other cameras that will work as well – I found my camera’s “brother” that uses the same file format. 

    Some of them are tape-based.

  • Anonymous

    http://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/cameras/en/index.html

    Check out their database of confirmed compatibility. I suspect there are many other cameras that will work as well – I found my camera’s “brother” that uses the same file format. 

    Some of them are tape-based.

  • Anonymous

    Sweet thanks. IMO the last two shots of the Bug should be color-corrected though :) 

  • http://twitter.com/jbrauning Jesse Brauning

    FCPX is the worst thing to come out of Apple since the eMac. No bins, no sequences, no multiple tracks, no audio editing, and to top it all off you automatically open all your projects at the same time and load them into RAM always unless you unmount your drives? Oh, and where’s the source and record windows? Yeah, I’d considered trying final cut in the past, but now its media composer forever for me.

  • http://twitter.com/jbrauning Jesse Brauning

    I heard FCPX referred to as NOT track-based editing. What else is there? Clip based? Talk about limiting. I feel like a god editing in Avid MC. I think in FCPX I’d feel like a child with only a few toys to play with.

  • http://twitter.com/jbrauning Jesse Brauning

    Also, why would anyone get excited about an automated, option-less color match feature? I’ve been doing color matching with 2-3 clicks in media composer for years and you can color match shadows, midtones, and highlights seperately using at least 4 different methods.

  • Edrosie

    I’m starting to think Apple didn’t speak to any FCP professionals using this on a day to day basis. It’s a real shame. 

  • Goforjared

    For sure. That’s the cool thing about vimeo. I can upload a better version later this week when I have more time to check out FCPX.
    Thanks for the support!

  • Oscarg123

    I am not sure how I feel about this….I kind of feel ripped off….they might as well give us this final cut x for free….for all those who spent 1k for Final cut studio 7!
    If anyone know any downfalls to the new system please let us know. I do not want to buy this ugly looking thing and find out I can’t do what I use to be able to do on final cut 7.

  • Oscarg123

    so I assume you bought it?
    what do you mean no multiple tracks?

  • Markspencer

    Couldn’t be – you must mean a quicktime movie of some edited clips, not an FCP sequence. You are spreading misinformation.

  • Jesseeinstein

    So if you have sequences in FCP 7, you can’t open them in FCP X?

  • imacanon

    Hate being a downer or moaning about things but this is not what I expected and hoped…dig the fx preview and share to vimeo but it seems like a slightly slightly better iMovie …

    Think I’m gonna stick with my good old grey fcp7 for awhile, at least for business related projects while I learn more about FCPX, hopefully 3rd party companies will have some input to FCPX soon

  • Peter

    Agreed. I can’t understand all the nay-sayers. Just afraid of change I guess.

  • Anonymous

    I use both FCP and Premiere Pro and personally think FCP is an inferior editing program. I can’t wait to give FCPX a try, but for me, Adobe has set the bar pretty high.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Charles-Lim/779667017 Charles Lim

    Alot of features gone missing. pixel aspect ratio for anamorphic footage.

  • Anonymous

    this is not correct.  unlimited tracks- they’re just not labeled as such. 

  • Anonymous

    there are MANY tracks capable- more than MC, FCP7, etc. it just doesn’t have V1, V2, etc labeling.  And so far the RT layering performance is beyond any NLE I’ve used.  Yes, there are many improvements needed, but there is a LOT to like as well IMHO. 

  • Corey Steib

    Can or Can’t you bring in a old project from FCP 7 into FCPX?

  • Corey Steib

    Can or Can’t you bring in a old project from FCP 7 into FCPX?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_GRAS2QOGIA5LIZWYLSTYZYEVYU julikell

    So, how many audio tracks are there? 99 (as in FCEx), or 3 (as in iMovie)?

  • http://twitter.com/michaschmidt Michael

    so for a quick lil edit on a MacBookPro its kinda nice even now, huh? … not for the “big” stuff like a 5min corporate film … ain’t working yet for that stuff, am i right?! cheers! & thanks for the post! M.

  • MichaelT

    What a lot of independent editors fail to understand is that, a lot of the nay-sayers are coming from actual broadcast houses, where they have specific workflows set in place in order to work with a number of different systems. One of those systems being external broadcast monitors (which FCPX doesn’t currently support).  When “pro” features are no longer included in an upgrade, broadcast professionals are pretty quick to realize the lack of professionalism from a company that touted such support during this “transition”. Most broadcast professionals who use FCP on a daily basis were expecting these kinds of features in the last product update, instead we had to pay for a point update, which finally gave us multi-colored markers.  

    My production facility has spent years building an FCP-backed production workflow.  We currently have over 200 FCP installations world-wide.  On a daily basis, we have to interact with a number of shared storage systems, broadcast server systems, and other specialty suites (audio & graphics).  For years, FCP has been able to work very well in this kind of an environment. While FCPX does have some very nice features such as 64bit, background rendering, etc. it fails to meet even some of the basic requirements for a broadcast house.  For example, being able to save off multiple versions of a project is a must.  Multicam editing is also needed on occasion.  Exporting an OMF to send to an audio suite is also a must.  Now I understand that Automatic Duck has a tool for this, but paying more for a tool than the actual editing software is a bit lame. Many worldwide clients are still tape-based when it comes to playout and delivery.  With FCPX, how am I supposed to playout my sequence to betacam, etc, when the app doesn’t support RS422 control? So much for timecode. 

    We also have hundreds of projects that would need to be “rebuilt” just to get into the FCPX environment.  In my opinion, that’s just a waste of time, especially when daily deadlines are the norm. 

    You can say that we’re afraid of change all you want, but you need to understand that we have very specific requirements that must be met.  FCPX falls very short of meeting those needs. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/blucouture Marty Grusznis

    Wow – I just downgraded from FCP7 to iMovie Pro – Guess it’s finally time to learn Premiere. I was always dreading this day

  • Podratic

    No multi-track editing

  • Podratic

    When you say “a lot”, are you suggesting a majority. I am not coming from a broadcasting background (along with many other people I know) and I’m P’d-off.

    $299 may not be so inexpensive once we are forced to add all the plugins that will be required to simply match the features “included” in FCP 7.

    Apple, what were you thinking? FC X (delete the P)

  • Anonymous

    as far as I can tell so far, unlimited tracks for video and audio. It just works very different, adding fades at the end is easy like STP, but haven’t figured out a cross dissolve between two adjacent clips…  

  • http://twitter.com/samellens Sam Ellens

    you’re importing render files or something – that’s not a sequence.

  • http://chrisjames1.com Chris James Champeau

    Negative Sir

  • http://twitter.com/cinemakinoeye David Tames

    It seems like Final Cut Pro X is like a lenticular surface, depending on the perspective you are looking at it, it’s either wonderful, or a debacle. I can see both perspectives, as an educator teaching students editing for the first time, Final Cut Pro X may well prove to be an awesome way to start editing and a good program to grow with, on the other hand, as a filmmaking professional, Final Cut Pro is not there yet, and it’s not clear when and how it’s going to meet my needs. Thus the diversity of reactions we’ve seen this week. Apple did not present us with a clear path from Final Cut Pro 7 and FInal Cut Pro X. We’ve been placed in limbo. I am optimistic, however, we’ll see some important updates address the pro issues, the Final Cut Pro brand hangs in the balance.

  • http://misagarcia.com Misa Garcia

    The fact is, that it is very apparent Apple is out as far as continuing to support the current Pro’s with Final Cut Pro. If you’re not diggin’ the new editing ways Apple is providing, then it wasn’t intended for you, it’s time to find another editing suite

    I’m a big time Apple fan, I use everything they release, however, if you really think about it, Final Cut Pro has always been a little bit of a different App than we’re used to from Apple.  I might be wrong here, but it’s really the only program that bears the Apple name, that is geared towards professionals, and If I remember correctly, this wasn’t originally developed by Apple, it was acquired.

    Just like all of Apple’s apps and devices, they are targeting the wider audience. Not the smaller group of working professionals, that little by little is becoming smaller and smaller. There’s a whole new breed of amateur/semi/pro editors at the moment and this group is only growing as we speak, there’s now for the first time working “Professional” editors that in their whole career, all their edits will only be seeing thru YouTube or Vimeo.  The industry is definitely changing, and with this new Apple FCPX release, basically in my opinion, Apple is saying, we no longer support the old professionals, we are targeting a new type of professionals, a bigger group of emerging editors.  They could have easily left FCP7 alone and released iMovie X or iMovie Pro, but I think that they on purpose no longer want to support the current professionals, they are going after the big numbers.

    It’s time to open up Adobe Premiere! If you think about it, Adobe Premiere is closer to Final Cut Pro, than FCPX will ever be.

  • http://misagarcia.com Misa Garcia

    it’s sucks for us that we’re used to it and don’t want to move on, but if you look at it from their perspective, they are going after the masses. 

  • http://misagarcia.com Misa Garcia

    I feel the same way in a way. Definitely will continue using FCP7 for a while, but also learning the new FCPX.  Editing will be a new experience with the new App, but I have problem adapting and moving forward.  In fact, sometimes editing in a new format, sometimes inspires you to try new things, and you’ll approach a project in a different way too, it’s not all bad.  It’s not like they’re making you return the current FCP7

  • http://misagarcia.com Misa Garcia

    Definitely it’s that time now.

  • http://misagarcia.com Misa Garcia

    Doubt that you can open an edited sequence, doesn’t make sense.

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