Mehhh, maybe not...
When Final Cut Pro X was released, I was one of the users who threw down my three-hundred bucks and drank the Kool-Ade™ immediately. I was also one of the users who demanded a refund inside of a week after running FCPX for the first time. And, to Apple’s credit, they didn’t even ask me why; they just said, “Here you go!” and gave my money back. That says a lot about the backlash they’re getting from FCPX and also that maybe — just maybe — they will admit they made a mistake in their FCP strategy and will rethink the way they want to step into the future from this point.
When you get down to brass tacks, FCPX isn’t bad. It has some really cool features. It’s a lot easier to review clips in the new file browser, for example, and I think the in-app color tools are much more advanced. However, that magnetic storyline thing has got to go. I was willing to put up with a lot of quirks while I was getting used to the new app, but when it started rearranging clip order and screwing with my ins and outs on clips I had already placed, well — in the words of Devin the Dude, “Bitch gotta go.” (don’t bother Googling, it isn’t worth the time)
So, after I asked Apple for my money back, I started working in Adobe Premiere Pro (again), because I was a little sour on Apple for the time being (pun totally intended). I like Premiere. I’ve always liked it, but it’s never been my main NLE because I simply knew FCP better, and there was really no reason to switch. However, since the days I first tried Premiere, I changed part of my workflow that affects my ability to use the app now: I started color grading in DaVinci Resolve.
<3
The recent release of Resolve 8 is awesome, as it allows for round trips from Final Cut Pro by exporting XML files from the editor. One can also export XML files from Premiere, but here is where a big wrench gets thrown into the machine due to a cool feature of Premiere. Yes, a feature about Premiere that I like is what causes a problem in my workflow, and here’s what it is: A lot of my footage is shot on Panasonic P2 cameras, and Premiere has the ability to work with the native P2 files, which is awesome, since AVCIntra or DVCProHD files don’t see the improvement from being converted to ProRes that H.264 files from a DSLR do. However, DaVinci Resolve does not recognize native P2 files, so if I want to make round trips from Premiere, I first have to convert my P2 files to ProRes before I bring them into Premiere. Yes, I also have to do this in Final Cut Pro, but FCP’s log and transfer window makes it a snap, and it’s much easier to work with these files in FCP instead of Premiere if I want to send the project to Resolve at some point, which I always will.
So, the problem isn’t with Premiere; it’s with Resolve. If Resolve recognized P2 files, all would be well, but the fact is that it doesn’t. I thought it was really strange that Resolve didn’t recognize P2, so I emailed BlackMagic about the issue and they confirmed that that was indeed the case, although the wording of the reply did contain the phrase, “…does not yet support…” so I guess that says there is future hope for working with P2 in Resolve.
So, it comes down to the fact that, if I want to work in Premiere, I would have to remove Resolve from my workflow unless I felt like coming up with a complicated batch conversion process for all my raw footage. Now, I LOVE Resolve, so there is no way I’m going to stop using it. I like Premiere, but I also like FCP 7, and there is no reason why I should switch to Premiere for now. I say, “for now,” because the future hinges on what Apple has in store for FCP, and whether or not they truly intend to abandon the Pro suite of applications for easier pro-sumer profit. If FCP will truly end with version 7, then there is a problem, but if Apple will admit they made a mistake and continue developing FCP the way it should be done, then all will be well. Regardless, I hope Resolve will support more raw camera formats in the near future, because more options are always better.
It is my intent to get a lot more content from the Panasonic booth. Jan was very gracious and extremely helpful last year, and I hope she will be open to conducting another interview. I can’t stress how cool she is in person; Panasonic is lucky to have her as a representative.
